24. They then marched back to Sora; and the new consuls, Marcus
Poetelius and Caius Sulpicius, receive the army from the dictator
Fabius, discharging a great part of the veteran soldiers, having
brought with them new cohorts to supply their place. Now while, on
account of the dire situation of the city, no certain mode of attack
could be devised, and success must either be distant in time, or at
desperate risk; a deserter from Sora came out of the town privately by
night, and when he had got as far as the Roman watches, desired to be
conducted instantly to the consuls: which being complied with, he made
them an offer of delivering the place into their hands. When he
answered their questions, respecting the means by which he intended to
make good his promise, appearing to state a project by no means idle,
he persuaded them to remove the Roman camp, which was almost close to
the walls, to the distance of six miles; that the consequence would be
that this would render the guards by day, and the watches by night,
the less vigilant. He then desired that some cohorts should post
themselves the following night in the woody places under the town, and
took with himself ten chosen soldiers, through steep and almost
impassable ways, into the citadel, where a quantity of missive weapons
had been collected, larger than bore proportion to the number of men.
There were stones besides, some lying at random, as in all craggy
places, and others heaped up designedly by the townsmen, to add to the
security of the place. Having posted the Romans here, and shown them a
steep and narrow path leading up from the town to the citadel--"From
this ascent," said he, "even three armed men would keep off any
multitude whatever. Now ye are ten in number; and, what is more,
Romans, and the bravest among the Romans. The night is in your favour,
which, from the uncertainty it occasions, magnifies every object to
people once alarmed. I will immediately fill every place with terror:
be ye alert in defending the citadel." He then ran down in haste,