Ab urbe condita

His orders were carried out to the letter; the legionaries opened their ranks, the cavalry galloped through the open spaces, and with levelled spears charged the enemy's centre. Wherever they attacked they broke the ranks. Volumnius and Scipio followed up the cavalry charge and completed the discomfiture of the Samnites At last the dread of gods and men had yielded to a greater terror, the “linen cohorts” were routed;

those who had taken the oath and those who had not alike fled; the only thing they feared now was the enemy.