If they waited, as Cotta advised, they would be
surrounded, and in the end would be starved into surrender.
Cotta was not convinced, and the majority of officers supported him. The
first duty of a Roman army, he said, was obedience to orders. Their
business was to hold the post which had been committed to them, till they
were otherwise directed. The officers were consulting in the midst of the
camp, surrounded by the legionaries. "Have it as you wish," Sabinus
exclaimed, in a tone which the men could hear; "I am not afraid of being
killed. If things go amiss, the troops will understand where to lay the
blame. If you allowed it, they might in forty-eight hours be at the next
quarters, facing the chances of war with their comrades, instead of
perishing here alone by sword or hunger."
Neither party would give way. The troops joined in the discussion. They
were willing either to go or to stay, if their commanders would agree; but
they said that it must be one thing or the other; disputes would be
certain ruin. The discussion lasted till midnight. Sabinus was obstinate,
Cotta at last withdrew his opposition, and the fatal resolution was formed
to march at dawn. The remaining hours of the night were passed by the men
in collecting such valuables as they wished to take with them. Everything
seemed ingeniously done to increase the difficulty of remaining, and to
add to the perils of the march by the exhaustion of the troops.
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