The second and fourth were employed in the war in Samnium, under the proconsul, Lucius Volumnius.

In the first encounter the action was supported with strength so equal on both sides, that had the Etrurians and Umbrians been present, either in the field or at the camp, in whichever place they might have employed their force, the Romans must have been defeated.
28.

However, although the victory was still undecided, fortune not having declared in favour of either party, yet the course of the fight was by no means similar on both right and left wings.

The Romans, under Fabius, rather repelled than offered assault, and the contest was protracted until very late in the day, for their general knew very well, that both Samnites and Gauls were furious in the first onset, so that, to withstand them would be sufficient.

It was known, too, that in a protracted contest the spirits of the Samnites gradually flagged, and even the bodies of the Gauls, remarkably ill able to bear labour and heat, became quite relaxed, and although, in their first efforts, they were more than men, yet in their last they were less than women.
He, therefore, reserved the strength of his men as unimpaired as possible, until the time when the enemy were the more likely to be worsted.