²⁴² These tribunes were T. Quinctius Capitolinus, Q. Quinctius Cincinnatus, C. Julius Julusfor the second timeAulus Manlius, L. Furius Medullinusfor the third timeand Manius Aemilius Mamercus. It was by them that Veii was first invested. Immediately after the siege had commenced, a largely-attended meeting of the national council of the Etruscans was held at the fane of Voltumna, but no decision was arrived at as to whether the Veientines should be defended by the armed strength of the whole nation.

The following year the siege was prosecuted with less vigour owing to some of the tribunes and a portion of the army being called off to the Volscian war. The consular tribunes for the year were C. Valerius Potitusfor the third timeManius Sergius Fidenas, P. Cornelius Maluginensis, Cnaeus Cornelius Cossus, Kaeso Fabius Ambustus, and Spurius Nautius Rutilusfor the second time. A pitched battle was fought with the Volscians between Ferentinum and Ecetrae, which resulted in favour of the Romans. Then the tribunes commenced the siege of Artena, a Volscian town. In attempting a sortie the enemy were driven back into the town, giving thereby an opportunity to the Romans of forcing an entrance, and with the exception of the citadel the whole place was captured. A body of the enemy retired into the citadel, which was protected by the nature of its position; below the citadel many were killed or taken prisoners. The citadel was then invested, but it could not be taken by assault as the defenders were quite sufficient for the extent of the fortifications, nor was there any hope of its surrendering, as all the corn from the public magazines had been conveyed there before the city was taken. The Romans would have retired in disgust had not a slave betrayed the place to them. The soldiers, guided by him up some steep ground, effected its capture, and after they had massacred those on guard, the rest, panic-struck, surrendered.

After the town and citadel had been demolished, the legions were withdrawn from Volscian territory and the whole strength of Rome was directed against Veii. The traitor was rewarded not only with his freedom, but also with the property of two households, and was called Servius Romanus.

Some suppose that Artena belonged to the Veientines, not the Volscians. The mistake arises from the fact that there was a city of the same name between Caere and Veii, but it was destroyed in the time of the kings of Rome, and it belonged to Caere, not Veii. The other town of the same name whose destruction I have mentioned was in the Volscian territory.

Book V

The Veii and the Destruction of Rome by the Gauls