‘By the side of those names (the Allia and Cannae) there was yet a third in the list of evil days—the name of the Caudine Pass.’—Ihne. Cf. [p. 82, B].
Historic Parallels. Livy’s account of Trasimene. The Kyber Pass, 1842. The Capitulation of Metz, 1870.
SECOND SAMNITE WAR, 326-304 B.C. (4)
Rome repudiates the Treaty.
At vero T. Veturius et Sp. Postumius, cum iterum consules assent, quia, cum male pugnatum apud Caudium esset, legionibus nostris sub iugum missis pacem cum Samnitibus fecerant, dediti sunt eis; iniussu enim populi senatusque fecerant. Eodemque 5 tempore Ti. Numicius, Q. Maelius, qui tum tribuni plebis erant, quod eorum auctoritate pax erat facta, dediti sunt, ut pax Samnitium repudiaretur. Atque huius deditionis ipse Postumius, qui dedebatur, suasor et auctor fuit. Quod idem multis annis post 10 C. Mancinus, qui ut Numantinis, quibuscum sine senatus auctoritate foedus fecerat, dederetur, rogationem suasit eam, quam L. Furius, Sex. Atilius ex senatus consulto ferebant: qua accepta est hostibus deditus. Honestius hic quam Q. Pompeius, quo, 15 cum in eadem causa esset, deprecante accepta lex non est. Hic ea, quae videbatur utilitas, plus valuit quam honestas, apud superiores utilitatis species falsa ab honestatis auctoritate superata est.
Cicero, De Officiis, iii. 109.
4 pacem . . . fecerant, i.e. a military convention, by which Rome and Samnium were to acknowledge each other as free peoples with equal rights and privileges, and Rome was to give up her conquests and colonies on Samnite territory.
5 iniussu . . . senatusque. ‘The Senate considered it in the light of a sponsio, a convention made on personal responsibility, rather than a pactio or foedus, a public treaty.’—Holden.
6 tribuni plebis, prob. only tribunes-elect (= designati), for the tribunes could not leave Rome even for one night.