A second war broke out between Rome and Veii. The Veian king Lare Tolumnius encouraged the inhabitants of the city of Fiden, subordinate to Rome, to separate from the Romans. When news of the Fidenian treason reached Rome, ambassadors were sent to the city to find out what was going on. Incited by Tolumnius, the Fidenians attacked the ambassadors and killed them. This godless crime aroused such anger in Rome that all citizens unanimously declared war on the Veii and Fidenae. In the first battle with the Fidenians, the Romans were victorious, but suffered such heavy losses that they began to fear that due to such losses the war would end in defeat. And as usually happens in cases requiring special effort, a dictator was appointed. Under his command, the Roman army marched against the Etruscans and settled near the Tiber. Soon the two hostile troops met each other. The Etruscans did not dare to engage in battle, and the Roman dictator did not give the signal to begin the battle until the augurs' divination by birds was favorable. As soon as he received a sign about the successful outcome of the fortune-telling, he immediately ordered the battle to begin. The Romans were victorious in almost all areas. Only the Etruscan cavalry, commanded by Tolumnius himself, not only put up stubborn resistance, but also pushed back the Romans.
In the ranks of the Roman cavalry, which stubbornly fought against the Etruscans, was the noble young man Aulus Cornelius Kose. He was distinguished by his beauty, courage and strength. Kose fought bravely in the front ranks. Suddenly he saw an Etruscan horseman in magnificent clothes, in charge of the actions of the rest of the horsemen. Kose realized that it was Tolumnius himself. Exclaiming that if there is anything holy in the world, he will kill this breaker of treaties and sacrifice him in honor of the dead ambassadors, and sent his horse against Tolumnius. They both fought in a fierce fight. Kose managed to hit the enemy with such force that he fell from his horse. Without allowing the enemy to come to his senses, he also dismounted and attacked the fallen Tolumnius. He tried to defend himself, but Kose pressed him more and more. In the end, the Roman pierced the Wei king several times with a spear. When Kose saw that the enemy was motionless, he took off his rich royal armor, and then cut off his head and impaled it on his spear. With this terrible trophy he rushed across the battlefield. When the Etruscan horsemen saw the severed head of their king, they were confused and scattered. The Roman victory was complete.
The victorious Roman army returned home in glory. Everyone glorified the mighty and brave Koss, who wore “fat armor.” The winner dedicated them to Jupiter and placed them in his temple next to a similar trophy obtained by Romulus. This was the second time in Roman history that a commander of enemy troops was stripped of his armor.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru