Some of the Tarentini who had been abused by Milo attacked him, with Nico at their head. Not accomplishing anything they occupied a section of their own wall, and with that as headquarters kept making assaults upon Milo. When they found out that the Romans were disposed to make war upon them, they despatched envoys to Rome and obtained peace.
Frag. 41
B.C. 273
(a.u. 481) and ptolemy philadelphus, king of egypt, when he learned that pyrrhus had fared poorly and that the romans were growing, sent gifts to them and made a compact. and the romans, pleased with this, despatched ambassadors to him in turn. the latter received magnificent gifts from him, which they wanted to put into the treasury; the senate, however, would not accept them, but allowed them to keep them.
B.C. 272
(a.u. 482)After this, by the activity of Carvilius they subdued the Samnites, and overcame the Lucanians and Bruttians by the hands of Papirius. The same Papirius quelled the Tarentini. The latter, angry at Milo and subjected to abuse by their own men, who, as has been told, made the attack on Milo, called in the Carthaginians to their aid when they learned that Pyrrhus was dead. Milo, seeing that his chances had been contracted to narrow limits, as the Romans beset him on the land side and the Carthaginians on the water front, surrendered the citadel to Papirius on condition of being permitted to depart unharmed with his immediate followers and his money. Then the Carthaginians, as representatives of a nation friendly to the Romans, sailed away, and the city made terms with Papirius. They delivered to him their arms and their ships, demolished their walls, and agreed to pay tribute.
The Romans, having thus secured control of the Tarentini, turned their attention to Rhegium, whose inhabitants after taking Croton by treachery had razed the city to the ground and had slain the Romans there. They averted the danger that was threatening them from the Mamertines holding Messana (whom the people of Rhegium wanted to get as allies), by coming to an agreement with them; but in the siege of Rhegium they suffered hardships through a scarcity of food and some other causes until Hiero by sending from Sicily grain and soldiers to the Romans strengthened their hands and materially aided them in capturing the city. B.C. 270
(a.u. 484)The place was restored to the survivors among the original inhabitants: those who had plotted against it were punished.
Hiero, who was not of distinguished family on his father's side and on his mother's was akin to the slave class, ruled almost the whole of Sicily and was deemed a friend and ally of the Romans. After the flight of Pyrrhus he became master of Syracuse, and having a cautious eye upon the Carthaginians who were encroaching upon Sicily he was inclined to favor the Romans; and the first mark of favor that he showed them was the alliance and the forwarding of grain already narrated.
After this came a winter so severe that the Tiber was frozen to a great depth and trees were killed. The people of Rome suffered hardships and the hay gave out, causing the cattle to perish.
B.C. 269
(a.u. 485)VIII, 7.—The next year a Samnite named Lolius living in Rome as a hostage made his escape, gathered a band and seized a strong position in his native country from which he carried on brigandage. Quintus Gallus and Gaius Fabius made a campaign against him. Him and the rabblement with him, most of them unarmed, they suppressed; on proceeding, however, against the Carcini in whose keeping the robbers had deposited their booty, they encountered trouble. Finally one night, led by deserters, they scaled the wall at a certain point and came dangerously near perishing on account of the darkness,—not that it was a moonless night but because it was snowing fiercely. But the moon shone out and they made themselves absolute masters of the position.
A great deal of money fell to the share of Rome in those days, so that they actually used silver denarii.
B.C. 267
(a.u. 487)Next they made a campaign into the district now called Calabria. Their excuse was that the people had harbored Pyrrhus and had been overrunning their allied territory, but as a fact they wanted to gain sole possession of Brundusium, since there was a fine harbor and for the traffic with Illyricum and Greece the town had an approach and landing-place of such a character that vessels would sometimes come to land and put out to sea wafted by the same wind. B.C. 266
(a.u. 488)
Frag. 42They captured it and sent colonists to it and to other settlements as well. While the accomplishment of these exploits raised them to a higher plane of prosperity, they showed no haughtiness: on the contrary they surrendered to the apolloniatians on the ionian gulf quintus fabius, a senator, because he had insulted their ambassadors. but these on receiving him sent him back home again unharmed.
B.C. 265
(a.u. 489)In the year of the consulship of Quintus Fabius and Æmilius they went on a campaign to the Volsinii to secure the freedom of the latter, for they were under treaty obligations to them. These people were originally a branch of the Etruscans, and they gathered power and erected an extremely strong rampart; they enjoyed also a government guided by good laws. For these reasons once, when they were involved in war with the Romans, they offered resistance for a very long time. When they had been subdued, they deteriorated into a state of effeminacy, left the management of the city to their servants and let those servants, as a rule, also carry on their campaigns. Finally they encouraged them to such an extent that the servants possessed both spirit and power, and thought they had a right to freedom. In the course of time their efforts to obtain it were crowned with success. After that they were accustomed to wed their mistresses, to inherit their masters, to be enrolled in the senate, to secure the offices, and to hold the entire authority themselves. Indeed, it was usual, when insults were offered them by their masters, for them to requite the authors of them with rather unbecoming speed. Hence the old-fashioned citizens, not being able to endure them and yet possessing no power of their own to repress them, despatched envoys by stealth to Rome. The envoys urged the senate to convene with secrecy at night in a private house, so that no report might get abroad, and they obtained their request. The meeting accordingly deliberated under the idea that no one was listening: but a sick Samnite, who was being entertained as a guest of the master of the house, kept his bed unnoticed, learned what was voted, and gave information to those against whom charges were preferred. The latter seized and tortured the envoys on their return; when they found out what was on foot they killed the messengers and also some of the foremost men.