[5,47] Τῇ δ´ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ καύσαντες τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς οἱ ὕπατοι καὶ τὰ σκῦλα συλλέξαντες· ἑάλω δέ τινα καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ζώντων ῥιπτούντων ἐν τῇ φυγῇ τὰ ὅπλα· ἄνδρας τ´ αἰχμαλώτους ἄγοντες, οὓς ἔλαβον οὐκ ὀλίγους καὶ χρήματα, χωρὶς ὧν οἱ στρατιῶται διήρπασαν· τούτων δὲ διαπραθέντων δημοσίᾳ τὰς κατ´ ἄνδρα γενομένας εἰσφοράς, αἷς ἔστειλαν τοὺς στρατιώτας, ἅπαντες ἐκομίσαντο· {καὶ} ἀπῄεσαν ἐπ´ οἴκου λαμπροτάτην ἀνῃρημένοι νίκην. καὶ θριάμβοις ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς ἐκοσμοῦντο ἀμφότεροι, Μενήνιος μὲν τῷ μείζονι καὶ τιμιωτέρῳ, παρεμβεβηκὼς ἐφ´ ἁρματίου δίφρου βασιλικοῦ, Ποστόμιος δὲ τῷ ἐλάσσονι καὶ ὑποδεεστέρῳ, ὃν καλοῦσιν οὐαστήν, παρεγκλίναντες τοὔνομα Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπάρχον εἰς τἀσαφές. τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον εὐαστὴς {οὕτως} ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ἐλέγετο, ὡς αὐτός τ´ εἰκάζω καὶ ἐν πολλαῖς εὑρίσκω γραφαῖς ἐπιχωρίοις φερόμενον. τότε δὲ πρῶτον, ὡς Λικίννιος ἱστορεῖ, τοῦτον ἐξευρούσης τὸν θρίαμβον τῆς βουλῆς. διαφέρει δὲ θατέρου πρῶτον μέν, ὅτι πεζὸς εἰσέρχεται μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς προηγούμενος ὁ τὸν οὐαστὴν κατάγων θρίαμβον, ἀλλ´ οὐκ ἐφ´ ἅρματος ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος· ἔπειθ´ ὅτι οὐ τὴν ποικίλην καὶ χρυσόσημον ἀμφιέννυται στολήν, ᾗ κοσμεῖται ὁ ἕτερος, οὐδὲ τὸν χρυσοῦν ἔχει στέφανον, ἀλλὰ περιπόρφυρον λευκὴν περιβέβληται τήβενναν, τὸ ἐπιχώριον τῶν ὑπάτων τε καὶ στρατηγῶν φόρημα, στέφανον δ´ ἐπίκειται δάφνης, μεμείωται δὲ καὶ τοῦ σκήπτρου τῇ φορήσει παρὰ τὸν ἕτερον, τὰ δ´ ἄλλα πάντα ταὐτὰ ἔχει. αἴτιον δὲ τῷ ἀνδρὶ {Ποστομίῳ} τῆς ἐλάττονος τιμῆς ἐγένετο, καίτοι λαμπροτάτῳ πάντων γενομένῳ κατὰ τὴν μάχην, τὸ πρότερον πταῖσμα ἐν τῇ ἐπιδρομῇ μέγα καὶ σὺν αἰσχύνῃ γενόμενον, ἐξ οὗ τῆς τε δυνάμεως πολλοὺς ἀπώλεσε καὶ αὐτὸς ὀλίγου ἐδέησε σὺν τοῖς περιλειφθεῖσιν ἐκ τῆς τροπῆς αἰχμάλωτος γενέσθαι.

[5,47] The next day the consuls, after burning their own dead, gathered up the spoils (there were even found some arms belonging to the living, which they had thrown away in their flight) and carried off the captives, whom they had taken in considerable numbers, and the booty, in addition to the plunder taken by the soldiers. This booty having been sold at public auction, all the citizens received back the amount of the contributions which they had severally paid for the equipment of the expedition. Thus the consuls, having gained a most glorious victory, returned home. They were both honoured with triumphs by the senate, Menenius with the greater and more honourable kind, entering the city in a royal chariot, and Postumius with the lesser and inferior triumph which they call g-ouastehn or "ovation," perverting the name, which is Greek, to an unintelligible (p139) form. For it was originally called g-euastehs, from what actually took place, according to both my own conjecture and what I find stated in many native histories, the senate, as Licinius relates, having then first introduced this sort of triumph. It differs from the other, first, in this, that the general who triumphs in the manner called the ovation enters the city on foot, followed by the army, and not in a chariot like the other; and, in the next place, because he does not don the embroidered robe decorated with gold, with which the other is adorned, nor does he have the golden crown, but is clad in a white toga bordered with purple, the native dress of the consuls and praetors, and wears a crown of laurel; he is also inferior to the other in not holding a sceptre, but everything else is the same. The reason why this inferior honour was decreed to Postumius, though he had distinguished himself more than any man in the last engagement, was the severe and shameful defeat he had suffered earlier, in the sortie he made against the enemy, in which he not only lost many of his men, but narrowly escaped being taken prisoner himself together with the troops that had survived that rout.