[11,27] Οἱ δὲ διαπραξάμενοι τὸν φόνον ἧκον ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἄγοντες τοὺς τραυματίας καὶ διέσπειραν λόγον, ὡς ἐπιφανεὶς αὐτοῖς πολεμίων λόχος τόν τε Σίκκιον ἀποκτείνειε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἄνδρας, οἷς πρώτοις ἐνέτυχεν, αὐτοί τε πολλὰ τραύματα λαβόντες μόλις αὐτοὺς ἀποφύγοιεν. καὶ ἐδόκουν ἅπασι πιστὰ λέγειν. οὐ μὴν ἔλαθέ γ´ αὐτῶν τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλὰ καίπερ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ τοῦ φόνου γεγονότος καὶ μηδένα μηνυτὴν ἔχοντος ὑπὸ τοῦ χρεὼν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἅπαντα ἐπισκοπούσης τὰ θνητὰ πράγματα δίκης ἐξηλέγχθησαν τεκμηρίοις ἀναμφισβητήτοις. οἱ γὰρ ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ταφῆς τε δημοσίας ἄξιον ἡγούμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τιμαῖς παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους διαφόρου, διὰ πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα, μάλιστα δ´ ὅτι πρεσβύτης ὢν καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας πολεμικῶν ἀγώνων ἀπολυόμενος εἰς κίνδυνον ἑκούσιον ἔδωκεν αὑτὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος, ψηφίζονται συνελθόντες εἰς ἓν ἀπὸ τῶν τριῶν ταγμάτων ἐξελθεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα μετὰ πολλῆς ἀσφαλείας τε καὶ τιμῆς ἐπὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν παρακομισθείη. συγχωρησάντων δὲ τῶν ἡγεμόνων δι´ εὐλάβειαν, μή τινα παράσχοιεν αὐτοῖς ὑποψίαν περὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐπιβουλῆς καλῷ καὶ προσήκοντι ἔργῳ ἐνιστάμενοι, λαβόντες τὰ ὅπλα ἐξῄεσαν. ἐλθόντες δ´ ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ὡς εἶδον οὔτε δρυμοὺς οὔτε φάραγγας οὔτ´ ἄλλο χωρίον, ἔνθα ὑποκαθίζειν ἐστὶ λόχους ἔθος, ἀλλὰ ψιλὸν καὶ περιφανῆ καὶ στενόπορον ὄχθον, δι´ ὑποψίας ἔλαβον εὐθέως τὸ πραχθέν· ἔπειτα τοῖς νεκροῖς προσελθόντες ὡς ἐθεάσαντο τόν τε Σίκκιον αὐτὸν ἀσκύλευτον ἐρριμμένον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας, ἐν θαύματι ἦσαν, εἰ πολέμιοι κρατήσαντες ἐχθρῶν μήτε ὅπλα περιείλαντο μήτ´ ἐσθῆτα περιέδυσαν. διερευνώμενοί τε τὰ πέριξ ἅπαντα ὡς οὔτε στίβον ἵππων οὔτ´ ἴχνος ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲν εὕρισκον ἔξω τῶν διὰ τῆς ὁδοῦ, πρᾶγμα ἀμήχανον ὑπελάμβανον εἶναι πολεμίους ἐπιφανῆναι τοῖς σφετέροις ἀφανεῖς, ὥσπερ πτηνούς τινας ἢ διοπετεῖς. ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέγιστον αὐτοῖς ἐφάνη τεκμήριον τοῦ μὴ πρὸς ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλ´ ὑπὸ φίλων τὸν ἄνδρα ἀπολωλέναι, τὸ μηδένα τῶν πολεμίων εὑρεθῆναι νεκρόν. οὐ γὰρ ἀκονιτί γ´ ἂν ἐδόκουν ἀποθανεῖν Σίκκιον, ἄνδρα καὶ ῥώμην καὶ ψυχὴν ἀνυπόστατον, οὐδὲ τὸν ὑπασπιστήν, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ πεσόντας ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς γενομένης τῆς μάχης. ἐτεκμήραντο δὲ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν τραυμάτων. αὐτός τε γὰρ ὁ Σίκκιος πολλὰς εἶχε πληγὰς τὰς μὲν ὑπὸ χερμάδων, τὰς δ´ ὑπὸ σαυνίων, τὰς δ´ ὑπὸ μαχαιρῶν, καὶ ὁ ὑπασπιστής· οἱ δ´ ὑπ´ ἐκείνων ἀνῃρημένοι πάντες μαχαιρῶν ἢ χερμάδων ἢ σαυνίων, βέλους δὲ οὐδεμίαν. ἀγανάκτησις δὴ μετὰ τοῦτ´ ἐγίνετο πάντων καὶ βοὴ καὶ πολὺς ὀδυρμός· ὡς δὲ κατωλοφύραντο τὴν συμφορὰν ἀράμενοι καὶ κομίσαντες τὸν νεκρὸν ἐπὶ τὸν χάρακα, πολλὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν κατεβόων, καὶ μάλιστα μὲν ἠξίουν κατὰ τὸν στρατιωτικὸν ἀποκτεῖναι νόμον τοὺς ἀνδροφόνους· εἰ δὲ μή, δικαστήριον αὐτοῖς ἀποδοῦναι παραχρῆμα. καὶ πολλοὶ ἦσαν οἱ κατηγορεῖν μέλλοντες αὐτῶν. ὡς δ´ οὐδὲν αὐτῶν εἰσήκουον ἐκεῖνοι, ἀλλὰ τούς τ´ ἄνδρας ἀπεκρύψαντο καὶ τὰς δίκας ἀνεβάλοντο φήσαντες ἐν Ῥώμῃ λόγον ἀποδώσειν τοῖς βουλομένοις αὐτῶν κατηγορεῖν, μαθόντες ὅτι τῶν στρατηγῶν τὸ ἐπιβούλευμα ἦν, τὸν μὲν Σίκκιον ἔθαπτον, ἐκκομιδήν τε ποιησάμενοι λαμπροτάτην καὶ πυρὰν νήσαντες ὑπερμεγέθη καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπαρχόμενοι κατὰ δύναμιν, ὧν νόμος ἐπ´ ἀνδράσιν ἀγαθοῖς εἰς τὴν τελευταίαν τιμὴν φέρεσθαι· πρὸς δὲ τὴν δεκαδαρχίαν ἠλλοτριοῦντο πάντες καὶ γνώμην εἶχον ὡς ἀποστησόμενοι. τὸ μὲν δὴ περὶ Κρουστομέρειαν καὶ Φιδήνην στράτευμα διὰ τὸν Σικκίου τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ θάνατον ἐχθρὸν τοῖς προεστηκόσι τῶν πραγμάτων ἦν.

[11,27] Those who had accomplished his murder returned to the camp bringing their wounded with them, and spread a report that a body of the enemy, having suddenly come upon them, had killed Siccius and the other men whom they first encountered and that they themselves after receiving many wounds had escaped with great difficulty. And their report seemed credible to everyone. However, their crime did not remain concealed, but though the murder was committed in a solitude where there was no possible informant, by the agency of fate itself and that justice which oversees all human actions they were convicted on the strength of incontrovertible evidence. For the soldiers in the camp, feeling that the man deserved both a public funeral and distinctive honour above other men, not only for many other reasons, but particularly because, though he was an old man and exempted by his age from contests of war, he had voluntarily exposed himself to danger for the public good, voted to join together from the three legions and go out to recover his body, in order that it might be brought to the camp in complete security and honour. And the generals consenting to this, for fear that by opposing a worthy and becoming action they might create some suspicion of a plot in regard to the incident, they took their arms and went out of the camp.When they came to the spot and (p91) saw neither woods nor ravines nor any other place of the sort customary for the setting of ambuscades, but a bare hill exposed on all sides and reached by a narrow pass, they at once began to suspect what had happened. Then, approaching the dead bodies and seeing Siccius himself and all the rest cast aside but not despoiled, they marvelled that the enemy, after overcoming their foes, had stripped off neither their arms nor their clothes.And when they examined the whole region round about and found neither tracks of horses nor footsteps of men besides those in the road, they thought it impossible that enemies till then invisible could have suddenly burst into view of their comrades, as if they had been creatures with wings or had fallen from heaven. But, over and above all these and the other signs, what seemed to them the strongest proof that the man had been slain, not by enemies, but by friends, was that the body of no foeman was found. For they could not conceive that Siccius, a man irresistible by reason of both of his strength and of his valour, or his shield-bearer either, or the others who had fallen with him would have perished without offering a stout resistance, particularly since the contest had been waged hand to hand. This they conjectured from their wounds; for both Siccius himself and his shield-bearer having had many wounds, some from stones, others from javelins, and still others from swords, whereas those who had been slain by them all had wounds from swords, but none from a missile weapon. Thereupon they all gave way to resentment and cried out, making great lamentation. (p93) After bewailing the calamity, they took up the body, and carrying it to the camp, indulged in loud outcries against the generals, and they demanded, preferably, that the murderers be put to death in accordance with military law, or else that a civil court be assigned to them immediately; and many were those who were ready to be their accusers.When the generals paid no heed to them, but concealed the men and put off the trials, telling them they would give an accounting in Rome to any who wished to accuse them, the soldiers, convinced that the generals had been the authors of the plot, proceeded to bury Siccius, after arranging a most magnificent funeral procession and erecting an immense pyre, where every man according to his ability presented the first-offerings of everything that is usually employed in rendering the last honours to brave men; but they were all becoming alienated from the decemvirs and had the intention of revolting. Thus the army that la encamped at Crustumerium and Fidenae, because of the death of Siccius the legate, was hostile to the men who stood at the head of the government.