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

31. despite these victories, there was not yet peace either with the Samnites or in Etruria; [2] for war had broken out afresh at the instigation of the Perusini, after the consul had withdrawn his army, and the Samnites were raiding the lands of Vescini and of Formiae on the one hand, and on the other the territory of Aesernia and the region adjacent to the Volturnus river. [3] against these the praetor Appius Claudius was dispatched with the army that Decius had commanded. Fabius dealt with the new outbreak in Etruria, where he slew four thousand five hundred of the Perusini and took one thousand seven hundred and forty prisoners, who were ransomed at three hundred and ten asses each, the rest of the [4??] booty being made over to the soldiers. [5] The Samnite levies, of whom a part were being pursued by Appius Claudius the praetor and a part by Lucius Volumnius the pro —consul, effected a junction in the Stellate district, where they all took up a position near Caiatia. Appius and Volumnius also combined their forces. [6] The ensuing battle was very bitterly contested, the Romans being incited by resentment against a people who had so often rebelled, while those on the other side were staking their last hopes [p. 479]on the conflict. [7] The Samnites accordingly lost¹ sixteen thousand three hundred slain and two thousand seven hundred captured; in the Roman army two thousand seven hundred fell.

[8] The year, though one of success in war, was saddened by a pestilence and vexed with prodigies. showers of earth were reported to have fallen in many places, and it was said that in the army of Appius Claudius many had been struck by lightning. [9] on account of these signs the Sibylline books were consulted. in this year Quintus Fabius Gurges, the consul's son, assessed a fine of money against a number of married women who were convicted before the people of adultery, and with this money erected the temple of Venus which is near the Circus.²

[10] there are more Samnite wars still to come, though we have dealt with them continuously throughout four books, covering a period of forty —six years, from the consulship of Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, who were the first that made war on Samnium; and —not [11] to go over now the disasters sustained in so many years on either side and the toils endured, by which nevertheless those sturdy hearts could not be daunted —in [12] the year just past the Samnites had fought in the territory of Sentinum, in the Pelignian country, at Tifernus,³ and in the Stellate plains, now by themselves, with their own levies, now in company with troops from other nations, and had been cut to pieces by four armies under four Roman generals; they had lost their nation's most distinguished commander; [13] they beheld their comrades in war, the Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls, in the same plight as their own; nor could they longer maintain themselves, either by their own resources [p. 481]or by those of outside nations; yet would they not⁴ abstain from war; [14] —so far were they from wearying of a liberty which they had unsuccessfully defended, preferring rather to be conquered than not to try for victory. [15] who, pray, could grudge the time for writing or reading of these wars, when they could not exhaust the men who fought them?⁵