Ab urbe condita

Meantime the Romans were meeting with success in Etruria, for in an engagement with the Umbrians the enemy were unable to keep up the fight with the spirit with which they began it, and, without any great loss, were completely routed. An engagement also took place at Lake Vadimonis, where the Etruscans had concentrated an army raised under a lex sacrata,[*](For the Lex Sacrata, see note 15 to Book IV. We see here that it was common to most of the old Italian nationalities. An army so raised was regarded as a devoted body pledged under the most fearful oaths to absolute obedience to their general and also to fight to the death. The most notable instance of this method of raising troops occurs in the following book.) in which each man chose his comrade.