Book 41
18
The enemy had not forgotten that it was C. Claudius who had defeated and routed them at the Scultenna, and they prepared to defend themselves against a force of which they had had so unhappy an experience more by the strength of their position than by their arms. With this object they occupied two mountain heights, Letum and Ballista, and enclosed them with a wall. Some who were too late in getting away from their fields were caught and 1500 of them perished; the rest kept to the mountains. But they were not too much cowed to forget their native savagery, and they glutted their cruelty upon what they had taken at Mutina. The prisoners were put to death amid horrible tortures; the cattle were killed in their temples as an act of butchery rather than of sacrifice. When they were satiated with the slaughter of living things they turned to the destruction of inanimate objects and dashed against the walls vessels of every description, though made for use more than for ornament. Q. Petilius did not want the war to be brought to a close while he was absent and sent written instructions to C. Claudius to come to him in Gaul with his army, saying that he should expect him at the Campi Macri. On receiving the despatch C. Claudius left Liguria and handed over his army to the consul at the Campi Macri. A few days later the other consul, C. Valerius, arrived. Here, before the two armies separated, a lustration was completed for them both. As the consuls had settled not to make a combined attack on the enemy, they drew lots to decide in which direction each should advance. It was generally understood that Valerius cast his lot under proper auspices. In the case of Petilius the augurs declared afterwards that he had been at fault, for after the lottery had been taken into the sacred enclosure he remained outside, whereas he ought to have gone in himself .
