[64]But of all their [65]wars, none was more [66]troublesome and [67]lasting than that [68]against the [69]Samnites; which the Romans [70]undertook the year of the city 411, at the [71]request of the [72]Campani. It [73]lasted [74]seventy years; [75]though they were [76]several times [77]beaten, as in the year 413, in which the [78]Latins [79]rose up in arms [80]against the Romans, but were the year after [81]conquered by the [82]consuls Torquatus and Decius; the [83]former of whom [84]beheaded his own [85]son for [86]fighting [87]without his [88]order; the [89]other [90]devoted himself to [91]destruction for the [92]army; after which the [93]enemies [94]submitted, but [95]soon after [96]rebelling again, they were [97]at last [98]entirely [99]reduced in the year 416.
[100]About this time the [101]Gauls [102]made a [103]peace with the Romans, which they [104]kept [105]thirty years. But in 450, the [106]Cisalpine, [107]together with the [108]Transalpine [109]Gauls, and the [110]Tuscans, [111]laid waste the [112]Roman [113]territories. The Cisalpine [114]returning [115]home [116]loaded with [117]spoils, [118]fell out together about them. [119]Four years after that, having [120]joined the [121]Samnites and [122]Tuscans, they fell [123]upon the Roman [124]army [125]commanded by [126]L. Scipio, the [127]proprætor, in which [128]battle, [129]P. Decius [130]the consul [131]devoted himself.
[132]Ten years after this, the [133]Galli Senones being [134]invited by the [135]Lucani, [136]Brutii, Samnites, and Tuscans, [137]besieged [138]Aretium, and having [139]vanquished [140]L. Cæcilius the [141]prætor, [142]killed 13,000 Romans; which [143]overthrow the consul Dolobella [144]revenged upon them [145]soon after; for having [146]routed the [147]Gauls, and [148]taken their city of Sena, [149]he sent a [150]colony there. The [151]Boii being [152]moved at the [153]hard [154]fate of the [155]Senones, [156]entered into an [157]alliance with the [158]Tuscans, and [159]engaged the Romans at the [160]lake of [161]Vadimon; in which [162]battle [163]almost [164]all the Tuscans were [165]slain, and very [166]few of the Boii [167]escaped. This [168]happened in the year of the city 471; but in the [169]following year the Boii were [170]entirely [171]reduced, which was [172]about three years [173]before [174]Pyrrhus, [175]came into [176]Italy.
The [177]Palæpolitani [178]likewise, [179]where [180]now [181]Naples is, [182]venturing to make war upon the Romans, were [183]subdued the third year [184]after, [185]that is to say, in the year of the city 428, by [186]Publius the proconsul.
The [187]twelve [188]nations of the Tuscans, [189]rising for the [190]utter ruin [191]of the Roman name in the year of the city 442, were [192]routed in a great [193]battle by Fabius the [194]consul, in the [195]year 444, in which were [196]slain, or [197]taken of the [198]enemy, to the [199]number of 60,000.
In the year 472, the [200]Tarentines, [201]brought the [202]Romans against them [203]by plundering their [204]fleet, and [205]assailing their [206]ambassadors, who [207]came to [208]complain of the [209]injury. They, [210]together with the [211]Samnites, and [212]Salentines, were [213]defeated by L. [214]Æmilius Barbula. [215]Terrified at this [216]ill fortune, they [217]sent for [218]Pyrrhus to their [219]assistance; who, in the year of the city 474, having [220]brought over an [221]army into [222]Italy, [223]waged against the Romans [224]a war which [225]lasted six years. In the [226]first [227]encounter the Romans, [228]headed by [229]Lævinus, being [230]conquered, not so much by the [231]strength of the [232]enemy, as by the [233]strange [234]shape of the [235]elephants, [236]yielded up the [237]day: Pyrrhus [238]dismissed all the [239]prisoners [240]without [241]ransom. [242]Soon after, having [243]made some [244]fruitless [245]overtures of [246]peace by his [247]ambassador [248]Cyneas ([249]for [250]Appius Claudius [251]obstructed it), he [252]engaged the Romans [253]twice: the [254]victory [255]both times being [256]dubious. He was [257]then [258]invited by the [259]Syracusans [260]into Sicily against [261]the Carthaginians; [262]where [263]matters [264]not succeeding [265]according to his [266]desires, he [267]returned into [268]Italy in the year 479; and being [269]defeated, [270]forced out of his [271]camp, and [272]beaten from [273]Tarentum, he returned into [274]Epirus.
FOOTNOTES
[1] distrúggere
[2] idea
[3] abbandonáre