CHAPTER I. CONQUEST OF THE LATINS AND ITALIANS (304-282 B.C.).
WARS WITH THE GAULS.—The increased vigor produced by the adjustment of the conflict of classes manifested itself in a series of minor wars. The Romans were now able to face the Gauls, who had permanently planted themselves in Northern Italy. Against them they waged four wars in succession, the last of which ended in a signal victory for the Roman side (367-349). Wars with the Etruscan cities brought the whole of Southern Etruria under Roman rule (358-351).
FIRST SAMNITE WAR.—The neighbor that was the hardest for the Romans to conquer was the nation of Samnites, who lived among the Apennines of Central Italy, east of Latium. The conflict with this tough tribe lasted, with intermissions, for fifty years.
The immediate occasion of the struggle was the appeal of Capua—a Greek city in Campania in which Samnites had before settled—for help against their kinsmen in the mountains (343). This prayer the Romans granted when Capua had placed itself under their sway. In the first battle, the Romans under Valerius Corvus won the day. A second Roman army was rescued from imminent danger by the heroism of the elder Decius Mus, and a Roman victory followed. After a third victory at Suessula, the Romans, on account of the threatening attitude of their Latin confederates, made peace. The Samnites, too, were involved in a war with Tarentum, a Greek city on the eastern coast.
WAR WITH THE LATINS.—The Latins were not disposed to recognize Rome any longer as the head of the league. They demanded perfect equality and an equal share of the Roman public offices (340). In a battle near Vesuvius, the plebeian consul, Decius Mus, having devoted himself to death for his country, rode into the thickest ranks of the enemy, and perished, having secured victory for the Roman army. Before the battle, the patrician consul, Titus Manlius, punished his son with death for presuming to undertake, without orders, a military exploit, in which, however, he had succeeded. After a second victory of Manlius at Trifanum, the Latins were subdued (340), the league was broken up, and most of the cities were made subject to Rome, acquiring citizenship without the right of suffrage; but they were forbidden to trade or to intermarry with one another. Some became Roman colonies.
Several had to cede lands, which were apportioned among Roman citizens. The beaks (rostra) of the old ships of Antium ornamented the Roman forum. Colonies of Roman citizens were settled in the district of the Volscii and in Campania. This was an example of the Roman method of separating vanquished places from one another, and of inclosing as in a net conquered territories.
SECOND SAMNITE WAR.—The establishment by the Romans of the military colony of Fregellae, in connection with other encroachments, brought on the second Samnite war, which lasted for twenty-two years. The prize of the contest was really the dominion over Italy. A great misfortune befell the Roman arms in 321. The incautious consuls, Veturinus and Postumius, allowed themselves to be surrounded in the Caudine Pass, where they were compelled to capitulate, swear to a treaty of peace, and give up six hundred Roman knights as hostages. The whole Roman army was compelled to pass under the yoke. The Roman Senate refused to sanction the treaty, and gave up the consuls, at their own request, in fetters to the Samnites. The Samnites refused to receive them, spared the hostages, and began the war anew. The Roman consuls, Papirius Cursor and Fabius Maximus, gained a victory at Capua, drove the Samnites out of Campania, and reconquered Fregellae. A great military road, the Appian Way, the remains of which may still be seen, was built from Rome to Capua (312).
The Etruscan cities joined in the war against Rome. All Etruria was in arms to overcome the advancing power of the Romans. The coalition was broken by the great defeat of the Etrurians at the Vadimonian Lake, in 310. The Samnites had their numerous allies; but the obstinate valor of the Romans, who were discouraged by no reverses, triumphed. The capture of Bovianum, the capital of the Samnite league (305), ended the war. The Samnites sued for peace. The old treaties were renewed. In the course of this protracted struggle, various Roman colonies were established, and military roads were constructed.
THIRD SAMNITE WAR.—Peace was not of long continuance. The Samnites once more armed themselves for a desperate conflict, having on their side the Etruscans, the Umbrians, and the Gauls (300). The Italian peoples, which had been at war with one another, joined hands in this contest against the common enemy. A decisive battle was fought at Sentinum,—where Decius Mus the younger, following his father's example, devoted himself to death,—resulting in the defeat of the Samnites, and of their allies (295). Soon after, the Samnite general, Pontius, fell into the hands of the Romans. The Samnites kept up the contest for several years. But in 290 they found that they could hold out no longer. The Romans secured themselves by fortresses and by colonies, the most important of which was that of Venusia, at the boundary of Samnium, Apulia, and Lucania, where they placed twenty thousand colonists.