Campus erat, campi claudebant ultima colles Silvaque montanas occulere apta feras. In medio paucos armentaque rara relinquunt, Cetera virgultis abdita turba latet. 4 Ecce velut torrens undis pluvialibus auctus Aut nive, quae Zephyro victa tepente fluit, Per sata perque vias fertur, nec, ut ante solebat, Riparum clausas margine finit aquas: 8 Sic Fabii vallem latis discursibus implent, Quodque vident sternunt, nec metus alter inest. Quo ruitis, generosa domus? male creditis hosti: Simplex nobilitas, perfida tela cave. 12 Fraude perit virtus. In apertos undique campos Prosiliunt hostes, et latus omne tenent. Quid faciant panci contra tot millia fortes? Quidve, quod in misero tempore restet, adest? 16 Sicut aper longe silvis Laurentibus actus Fulmineo celeres dissipat ore canes, Mox tamen ipse perit: sic non moriuntur inulti Vulneraque alterna dantque feruntque manu. 20 Una dies Fabios ad bellum miserat omnes; Ad bellum missos perdidit una dies. OVID, _Fasti_, ii. 175-196, H. [II. 215-236] +Context.+ To protect their territory from the constant raids of the Veientines, the noble house of the Fabii offered to undertake the war themselves. The consul Kaeso Fabius marched out of the city at the head of his clan, followed by the blessings and good wishes of the admiring people. He erected a fortified camp near the R. Cremera (a tributary of the Tiber), and from this spot plundered Veientine territory. [Linenotes: 1. +campus.+ ‘Ovid here paints from fancy: there are, however, deep hollows admirably calculated to conceal an ambushed foe.’ --Ramsay. 9. +discursibus+ = _runnings to and fro_, of soldiers dispersing to plunder. 10. +metus alter+ = _fear of a second enemy_, i.e. of one in ambush. 17. +silvis Laurentibus.+ Laurentum on the coast of Latium between Ostia and Ardea. Wild boars are still found in the swampy thickets. 18. +Fulmineo ore+ = _with flashing tusk_. --Hallam.] +Parallel Passage.+ Livy, ii. 48, 49. ‘The story probably came from the Chronicles of the Fabian Clan, perhaps through _Fabius_ Pictor, the first Roman annalist.’ Rawlins, Cf. Ihne, vol. i. cap. vi. D15 WAR WITH THE AEQUIANS, 458 B.C. A. _Cincinnatus called from the Plough._ Sed Aequos praecipue Quinctius Cincinnatus domuit, ille dictator ab aratro, qui obsessa et paene iam capta L. Minuci consulis castra egregia victoria recuperavit. Medium erat tempus forte sementis, cum patricium virum innixum aratro suo lictor in {5} ipso opere deprehendit. Inde in aciem profectus, ne quid a rustici operis imitatione cessaret, more pecudum victos sub iugum misit. Sic expeditione finita redit ad boves rursus triumphalis agricola. Intra quindecim dies coeptum peractumque bellum, {10} prorsus ut festinasse, dictator ad relictum opus videretur. FLORUS, I. xi. 12-15.