Ab urbe condita

However, in order that the Romans might not pass a whole year without any military operations, a small expeditionary force was sent into Umbria. A certain cave was reported to be the rendezvous of a body of freebooters, and from this hiding-place they made armed excursions into the surrounding country.

The Roman troops entered this cave, and many of them were wounded, mostly by stones, owing to the darkness of the place. At length they discovered another entrance, for there was a passage right through the cave, and both mouths of the cavern were filled up with wood.

This was set on fire, and, stifled by the smoke, the bandits, in trying to escape, rushed into the flames and 2000 perished. M. Livius Denter and M. Aurelius were the new consuls, and during their year of office hostilities were resumed by the Aequi.

They resented the planting within their borders of a colony which was to be a stronghold of Roman power, and they made a desperate effort to capture it, but were beaten off by the colonists.

In their weakened condition it seemed almost incredible that the Aequi could have begun war, relying solely upon themselves, and the fear of an indefinitely extended war necessitated the appointment of a Dictator. C. Junius Bubulcus was nominated, and he took the field, with M. Titinius as Master of the Horse.

In the very first battle he crushed the Aequi, and a week later he returned in triumph to the City. Whilst Dictator he dedicated the temple of Salus which he had vowed as consul and the con- struction of which he had contracted for when censor.

During[*](Cleonymus makes Attempts on Italy with his Fleet.) the year a fleet of Greek ships under the command of the Lacedaemonian Cleonymus sailed to the shores of Italy and captured the city of Thuriae in the Sallentine country.

The consul, Aemilius, was sent to meet this enemy, and in one battle he routed him and drove him to his ships.

Thuriae was restored to its former inhabitants, and peace was established in the Sallentine territory. In some annalists I find it stated that the Dictator, Junius Bubulcus, was sent into that country, and that Cleonymus left Italy to avoid a conflict with the Romans.

He sailed round the promontory of Brundisium, and was carried up the Adriatic, where he had on his left the harbourless shores of Italy and on his right the countries occupied by the Illyrians, the Liburnians, and the Histrians, savage tribes chiefly notorious for their acts of piracy.

He dreaded the possibility of falling in with these, and consequently directed his course inland until he reached the coasts of the Veneti. Here he landed a small party to explore the neighbourhood. The information they brought back was to the effect that there was a narrow beach, and on crossing it they found lagoons which were affected by the tide; beyond these level cultivated country was visible, and in the further distance hills could be seen.

At no great distance was the mouth of a river deep enough to allow of ships being brought up and safely anchored —this was the Meduacus.

On hearing this he ordered the fleet to make for that river and sail up-stream. As the river channel did not admit the passage of his largest ships, the bulk of his troops went up in the lighter vessels and came to a populous district belonging to the maritime villages of the Patavii, who inhabit that coast.

After leaving a few to guard the ships they landed, seized the villages, burnt the houses, and carried off the men and cattle as booty.

Their eagerness for plunder led them too far from their ships. The people of Patavium were obliged to be always under arms owing to their neighbours, the Gauls, and when they heard what was going on, they divided their forces into two armies.

One of these was to proceed to the district where the invaders were reported to be carrying on their depredations; the other was to go by a different route, to avoid meeting any of the plunderers, to where the ships were anchored, about fourteen miles from the town. The latter attacked the ships, and after killing those who resisted them, they compelled the terrified sailors to take their vessels over to the opposite bank.

The other army had been equally successful against the plunderers, who in their flight to their ships were intercepted by the Veneti, and, hemmed in between the two armies, were cut to pieces.

Some of the prisoners informed their captors that King Cleonymus, with his fleet, was only three miles distant. The prisoners were sent to the nearest village for safe-keeping, and some of the defenders got into their river boats, which were flatbottomed to allow of their passing over the shallows in the lagoons, whilst others manned the vessels they had captured and sailed down the river.