anxious to distinguish himself, and was watching intently to discover
which way the cat would jump, observed a backward movement among his
spearmen. His opportunity for glory had now arrived, and the gallant
Mus, rushing recklessly to the scratch, behaved himself less like a mus
than a lion in the conflict. He fell under a perfect shower of javelins,
and lay on the field literally _piqué_ with the pikes of his enemies.
The latter were dismayed, and his own friends animated by what had taken
place; but the rule of contraries must here have prevailed, for the
death of an adverse general should not have disheartened the Latins,
while the sacrifice of their own chief was, if looked at in a proper
light, but poor encouragement for the Romans. They, however, grew bold;
but it was scarcely necessary for them to strike a blow, as the Latins
yielded under the stroke of a panic. They fell in such numbers, that
three parts are said to have perished, and only a fourth of the army
remained to tell of the little quarter allowed them by the enemy.
The Latins suffered so severely from the victory of Decius Mus, that
like rats running from a tottering house, their allies, one by one, fell
away from them. Numisius, the Latin commander, did his utmost to stir up
the spirit of the nation; but the spirit was so thoroughly weakened by
cold water, that it was the act of a spoon to endeavour to agitate so
feeble a compound. He succeeded in raising a slight fermentation, but
what little spirit remained, went off by speedy evaporation in the
process of warming up, under the influence of patriotic fire. A small
and disorderly band, which could not act in concert, was brought into
play, but produced no effect, though it was conducted by Numisius with
considerable energy. The Romans succeeded on every side, the Latin army
was broken down, the confederacy broken up, and one town after another
showed a preference for the better part of valour by surrendering at
discretion. The land taken from the conquered was distributed among the
Roman people; but the word "people" has frequently a very contracted
meaning when profits are being shared, though the term is comprehensive
enough to take in a whole nation when the services of the "people" are
required. It is to be feared the people who went out for the fight were
far more numerous than those who came in for the spoil that had been got
by it.
The beaten Latins had the additional mortification of having to pay
their successful assailants; an arrangement as provoking as it would be
to the victim of an assault to be obliged to discharge the amount of the
penalty, in addition to suffering the inconvenience of the outrage. Thus
was Capua compelled to pension 1600 Campanian knights; and this pension
the Capuans had to give to the knights, simply because the knights had,
in a different sense, given it--severely--to the Capuans. It is doubtful
whether the Samnites took anything by the general adjustment--if that
can be called an adjustment in which justice had little share; but that
they left much behind them is quite notorious.
Among their equipments for battle had been several gorgeous gold and
silver-mounted shields, in the shape of a boy's kite, and as the
Samnites ultimately protected themselves by flying, the kite-like form
of their shields was thoroughly appropriate. Their breasts were covered
with sponge, which gave them a soft-hearted air; and the sinking of
their bosoms under nearly every blow, was clearly perceptible. They wore
a shirt of mail, composed of brazen scales, and the display of so much
metal in their shirts enabled them to present at times a bold front to
the enemy. They had greaves upon their legs, which were a grievous
impediment to their running away; and their helmets, adorned with lofty
plumes, only served to render more conspicuous in defeat their
crest-fallen condition. They wore tunics or coats of cotton next their
skin, and put on their shirts outside; but between these, was a short
garment of wool: so that the only idea we can give of the mode of making
a Samnite _toilette_ is by asking the reader to begin by putting on his
coat; to place over that his flannel waistcoat, and to add his shirt by
way of finish.
Among the other spoils of the war with the Latins, were the ships taken
from the port of Antium; but the Romans, who were not a nautical people,
had so little idea of the value of a fleet, that they carried the beaks
or prows of the vessels to Rome, and fixed them in the Forum, as pulpits
for their orators.[29] How the ships could have kept above water when
subjected to mutilation, it is difficult to conceive; and indeed it
would appear probable that having been deprived of their heads, they
must have gone down, as a matter of stern necessity. We must, however,
do the Roman people the justice to add, that two officers had been
appointed to the superintendence of naval affairs; and some will declare
they see in the mere existence of an Admiralty Board sufficient to
account for much extravagance, and all sorts of blundering. Rome had
hitherto been in the condition of a house divided against itself, or
rather of the adjoining houses pulling against each other, and every
widening of the breach must of course have been attended with danger to
both of them. The cessation of war with the Latins enabled Rome to draw
closer the neighbouring social fabric, and many of its inhabitants were
invited to join, and make themselves part of the family of the Romans.
The latter also began to see the impolicy of keeping up certain
distinctions between class and class, which have the same effect upon a
nation, as the bitter feuds between separate floors are likely to
produce upon the happiness and comfort of a lodging-house. When an
upstart one-pair-front sneers at its own back, or looks down upon an
abased basement; when a crushed and crouching kitchen, waiting in vain
for its turn at the only copper, revenges itself by cutting the only
clothes-line--if the line is drawn only for the good of those in a
higher station, instead of its being a line drawn, as every line should
be, for the good of all;--when a household is in such a state, we may
see in it the type of a badly ordered community. Such had been long the
unhappy lot of Rome, until it began to strike on the minds of a few
influential men, that no nation can be really great while the mass of
its people are in a state of abject littleness. The majority of the
patricians fortunately took an equally sensible view of their case, and
arrived at the wise conclusion, that moderate privileges fairly held,
and freely conceded, are preferable to any amount of exclusive
advantage, improperly assumed on the one hand, and impatiently submitted
to on the other. Happily for the patricians, they had among them a man
bold enough to incorporate in a law the opinions of the main part of his
own order, and strong enough to prevail over the weakness and prejudice
of the meaner members of the body.
The name of this patrician reformer was Q. Publilius Philo, who
introduced three laws calculated to extend the basis of political
power. By the first, the _curiæ_, consisting of patricians only, were
compelled to confirm the laws passed by the centuries in which the two
orders were mixed; by the second, the _plebiscita_, or decrees of the
plebs, were to be binding on all Roman citizens; and the third provided,
that there should always be one plebeian censor. These laws, though,
perhaps, well adapted to the wants of the age, were not exactly such as
we should hail with enthusiasm if they were to be brought forward in our
own day by the head of a government. Depriving the curiæ of a veto was a
measure equivalent to a proposition that the measures of the House of
Commons should not require the concurrence of the House of Lords; and
giving the force of law to a _plebiscitum_ was much the same thing as
determining that every resolution of every public meeting should at once
be embodied in the statute-book. Such an arrangement in the present day
would render our laws a curiosity of legislative mosaic work, laid down
without the advantage of uniformity or design. If the interpretation of
an act of Parliament is sometimes difficult, we may conceive the utter
hopelessness of the effort to understand the laws, if they were to
consist of a body of resolutions pouring in constantly from Exeter Hall,
or Freemasons' Tavern, and, occasionally, from a lamp-post in Trafalgar
Square, or a cart on Kennington Common.
With every due respect for the _plebiscita_--or resolutions of public
meetings--we doubt whether any party would be desirous of accepting them
as a substitute for our present method of law-making. The only chance of
safety would be in the fact, that the _plebiscitum_ of to-morrow would
be sure to repeal the _plebiscitum_ of to-day, and the best security for
the state would consist in keeping a public meeting always assembled to
negative every new proposition.
It was many years, however, before Rome, though it had suffered so much
from patrician insolence, was prepared to go to the length of allowing a
_plebiscitum_ the force of law without being subject to the veto of the
senate.[30] Aristocratic pretension had, however, been carried to such
an extent in Rome, that we could hardly be surprised at any amount of
democratic license; for extremes are sure to meet, and it is
unfortunate, indeed, for a country that is reduced to such extremities.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] _Vide_ page 87.
[29] From this circumstance, the word Rostrum, which means the prow of a
ship, has been derived, and has got into such universal use as to
describe the box from which an auctioneer launches his eloquence.
[30] The Hortensian Law, carried some years later by Q. Hortensius.
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND TO THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR.
Rome had entered into an alliance with the Samnites; but the latter
became rather suspicious, when they found the former making friends with
all their enemies. Every one who aimed a blow at Samnium was forthwith
taken into the favour of Rome; and as Samnium was being attacked on
every side, the new connexions of Rome became very numerous. Alexander
of Epirus, who had come over as a friend to the Tarentines, thought he
might vary the object of his visit by becoming the foe to somebody else;
and he accordingly pitched upon the Samnites, who might fairly have
traced the Roman hand in some of the hostile demonstrations that were
made against them. There being some inconvenience in fighting through a
third party, to say nothing of the unsatisfactory nature of such an
arrangement to the go-between, the Romans and the Samnites soon came
into direct collision.
One of the Consuls, D. J. Brutus, was sent with troops to Apulia; but
the other Consul, L. Furius Camillus, was in such wretched health, that
he could scarcely hold up his own head, and was quite unfit for the head
of an army. L. Papirius Cursor, the dictator, undertook the command
himself; but on his way to Samnium he was suddenly recalled to Rome, in
consequence of some blunder with the auspices. Leaving behind him Q.
Fabius, his master of the horse, he desired that officer to do nothing;
for L. P. Cursor having taken a cursory view of the state of affairs,
saw there was a victory to be gained, and wished to reserve to himself
the glory of gaining it. Q. Fabius, with a natural reluctance to be
shelved, determined to do the work himself; and by the time his chief
returned, had won a brilliant victory. The rage of the principal knew no
bounds, when he discovered that everything had been accomplished in his
absence; for though there might have been no objection to the
subordinate's actually doing all that was to be done, there was an
unpardonable violation of official etiquette in its having been got
through when the chief was away, and when it was, therefore, notorious
that he could have had no hand in it. The dictator was so indignant,
that he would have visited his deputy with all the severity of military
law, for having dared to show a capacity to command, when his capacity
was, in fact, subordinate. It was looked upon by official men as an act
likely to spoil the official market, by showing that the most
highly-paid services are not always the best; and it was felt, also,
that the chief had been ousted of his prescriptive title to claim, as
his own perquisites, all the tact and talent of his underling.
L. P. Cursor swore vengeance upon the head of Q. Fabius; but the
soldiers threatened a revolt in the event of his being punished, and the
hero who had put a whole army to flight was obliged to take to his heels
for having dared to use his head in the absence of his superior.
The Dictator had rendered himself very unpopular with the troops by his
injustice and cruelty to Q. Fabius; but he regained his popularity by
allowing them to be guilty of all sorts of injustice and cruelty towards
a vanquished enemy. Though their indignation had been raised against
him, through the medium of their generous sympathies, he now appealed to
their meanest passions, by promising them the fullest license in
plundering the foe; and such is the inconsistency of human nature, that
he did not appeal in vain; for, urged by avarice, they fought with such
determination as to secure a victory. Pillage became at once the order
of the day, and a truce was granted for one year, on condition that the
Samnites, who had been robbed of everything available at the moment,
should become responsible for a twelvemonth's pay to the Dictator's
army.
The period of the truce was occupied in negotiation; for it would have
been rather too gross a piece of effrontery on the part of the Romans to
continue attacking the very party from whom they were receiving their
pay: and having waited till the receipt of the last instalment, they
announced that the only terms they would accept would be the
unconditional assent of the Samnites to anything that might be proposed
to them.
This result was so excessively disgusting to the Samnites, that some
actually cried with rage, while others cried for vengeance. A few of the
most influential, with tears in their eyes, went to their
fellow-countrymen literally with a cry; but amidst all this
broken-heartedness, there was a general raising of the nation's spirit.
The Samnites felt that the time for action had arrived, and C. Pontius
was chosen to act as their general. He at once laid siege to Luceria,
when disguising ten of his soldiers as shepherds, he sent them forth
with instructions to look as sheepish as they could, and they had also
full directions how to act in the event of their being captured. The
Romans, commanded by T. Veturius and Sp. Postumius, soon fell in with
the Samnite masqueraders, whose real character was not suspected; for it
does not appear to have excited any surprise that ten shepherds should
be hanging about a neighbourhood in which no sheep were perceptible.
With a simplicity more suited to romance than history, the Romans
submitted themselves to the guidance of the ten anonymous shepherds, who
conducted the whole army into the Caudine forks, as easily as if the
veterans had connived at their own betrayal. No sooner were they lost
among the forks, than the soldiers learned what spoons they had been,
for they found themselves blocked in by the enemy. They fought with
considerable bravery, but the Samnites, who lined the surrounding
heights, were completely out of their reach, and the Romans, having made
a few vain efforts to throw up their spears, suddenly threw up the
contest. Of every weapon they hurled, the consequence fell upon their
own heads, and nothing was left but to make the best terms they could
with the enemy.
Pontius, the Samnite general, was puzzled how to act, and sent to
inquire of his father what he should do, when the old man replied,
"Release them unhurt!" and the answer not being quite satisfactory,
another messenger was sent, who brought back the brief but expressive
recommendation to "cut them all to pieces." Pontius, thinking the old
gentleman had gone out of his mind, sought a personal explanation; but
the veteran, who was clearly averse to doing anything by halves, or
meeting anybody half-way, persevered in his recommendation to his son,
to do one thing or the other. The Samnites were struck with admiration
at the wisdom of the sage; but although all were dumbfounded by the
profound philosophy of the advice, nobody thought of taking it. Pontius
proposed terms, and having been deceived so frequently by the Romans
before, he magnanimously resolved to try and be even with them at last,
by putting them and his own countrymen on a perfect equality. He
stipulated for the restoration to the Samnites of all the places taken
from them; but the most painful portion of the arrangement to the Romans
was their being called upon to pass under the yoke,--a ceremony which
was supposed to lower for ever all who had once stooped to it.
Six hundred equites were held as hostages for the due observance of the
treaty, and these knights were, in fact, so many pawns, held in pledge
for the honour of the Romans. The Consuls, stripped of every thing but
their shirts, and looking the most deplorable objects, crawled under the
yoke, followed by the whole army in the same wretched undress as their
leaders. As they passed through Capua, the inhabitants, touched with
sympathy, came forth with bundles of left-off wearing apparel, which was
tendered to the humiliated troops; but their wounds were too deep for
ordinary dressing. They walked silently to their homes, through the back
streets of the city. All business was suspended on the day of their
arrival, and though the Romans had seen suffering in almost every
variety of guise, they had never met with it under such melancholy Guys
as those that were then before them. The Consuls resigned their offices
as rapidly as they could, for their nominal dignity only added to their
real disgrace, and they may be supposed to have felt the relief
experienced by the broken-spirited cur, whose tail has just undergone
the curtailment of the hateful, but glittering kettle.
[Illustration: The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants of Capua.]
Rome, smarting under the disgrace of a defeat, brought on by want of
resolution in the troops, proceeded to incur a still greater disgrace by
a resolution of the Senate. That body having met to consider the
agreement entered into with the Samnites, determined not to ratify it;
and, though aware of the fact, that six hundred Roman knights were
detained as hostages, in chains, the Senate cared as little for their
bonds as for the words of the Consuls, which had been passed for the
fulfilment of the treaty. Spurius Postumius, who had nothing genuine in
his conduct, was among the first to propose the violation of the
arrangement he had made, and recommended that he himself, as well as all
who had agreed to peace, should be, for the look of the thing,
surrendered to the Samnites. He entered so fully into the deception
about to be enacted, that when the Lictor was tying the cord loosely, as
if conscious of the illusory character of the whole proceeding, Spurius
insisted upon the cords being drawn sufficiently tight to enable him to
declare to the Samnites that his hands were really tied, and that, if
the Senate refused to be bound by his arrangements, he was so thoroughly
bound by theirs as to be utterly powerless. Carrying the farce still
further, he was no sooner delivered up to the Samnites than he turned
round upon the Roman Fecial, and exclaiming, "I am now a Samnite,"
administered to the proper officer a violent kick, as if to show that he
and Rome were to be henceforth on a hostile footing. The Samnite general
looked on with contempt at the whole affair; the hostages were refused,
and the 600 knights were also sent back; for Pontius had expected the
Romans to keep their word, and was neither ready nor willing to be
burdened with the keep of several hundred captives. This remarkable
breach of their own faith left a more permanent mark upon them than any
breach that could have been made by an enemy in the walls of their city;
and the fact of their having built a temple to Public Credit, rendered
their discreditable conduct still more remarkable.