SULLA SAVES ROME FROM THE SAMNITES
Sulla returned to Italy three years after the death of Marius. During
that time the popular party had been in power. But now it feared that
its reign was nearly at an end, for Sulla was in Italy, and was coming
to Rome, and coming not alone, but with his army.
Carbo was the leader of Sulla’s enemies. He had gathered together a
large army, but it was scattered over Italy, under his lieutenants.
Pompey, who was soon to be known as Pompey the Great, was fighting for
Sulla, and he, with three legions, kept Carbo’s forces from uniting.
This made Sulla’s victory the easier.
But while Romans fought with Romans, a new danger threatened the
city. An army of Samnites, under a leader named Pontius, slipped past
both the army of Sulla and the scattered troops of Carbo, and marched
straight toward Rome.
The citizens were in despair. They remembered the Samnites who long ago
had entrapped their army at the pass of the Caudine Forks, and their
leader Pontius, who had made Roman officers and soldiers pass beneath
the yoke, and they trembled. What if the enemy proved as powerful as of
old?
Private quarrels were forgotten, while all those of military age in the
city armed for her defence.
In their walls the people had no confidence, for here and there they
were broken down and unfit to stand a siege.
So out of the city to meet the terrible foe marched the valiant band
of Romans, only to find the enemy too strong for it.
When it was known in the city that the army so hastily enrolled had
been defeated, the despair was profound. Women ran about the streets
crying aloud to their gods and shrieking in terror. At any moment, they
believed, the Samnites might enter their city.
Then, just when hope of relief was faintest, a large company of cavalry
was seen approaching the gates. It was the vanguard of Sulla’s army,
and he himself was close behind with the main body of his troops.
For the time a feeling of immense relief was felt in the city. At least
the Samnites would not enter Rome now unopposed.
Sulla’s officers begged him to allow his troops to rest before
attacking the enemy. But he refused, ordering the trumpets at once to
sound for battle.
Crassus commanded Sulla’s right wing, and, unknown to the general, beat
the enemy. The left wing of the Romans was all but repulsed, when Sulla
rode to its help, mounted on a swift white steed.
He was recognised by the Samnites, and two of them prepared to fling
their darts at the great Roman general. They thought that if he were
slain the battle would soon be at an end.
But Sulla’s servant saw his master’s danger, and gave his steed a
touch that made him start suddenly forward. The darts fell harmless
to the ground close to the horse’s tail, so that the servant had just
succeeded in saving his master’s life.
Darkness fell, and the battle was still undecided. But during the night
messengers from Crassus stole into Sulla’s camp for provisions, and the
general heard that the enemy had been driven to Antemnæ, three miles
away, and that Pontius, the Samnite leader, had been slain. He at once
resolved to join Crassus. In the morning the Samnites were surprised
to find a large army ready to attack them. But their leader was dead,
so they were afraid to fight, and three thousand offered to submit to
Sulla.
The general promised these their lives on one condition--that they
should attack their own comrades. This the Samnites actually agreed to
do, and a large number were killed in the unnatural struggle.
Six thousand who survived were taken to Rome, and by Sulla’s orders cut
to pieces. The cruelty of the Roman commander seemed to increase the
nearer he drew to Rome.