Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 10
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

26. Fabius, when he returned to Rome, both in the senate and afterwards in speaking to the people, steered a middle course, that he might appear neither to exaggerate the current reports about the war nor minimize them, and in accepting an additional commander to be rather consulting the fears of others than guarding against a danger to himself or the republic. [2] for the rest, if they chose to give him a helper in the war and a partner in authority, how —he asked —could he possibly forget Publius Decius the consul, whom he had proved so often when they had been colleagues? [3] there was no one living with whom he would sooner share his commission; he should have troops enough, if Decius were with him, and his enemies would never be too numerous. [4] but if his colleague preferred some other arrangement, let them give him Lucius Volumnius to be his coadjutor. The decision in regard to everything was left by the people and the senate, and by his colleague himself, entirely to Fabius; and when Publius Decius had made known his readiness to set out either for Samnium or Etruria, there were such rejoicings and congratulations that men tasted the sweets of victory in anticipation, and it seemed as though the consuls had been voted a triumph and not a war.

[5] i find in some historians that Fabius and Decius set out for Etruria at the very beginning of their consulship, and they make no mention of the casting of lots for provinces or of the disputes betwixt the colleagues which I have described. [6] on the other hand, even these disputes have not been enough [p. 459]for some, but they have added invectives pronounced¹ by Appius before the people against the absent Fabius, and stubborn opposition on the praetor's part to the consul who was present, and another quarrel between the colleagues, when Decius urged that each should attend to his allotted province. [7] The authorities begin to be in agreement from the moment that both consuls set out for the seat of war.

but before the consuls could reach Etruria, the Senonian Gauls were come with a great multitude to Clusium, to besiege the Roman legion in camp there. [8] Scipio, who was in command, thought it necessary that he should gain the advantage of position to eke out the smallness of his numbers, and marched his troops up a hill situated between the city and his camp; [9] but, as happens in sudden emergencies, he had sent no scouts ahead of him, and led his men up to a ridge which was held by the enemy, who had approached it from another direction. [10] thus the legion was attacked in the rear and found itself surrounded, with the enemy assailing it from every quarter. [11] some writers say that the legion was even annihilated there, so that none survived to bear away the tidings, and that the consuls, who were not far from Clusium, got no report of the disaster till some Gallic horsemen came in sight, with heads hanging at their horses' breasts or fixed on their lances, and singing their customary song of triumph. [12] others allege that they were not Gauls but Umbrians, and that the reverse experienced was not so great. some foragers, according to their account, under Lucius Manlius Torquatus,² a lieutenant, had been cut off and Scipio the propraetor sallied forth from the [p. 461]camp to their relief, and renewing [13??] the battle defeated³ the victorious Umbrians and took from them their prisoners and their booty. [14] it is more probable that the discomfiture was incurred at the hands of a Gallic than of an Umbrian enemy, since apprehensions of a Gallic rising, which had often at other times troubled the Romans, were in that year particularly alarming. and so, not only did both consuls go out to war, having four legions and a strong body of Roman cavalry, together with a thousand picked horse from Campania —furnished for this campaign —and an army of allies and Latins that outnumbered the Romans; [15] but two other armies were posted over against Etruria, not far from the City, one in the Faliscan district and the other in the Vatican. Gnaeus Fulvius and Lucius Postumius Megellus —propraetors both —were ordered to maintain a standing camp there.