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09 - Stories from the History of Rome by Emily Beesly · Stories from the History of Rome

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of Stories from the History of Rome by
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  Speaker 1: Emily Beasley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: The Battle of Corbio, some years after the victory of Cincinnatis,
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  Speaker 1: when Titus Quintius Capitalinus was consul for the fourth time,
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  Speaker 1: the Volscians and the Aequi again attacked Rome. They thought
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  Speaker 1: they could do so safely because there were great quarrels
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  Speaker 1: in the city between the nobles and the common people.
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  Speaker 1: They first attacked the Latins, who were now friends with
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  Speaker 1: the Romans, and then, finding that no army was sent
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  Speaker 1: to meet them, they marched on, plundering the country as
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  Speaker 1: they went, till they came up to the walls of Rome. Then,
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  Speaker 1: having shown the Romans how little they feared them, and
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  Speaker 1: having collected a gray deal of plunder, they marched away
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  Speaker 1: to Corbio. Then the consul Quintius called the people together
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  Speaker 1: and spoke to them in these words, I come before
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  Speaker 1: you today, Romans, with the greatest shame.
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  Speaker 2: That could be. You know, and our children's children will
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  Speaker 2: hear that the Volscians and Aequi came in arms before
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  Speaker 2: the walls of Rome, and that no sword was drawn
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  Speaker 2: to resist them. In the year when Titus Quintius was consul,
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  Speaker 2: had I known that such shame would have come upon me,
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  Speaker 2: I would rather have died or have been banished than
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  Speaker 2: have been made consol Which did our enemies think the
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  Speaker 2: most lazy and cowardly us consuls? Are you, Romans?
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  Speaker 1: If the fault is ours, let us be no longer consuls.
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  Speaker 1: Or if that is not enough, punish us in what
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  Speaker 1: way you like. But if the fault is yours, O Romans,
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  Speaker 1: I would have you repent of your wrongdoing, and I
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  Speaker 1: pray that neither gods nor men may punish you for it.
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  Speaker 1: Your enemies did not trust in your sloth nor in
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  Speaker 1: their own courage, For you have beaten them so often
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  Speaker 1: in battle that by this time they know both themselves
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  Speaker 1: and you. But the quarrels between the nobles and the
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  Speaker 1: commons are the ruin of Rome. What would you have
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  Speaker 1: you wished for tribunes? And we granted them to you.
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  Speaker 1: We punished by death or banishment the noblest men of
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  Speaker 1: the city because you were displeased with them? What will
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  Speaker 1: be the end of these quarrels? When shall we have
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  Speaker 1: peace within our walls? It is only against us, nobles
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  Speaker 1: that you take up arms, not against the enemies of
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  Speaker 1: your country. But let me ask you to go out
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  Speaker 1: of the gates of the town, or if you dare
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  Speaker 1: not do that, to look from the city walls into
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  Speaker 1: the fields. See how they are laid waste by fire
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  Speaker 1: and sword, the cattle driven away, and the houses smoking.
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  Speaker 1: The country is desolate, the city is besieged, and the
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  Speaker 1: glory of the war is with our enemies. What have
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  Speaker 1: you at home to make up for such losses as these?
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  Speaker 1: The tribunes will give you plenty of talk and words,
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  Speaker 1: But which of you ever took home to his wife
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  Speaker 1: and children anything but quarrels and hatreds from these struggles
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  Speaker 1: in the city. But when you were soldiers under me,
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  Speaker 1: not under the tribunes, When you were in the camp,
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  Speaker 1: not in the forum, when the enemy in the battlefield,
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  Speaker 1: not the Roman nobles in the senate heard and feared
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  Speaker 1: your shouts, then did you not return to your homes
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  Speaker 1: in triumph, loaded with riches and crowned with glory. Stay
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  Speaker 1: here in the city if you please, But if you
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  Speaker 1: do not go to fight your enemies, they will come
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  Speaker 1: before long to fight you here. They will scale the walls,
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  Speaker 1: mount the capital. Nay, pursue you into your own homes.
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  Speaker 1: I know I might say many things that would please
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  Speaker 1: you better than this, and truly I would gladly please
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  Speaker 1: you Romans. But yet I would much rather save you
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  Speaker 1: whatever you may think of me hereafter. Oh, if you
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  Speaker 1: will but give up these quarrels and do as your
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  Speaker 1: fathers would have done, I will bear any punishment you
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  Speaker 1: please if I do not, in a few days drive
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  Speaker 1: these plunderers of our country out of their camp and
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  Speaker 1: carry the war from our walls to their cities. Never
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  Speaker 1: were the people more delighted with any speech than with
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  Speaker 1: this one of the consul, and they were eager for war.
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  Speaker 1: The army was ordered to meet next morning in the
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  Speaker 1: field of Mars. The standards were brought out from the
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  Speaker 1: temple where they were kept in time of peace and
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  Speaker 1: given to the soldiers, and the army, with the two
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  Speaker 1: consuls at its head, marched away from Rome.
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  Speaker 2: The next evening.
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  Speaker 1: They pitched their camp near to that of the enemy,
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  Speaker 1: near Corbio. Now, though there were two consuls, one of them,
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  Speaker 1: whose name was Agrippa, furious, thought that it would be
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  Speaker 1: much better that the army should be governed by one man.
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  Speaker 1: So he told the other consul Quintius, that he would
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  Speaker 1: obey him in everything and would do whatever Quintius thought best.
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  Speaker 1: Quintius was much pleased, and he praised Agrippa for caring
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  Speaker 1: more that the war should be well managed than that
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  Speaker 1: he himself should manage it. When the Roman army was
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  Speaker 1: drawn up in line of battle, Quintius made Agrippa the
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  Speaker 1: leader of the left wing, that is, of the soldiers
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  Speaker 1: who fought on the left side of the army, and
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  Speaker 1: he himself led the right wing. The middle part of
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  Speaker 1: the army, the center, as it was called, was commanded
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  Speaker 1: by spurious Posthumius. The battle began, and the center and
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  Speaker 1: the right wing of the Roman army fought bravely, and
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  Speaker 1: though the Volscians and Aequi resisted stoutly, yet the Romans
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  Speaker 1: began to get the better of them. Meantime, the Roman
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  Speaker 1: cavalry or horse soldiers, attacked the enemy's cavalry and defeated
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  Speaker 1: them and killed a great many. When they had done so,
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  Speaker 1: they charged the rest of the Volskian army, by which
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  Speaker 1: they greatly helped their countrymen, and the enemy, who were
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  Speaker 1: already beginning to give way, were put in disorder and
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  Speaker 1: yielded to Quintius, But the left wing of the Roman
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  Speaker 1: army was in great trouble, for they could not conquer
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  Speaker 1: the part of the enemy's army which was opposed to them.
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  Speaker 1: Then the consul Agrippa, who was a very strong man,
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  Speaker 1: seized the standards from the soldiers who carried them, and
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  Speaker 1: going up in front of the enemy, he flung the
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  Speaker 1: standards with all his force into the middle of them.
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  Speaker 1: The Romans would have felt it a terrible disgrace if
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  Speaker 1: they had lost their standards, rushed forward so eagerly to
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  Speaker 1: win them back that they broke the ranks of the Aequi,
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  Speaker 1: and so the battle was won. Just at this moment
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  Speaker 1: there came a messenger from Quintius to tell them that
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  Speaker 1: he was victorious and just going to enter the enemy's camp,
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  Speaker 1: but that he waited to know if Agrippa had conquered too.
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  Speaker 1: If so, Agrippa was to come to Quintius at once,
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  Speaker 1: so that the whole army might join in winning the
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  Speaker 1: spoils of the enemy. Agrippa did as he was commanded,
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  Speaker 1: and after taking the camp, where they found great quantities
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  Speaker 1: of rich spoil, as well as the plunder which had
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  Speaker 1: been taken from their own country. Quintius and he led
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  Speaker 1: their army back to Rome. End of Chapter eight.