Ab urbe condita

To avoid any chance of mistake, the consuls requested that this war might be assigned to Corvus without deciding it by lot. After taking over the victorious army from the previous consuls, he marched to Cales, where the war had originated. The enemy were dispirited through the remembrance of the former conflict, and he routed them at the very first attack.

He then advanced to an assault upon their walls . Such was the eagerness of the soldiers that they were anxious to bring up the scaling ladders and mount the walls forthwith, but Corvus perceived the difficulty of the

task and preferred to gain his object by submitting his men to the labours of a regular siege rather than by exposing them to unnecessary risks. So he con- structed an agger and brought up the vineae and the turrets close to the walls, but a fortunate circumstance rendered them unnecessary.