[15,4] Οἱ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ὕπατοι πᾶσαν τὴν μεταξὺ γῆν ἀδεῶς διελθόντες τῶν μὲν οὐκ ἐναντιουμένων, τῶν δὲ συμπροπεμπόντων - πολλαὶ δ´ εἰσὶ δυσχωρίαι κατὰ τὴν ἐκ Ῥώμης εἰς Καμπανίαν ἄγουσαν ὁδὸν ὄρεσί τε καὶ τέλμασι καὶ θαλάτταις καὶ ποταμοῖς ναυσιπόροις διακλειόμεναι, ἃς οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἦν διελθεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων προκαταληφθείσας - καί τινα καὶ ποταμόν, ὃς διὰ τῆς Κασιλίνων χώρας καὶ πόλεως φέρεται, τριάκοντα τῆς Καπύης ἀπέχοντα στάδια, Οὐολτοῦρνον ὄνομα, τεττάρων οὐκ ἐλάττω πλέθρων ὄντα τὸ πλάτος, ξυλίνῃ γεφύρᾳ διαβάντες, ἣν ἐν τρισὶ κατεσκεύασαν ἡμέραις, διεξῄεσαν, ἵνα τοῖς μὲν τὰ σφέτερα φρονοῦσι Καμπανοῖς θάρσος ὡς τὰ κράτιστα προῃρημένοις ἐγγένηται, τοῖς δὲ τἀναντία δέος. καὶ προελθόντες ἐπέκεινα τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ τετταράκοντα σταδίων Καπύης στρατοπεδεύονται ἐν ὑψηλῷ τόπῳ θέντες τὸν χάρακα, ἔνθα ὑπομένοντες τὰς παρὰ Σαυνιτῶν ἀγοράς τε καὶ συμμαχίας ἐκαραδόκουν. οἱ δ´ ἄρα ὑπισχνοῦντο μὲν αὐτοῖς πλείω τῶν ἱκανῶν, ἐπήρκουν δ´ οὐδὲν ὅτι καὶ λόγου ἄξιον, στρατιάν τ´ ἀγείρειν ἐκ πάσης πόλεως σκηπτόμενοι κατέτριβον τοὺς χρόνους. ἀπογνόντες δὴ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἐπικουρίας καὶ τὰς μὲν ἑαυτῶν δυνάμεις ὁρῶντες οὐθὲν ἰσχύος ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου προσλαμβανούσας, τὰς δὲ τῶν πολεμίων μακρῷ πλείους γιγνομένας, ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα χωρεῖν ἔγνωσαν. ἐνθυμούμενοι δ´ ὅτι πολὺ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐστι τὸ δυσάγωγον καὶ ταῖς ἐπιταγαῖς τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἀπειθές, ὡς ἐν ἄλλαις τε πολλαῖς πείραις ἐδήλωσε καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα ἐν τῇ Καμπανικῇ παραχειμασίᾳ, ἀφ´ ἧς εἰς τοσαύτην ἀπόνοιαν ἦλθον αὐτῶν τινες, ὥστε καὶ πόλεσιν ἐπιθέσθαι καὶ τὸν ὕπατον καταλιπεῖν καὶ κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος ὅπλα ἀναλαβεῖν, τούτους ᾤοντο δεῖν πρῶτον ἀποδεῖξαι σωφρονεστέρους, δεινότερον ποιήσαντες αὐτοῖς τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἡγεμόνων φόβον ἢ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων κίνδυνον. ταῦτα διανοηθέντες ἐκκλησίαν συνῆγον, καὶ λέγει Μάλλιος· {ζήτει ἐν τῷ περὶ στρατηγημάτων καὶ δημηγοριῶν. περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ Μαλλίου τοῦ μονομαχήσαντος.}

[15,4] The Roman consuls passed unhindered through all the intervening region, some of the people offering no opposition and others actually escorting them on their way. There are many difficult passes along the road that leads from Rome to Campania,a hemmed in by mountains, marshes, arms of the sea, and navigable rivers, and it was not easy to get through them when they had been occupied in advance by the enemy. (p297) They also crossed a river, called the Volturnus, which flows through the territory and city of Casilinum, distant thirty stades from Capua and not less than four plethra in breadth, getting across by means of a wooden bridge which they constructed in three days. They made their way through all these difficulties in order to inspire confidence in those of the Campanians who sided with them and convince them that they had made the best choice, and to inspire fear in those who took the opposite course. 3 When they had advanced beyond the city, they encamped at a distance of forty stades from Capua, entrenching themselves in a lofty position, where they waited and kept watch for the provisions and reinforcements they expected from the Samnites. These, it seems, kept promising them more than was required, but were not furnishing anything worth mentioning, and while pretending to be gathering an army out of every city, were really marking time. 4 The consuls, therefore, despairing of reinforcements from that quarter, and observing that their own forces were receiving no accession of strength with the passing of time, whereas those of the enemy were becoming much more numerous, resolved to set to work. But bearing in mind that a large part of the army was hard to manage and slow to obey the orders of its commanders, as it had shown not only on many other occasions, but also most recently while in its winter quarters in Campania, where some of them had gone to such a degree of madness as to make an attack upon cities, to desert the consul, and to take up arms against the fatherland, they thought they ought first of all to make these men more circumspect by causing (p299) them to regard the reproof coming from their commanders as a more terrible thing than the danger threatening from their enemies. 6 With this purpose in mind they called an assembly, and Manlius said: