FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE SAMNITE WAR TO THE SUBJUGATION OF ITALY. B.C.
290-265.
Ten years elapsed from the conclusion of the third Samnite war to the
arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy. During this time the Etruscans and Gauls
renewed the war in the north, but were defeated with great slaughter
near the Lake Vadimo. This decisive battle appears to have completely
crushed the Etruscan power; and it inflicted so severe a blow upon the
Gauls that we hear no more of their ravages for the next sixty years.
In the south the Lucanians also rose against Rome. The extension of the
Roman dominion in the south of the peninsula had brought the state into
connection with the Greek cities, which at one period were so numerous
and powerful as to give to this part of Italy the name of Magna
Græcia.[25] Many of these cities had now fallen into decay through
internal dissensions and the conquests of the Lucanians and other
Sabellian tribes; but Tarentum, originally a Lacedæmonian colony, still
maintained her former power and splendor. The Tarentines naturally
regarded with extreme jealousy the progress of the Roman arms in the
south of Italy, and had secretly instigated the Etruscans and Lucanians
to form a new coalition against Rome. But the immediate cause of the war
between the Lucanians and Romans was the assistance which the latter had
rendered to the Greek city of Thurii. Being attacked by the Lucanians,
the Thurians applied to Rome for aid, and the Consul C. Fabricius not
only relieved Thurii, but defeated the Lucanians and their allies in
several engagements (B.C. 252). Upon the departure of Fabricius a Roman
garrison was left in Thurii. The only mode now of maintaining
communication between Rome and Thurii was by sea; but this was virtually
forbidden by a treaty which the Romans had made with Tarentum nearly
twenty years before, in which treaty it was stipulated that no Roman
ships of war should pass the Lacinian promontory. But circumstances were
now changed, and the Senate determined that their vessels should no
longer be debarred from the Gulf of Tarentum. There was a small squadron
of ten ships in those seas under the command of L. Valerius; and one
day, when the Tarentines were assembled in the theatre, which looked
over the sea, they saw the Roman squadron sailing toward their harbor.
This open violation of the treaty seemed a premeditated insult, and a
demagogue urged the people to take summary vengeance. They rushed down
to the harbor, quickly manned some ships, and gained an easy victory
over the small Roman squadron. Only half made their escape, four were
sunk, one taken, and Valerius himself killed. After this the Tarentines
marched against Thurii, compelled the inhabitants to dismiss the Roman
garrison, and then plundered the town.
The Senate sent an embassy to Tarentum to complain of these outrages and
to demand satisfaction. L. Postumius, who was at the head of the
embassy, was introduced with his colleagues into the theatre, to state
to the assembled people the demands of the Roman Senate. He began to
address them in Greek, but his mistakes in the language were received
with peals of laughter from the thoughtless mob. Unable to obtain a
hearing, much less an answer, Postumius was leaving the theatre, when a
drunken buffoon rushed up to him and sullied his white robe in the most
disgusting manner. The whole theatre rang with shouts of laughter and
clapping of hands, which became louder and louder when Postumius held up
his sullied robe and showed it to the people. "Laugh on now," he cried,
"but this robe shall be washed in torrents of your blood."
War was now inevitable. The luxurious Tarentines sent an embassy to
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, begging him, in the name of all the Italian
Greeks, to cross over into Italy in order to conduct the war against the
Romans. They told him that they only wanted a general, and that all the
nations of Southern Italy would flock to his standard. Pyrrhus needed no
persuasion to engage in an enterprise which realized the earliest dreams
of his ambition. The conquest of Italy would naturally lead to the
sovereignty of Sicily and Africa, and he would then be able to return to
Greece with the united forces of the West to overcome his rivals and
reign as master of the world. But as he would not trust the success of
his enterprise to the valor and fidelity of Italian troops, he began to
make preparations to carry over a powerful army. Meantime he sent Milo,
one of his generals, with a detachment of 3000 men, to garrison the
citadel of Tarentum. Pyrrhus himself crossed over from Epirus toward the
end of B.C. 281, taking with him 20,000 foot, 3000 horse, and 20
elephants.
Upon reaching Tarentum he began to make preparations to carry on the war
with activity. The Tarentines soon found they had obtained a master
rather than an ally. He shut up the theatre and all other public places,
and compelled their young men to serve in his ranks. Notwithstanding all
his activity, the Romans were first in the field. The Consul M. Valerius
Lævinus marched into Lucania; but as the army of Pyrrhus was inferior to
that of the Romans, he attempted to gain time by negotiation in order
that he might be joined by his Italian allies. He accordingly wrote to
the Consul, offering to arbitrate between Rome and the Italian states;
but Lævinus bluntly told him to mind his own business and retire to
Epirus. Fearing to remain inactive any longer, although he was not yet
joined by his allies, Pyrrhus marched out against the Romans with his
own troops and the Tarentines. He took up his position between the towns
of Pandosia and Heraclea, on the River Siris. The Romans, who were
encamped on the other side of the river, were the first to begin the
battle. They crossed the river, and were immediately attacked by the
cavalry of Pyrrhus, who led them to the charge in person, and
distinguished himself as usual by the most daring acts of valor. The
Romans, however, bravely sustained the attack; and Pyrrhus, finding that
his cavalry could not decide the day, ordered his infantry to advance.
The battle was still contested most furiously: seven times did both
armies advance and retreat; and it was not till Pyrrhus brought forward
his elephants, which bore down every thing before them, that the Romans
took to flight, leaving their camp to the conqueror (B.C. 280).
This battle taught Pyrrhus the difficulty of the enterprise he had
undertaken. Before the engagement, when he saw the Romans forming their
line as they crossed the river, he said to his officers, "In war, at any
rate, these barbarians are not barbarous;" and afterward, as he saw the
Roman dead lying upon the field with all their wounds in front, he
exclaimed, "If these were my soldiers, or if I were their general, we
should conquer the world." And, though his loss had been inferior to
that of the Romans, still so large a number of his officers and best
troops had fallen, that he said, "Another such victory, and I must
return to Epirus alone." He therefore resolved to avail himself of this
victory to conclude, if possible, an advantageous peace. He sent his
minister Cineas to Rome with the proposal that the Romans should
recognize the independence of the Greeks in Italy, restore to the
Samnites, Lucanians, Apulians, and Bruttians all the possessions which
they had lost in war, and make peace with himself and the Tarentines.
As soon as peace was concluded on these terms he promised to return all
the Roman prisoners without ransom. Cineas, whose persuasive eloquence
was said to have won more towns for Pyrrhus than his arms, neglected no
means to induce the Romans to accept these terms. The prospects of the
Republic seemed so dark and threatening that many members of the Senate
thought it would be more prudent to comply with the demands of the king;
and this party would probably have carried the day had it not been for
the patriotic speech of the aged Ap. Claudius Caucus, who denounced the
idea of a peace with a victorious foe with such effect that the Senate
declined the proposals of the king, and commanded Cineas to quit Rome
the same day.
Cineas returned to Pyrrhus, and told him he must hope for nothing from
negotiation; that the city was like a temple of the gods, and the Senate
an assembly of kings. Pyrrhus now advanced by rapid marches toward Rome,
ravaging the country as he went along, and without encountering any
serious opposition. He at length arrived at Præneste, which fell into
his hands. He was now only 24 miles from Rome, and his outposts advanced
six miles farther. Another march would have brought him under the walls
of the city; but at this moment he learned that peace was concluded with
the Etruscans, and that the other Consul had returned with his army to
Rome. All hope of compelling the Romans to accept the peace was now
gone, and he therefore resolved to retreat. He retired slowly into
Campania, and from thence withdrew into winter quarters to Tarentum.
As soon as the armies were quartered for the winter, the Romans sent an
embassy to Pyrrhus to negotiate the ransom or exchange of prisoners. The
embassadors were received by Pyrrhus in the most distinguished manner;
and his interviews with C. Fabricius, who was at the head of the
embassy, form one of the most famous stories in Roman history. Fabricius
was a fine specimen of the sturdy Roman character. He cultivated his
farm with his own hands, and, like his contemporary Curius, was
celebrated for his incorruptible integrity. The king attempted in vain
to work upon his cupidity and his fears. He steadily refused the large
sums of money offered by Pyrrhus; and when an elephant, concealed behind
him by a curtain, waved his trunk over his head, Fabricius remained
unmoved. Such respect did his conduct inspire, that Pyrrhus attempted to
persuade him to enter into his service and accompany him to Greece. The
object of the embassy failed. The king refused to exchange the
prisoners; but, to show them his trust in their honor, he allowed them
to go to Rome in order to celebrate the Saturnalia, stipulating that
they were to return to Tarentum if the Senate would not accept the terms
which he had previously offered through Cineas. The Senate remained firm
in their resolve, and all the prisoners returned to Pyrrhus, the
punishment of death having been denounced against those who should
remain in the city.
In the following year (B.C. 279) the war was renewed, and a battle was
fought near Asculum. The Romans fled to their camp, which was so near to
the field of battle that not more than 6000 fell, while Pyrrhus lost
more than half this number. The victory yielded Pyrrhus little or no
advantage, and he was obliged to retire to Tarentum for the winter
without effecting any thing more during the campaign. In the last
battle, as well as in the former, the brunt of the action had fallen
almost exclusively upon his Greek troops; and the state of Greece, which
this year was overrun by the Gauls, made it hopeless for him to expect
any re-enforcements from Epirus. He was therefore unwilling to hazard
his surviving Greeks by another campaign with the Romans, and
accordingly lent a ready ear to the invitations of the Greeks in Sicily,
who begged him to come to their assistance against the Carthaginians. It
was necessary, however, first to suspend hostilities with the Romans,
who were likewise anxious to get rid of so formidable an opponent, that
they might complete the subjugation of Southern Italy without farther
interruption. When both parties had the same wishes it was not difficult
to find a fair pretext for bringing the war to a conclusion. This was
afforded at the beginning of the following year (B.C. 278) by one of the
servants of Pyrrhus deserting to the Romans, and proposing to the
Consuls to poison his master. They sent back the deserter to the king,
saying that they abhorred a victory gained by treason. Thereupon
Pyrrhus, to show his gratitude, sent Cineas to Rome with all the Roman
prisoners, without ransom and without conditions; and the Romans granted
him a truce.
Leaving Milo with part of his troops in possession of Tarentum, Pyrrhus
now crossed over into Sicily. He remained there upward of two years. At
first he met with brilliant success, and deprived the Carthaginians of a
great part of the island. Subsequently, however, he received a severe
repulse in an attempt which he made upon the impregnable town of
Lilybæum. The fickle Greeks now began to form cabals and plots against
him. This led to retaliation on his part, and he soon became as anxious
to abandon the island as he had been before to leave Italy. Accordingly,
when his Italian allies again begged him to come to their assistance, he
readily complied with their request, and arrived in Italy in the autumn
of B.C. 276. His troops were now almost the same in number as when he
first landed in Italy, but very different in quality. The faithful
Epirots had for the most part fallen, and his present soldiers consisted
chiefly of mercenaries, whom he had levied in Italy. One of his first
operations was the recovery of Locri, which had revolted to the Romans;
and as he here found himself in great difficulties for want of money to
pay his troops, he was induced to take possession of the treasures of
the Temple of Proserpine in that town; but the ships conveying the money
were wrecked. This circumstance deeply affected the mind of Pyrrhus; he
ordered the treasures which were saved to be restored to the temple, and
from this time became haunted by the idea that the wrath of Proserpine
was pursuing him, and dragging him down to ruin.
The following year (B.C. 274) closed the career of Pyrrhus in Italy. The
Consul M'. Curius marched into Samnium, and his colleague into Lucania.
Pyrrhus advanced against Curius, who was encamped in the neighborhood of
Beneventum, and resolved to fight with him before he was joined by his
colleague. As Curius did not wish to risk a battle with his own army
alone, Pyrrhus planned a night-attack upon his camp. But he
miscalculated the time and the distance; the torches burnt out, the men
missed their way, and it was already broad daylight when he reached the
heights above the Roman camp. Still their arrival was quite unexpected;
but, as a battle was now inevitable, Curius led out his men. The troops
of Pyrrhus, exhausted by fatigue, were easily put to the rout; two
elephants were killed and eight more taken. Encouraged by this success,
Curius no longer hesitated to meet the king in the open plain, and
gained a decisive victory. Pyrrhus arrived at Tarentum with only a few
horsemen. Shortly afterward he crossed over to Greece, leaving Milo with
a garrison at Tarentum. Two years afterward he perished in an attack
upon Argos, ingloriously slain by a tile hurled by a woman from the roof
of a house.
The departure of Pyrrhus left the Lucanians and other Italian tribes
exposed to the full power of Rome. They nevertheless continued the
hopeless struggle a little longer; but in B.C. 272 Tarentum fell into
the hands of Rome, and in a few years afterward every nation in Italy,
to the south of the Macra and the Rubicon, owned the supremacy of Rome.
She had now become one of the first powers in the ancient world. The
defeat of Pyrrhus attracted the attention of the nations of the East;
and in B.C. 273, Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, sent an embassy to
Rome, and concluded a treaty with the Republic.
The dominion which Rome had acquired by her arms was confirmed by her
policy. She pursued the same system which she had adopted upon the
subjugation of Latium, keeping the cities isolated from one another, but
at the same time allowing them to manage their own affairs. The
population of Italy was divided into three classes. _Cives Romani_,
_Nomen Latinum_, and _Socii_.
I. CIVES ROMANI, or ROMAN CITIZENS.--These consisted: (1.) Of the
citizens of the thirty-three Tribes into which the Roman territory was
now divided, and which extended north of the Tiber a little beyond Veii,
and southward as far as the Liris; though even in this district there
were some towns, such as Tibur and Prænesté, which did not possess the
Roman franchise. (2.) Of the citizens of Roman colonies planted in
different parts of Italy. (3.) Of the citizens of municipal towns upon
whom the Roman franchise was conferred. In some cases the Roman
franchise was granted without the right of voting in the Comitia
(_civitas sine suffragio_), but in course of time this right also was
generally conceded.
II. NOMEN LATINUM, or the LATIN NAME.--This term was applied to the
colonies founded by Rome which did not enjoy the rights of Roman
citizenship, and which stood in the same position with regard to the
Roman state as had been formerly occupied by the cities of the Latin
League. The name originated at a period when colonies were actually sent
out in common by the Romans and Latins, but similar colonies continued
to be founded by the Romans alone long after the extinction of the Latin
League. In fact, the majority of the colonies planted by Rome were of
this kind, the Roman citizens who took part in them voluntarily
resigning their citizenship, in consideration of the grants of land
which they obtained. But the citizen of any Latin colony might emigrate
to Rome, and be enrolled in one of the Roman tribes, provided he had
held a magistracy in his native town. These Latin colonies--the _Nomen
Latinum_--were some of the most flourishing towns in Italy.
III. SOCII, or ALLIES, included the rest of Italy. Each of the towns
which had been conquered by Rome had formed a treaty (_foedus_) with
the latter, which determined their rights and duties. These treaties
were of various kinds, some securing nominal independence to the towns,
and others reducing them to absolute subjection.
The political changes in Rome itself, from the time of the Latin wars,
have been already in great part anticipated. Appius Claudius, afterward
named Cæcus, or the Blind, introduced a dangerous innovation in the
constitution during the Second Samnite War. Slavery existed at Rome, as
among the other nations of antiquity; and as many slaves, from various
causes, acquired their liberty, there gradually sprung up at Rome a
large and indigent population of servile origin. These Freedmen were
Roman citizens, but they could only be enrolled in the four city-tribes,
so that, however numerous they might become, they could influence only
the votes of four tribes. Appius Claudius, in his Censorship (B.C.
312), when making out the lists of citizens, allowed the Freedmen to
enroll themselves in any tribe they pleased; but this dangerous
innovation was abolished by the Censors Q. Fabius Maximus and P. Decius
Mus (B.C. 304), who restored all the Freedmen to the four city-tribes.
The Censorship of Appius is, however, memorable for the great public
works which he executed. He made the great military road called the
Appian Way (Via Appia), leading from Rome to Capua, a distance of 120
miles, which long afterward was continued across the Apennines to
Brundusium. He also executed the first of the great aqueducts (Aqua
Appia) which supplied Rome with such an abundance of water.
Cn. Flavius, the son of a Freedman, and Secretary to Appius Claudius,
divulged the forms and times to be observed in legal proceedings. These
the Patricians had hitherto kept secret; they alone knew the days when
the courts would be held, and the technical pleadings according to which
all actions must proceed. But Flavius, having become acquainted with
these secrets, by means of his patron, published in a book a list of the
formularies to be observed in the several kinds of actions, and also set
up in the forum a whited tablet containing a list of all the days on
which the courts could be held. In spite of his ignominious birth, he
was made a Senator by Appius Claudius, and was elected Curule Ædile by
the people.
[Illustration: Temple of Vesta. (From a Coin.)]
[Footnote 25: See p. 6. (The end of Chapter I.--Transcriber)]
[Illustration: Mount Ercta in Sicily.]