1Minucius, on the other hand, though he had been scarcely bearable even before because of his successes and the favour of the crowd, now indeed boasted beyond all measure and modesty of having defeated Quintus Fabius no less than Hannibal: that man, sought out in adversity as the one commander and the match for Hannibal, had by order of the people, something no record in the annals contained, been made equal, the greater to the lesser, the dictator to the master of the horse, in that very state in which masters of the horse had been used to dread and shudder at the dictator's rods and axes: so brightly had his own good fortune and valour shone out.
4He would therefore follow his fortune, if the dictator persisted in delay and sloth, which had been condemned by the judgement of gods and men. 5So on the day he first met Quintus Fabius, he said that first of all it must be settled how they were to use their equal command: he thought it best that supreme authority and command should belong to each of them in turn, either on alternate days or, if longer intervals were preferred, for set periods, so that he might be a match for the enemy not only in strategy but in strength too, if he should have any opportunity for action. 8Quintus Fabius by no means approved of this: everything would meet with whatever fortune his colleague's rashness met with.
8The command had been shared with that man, not taken from himself: so he would never willingly give up the part in which he could manage affairs by good counsel, nor would he divide periods or days of command with him, but rather the army, and by his own counsels, since he could not save everything, he would save what he could. 10So he obtained an arrangement by which they divided the legions between them, as was the custom for consuls. 10The first and fourth fell to Minucius, the second and third to Fabius. 11Likewise they divided the cavalry in equal numbers; 11and the auxiliaries of the allies and the Latin name they divided as well.
11The master of the horse wished them to be separated in camp too.