Soon the Romans restored their city, and then resumed wars in Italy. One of their most stubborn opponents were the Samnites, a people who lived in Central Italy. The Romans fought with them several times. During the first war, the Roman army under the command of the consul Aulus Cornelius Cornus was drawn into a deep wooded gorge and found itself surrounded on all sides by enemies. It seemed that the death of the Romans was inevitable. One of the commanders of the Roman army, Publius Decius Mus, saw that the strategically important peak hanging over the Samnite camp was not occupied by enemies. He asked the consul for a detachment and slowly climbed to the top with him. The Samnites only noticed them when the Romans were directly above them, they were amazed and did not know what to do. Some wanted to pursue the main Roman army led by the consul, but were afraid that Mus’s detachment would strike them in the rear. Others, seeing that Musa’s detachment was small, proposed to destroy him first, but could not agree on how best to do this: either to surround him in order to cut him off from the main army, or to let him go down in order to take advantage of his numerical advantage in a more convenient place. Moose, too, could not understand why the enemies, who outnumbered him so much, were not trying to do anything. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the turmoil in the Samnite camp, the consul calmly led his soldiers out of the dangerous place.
Night has fallen. Moose understood that he couldn’t stay here any longer, otherwise they would all be destroyed. But the path to their own was blocked by the Samnite camp, so it was possible to connect with the consul’s army only by passing through this camp. And so the Romans slowly descended from the top and began to carefully walk between the sleeping Samnites. By chance, one Roman touched the shield of a sleeping man, the shield fell, and its ringing woke up the Samnite. He jumped up, not understanding anything, half asleep. Then Mus ordered to issue a war cry and break through in battle. The stunned Samnites jumped up and rushed about. They could not understand whether the main Roman army occupied their camp, or whether the detachment of Musa attacked. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, the Romans broke through the Samnite patrols and reached their own. To make the return look more solemn, Mus ordered his soldiers to wait until dawn. And in the morning, in full view of everyone, under joyful greetings, his detachment solemnly entered the camp. The consul awarded all the soldiers. Mus himself received a wreath of grass cut at the site of the siege, which the Romans awarded to those who saved a city or army from a siege, and an oak wreath, which was used to honor those who saved citizens. Thus Rome honored the hero who saved the Roman army from certain death. But this was not the last feat of Musa.
A few years later, Publius Decius Mus was elected consul along with Titus Manlius Torquatus. At this time there was a war between the Romans and Latins. Both opponents were close relatives, so sometimes it seemed that this war was a civil war. The Latins often participated in wars together with the Romans and knew their tactics and customs well, which made war with them especially difficult and dangerous. Both consuls went to this war. And before the decisive battle, they both had the same dream. A man more majestic than an ordinary mortal appeared to the consuls and announced that the commander who doomed himself and the enemy’s army to the underground gods would ensure victory for his army. In the morning, both consuls told each other about the dream. It was decided that the commander would sacrifice himself whose army began to retreat. Before the battle, as was customary, the haruspices read fortunes from the livers of sacrificial animals. It turned out that on the favorable side of the liver the upper process was damaged, which promised misfortune, and the fortuneteller showed this process to Musa. Otherwise, as the haruspex said, the gods accepted the sacrifice favorably.
The Roman troops lined up as usual. Manlius commanded the right wing of the army, Mus the left. And so the left wing, unable to withstand the enemy’s onslaught, began to retreat. Then Mus turned to the priest Mark u Valery, who was in the army, so that he would help him doom himself as a sacrifice according to all the rules. Under the guidance of the priest, he covered his head and offered prayers to Janus, Jupiter, Mars and other gods, asking for victory to be granted to the Romans and condemning himself and his enemies to sacrifice to the gods of the underworld. Having said this prayer, Mus rushed into the ranks of the enemies, scattering them around him. It seemed to everyone that he had become more majestic than an ordinary person. The enemies even froze in fear for a while at the sight of him, but, running away, they showered him with arrows. When Decius Mus fell struck by a huge number of arrows, the Romans, inspired by the feat of their consul, struck at the enemies with redoubled force. Those, struck by horror, rushed to run. The Roman victory was complete. And it was ensured by the self-sacrifice of Publius Decius Mus.
The son of the deceased consul, also Publius, became famous no less than his father. He held many positions in the Roman state and was elected consul four times. Quintus Fabius Maximus became his colleague three times. This was the case during his last consulate. That year, all its enemies united against Rome: the Samnites and Etruscans, the Gauls and the Umbrians. The main arena of the war was Etruria. It was there that both consuls went. The meeting with the enemies took place near the city of Sentina. The combined forces of the two Roman consular armies were opposed by the combined forces of the enemy. Not long before, the Gauls had destroyed one Roman detachment and were now proud of their victory. They showed the Romans the heads of killed Roman soldiers impaled on their spears and sang victory songs. In order to somehow reduce the number of enemies, the consuls ordered one of their subordinates to attack the Etruscan city of Clusium. Having learned about this, the Etruscans left the combined forces and went to save their lands.
When the opponents were already ready for battle, suddenly a doe ran across the field between them, pursued by a wolf. Seeing the troops standing in full armor, the animals became confused and rushed in different directions. The doe ran to the Gaul camp, and the wolf ran to the Romans. The Romans parted and allowed the beast to run through their formation. The Gauls, shouting joyfully, caught the doe and slaughtered it. Then one of the Roman soldiers, knowledgeable in religious affairs, said that all this was a sign of the gods: the Gauls killed the sacred animal of Diana, and the wolf of Mars, reminiscent of the Mars tribe and the founder of Rome, remained unharmed. This inspired the Romans. The right wing of the Roman army, standing against the Samnites, was led by Fabius, the left, against which the Gauls lined up, was led by Mus. And the battle began.
Fabius, a man of advanced years, who had enormous military experience, deliberately delayed the battle, because he knew that both the Samnites and the Gauls were terrible with their first onslaught, and if they did not manage to overthrow the enemy instantly, they quickly ran out of steam and fought less fiercely. And Mus, although also far from new to military affairs, was still younger and more impulsive. Therefore, he immediately rushed into battle, and at the head of the cavalry he fought with the enemies. At the height of the battle, the Gauls used a technique still completely unknown to the Romans. Suddenly their line parted, and Gallic chariots and carts moved towards the Romans. The noise of the battle was interrupted by the roar of wheels and the deafening clatter of hooves. The horses of the Roman riders were frightened by the roar and turned back. In vain did the horsemen try to hold them back. The horses, as if maddened, rushed across the field in different directions, throwing off their riders. Panic spread to the infantry, and Gallic chariots and carts passed freely through the broken formation of the Roman army. Immediately the Gallic infantry attacked the Romans with redoubled force. Defeat seemed inevitable.
Seeing this, and not having the strength to hold back the fleeing, Mus remembered the feat of his father. He appealed to him and decided to also betray himself to the Earth and the underground gods in order to achieve victory for the Roman army. He ordered the pontiff Marcus Livius, who was nearby, to do to him the same thing that one of his predecessors did to Father Musa. To the curses and spells uttered by his father at one time, Mus the Younger added that he was turning curses on the banners, weapons and armor of his enemies and the place of his death would be the place of extermination of the Gauls and Samnites. Cursing both himself and his enemies, the consul rushed into the thick of the battle and fell under the blows of spears.
The death of the consul not only did not upset the Roman ranks, but, on the contrary, united them. The Gauls, on the contrary, were as if struck by a divine sign. The Romans, increasing their pressure, broke through the Gallic system, and on the right wing, Fabius’ army defeated the Samnites. The body of the fallen Musa was not found immediately; he lay under a pile of enemy corpses. Fabius arranged a solemn burial for his deceased comrade. And when the soldiers returned to Rome, everyone glorified not only the victory of Quintus Fabius Maximus, but also the heroic death of Publius Decius Mus, like his father, who sacrificed himself for the victory of Rome.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru