[1] See delta 1112 (where more information is given on Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus), as well as tau,791. The incident is mentioned in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 8.79,2 and in detail in Livy 8.7 (where the opponent is called Geminus Maecius, a Tusculan): during the Latin War of Rome against the Latin League, Manlius executed his son for raiding the Latins despite orders not to leave camp. The wording is from Plutarch, Fabius Maximus 9.2 (ἀριστεύσαντος καὶ στεφανωθέντος ἀποκόψας πελέκλει τὸν τράχηλον ; Dionysius has "excelling" and "wreathed", but not the axe). The introduction to the story of a duel is alluded to in a marginal note in Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De insidiis p. 222 de Boor, preserving Dionysius of Halicarnassus 15.4: "See in On Strategems and Deliberative Speeches, concerning the son of Manlius who duelled."]
"Pontius the Latin" may be a reference to the Samnite leader Herennius Pontius, who was active at the time of the First Samnite War (interrupted by the Latin War). (Herennius is known for his exchange with his son Gaius Pontius during the Second Samnite War, recorded in Livy 9.3.)