They report to the consul, that the city was abandoned by the enemy, as was plain from the solitude, the recent tracks on their retreat, and the things which, in the confusion of the night, they had left scattered up and down.

On hearing this, the consul led round the army to that side of the city which had been examined, and making the troops halt at a little distance from the gate, gave orders that five horsemen should ride into the city; and when they should have advanced a good way into it, then, if they saw all things safe, three should remain there, and the other two return to him with intelligence.

These returned and said, that they had proceeded to a part of the town from which they had a view on every side, and that nothing but silence and solitude reigned through the whole extent of it.

The consul immediately led some light-armed cohorts into the city; ordering the rest to fortify a camp in the mean time.

The soldiers who entered the town, breaking open the doors, found only a few persons, disabled by age or sickness; and such effects left behind as could not, without difficulty, be removed.