Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 10
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

43. The same good fortune attended the other consul at Cominium. with the dawn he led up all his forces under the walls and invested the city, posting strong supports to prevent any sally from the gates. [2] he was in the act of giving the signal when the courier from his colleague came up with the alarming news about the twenty cohorts,¹ thus delaying the assault and obliging him to recall a part of his troops who were already drawn up and eager to attack. [3] he commanded Decimus Brutus Scaeva, his lieutenant, to proceed with the first legion, ten auxiliary cohorts, and the cavalry, to confront the new forces of the enemy: [4] wherever he fell in with them, he was to block their path and delay them, giving battle if the situation happened to require it; but on no account must these troops be suffered to approach Cominium. [5] he himself gave orders to bring up scaling —ladders from every side against the walls of the city, and under a mantlet of shields approached the gates. thus at the same instant the gates were burst open and the walls assaulted. The Samnites, although, until they beheld armed men upon their walls, they had pluck enough to keep their enemies from coming near the city, yet when the combat was no longer carried on with missiles at long range, but was fought hand —to —hand, and when those who had [p. 527]mounted with difficulty from the. [6] plain on to the² walls —overcoming the inequality of position, which was what they had chiefly dreaded —were [7] making easy work of it on the level ground with an enemy that was no match for them, they forsook their towers and battlements, and, huddled all together in the market —place, made there one last brief attempt to redeem the day. [8] then, throwing down their arms, some eleven thousand four hundred men cast themselves on the mercy of the consul; about four thousand eight hundred had been slain.

[9] such were the operations at Cominium and at Aquilonia. in the place between, where a third battle had been looked for, the enemy were not encountered. recalled by their leaders when seven miles from Cominium, they had not been present at either engagement. [10] as the evening shadows began to fall, when they had already come within sight of the camp and of Aquilonia, they had been halted by the shouts, which were equally loud from both directions. [11] but afterwards, from the direction of the camp, which had been fired by the Romans, the flames broke out so extensively, with their warning of an unmistakable disaster, as to keep them from advancing further, and throwing [12??] themselves on the ground at random, just where they were, without stopping to remove their arms, they passed the whole weary night in waiting for the dawn, which at the same time they dreaded. [13] as the day broke, they were hesitating which way to march, when the Roman cavalry, who had pursued the Samnites when they left their town in the night, caught sight of the army, lying there without breastworks or outpost, and instantly routed them. [14] [p. 529]their mass had been seen, too, from the walls of³ Aquilonia, and presently the legionary cohorts were likewise in pursuit of them. but the infantry could not overtake the fugitives, though the cavalry killed some two hundred and eighty of the rear —guard, who in their fright abandoned a quantity of arms and eighteen military standards. [15] The rest of the column made good its escape, as safely as could be in so great a confusion, to Bovianum.