The Battle of Aquilonia was fought in 293 BC between the Roman Republic and the Samnites. The Romans, led by the Consuls Lucius Papirius Cursor and Spurius Carvilius Maximus, were victorious. According to Titus Livius, the Samnites were desperately short of men, and thus called a general muster to Aquilonia, which all men of Samnium were required to answer. There, they took strict religious oaths to their country, and were then forced to join the army upon an altar to the gods. If they refused, they were slain on the spot and their bodies left in a pile as a reminder to all others what would happen if they refused.