Ab urbe condita

Titus Livius (Livy)

Livy. History of Rome, Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.

Whilst[*](The Samnites and Etruscans allied against Rome.) this campaign was going on in Samnium —whoever may have been the commander —a very serious war against Rome was being organised in Etruria, in which many nations were to take part.

The chief organiser was Gellius Egnatius, a Samnite. Almost all the Tuscan cantons had decided on war, the contagion had infected the nearest cantons in Umbria, and the Gauls were being solicited to help as mercenaries.