5 The Roman general, not suspecting the stratagem that
was laid against him, marched directly by the shortest road, which lay
through the defile, to relieve that city; and was not undeceived till
he saw his army surrounded, and blocked up on every side.[2] 6.
Pon'tius, thus having the Romans entirely in his power, first obliged
the army to pass under the yoke, after having stript them of all but
their under garments. He then stipulated, that they should wholly quit
the territories of the Samnites, and that they should continue to live
upon the terms of their former confederacy. 7. The Romans were
constrained to submit to this ignominious treaty, and marched into
Cap'ua disarmed, half naked, and burning with a desire of _retrieving_
their lost honour. 8. When the army arrived at Rome, the whole city
was most sensibly affected at their shameful return; nothing but grief
and resentment were to be seen, and the whole city was put into
mourning.
9. This was a transitory calamity; the state had suffered a diminution
of its glory, but not of its power.
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