Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 6
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

2. But the Romans were not left long to the peaceful consideration of plans for raising their state after its grievous fall. [2] On the one hand the Volsci, their ancient foes, had armed for the purpose of extinguishing the Roman name: on the other, merchants brought word from Etruria that the leading men of all her nations had met at the shrine of Voltumna and conspired to make war. [3] A fresh alarm, too, was occasioned by the revolt of the Latins and the Hernici, who since the battle fought at Lake Regillus had continued for close upon a hundred years, with unquestioned loyalty, in the friendship of the Roman People. [4] And so, when such dangers threatened them on every side, and it was clear to all that the name of Rome was not only held in hatred by her enemies, but even in contempt by her allies, it was [5??] resolved that the republic should be defended under the same auspices under which it had been redeemed and that Marcus Furius Camillus should be named dictator. [6] Being appointed dictator he designated Gaius Servilius Ahala master of the horse, and after proclaiming a cessation of legal business, held a levy of the juniors, yet without excluding such of the older men as still [p. 201]possessed any vigour, to whom also he administered¹ the oath and mustered them into centuries.

[7] Having enrolled the army and equipped it, he divided it into three parts. [8] One division he stationed in the Veientine district to confront Etruria; a second he ordered to encamp before the City. These divisions were put under the command of military tribunes, Aulus Manlius for the home troops, Lucius Aemilius for those which were being dispatched against the Etruscans. [9] The third division he led himself against the Volsci, and not far from Lanuvium —ad Mecium the place is called —advanced to attack their camp. The enemy had gone to war from a feeling of contempt for the Romans, believing that their fighting strength had been nearly wiped out by the Gauls, but merely on hearing that Camillus was their general, they were so terrified that they protected themselves with a rampart and [10??] the rampart with a barricade of logs, that the Romans might nowhere be able to penetrate to their defences. On perceiving this, Camillus ordered his men to throw fire on the barrier. [11] It so happened that there was a high wind blowing towards the enemy, which not only caused the blaze to open a path, but what with the flames making towards the camp, and the heat and smoke and the crackling of the green wood, so alarmed the enemy, that the Roman soldiers experienced less difficulty in scaling the fortifications of the Volscian camp than they had met with in crossing the burnt barricade. [12] Having routed and slain his enemies and taken their camp by assault, the dictator gave the booty to his soldiers, an act which, coming unexpectedly from a commander who [p. 203]was by no means open-handed, was all the more² acceptable to the men. [13] Then after pursuing the fugitives and laying waste all the Volscian countryside, he forced the Volsci to surrender at last, after seventy years of war.³ [14] The victor, leaving the Volsci, crossed over to the Aequi, who were themselves making preparations for war; their army he surprised at Bolae, and carried not only their camp but their city, too, at the first assault.