determination to fall out, wherever they might happen to fall in with
one another. A series of small conflicts ensued, of which the accounts
are almost as conflicting as the battles themselves; but there is every
reason to believe that Fortune showered her favours right and left, by
giving them first to one side and then to the other. L. Papirius Cursor,
the Roman Consul, seems to have made himself the pre-cursor of his
country's ultimate success, for he is said to have led the way to it by
recovering Luceria. Hostilities had by this time become so fierce, that
it was necessary to take a little breathing time on both sides, and a
truce of two years was agreed upon. The war was then renewed under L.
Æmilius and Q. Fabius, the dictators, who fought with various results,
taking occasionally a city, and at other times being compelled to take
what they were not at all disposed to receive at the hands of an enemy.
No very remarkable incident occurred at the recommencement of the war,
excepting the taking of the town of Sora by treachery; but meanness and
deception were so common in the time we write of, that any event
involving those despicable qualities cannot be considered unusual. Sora
was situated on a rocky eminence, and though secure to a certain extent
in its lofty position, it was not above the reach of that low cunning
which will stoop to anything for the attainment of its object. A
deserter, who appears to have had everything his own way among the
Samnites, as well as among the Romans, persuaded the latter to retire
some miles off, as if they had abandoned the siege, and then ordered
them to have a regiment of cavalry concealed in a wood near the city.
What the Samnites were about during these proceedings does not appear;
nor is it easy to understand how they could have overlooked an important
branch of the forces of the enemy among the trees; but tradition, when
she wishes to shut her eyes to a difficulty, never hesitates to shut the
eyes of all whose vigilance might have been fatal to the incident about
to be related. The inhabitants of Sora may therefore be supposed to have
been fast asleep and slow to wake, or to have had their backs turned, or
to have taken something which had turned their heads, when the deserter
was making his arrangements for the betrayal of their city. Having taken
the steps already described, he conducted ten Roman soldiers up a sort
of back staircase behind the crags; and the blindness of the inhabitants
of Sora had come to such a pass, that the mountain pass was so
thoroughly lost sight of as to be left without a single sentinel. Having
lodged the ten men in the fortress, he concealed them there until night;
but it is difficult to say how the ten stalwart soldiers could have been
so thoroughly put away in the day-time as not to be observed, unless
tradition, wishing to put her own construction on the affair, has
proceeded to the construction of some secret cupboard in the fortress,
where the men may have been closeted together until the hour arrived for
their being brought into action. Waiting till the dead of night, the
deserter desired the ten men to shout as loud as they possibly could,
and to keep on hallooing until the cavalry were out of the wood; a
movement which was to be effected when the deserter, rushing into the
city, had frightened the inhabitants out of it, by running all over the
town in a state of pretended alarm, which was to be accounted for by the
continued shouting of the ten men in the citadel. Notwithstanding the
numerous objections to the veracity of this story, tradition has handed
it down to us, and we, as in duty bound, continue to hand it on, though
we do not allow it to pass through our fingers without taking the
precaution to stamp it with the mark of counterfeit. Tradition proceeds
to say that the scheme was perfectly successful: that the citizens,
frightened by the shouting of the ten soldiers in the citadel, ran into,
or rather on to, the arms of the legions who were advancing with drawn
swords to the gates of the city.
The Samnites having become weary of war, and tired of an existence which
was passed in continually fighting for their lives, determined to bring
matters to an issue as fast as possible. They met the Romans under Q.
Fabius at Lautulæ, where Q was driven into a corner, and ran away, when
his army not receiving from him the cue to fight, rapidly followed his
example. C. Fabius having subsequently come to the assistance of Q.,
they united their forces, and being almost two to one against the
Samnites, they obtained a victory.
Rome had, however, quite enough to contend against in various quarters;
and, among others, the Ausonians betrayed hostile feelings, which were
rendered abortive by another betrayal of a very disgraceful character.
Among the Ausonians there existed a nominal nobility, whose rank gave
them a sort of respectability to which they possessed no moral title.
These nobles, by name and ignobles by nature, were mean enough to admit,
by stealth, into some of the cities of Ausonia, a number of Roman
soldiers in disguise, who, with the cruelty so commonly associated with
fraud, commenced a general slaughter of the inhabitants.
It would be a waste of time and patience, both to writer and reader,
were we to ask him to accompany us into every little field where a
little skirmish may have taken place, at about this period, between Rome
and her enemies. To describe the fluctuations of the fortune of war,
would be as dry and unprofitable as the minute narration of all the
incidents of a long game at heads and tails; nor would the historian
have repeated very often the particulars of the throwing up the coin,
before the reader would be found throwing up the history. We shall,
therefore, content ourselves with giving the heads in a curtailed form,
without going into the particulars of the movements of the generals.
There was an enormous quantity of putting to the sword on both sides,
but without running through the whole, we will submit to the eye of the
reader the points best adapted for the use of the pupil. In the north of
Samnium, the Romans were surprised by an Etruscan army, and nearly
destroyed; but when they were more than half killed, they began to look
alive, and completely exterminated the foe, whose survivors, consisting
of their cattle, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The Consul, C.
Marcius, had succeeded in taking a place called Allifæ; but the Samnites
soon afterwards brought themselves completely round, and made him the
centre of a circle, which, as he was entirely cut off from Rome, was to
him a centre of extreme gravity. Not even a messenger could find a way
to take to the city the tidings of the Consul's perilous position; but
it seems to have become known, by some means or other, for L. Cursor
hastened to the scene, and caused the Samnites to abandon their
position. Beginning to despond, they sought a truce, for which they had
to pay a most exorbitant price, in cash, corn, and clothes; for they had
to pay, feed, and clothe for three months the troops who had paid them
off, in another shape, and submitted them to a long series of thorough
dressings. They, however, still held out against acknowledging the
sovereignty of Rome, and thought themselves exempt from humiliation in
making themselves the slaves in fact, as long as they remained
independent in name, of that ambitious power. The main point of dispute
remaining still undisposed of, more fighting ensued, until Samnium was
at length so thoroughly reduced as to be obliged to confess itself
beaten at last; and the Samnites, who had by degrees parted with
everything they possessed for the luxury of maintaining that they were
free to do as they pleased with their own, acknowledged Rome to be their
master. Rome also needed relaxation; for her energies had become relaxed
by a war of twenty years; and both parties having done each other all
the harm they could, ceased only because the power of mischief had
become completely lost on one side, and seriously impaired on the other.
So inveterate was the hostility between Samnium and Rome, that any pause
in their actual conflict was filled up by preparations for a renewal,
the first opportunity for which they were eagerly expecting to take
advantage of. The third Samnite war was commenced by an attempt on the
part of the Samnites to recover Lucania, and for that purpose they
stupified the Lucanians by a series of severe beatings, which deadened
the sense of the inhabitants to their danger. The nobles, who seem to
have had the instinct of self-preservation in a higher degree than the
virtue of patriotism, were quite prepared to obey a master who would
purchase, rather than resist an enemy who would harass, them. They
accordingly offered their allegiance to Rome, on condition that Rome
would save them the trouble of defending themselves against Samnium.
Roman envoys were despatched, in compliance with this arrangement, to
call upon the Samnites to evacuate Lucania; but the envoys were
unceremoniously ordered off, and betook themselves to a very quick
return, unattended by the smallest profit. After a few minor encounters,
the two Consuls, Q. Fabius and P. Decius Mus, the son of old Mus,
already alluded to, led their combined forces into Samnium, and went
different ways, though they fully purposed pulling together. Q. Fabius
met the whole of the Samnite army, and a battle commenced, in which each
was rapidly destroying the other's soldiers in about equal numbers,
without any good to either, beyond the very melancholy satisfaction of
being even with each other in the losing game that both sides were
playing. This would probably have continued until the chances of war had
degenerated into a game of odd man, in which the sole survivor would
have been the victor, when a Samnite soldier, rather more far-seeing
than the rest, espied what he supposed to be the army of Decius. That
there are some things to which it is better to shut one's eyes, was
proved on this occasion; for the long-sighted Samnite had no sooner
espied a body of men in the back-ground, who were in reality the reserve
of Q. Fabius, than he frightened himself and his fellow soldiers, by
spreading a rumour that Mus was creeping slowly, but surely, up to them.
The Samnites were at once struck with a panic, the blow inflicted by
which is always more fatal than that of the sword, and the loss of
spirit led to the destruction of nearly the whole body. Decius having
joined his colleague, the two Consuls hunted the country of the
Samnites, making game of everything that came in the way, while Appius
Claudius carried on the war in Etruria. We should be curious to see the
population returns--if any such existed--in relation to the Samnites,
who were, according to tradition, being continually cut to pieces,
routed, ravaged, and otherwise destroyed; but who, nevertheless, were,
according to tradition, continually taking the field again in large
numbers, as if nothing had happened. L. Valerius had just returned from
assisting his colleague, Appius Claudius, in Etruria, when the Samnites
turned up rather abundantly on the Vulturnus, and being at once
attacked, were again cut to pieces, for by no means the last or only
time on the great stage of history.
At about the same time, when the news of this victory reached Rome the
Gauls were expected, and though it was against the law that the same
Consul should be elected twice in ten years, the Romans, altering the
constitution, without the trouble of revision, suspended the law for the
purpose of securing the services of Q. Fabius.
He was re-elected with his colleague Decius Mus, and before setting out
for battle, they consulted the augurs, who evinced their usual readiness
to interpret the omens in the most favourable manner. On coming to the
fortified camp of Appius Claudius, Fabius found the soldiers collecting
wood, to form a stockade, which drew from him the remark, "It is not by
cutting sticks you can succeed, but by showing a bold front to the
enemy." The soldiers, animated by his words--which, to say the truth, do
not appear to have anything particularly invigorating about them--were
suddenly roused into lions, after having been in a lamb-like or sheepish
condition, and instead of cutting any more wood, or pulling up the
trunks of trees, began to pluck up a proper spirit. The Romans had now
about 90,000 troops in the field, if we adopt the round numbers handed
down to us, which do not always square with probability; but the
historians wisely provide, as far as possible, for any deficiency that
may arise in the course of the various cuttings to pieces,
annihilations, and other contingencies which are at one time or other
the alleged fate of nearly every army. The vast necessity for a surplus
that may be boldly dealt with, can perhaps be understood from a
circumstance recorded with reference to a legion led by L. Scipio. It
had been stationed near Camerinum, and had in an engagement with the foe
been cut to pieces without having been missed; nor was the loss
discovered until their own countrymen recognised their heads carried on
the lances of the advancing enemy. When the fact thus frightfully stared
them in the face, the countenances of the Romans fell with sympathy at
the fate of their comrades, which it must be confessed presented some
very horrid features.
At length the hostile armies met near Sentinum in Umbria--the Romans
mustering in considerable force, and the Samnites, in spite of much
pruning, which seemed only to have the effect of increasing their
growth, forming a highly respectable remnant. The latter had also a
considerable accession in the shape of Gauls, Umbrians, and Etrurians;
for tradition, when it desires to give interest to a battle, is always
prepared to scrape together from all quarters a sufficient number of
soldiers, on both sides, to equalise the chances of victory. While the
armies were drawn out in line before each other, they are said to have
been suddenly occupied in the contemplation of the following rather
remarkable incident. A deer, pursued by a wolf, ran rapidly down the
middle, and the two animals were on the point of going up again, when
the deer, apparently changing its mind, ran among the Gauls, who,
without hesitation, converted it into venison. The wolf, with a cunning
worthy of the fox, declined venturing on an experiment that had been so
costly to the deer, and turned in among the Romans, who, perhaps,
fearing that the wolf might have a taste for calves as well as for
sheep, took the precaution to save their legs, by making as wide an
opening as possible. No sooner was the wolf out of the way, than the
Romans began to boast that fear had gone to the foe in the shape of a
deer, while valour had come to their side in the person of Mars, whom
they declared they saw hidden under the hide of a wolf, his favourite
animal. The battle at length commenced, and the day being exceedingly
warm, added, in one sense, most inconveniently to the heat of the
contest. The Gauls created immense consternation among the Romans by
rushing down upon them in chariots armed with scythes, at the sight of
which they were terribly cut up, and unmercifully cut down, before they
had time to recover from their astonishment. Not wishing to be left as a
wretched harvest on the field, the Romans were about to fly, when they
were once more saved by a Mus, who on this occasion will be thought by
some to have deserved the epithet of "_ridiculus_." Recollecting the
example of his father, he resolved to sacrifice himself for the benefit
of his country, and, calling upon the pontiff, he caused his vow to be
regularly registered. The ceremony having been gone through, in due
form, he put spurs to his horse, and rushing in among the foe, he
became, as it were, a scabbard for the swords of all who could get
within reach of him. The Gauls were so completely stupified by what they
saw, that they were literally lost in wonder; for, while they stood
staring with astonishment, the Romans fell upon and massacred nearly the
whole of them. Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite General, was slain,
together with many thousands of his own countrymen, who are described by
tradition as having been once more cut to pieces, though these pieces
are not the last in which they are destined to make their appearance.
History, with a natural anxiety to keep a stock of Samnites on hand for
future use, suggests that 5000 ran away, though the Romans were too much
reduced to run after them, and as the fugitives lost a thousand of their
number by fighting, during their retreat, it must be presumed that, in
their extreme nervousness, they began attacking each other.
Q. Fabius led back his army into Etruria, which had recently been
thoroughly ravaged by Cn. Fulvius; and the Etruscans, who had already
been beaten once, were thoroughly beaten again, so that any residue of
strength might be effectually knocked out of them. The retreating
Samnites had by this time arrived at the valley of Vulturnus, where the
country was in such a state that they could find nothing to eat; but,
for a people who were accustomed to survive the constant infliction of
the sword, the absence of food was a very subordinate grievance.
Volumnius and Appius Claudius fell upon them with their united forces,
and the Samnites were once more cut to pieces; but, notwithstanding
their fragmentary condition, they were able to appear collected and
calm, before the end of the following year, in Etruria. They, at length,
mustered all their strength, and determined on making a desperate effort
against the Romans, who were in great force under Papirius Cursor, near
Aquilonia. Papirius sent for an augur, who kept a small brood of sacred
chickens, for the purpose of hatching up something to say to those who
consulted him. The augur declared that the omens were favourable, for
the chickens had eaten a hearty meal; but an officer, who had watched
the birds at breakfast, and had been struck by the extreme delicacy of
their appetites, came forward to impute foul play to the augur. Papirius
immediately ordered the soothsayer to be placed in the front of the line
of battle, where the poor old man, who was no chicken in age, whatever
he may have been at heart, was made to answer with his life for having
failed to answer with truth the questions proposed to him.
The Samnites paid no attention to omens, but bound each other by awful
oaths to undergo their usual fate of being cut to pieces rather than
surrender; and it must be admitted that they bore the penalty of defeat
with a coolness that can only be accounted for by their being thoroughly
used to it. No less than 16,000 took the oath, and kept it so well that
the whole 16,000 were found in bits precisely where they had taken their
places in battle. We might express our doubts upon this subject, were it
not that the sage critics, who are averse to any departure from the
gravity of history, would perhaps accuse us of levity in refusing
credence to Livy, on whose authority the tale is told, though dulness
itself will probably be roused to a stare, if incapable of a smile at
the remarkable dish of hash which the serious historians call upon him
to swallow.
[Illustration: Samnite Soldier.]
The victory of Rome was complete, and the Samnites, whose riches seem to
have been almost as inexhaustible as their numbers, yielded up spoil
that might appear fabulous in the eyes of any but those who are so
thoroughly matter-of-fact as to be incapable of distinguishing a matter
of fiction. To swell the triumph of the conquerors, Papirius is said to
have given crowns of gold and silver to officers and men, with collars
and bracelets of the same precious material; from which it would seem
that the Samnites had abandoned their ornaments in running away; for
metal, though current on ordinary occasions, goes a very little way in
the hands of those who are groaning beneath the weight of it.
Once more the Samnites poured themselves as copiously and mysteriously
as the streams that flow from the inexhaustible bottle of the conjuror
over the greater part of Campania, and Q. Fabius Gurges took the command
of the Roman army. The Samnites were led by C. Pontius, an aged prodigy,
who had seen much service, which had been of no service whatever to his
countrymen, for they had not even learned to profit by the lessons of
experience. C. Pontius combined, in a remarkable degree, the imbecility
of age with the rashness of youth, and presented the sad spectacle of
juvenile and senile indiscretion combined, or the junction of the
characteristics of an old fool and a young fool in the same individual.
Q. Fabius, however, reckoned too confidently on success; and seeing a
detachment of the Samnites executing a manœuvre, he thought it was the
whole body in the act of retreat, which caused him to proceed so
carelessly, that he was himself defeated, and would have had his army
utterly destroyed, but for the feebleness of his antagonists.
The news of the defeat of Fabius excited much dissatisfaction at Rome,
and the General was about to be recalled, when his father, in an
uncontrollable fit of nepotism, implored the people to allow the young
man to keep his place--a request that was at length granted. The
impolicy of overlooking the incompetence of the son at the request of
the father, was nearly being exemplified in a fatal manner; for the
younger Fabius was on the point of another failure, and an alarming
sacrifice of all his army, when Fabius Maximus came up with a reserve,
which turned the fortune of the day, by the cutting to pieces of 20,000
Samnites; while 4000, including poor old Pontius, were made prisoners.
It will be seen that tradition, while dooming 20,000 Samnites to the
sword, reserves 4000 in captivity as a surplus to supply future
contingencies. Although the better authorities consider that in the
last-mentioned battle this people, who were almost as endless as their
hostilities were aimless, must have been used up, there are still a few
skirmishes to be met with on the borders, if not within the verge of
truth, which require that a few thousand Samnites should be kept as a
reserve for the purposes of the historian.
C. Pontius was led as a prisoner in the triumph granted to the Fabii;
but this triumph, and everything connected with it, was converted into a
disgrace by the beheading of the poor old Samnite chief, who, if he had
been weak enough to place himself in opposition to Rome, had, after the
battle of the Caudine forks, evinced an amiable weakness towards the
captives that had fallen into his power. Fabius Maximus having died soon
after, tradition, who is much addicted to returning verdicts in the
absence of evidence, declares the cause of death to have been a broken
heart; and, as it would certainly have been proper under all the
circumstances that he should have done so, we have no inclination to
disturb the rather doubtful decision.
Some authorities,[31] finding they have a Samnite surplus to deal with,
describe the Samnites as being again defeated by M. Curius Dentatus, who
seems to have been a curiosity in his way; for, having been offered a
house with seven hundred jugera as his share of booty, he refused to
accept more than seven, which was the portion allotted to his comrades.
Those who are accustomed to read of, and admire, the system on which
prize-money is apportioned in modern times,[32] will probably set down
Curius Dentatus as a remarkable fool; and indeed, though his self-denial
smacks of patriotism, we are not sure of its justice; for, if he had
performed his duty as a general, his services to his country must have
been more valuable than those of the ordinary soldiers under him. It may
be, however, that he knew best what he had done, and what he deserved;
nor must we forget the great fact that in taking a man's own estimate of
his own merits, we run very little danger of underrating them.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] Eutrop. ii., 5.
[32] A reference to any Gazette containing the announcement of an
appropriation of prize-money, will introduce to the reader's notice such
items as the following, which are extracted from a very
recently-published document, stating the proportions of prize-money
granted on the seizure of a slave-vessel:--Flag, £87 12_s._ 3_d._;
Lieutenant commanding, £164 5_s._ 7_d._ The proportions then diminish
rapidly through several classes down to the tenth, which is adjudged to
receive £2 13_s._ 3_d._ The ratio may be all fair enough, but we must
confess the large sum always wrapped up in the flag seems somewhat of a
mystery.
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.
ON THE PEACEFUL OCCUPATIONS OF THE ROMANS. FROM SCARCITY OF SUBJECT,
NECESSARILY A VERY SHORT CHAPTER.
[Illustration: Æsculapius.]
It is with sincere satisfaction that we turn from the monotonous details
of war to the arts of peace; and though it is usually said that the
stain of blood can never be wiped out, we are glad to find that the
marks and traces of discord are doubtful and few, while the evidences of
the nobler pursuits of man are numerous and genuine. Among the most
enduring monuments of the art and industry of the Romans, may still be
traced the remains of the celebrated Via Appia, or Appian Way, the
secret for the formation of which would be invaluable to the inhabitants
of our large towns, and particularly to the Paving Boards of the
Metropolis. While parts of the Via Appia remain perfect after upwards of
twenty centuries, the streets of London are torn to pieces year after
year; and it might melt a heart of stone--if stone possessed a heart--to
see the granite continually disturbed by the remorseless pickaxe. The
Via Appia was constructed of large blocks placed very closely together;
and though modern Paving Boards have done their best by laying their
heads together to imitate the plan, success has never rewarded their
labours.
Not less wonderful than the road of Appius, was the aqueduct that bore
his name, and which had solved the question so apparently incapable of
solution in our own times, of the means of securing a supply of water to
a great Metropolis. Though water was not commonly drunk by the Romans as
it is by ourselves, and though the Tiber was purity itself compared with
the Thames, the liquid was so clearly or rather so thickly undrinkable,
that a supply was brought from a distance of eight miles, in the manner
we have mentioned.
While all admit the grandeur of the aqueducts of ancient Rome,
objection has been made to their construction as a needless expense; and
it has been said, that their lofty arches proved only the height to
which folly and extravagance could be carried. Pipes have been suggested
as capable of answering every useful purpose; but considering the
difficulty of obtaining them sufficiently large, of keeping them always
free from obstruction, and other obvious disadvantages, it is doubtful
whether the pipe, after payment of the piper, would prove so economical
in the main. The aqueduct, indeed, has been recently adopted on a large
scale, by a people not likely to retrograde in arts and sciences, though
the rapidity with which they go a-head may cause them to run through the
whole circle of ingenuity, till the most modern invention, arriving at
the same point as the most ancient, affords an illustration of the
meeting of extremes. New York now receives its supply of water through
an aqueduct,[33] carried on solid masonry, over valleys and rivers,
under hills and tunnels, for a distance of forty miles; a proof that
when a city has the will to obtain pure water, there is always a
way--though it may be forty miles in length--for getting what is
required.