Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus ( died c . 280 BC ) was one of the two elected Roman consuls in 298 BC . He led the Roman army to victory against the Etruscans near Volterra . A member of the noble Roman family of Scipiones , he was the father of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina and great - grandfather of Scipio Africanus . General of the third Samnite war . Barbatus rose to preeminence as a patrician officer of the Roman Republic during the crucial period of the Third Samnite War , when Rome finally defeated a coalition of neighboring states : the Etruscans , Umbrian s and Samnites assisted by the Gauls , thereby extending its leadership and sovereignty over most of Italy . Battle of Volterra , 298 BC . Prior to 298 BC war had already broken out between Rome and Etruria when the Etruscans decided to invade Rome in combination with some Gallic allies they had purchased . The planned attack was a violation of a former treaty with Rome . The Gauls reneged and the Etruscans found themselves facing a Roman army under consul Titus Manlius who however died after a fall from his horse in a display of horsemanship . The election held to replace him made Marcus Valerius Corvus consul . He joined the army in Etruria and began to waste the country hoping to provoke the Etruscans to battle , which they refused . In 298 BC Appius Claudius followed by Publius Sulpicius became interreges for reasons unknown . Sulpicius held an election , which brought Barbatus and Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumatus into consular office . The Lucania ns spoke before the Senate saying that the Samnites were devastating their country and asking for the protection of Rome in exchange for a treaty and hostages . The Senate assented after a few moments ' deliberation and dispatched heralds to tell the Samnites to withdraw . Encountering the Samnite army they were told that if they spoke in Samnium they would never leave there alive ; consequently , the Senate declared war on Samnium . In a casting of lots as to which consul would take which war Barbatus won command of the army in Etruria while Centumatus undertook the initial campaign in the Third Samnite War . The Etruscans attacked immediately before Volterra . A day - long battle brought no victory but in the night the Etruscans withdrew to their fortified cities leaving their camp and equipment to the Romans . Encamping his army at the Etrurian border Barbatus led a lightly armed force in the devastation of the countryside . Battle of Tifernum , 297 BC . In the next year the Etruscans sued for peace . The newly elected consuls for 297 BC , Quintus Fabius Maximus and Decius Mus led both armies against Samnium , Barbatus going as lieutenant general ( legatus ) under Maximus . As they advanced into Samnium laying waste to the country the Samnites were hoping to catch them in an ambush in a valley at Tifernum ( Samniticum ) . Stationing a force there to entice the Romans they hid their main force in the hills behind . Fabius saw through the ruse and brought his army up in quadrangular formation before the " hiding place " of the Samnites , who then came down to fight a conventional battle , line - to - line . Unable to obtain a victory , Fabius withdrew the spearmen of the First Legion from the line and sent them under the command of Barbatus stealthily around the enemy flank into the hills behind , whence the latter had earlier descended . They were ordered to coordinate an attack from behind with an especially vigorous cavalry charge to the front of the Samnite line . The plan went entirely wrong : the charge came too soon and was repulsed . A counterattack was beginning to break the Roman line when Barbatus ' men appeared on the hills and were mistaken for the second Roman army under Mus , a disaster for the Samnites if true . They abandoned the field posthaste leaving behind 23 standards and 3400 slain , while 830 were taken prisoner . In fact Publius Decius Mus was far away in south Samnium . Campaigns under Claudius and Flamma , 296 BC . Having routed the Samnite army both consuls proceeded to the systematic reduction of Samnium over a period of five months until the next election . Mus travelled over the country conducting operations from 45 camps successively while Maximus utilized 86 . After elections the new consuls ordered them to continue the war in Samnium for six months , each with the rank of proconsul . The Samnite army under Gellius Egnatius , unable to remain in Samnium , offered its services to Etruria , which were accepted ; under Egnatius ' leadership the Umbria ns were brought in and Gallic mercenaries were hired . Calling a meeting of all the chief men in Etruria Egnatius declared that war for freedom was better than peace with servitude and announced his intention to attack Rome . The Etruscans assented . Receiving intelligence of the new dangerous circumstances the Senate dispatched Appius Claudius into Etruria in command of the First and Fourth Legions and 12 , 000 allied troops . Several inconclusive engagements were fought . The second consul for 296 , Lucius Volumnius Flamma , was assisting the two proconsuls in the reduction of Samnium when the Lucania ns defected , influenced by an appeal from the ordinary people of Samnium . Flamma claimed to have received a letter from Claudius asking for military assistance , a claim which was later denied by Claudius . Sending Maximus ( presumably still with Barbatus ) to the reduction of Lucania he departed for Etruria . Claudius was ill - pleased to see him and had ordered him away when all the officers of his own army met to insist that he be retained . The men took a voice vote of such magnitude that it alarmed the nearby enemy camp and they prepared for battle . The Romans went out to fight immediately , with Claudius giving in to a situation he had to accept . The Romans attacked so fiercely with Claudius , it is said , fighting in the front ranks along with the men and continually invoking the goddess of war , Bellona , with hands upraised to heaven , that they routed the combined enemy force and drove them from their camp , killing 7300 and taking 2120 prisoners . Meanwhile the reduced forces of Maximus and Mus failed to restrain the Samnites , who raised another army with which they invaded and plundered Campania . Arriving there by forced marches Flamma learned that the Samnite army was encamped at the river Volturnus on its way back to Samnium . In the Battle of the Volturnus of 296 BC Flamma ' s army waited in ambush outside the gates of the Samnite camp . Flamma had sent in native spies the night before , who ascertained that the Samnites would make a dawn march . At dawn Flamma allowed part of the Samnite army to march out , splitting their forces , before he launched an attack that had such a momentum it was soon being fought in the camp . 7400 Roman prisoners taken previously by the Samnites freed themselves and joined in the fighting . At the end of the day the Romans had killed 6000 , taken 2500 prisoners including four military tribunes and the commander , Statius Minacius , and captured 30 standards . They redistributed the Samnite booty to claimants and gave the unclaimed property to the soldiers . Samnite hopes in the south had been dealt a fatal blow . News was received at Rome however that Gellius Egnatius had raised another army in the north consisting of Samnites , Etruscans , Umbrians and Gauls . The Senate in a mood of despair prepared to mobilize the last of the Roman forces . They ordered a draft of all males , including adolescents , the elderly and the sons of freedmen . For the first time they began to debate the permanent depopulation of Samnium ( a measure that was never carried out ) . The turning point , 295 BC . The elections of 295 BC were now upon the city . Flamma was recalled to conduct them . Maximus and Mus were elected , with Appius Claudius in the office of praetor . Maximus insisted on commanding in Etruria without the casting of lots that normally apportioned duties to consuls and after an intense public debate the Senate granted his request . He proceeded to Etruria , relieved Claudius of his command and sent him home on the grounds that he was a do - nothing commander who had allowed his men to sit in camp without even the exercise of marches for patrols and training . Thanks to Claudius , Maximus was soon recalled to account for his conduct of the Etrurian campaign and receive any further orders . Barbatus suddenly appears again in the account , indicating that he had been under Maximus ' command all along . Maximus assigns Barbatus as propraetor of the Second Legion stationed temporarily at Clusium . He then departs for Rome . Patrician censor . At the time of his death Barbatus was the patrician censor of 280 BC . His censorate is notable because it is the first one of which we have a reliable record , though the position was quite old by that time . Epitaph . His sarcophagus was discovered in the Tomb of the Scipios ( the only one to survive complete there ) , and is now in the Vatican Museums . It preserves his epitaph , written in Old Latin Saturnian meter : which has been stated in modern upper - and lower - case script as the verse : and also transcribed in classical Latin as : A translation is : There is a rough - hewn area above the epitaph , where it appears that some text has been erased . This has traditionally been interpreted as evidence of an earlier , shorter epitaph , which was replaced by the surviving text at a later date . More recently , however , a detailed analysis of the epitaph has suggested that the surviving text " is " the original inscription , but that the first part of the epitaph has been deleted . A summary of this analysis states : The most compelling arguments that suggest the removal of part of the same verse text we now have relate to the shape and character of the erasure itself . In effect , a fine sarcophagus , which was inscribed with a long and carefully executed text , is marred by a rough erasure . If the erasure was made before the new text was cut , why was more trouble not taken to smooth and prepare the stone ? Moreover , why does our text start at a distance of a third of a line from the margin ? It would have been easy for the mason to produce a better surface so that he could have started at the margin . The whole execution of the inscription itself is very fine and clearly not the work of an amateur . The overall impression is that no expense was spared in the layout of a large tomb and the manufacture of a magnificent sarcophagus for its first occupant . If a short , earlier text had indeed been inscribed , there would have been no reason to write it in small letters at the very top of the ample space available on the front of the sarcophagus . It would surely have been placed more in the middle and in larger letters . . . Barbatus ’ erasure suggests that the letters were the same size and the lines the same length as the extant text . The erasure comprises exactly the length of two of the Saturnian verses below . All these considerations strongly suggest that part of this same text was erased . The question remains as to what was erased by a later family member . . . Whatever was rubbed out must have been controversial or unsatisfactory from the family ’ s point of view Since the tomb was closed in the late Republic , the erasure must date to the middle Republic , and since the tombs were private , the erasure must have been done at the request of an authoritative male family member . In her review of the epitaph , Harriet Flower notes that " The Scipios are also known for their continued search for earlier ancestors . This was done partly by invention and partly by substitution of the cognomen Scipio for earlier ones of branches that later died out . . . It is possible , therefore , that Barbatus ' . . . [ epitaph contained some claim to be the first Scipio , and that this ] . . . became an obstacle to later family members who were eager to find earlier ancestors and other founders , who could compete with the claims of rival families . Such a reconstruction , while it can not be proved , is at least plausible and in accord with the other available evidence . " < br > See also . In the modern era , the Barbatus tomb has been copied numerous times . Here is the tomb of U . S . Postmaster General Henry Payne , c . 1905 , in Forest Home Cemetery , Milwaukee : http : / / www . flickr . com / photos / senvara / 4288376612 /