1The rumour spreads through the whole city; 1they praise the Fabii to the skies: one family had taken up the burden of the state, and the war with Veii had been turned into a private concern, a matter for private arms. 1If there were two clans of the same strength in the city, and one demanded the Volsci for itself, the other the Aequi, all the neighbouring peoples could be subdued while the Roman people enjoyed tranquil peace. 2The next day the Fabii take up arms; 2they assemble where they had been ordered. 3The consul, coming out in his general's cloak, sees his whole clan in the vestibule drawn up in column; 3received into their midst, he orders the standards to advance.
3Never did an army smaller in number or more distinguished in renown and in men's admiration march through the city: three hundred and six soldiers, all patricians, all of one clan, not one of whom you would have rejected as a leader, a senate fit for any times, were on the march, threatening the Veientine people with destruction through the strength of a single family. 5A crowd followed, part of it made up of their own kinsmen and friends, whose minds entertained nothing moderate, neither hope nor anxiety, but everything boundless, part roused by concern for the state, stupefied with enthusiasm and wonder. 6They bid them go bravely, go with good fortune, and make the outcome match the undertaking; 6thereafter they might hope from them for consulships and triumphs, all rewards, all honours.
7As they pass the Capitol and the citadel and the other temples, they pray to whatever gods meet their eyes, whatever gods come into their minds, to send that column forth with blessing and good fortune, and soon to restore them safe to their country and their parents. 8Those prayers were sent in vain. 8Setting out by an ill-starred road, the right-hand arch of the Carmental gate, they arrive at the river Cremera. 8This seemed a suitable place for fortifying a stronghold. 8Then Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Servilius were made consuls. 9And as long as the business went no further than raiding, the Fabii were not only sufficient to protect their stronghold, but throughout the whole region where Tuscan territory borders Roman they made everything of their own safe and everything of the enemy's dangerous, roaming over both frontiers.
10Then there was a brief pause in the raids, while the Veientes, having summoned an army from Etruria, attacked the stronghold on the Cremera, and the Roman legions, brought up by the consul Lucius Aemilius, fought hand to hand with the Etruscans in a pitched battle. 10Though the Veientes scarcely had room to draw up their line; 11so suddenly, in the first confusion, while the ranks were falling in behind the standards and placing their reserves, did a Roman cavalry wing charge in on their flank and deprive them of the chance not only to begin the battle but even to stand their ground. 12So, routed and driven back to the Red Rocks — they had their camp there — they sue for peace as suppliants; 12and when it had been granted, through the fickleness ingrained in their minds, they repented of it before the Roman garrison had been withdrawn from the Cremera.