Some authorities state that this war was managed by
the consuls and it was they who celebrated the triumph over the
Samnites, and further that Fabius invaded Apulia and brought
away great quantities of spoil. There is no discrepancy as to
A. Cornelius having been Dictator that year, the only doubt is
whether he was appointed to conduct the war, or whether,
owing to the serious illness of L. Plautius, the praetor, he was
appointed to give the signal for starting the chariot races, and
after discharging this not very noteworthy function resigned
office. It is difficult to decide which account or which authority
to prefer. I believe that the true history has been falsified by
funeral orations and lying inscriptions on the family busts, since
each family appropriates to itself an imaginary record of noble
deeds and official distinctions. It is at all events owing to this
cause that so much confusion has been introduced into the
records of private careers and public events. There is no writer
of those times now extant who was contemporary with the
events he relates and whose authority, therefore, can he de-
pended upon.
