Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 4
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

38. But now the Romans were everywhere¹ falling back, and it was in vain that Sempronius the consul upbraided or encouraged them. [2] There was no virtue either in his authority or in his dignity; and his men would presently have shown the enemy their backs, had not a cavalry decurion² named Sextus Tempanius, just as the situation was becoming desperate, come with prompt courage to the rescue. [3] In a loud voice he cried out that the horsemen who wished to save the state should leap down from their horses, and when the troopers in every squadron had bestirred themselves as if at the command of the consul, he added: “Unless this bucklered³ cohort stops the enemy's rush it is all over with our supremacy. Follow my spear as your guidon;⁴ show Romans and Volscians that when you are mounted no cavalry are your equals, nor any infantry, when you fight on foot!” [4] When a cheer had shown their approval of this exhortation, he advanced with uplifted spear. Wherever they went they forced a passage; holding their targets up before them, they charged where they saw the distress of their friends was greatest. [5] The fortune of the day was restored at every point where their onset carried them; nor was there any doubt that if those few men could have been present everywhere at the same time the enemy would have turned tail.