The people, placated, gathered to swear the military oath and soon afterwards Servilius led the Roman army from the city and pitched camp a short distance from the enemy.
The consul held back the Roman troops at first, allowing the Volsci to destroy a large part of the fortifications surrounding the camp.
[5] During the period of popular discontent in Rome which led to the First secessio plebis in 494 BC, each of the Volsci, Sabines and the Aequi took up arms at the same time.
[7] In 493 BC the Roman army, led by the consul Postumus Cominius Auruncus fought and defeated a force of the Volsci from the coastal town of Antium.
[15] In 483 BC Livy says that the Volsci renewed hostilities, but gives little detail except to say that the Romans paid little attention to the issue, as their own strength was more than sufficient, and they were distracted by internal matters.
The Roman consul Gaius Nautius Rutilus was then sent against the Volsci and the Volscian territory was ravaged, but there was no significant engagement between the opposing forces.
[18][19] After reaching the safety of Roman territory, Appius gathered the remnants of his army, and ordered that all of the soldiers who had lost their equipment or standards, and all of the officers who had deserted their posts should be flogged and beheaded.
The ancient writers report that in the following year, the Etruscans, the Volsci and the Aequi all raised armies in hope of exploiting this blow to Roman power while the Latins and Hernici abandoned their alliance with Rome.
[26] According to Plutarch, Camillus raised a new army, which included men normally considered too old for military service, eluded the Volsci by marching around Mount Marcius and arrived in the enemy's rear where he made his presence known by lighting fires.
Knowing that a strong wind would blow down from the mountains at sunrise, Camillus ordered part of his forces to make a diversionary attack on the opposite side, while he led the rest of the army to hurl fire into the enemy camp once the sun rose.
[28] According to Livy, who does not mention the consular tribunes' initial difficulties, the news of Camillus' appointment to command was enough to cause the Volsci to barricade themselves in their camp at ad Maecium near Lanuvium.
Camillus set fire to the barricades, throwing the Volscian army into such confusion so that when the Romans assaulted the camp, they had little problem routing the Volsci.
[31] The many similarities between accounts of the campaigns of 389 and 386 BC (for which see below) - in both Camillus is placed in command, defeats the Volsci and comes to the aid of Sutrium - has caused several modern authors to consider these to be doublets of each other.
[32] Cornell (1995) believes the Gallic sack to have been a setback to Rome from which she rapidly recovered, and sees the Roman victories that followed as continuation of an aggressive expansionist policy begun three decades earlier.
However the original historical records probably just stated that the Romans won against the Volsci in a battle fought ad Maecium, all other details being later inventions.
[34] Except for the repayment of the gold to the matrons, Livy's description of Camillus' triumph that year could be based on authentic information; if so this would help confirm the fighting happened.
He chose one of the other consular tribunes, Publius Valerius Potitus Poplicola, as his colleague in the Volscan war, tasking the other four with defending and governing the city.
Camillus first began a regular investment, but when sorties disrupted the construction of his siege works, he changed tactics and carried the city by storm.
Leaving Valerius in command of the army, Camillus returned to Rome to urge the senate to continue the war and attack Antium, the Volscian capital.
More recently, Cornell (1995), Oakley (1997) and Forsythe (2005) have instead chosen to interpret these events as part of an expansionist Roman policy to take control of the Pomptine region.
In Rome, on the advice of the senate, the tribes unanimously declared war on Velitrae after five commissioners had been appointed to distribute the Pomptine territory and three to settle a colony at Nepete.
[57] Having described Camillus' victory at Satricum, Livy and Plutarch move on to narrate the Roman annexation of the Latin town of Tusculum.
[60] In 379 the Romans assigned command of the Volscian war to consular tribunes Publius and Gaius Manlius due to the two's high birth and popularity, but this proved to be a mistake.
In Rome it was first decided to nominate a Dictator, but when the Romans realized that the Volsci did not intend to follow up their victory, they chose to recall their army from Volscian territory instead.
One, commanded by consular tribunes Spurius Furius Medullinus and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, was to march towards Antium and the coastal areas, the other, under Quintus Servilius Fidenas and Lucius Geganius Macerinus, was to head for Ecetra and the mountains.
[68] Judged by the foundation of colonies and land allotments in the Pomptine region, it appears that by this time the Volsci no longer posed a serious threat to Roman power.
[81] The sparse mention of Volsci in Livy's account of the 350s suggest that they had been subdued by the repeated fighting in previous years and for the moment posed little threat to Roman expansion.
The 4000 who had surrendered were marched in front of the consul's chariot during his triumphal procession and subsequently sold, bringing in a large sum for the State treasury.
The Romans assigned both the war against Privernum and against Antium to one of the consuls for 341, Gaius Plautius Venno, while the other, Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus, campaigned against the Samnites.
The Romans gathered a large quantity of arms left behind at the battlefield and in the Volscian camps which the consul ordered burnt as a sacrifice to Lua Mater.