As consul in 321, Calvinus and the other consul, Spurius Postumius Albinus, were defeated by the Samnites at the Battle of the Caudine Forks where they were cornered in a mountain pass and forced to surrender, after which their army was forced to "march under the yoke," a symbolic gesture of submission to an enemy. After returning to Rome, Postumius suggested that the consuls be handed over to the Samnites for having made a disgraceful peace with them, but the Samnites rejected this offer.