[6,32] Ἔτι δὲ πανηγυρίζουσιν αὐτοῖς πρεσβευταὶ παρῆσαν ἐξ ἔθνους Ἀρούγκων, οἳ τῆς Καμπανῶν χώρας τὰ κάλλιστα πεδία κατεῖχον. οὗτοι καταστάντες ἐπὶ τὴν βουλὴν ἠξίουν τὴν Οὐολούσκων τῶν καλουμένων Ἐχετρανῶν χώραν, ἣν ἀφελόμενοι τοὺς Ἐχετρανοὺς Ῥωμαῖοι κληρούχοις εἰς φυλακὴν τοῦ ἔθνους ἐκπεμφθεῖσι διένειμαν, ἀποδιδόναι σφίσι καὶ τὴν φρουρὰν ἀπαγαγεῖν ἐξ αὐτῆς· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ποιήσωσιν, Ἀρούγκους ἥξοντας ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ὀλίγου χρόνου καὶ δίκας ληψομένους ὅσων διέθεντο τοὺς ὁμόρους κακῶν ἐκδέχεσθαι. Ῥωμαῖοι δ´ αὐτοῖς τάδε ἀπεκρίναντο· Ἀπαγγέλλετε, ὦ πρέσβεις, Ἀρούγκοις, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι δικαιοῦμεν ὅσα κτᾶταί τις ἀρετῇ πολεμίους ἀφελόμενος, ταῦτα τοῖς ἐγγόνοις ὡς οἰκεῖα παραδιδόναι. πόλεμον δ´ οὐ δέδιμεν τὸν Ἀρούγκων οὔτε πρῶτον οὔτε δεινότατον ἐσόμενον· ἀλλ´ ἐν ἔθει ἡμῖν ὑπάρχει πᾶσι μάχεσθαι περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, καὶ ἀρετῆς συναγώνισμά τι ἐσόμενον ὁρῶντες αὐτὸν ἀκαταπλήκτως δεξόμεθα. μετὰ ταῦτ´ Ἀροῦγκοί τε πολλῇ στρατιᾷ ὁρμηθέντες ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν, καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰς οἰκείας δυνάμεις ἔχοντες ἡγουμένου Σερουιλίου, συντυγχάνουσιν ἀλλήλοις ἀγχοῦ πόλεως Ἀρικείας, ἣ διέχει σταδίους ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι τῆς Ῥώμης· καὶ στρατοπεδεύονται ἑκάτεροι ἐν ὄρεσιν ὀχυροῖς ὀλίγον ἀλλήλων διεστῶτες. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοὺς χάρακας ἐκρατύναντο, προῆλθον εἰς τὸ πεδίον ἀγωνιούμενοι, καὶ συμπεσόντες ἐξ ἑωθινῆς μέχρις ἡμέρας μεσούσης ἀντεῖχον, ὥστε πολὺν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων γενέσθαι φόνον. φιλοπόλεμον γὰρ δὴ τὸ τῶν Ἀρούγκων ἔθνος ἦν, καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τε καὶ ῥώμῃ καὶ ὄψεως δεινότητι πολὺ τὸ θηριῶδες ἐχούσῃ φοβερώτατον.

[6,32] While they were celebrating these festivals, (p337) ambassadors came to them from the Auruncans, who inhabited the fairest plains of Campania. These, being introduced into the senate, demanded that the Romans should restore to them the country of the Volscians called Ecetrans, which they had taken from them and divided in allotments among the colonists they had sent thither to guard that people, and that they should withdraw their garrison from there; if they refused to do so, they might expect the Auruncans to invade the territory of the Romans promptly to take revenge for the injuries they had done to their neighbours. To these the Romans gave this answer: "Ambassadors, carry back the word to the Auruncans that we Romans think it right that whatever anyone possesses by having won it from the enemy through valour, he should leave to his posterity as being his own. And we are not afraid of war from the Auruncans, which will be neither the first nor the most formidable war we have been engaged in; indeed, it has always been our custom to fight with all men for the supremacy, and as we see that this will be a contest, as it were, of valour, we shall await it without trepidation." After this the Auruncans, who had set out from their own territory with a large army, and the Romans, with their own forces under the command of Servilius, met near the city of Aricia, which is distant one hundred and twenty stades from Rome; and each of them encamped on hills strongly situated, not far from one another. After they had fortified their camps they advanced to the plain for battle; and engaging early in the morning, they maintained (p339) the fight till noon, so that many were killed on both sides. For the Auruncans were a warlike nation and by their stature, their strength, and the fierceness of their looks, in which there was much of brute savagery, the were exceeding formidable.