Camillus Furius made war upon the Veientes[See Veii, Folio LXIX verso, and note.], and for ten years the Romans subjected them to severe attacks. But in the time of Fabius, the Senonian Gauls defeated the Romans within eleven miles of the city of Rome. Then under Brennus,[See Brennus, Folio LXXII recto, and note.] their king, they proceeded against Rome, nearly extinguishing the Roman name and taking the city. Nor was it possible to protect the Capitol against them. And when the Romans were suffering from famine, Camillus, who was in exile in a neighbouring city, attacked the Gauls unexpectedly, and gave them a severe defeat.[This sentence is not in the German edition of the .] They accepted one thousand pounds of gold, which was paid to keep them from besieging the Capitol. In consequence of that they departed. But Camillus followed them, and so pressed them that he recovered the gold twice paid them and all knightly honors. And he was honored as a second Romulus.

Furius Camillus was one of the great heroes of the Roman republic. He was censor in 403 BCE, and was consular tribune for the first time in 401, and for the second time in 398. In 396 he was dictator and gained a glorious victory over the Faliscans and Fidenates, took Veii, and entered Rome in triumph, riding a chariot drawn by white horses. In 394 he was consular tribune for the third time, and reduced the Faliscans. In 391 Camillus was accused of having made an unfair distribution of the booty of Veii, and went voluntarily into exile at Ardea. The next year (390) the Gauls took Rome, and laid siege to Ardea (See Senones, Folio LXIX verso, and note). The Romans in the Capitol recalled Camillus, and appointed him dictator in his absence. He hastily collected an army, attacked the Gauls, and defeated them completely. His fellow citizens saluted him as the Second Romulus. In 389 he was dictator for a third time, and defeated the Volscians, Aequians, and other nations. In 386 he was consular tribune for the fourth time; in 384 for the fifth; and in 381 for the sixth time. In 363 he was appointed dictator for the fourth time to resist the rogations of C. Licinius Stolo. In the next year, 367, he was dictator a fifth time, and though eighty years of age, he completely defeated the Gauls. He died of the pestilence in 365. Camillus was the great general of his age, and the resolute champion of the patrician order. His history, like that of most great national heroes, has been interwoven with many legendary and traditional fables.

This paragraph is a very slight abridgment taken from Eutropius' Breviarium historiae Romanae (‘Abridgement of Roman History') 1.20. Eutropius' text is a complete compendium, in ten books, of Roman history from the foundation of the city to the accession of the emperor Valens (364-378 CE), Eutropius' contemporary.

Quintius Cincinnatus (Cincinatus), having been found in his field and called from the plow, was made a dictator; and he relieved the besieged city of the enemy and received Praeneste.[See L. Quintus Cincinnatus, Folio LXIX verso.]

In the time of these consuls (?) the city was visited by pestilence every two years. In order to drive away this pestilence, the authorities set up shameful plays or spectacles. And so in order to eliminate bodily illness a plague of the soul was sought.[This paragraph undoubtedly refers to one of the dual portraits on this page. Three pairs of consuls are portrayed, but not named in the text.]

In the time of these two consuls (?) many people were killed by poison administered by Roman women. Of these same women, 370 in number were betrayed by a maid; and when their crimes were discovered they were put to death by the poison which they themselves had brewed.

In the 388th year after the founding of the city of Rome, Gaius (Gayus) defeated the Gauls as they rushed into war again.

Marcus, with 60,000 Romans, put the Gauls to flight and defeated them with severe losses.[Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370-270 BCE), Roman general of the early republican period. According to the legend a raven settled on his helmet during his combat with a gigantic Gaul, and distracted the enemy's attention by flying in his face. He was twice dictator and six times consul, and occupied the curule chair twenty-one times. In his various campaigns he defeated successively the Gauls, the Volscians, the Samnites, the Etruscans and the Marsians. His most important victory (343) was over the Samnites at Mount Gaurus. ]

Under these consuls, Publius Cornelius and Marcus Curius, the Samnite war came to an end. This war lasted for 49 years with much disaster to the Romans until not an enemy in Italy distressed the power of Rome anymore.

P. Cornelius Rufinus was consul in 290 BCE, with M. Curius Dentatus, and in conjunction with his colleagues brought the Samnite War to a conclusion, and obtained a triumph in consequence. Rufinus was consul a second time in 277, and carried on the war against the Samnites and the Greeks in Southern Italy. The chief event of his second consulship was the capture of the important town of Croton. In 275, Rufinus was expelled from the senate on account of his possessing ten pounds of silver plate. The dictator Sulla was descended from him.

M. Curius Dentatus is said to have derived his cognomen Dentatus from the circumstance of having been born with teeth in his mouth. He was a favorite hero of the Republican Republic, and was celebrated in later times as a noble specimen of old roman frugality and virtue. He was consul in 290 BCE with Rufinus as already stated, and was associated with him in the Samnite war. In 283 he fought as praetor against the Senones. In 275 he was consul a second time, and defeated Pyrrhus near Beneventum so completely that the king was obliged to leave Italy. In a third consulship he conquered the Lucanians, Samnites and Bruttians, who still continued in arms after the defeat of Pyrrhus. He retired to his small farm that he cultivated with his own hands, and rejected all favors. He was censor in 272, executing public works of great importance.

These two consuls fought agains the Latins. Decius Murena, consul, was killed and Manilius Torquatus triumphed.[In 340 BCE P. Decius Mus was consul with T. Manlius Torquatus, and he and his colleague had the conduct of the great Latin War. The two consuls marched into the field, and when they were encamped opposite the enemy near Capua, a vision appeared to each in the night, announcing that the general of one side and the army of the other were dedicated to the Gods of the Dead and to Mother Earth. They thereupon agreed that the one whose wing first began to waiver should dedicate himself and the army of the enemy to destruction. The decisive battle took place at the foot of Vesuvius; and when the troops of Decius, who commanded the left wing, began to give way, he resolved to fulfill his vow. He called for the pontifex maximus, M. Valerius, and repeated after him the form of words by which he dedicated himself and the enemy to the Gods of Death, with his toga wrapped around his head and standing upon a weapon; he then jumped upon his horse, wearing the cinctus gabinus or sacrificial dress, rushed into the greatest concentration of enemy troops, and was slain, leaving the victory to the Romans. Such is the common story of the death of Decius.] His son disobeyed the orders of the consuls by attacking the enemy; and although he obtained a victory, he was beaten with rods and beheaded for insubordination.[See T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, Folio LXIX and note.]

Under the consuls Dolobella and Domitius (Domicio), the Lucani, Brucii, and Samnites, together with the Etruscans and Senonian Gauls, made war against the Romans. Seven tribunes and eighteen thousand Roman warriors were slain. But when they marched against Rome they were destroyed by Cornelius Cenus and the consul Dolobella.[P. Cornelius Dolabella Maximus was consul in 283 BCE with Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and in that year conquered the Senones, who had defeated the praetor L. Caecilius, and murdered the Roman ambassadors. Owing to the loss of the consular Fasti for that time we do not hear of his triumph, though he undoubtedly celebrated his victory by a triumph. In 279 he, together with C. Fabricius and Q. Aemilius, went to Pyrrhus as ambassadors to effect an exchange of prisoners.]

Fabricius, a man worthy of remembrance, would not permit himself to be influenced against Rome by the cunning or flattery of Pyrrhus (Pirrhi), the king. In fact, he renounced the part of the empire offered to him by the king.[This sentence is not in the German edition of the .] So Pyrrhus said, It is more difficult to divert this man from his honesty than to change the sun from its course. Therefore it is no wonder that the Romans, with such morals, have conquered because of the strength of their warriors.[C. Fabricius Luscinus was one of the most popular heroes in Roman histor, and, like Cincinnatus and Curius, is the representative of the purity and honesty of ‘the good old times.' In his first consulship, 282 BCE, he defeated the Lucanians, Bruttians and Samnites, gained a rich booty, and brought into the treasury more than 400 talents. Fabricius probably served as legate in the unfortunate campaign against Pyrrhus in 280; and at its close he was one of the ambassadors sent to Pyrrhus at Tarentum to negotiate a ransom or exchange of prisoners. The conduct of Fabricius on the occasion formed one of the most celebrated stories in Roman history, and was embellished in every way by subsequent writers. So much seems certain—that Pyrrhus used every effort to gain the favor of Fabricius; that he offered him the most splendid presents, and endeavored to enter him into his service, and accompany him to Greece; but that the sturdy Roman was proof against all his seductions, and rejected all his offers. On the renewal of the war in the following year (279) Fabricius again served as legate, and shared in the defeat in the battle of Asculum. In 278 he was consul a second time, and had the conduct of the war against Pyrrhus. The king was anxious for peace; and the generosity with which Fabricius sent back to Pyrrhus the traitor who had offered to poison him, afforded an opportunity for opening negotiations, which resulted in the evacuation of Italy by Pyrrhus. Fabricius then subdued the allies of the king in the south of Italy. He was censor in 275, and distinguished himself by the severity with which he attempted to repress the growing taste for luxury. Ancient writers love to tell of the frugal way in which he and his contemporary Curius Dentatus lived on their hereditary farms, and how they refused the rich present offered them. Fabricius died as poor as he had lived.]

This Papirius, while still a boy, responded cleverly to his mother in order to conceal the secret of the council. For with his mother urging him to reveal what secret of the senate he had heard there when he was admitted with his father, he told her what had been debated: Whether it was best for one man to have two wives, or one woman to have two husbands. Since many of the matrons were rushing together in a shamless assembly two days later, the boy tells the matter to the senate. And the boy was praised. And it was decreed that no child any longer be admitted to the council of the senate except that one. When he became a man, he turned out to be a very brave and warlike man.[Papirius is a name born by the members of a Roman gens (Papiria), originally plebeian and afterward patrician. the first consul of this name was L. Papirius Cursor, who held that office five times, and that of dictator twice. He was the chief hero of the second Samnite War (326-304 BCE), an exceptional commander and a man of strength and virtue. In 324, in the capacity of dictator, he condemned his magister equitum, Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, for joining in battle with the enemy contrary to his commands, and only allowed himself to be swayed from inflicting the death sentence through the combined pleas of his father, the senate, and the people. His son, of the same name, who was consul in 293, conducted a victorious war against the Samnites; and in his second consulate (273) he completed the subjugation of the Samnites, and celebrated a triumph over the Tarentians, Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians.]