THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR. B.C. 90-89.
Rome had never been exposed to greater danger than at this time. Those
who had been her bravest defenders now rose against her; and she would
probably have perished had the whole Italian people taken part in the
war. But the insurrection was confined almost exclusively to the
Sabellians and their kindred races. The Etruscans and Umbrians stood
aloof, while the Sabines, Volscians, and other tribes who already
possessed the Roman franchise, supported the Republic, and furnished the
materials of her armies. The nations which composed the formidable
conspiracy against Rome were eight in number--the Marsians, Pelignians,
Marrucinians, Vestinians, Picentines, Samnites, Apulians, and Lucanians.
Of these the Marsians were particularly distinguished for their courage
and skill in war; and from the prominent part which they took in the
struggle, it was frequently termed the Marsic as well as the Social War.
The war broke out at Asculum in Picenum. The Proconsul Q. Servilius, who
had the charge of this part of Italy, hearing that the inhabitants of
Asculum were organizing a revolt, entered the town, and endeavored to
persuade them to lay aside their hostile intentions. But he was
murdered, together with his legate, by the exasperated citizens, and all
the Romans in the place were likewise put to death. The insurrection now
became general. The Allies entered upon the war with feelings of bitter
hatred against their former rulers. They resolved to destroy Rome, and
fixed upon Corfinium, a strong city of the Peligni, to which they gave
the name of Italica, as the new capital of the Italian Confederation.
The government of the new Republic was borrowed from that of Rome. It
was to have two Consuls, twelve Prætors, and a Senate of 500 members. Q.
Pompædius Silo, a Marsian, one of the chief instigators of the war, and
C. Papius Mutilus, a Samnite, who cherished the hereditary hatred of his
countrymen against the Romans, were chosen Consuls. Under them were many
able lieutenants, who had learned the art of war under the best Roman
generals. The soldiers had also served, in the Roman armies, and were
armed and disciplined in the same way, so that the contest partook of
all the characters of a civil war. But the Romans had the great
advantage which a single state always possesses over a confederation.
Of the details of the war our information is meagre and imperfect. But
in the military operations we clearly see that the Allies formed two
principal groups: the one composed of the Marsians, with their neighbors
the Marrucinians, Pelignians, Vestinians, and Picentines; the other of
the Samnites, with the Lucanians and Apulians. The two Consuls, L.
Julius Cæsar and P. Rutilius Lupus, took the field with powerful armies,
and under them served Marius, Sulla, and the most experienced generals
of the time. The Romans were fully aware of the formidable nature of the
struggle, which was one for existence, and not for victory. In the first
campaign the advantage was on the side of the Allies. The Samnites,
under their Consul Papius, overran Campania, took most of the towns, and
laid siege to Acerræ, into which Cæsar threw himself. Pompædius Silo was
still more successful. He defeated the Roman Consul P. Rutilius Lupus
with great slaughter, Rutilius himself being slain in the battle. This
disaster was to some extent repaired by Marius, who commanded a separate
army in the neighborhood, and compelled the victorious Allies to retire.
The old general then intrenched himself in a fortified camp, and neither
the stratagems nor the taunts of the Samnites could entice him from his
advantageous position. "If you are a great general," said Pompædius,
"come down and fight;" to which the veteran replied, "Nay, do _you_, if
you are a great general, compel me to fight against my will." The Romans
considered that Marius was over-cautious and too slow; and Plutarch says
that his age and corpulence rendered him incapable of enduring the
fatigue of very active service. But it is more probable that he was not
very willing to destroy the Allies, who had been among his most active
partisans, and to whom he still looked for support in his future
struggles with the Nobility.
The Romans now saw the necessity of making some concessions. The Lex
Julia, proposed by the Consul Julius Cæsar, granted the franchise to all
the Latin colonies, and to those of the Allies who had remained faithful
to Rome, or had laid down their arms. The effects of this concession
were immediately seen. Several of the Allies hastened to avail
themselves of it, and disunion and distrust were produced among the
rest.
The next campaign (B.C. 89) was decidedly favorable to the Romans. The
Consuls were Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of the celebrated Triumvir,
and L. Porcius Cato. The latter, it is true, was slain at the
commencement of the campaign; but his loss was more than compensated by
his lieutenant Sulla obtaining, in consequence, the supreme command. He
carried on the war with the utmost vigor, and completely eclipsed his
old commander Marius. He drove the enemy out of Campania, subdued the
Hirpini, and then penetrated into the very heart of Samnium. Here he
defeated Papius Mutilus, the Samnite Consul, and followed up his victory
by the capture of the strong town of Bovianum.
Meanwhile Pompeius Strabo had been equally successful in the north.
Asculum was reduced after a long and obstinate siege. The Marrucinians,
Vestinians, Pelignians, and finally the Marsians, laid down their arms
before the end of the year. Their submission was facilitated by the Lex
Plautia Papiria, proposed by the Tribunes M. Plautius Silvanus and C.
Papirius Carbo (B.C. 89), which completed the arrangements of the Lex
Julia, and granted, in fact, every thing which the Allies had demanded
before the war. All citizens of a town in alliance with Rome could
obtain, by this law, the Roman franchise, provided they were at the time
resident in Italy, and registered their names with the Prætor within
sixty days.[66]
The war was thus virtually brought to a conclusion within two years, but
300,000 men, the flower of Rome and Italy, perished in this short time.
The only nations remaining in arms were the Samnites and Lucanians, who
still maintained a guerrilla warfare in their mountains, and continued
to keep possession of the strong fortress of Nola, in Campania, from
which all the efforts of Sulla failed to dislodge them.
It now remained to be settled in what way the new citizens were to be
incorporated in the Roman state. If they were enrolled in the
thirty-five tribes, they would outnumber the old citizens. It was
therefore resolved to form ten new tribes, which should consist of the
new citizens exclusively; but, before these arrangements could be
completed, the Civil War broke out.
[Footnote 66: A law of the Consul Pompeius bestowed the Latin franchise
upon all the citizens of the Gallic towns between the Po and the Alps,
so that they now entered into the same relations with Rome as the Latins
had formerly held.]
[Illustration: Terracina.]