The New International Encyclopædia/Decius Mus, Publius

​DECIUS MUS, Publius. Father, son, and grandson, consuls and generals of the Roman Republic, around whose memory grew traditions of noble heroism. The first commanded the Roman army in the Latin War (B.C. 337), and just before a battle was fought near Vesuvius, he had a vision and was told that the army of one side and the general of the other were devoted to the gods of the dead. Accordingly, Decius Mus exposed himself to the attack of the enemy and lost his own life that the hostile army might be destroyed. The son found himself in a similar position against the Gauls at the battle of Sentinum (B.C. 295), when his heroic death gave the victory to the Romans; and again the grandson was said to have lost his life voluntarily for the same cause at the battle of Asculum (B.C. 279), in the war with Pyrrhus.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.