A Smaller History of Rome / from the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire

by William Smith; Eugene Lawrence

Cineas returned to Pyrrhus, and told him he must hope for nothing from negotiation; that the city was like a temple of the gods, and the Senate an assembly of kings. Pyrrhus now advanced by rapid marches toward Rome, ravaging the country as he went along, and without encountering any serious opposition. He at length arrived at Præneste, which fell into his hands. He was now only 24 miles from Rome, and his outposts advanced six miles farther. Another march would have brought him under the walls of the city; but at this moment he learned that peace was concluded with the Etruscans, and that the other Consul had returned with his army to Rome. All hope of compelling the Romans to accept the peace was now gone, and he therefore resolved to retreat. He retired slowly into Campania, and from thence withdrew into winter quarters to Tarentum.

As soon as the armies were quartered for the winter, the Romans sent an embassy to Pyrrhus to negotiate the ransom or exchange of prisoners. The embassadors were received by Pyrrhus in the most distinguished manner; and his interviews with C. Fabricius, who was at the head of the embassy, form one of the most famous stories in Roman history. Fabricius was a fine specimen of the sturdy Roman character. He cultivated his farm with his own hands, and, like his contemporary Curius, was celebrated for his incorruptible integrity. The king attempted in vain to work upon his cupidity and his fears. He steadily refused the large sums of money offered by Pyrrhus; and when an elephant, concealed behind him by a curtain, waved his trunk over his head, Fabricius remained unmoved. Such respect did his conduct inspire, that Pyrrhus attempted to persuade him to enter into his service and accompany him to Greece. The object of the embassy failed. The king refused to exchange the prisoners; but, to show them his trust in their honor, he allowed them to go to Rome in order to celebrate the Saturnalia, stipulating that they were to return to Tarentum if the Senate would not accept the terms which he had previously offered through Cineas. The Senate remained firm in their resolve, and all the prisoners returned to Pyrrhus, the punishment of death having been denounced against those who should remain in the city.

In the following year (B.C. 279) the war was renewed, and a battle was fought near Asculum. The Romans fled to their camp, which was so near to the field of battle that not more than 6000 fell, while Pyrrhus lost more than half this number. The victory yielded Pyrrhus little or no advantage, and he was obliged to retire to Tarentum for the winter without effecting any thing more during the campaign. In the last battle, as well as in the former, the brunt of the action had fallen almost exclusively upon his Greek troops; and the state of Greece, which this year was overrun by the Gauls, made it hopeless for him to expect any re-enforcements from Epirus. He was therefore unwilling to hazard his surviving Greeks by another campaign with the Romans, and accordingly lent a ready ear to the invitations of the Greeks in Sicily, who begged him to come to their assistance against the Carthaginians. It was necessary, however, first to suspend hostilities with the Romans, who were likewise anxious to get rid of so formidable an opponent, that they might complete the subjugation of Southern Italy without farther interruption. When both parties had the same wishes it was not difficult to find a fair pretext for bringing the war to a conclusion. This was afforded at the beginning of the following year (B.C. 278) by one of the servants of Pyrrhus deserting to the Romans, and proposing to the Consuls to poison his master. They sent back the deserter to the king, saying that they abhorred a victory gained by treason. Thereupon Pyrrhus, to show his gratitude, sent Cineas to Rome with all the Roman prisoners, without ransom and without conditions; and the Romans granted him a truce.

Leaving Milo with part of his troops in possession of Tarentum, Pyrrhus now crossed over into Sicily. He remained there upward of two years. At first he met with brilliant success, and deprived the Carthaginians of a great part of the island. Subsequently, however, he received a severe repulse in an attempt which he made upon the impregnable town of Lilybæum. The fickle Greeks now began to form cabals and plots against him. This led to retaliation on his part, and he soon became as anxious to abandon the island as he had been before to leave Italy. Accordingly, when his Italian allies again begged him to come to their assistance, he readily complied with their request, and arrived in Italy in the autumn of B.C. 276. His troops were now almost the same in number as when he first landed in Italy, but very different in quality. The faithful Epirots had for the most part fallen, and his present soldiers consisted chiefly of mercenaries, whom he had levied in Italy. One of his first operations was the recovery of Locri, which had revolted to the Romans; and as he here found himself in great difficulties for want of money to pay his troops, he was induced to take possession of the treasures of the Temple of Proserpine in that town; but the ships conveying the money were wrecked. This circumstance deeply affected the mind of Pyrrhus; he ordered the treasures which were saved to be restored to the temple, and from this time became haunted by the idea that the wrath of Proserpine was pursuing him, and dragging him down to ruin.

The following year (B.C. 274) closed the career of Pyrrhus in Italy. The Consul M'. Curius marched into Samnium, and his colleague into Lucania. Pyrrhus advanced against Curius, who was encamped in the neighborhood of Beneventum, and resolved to fight with him before he was joined by his colleague. As Curius did not wish to risk a battle with his own army alone, Pyrrhus planned a night-attack upon his camp. But he miscalculated the time and the distance; the torches burnt out, the men missed their way, and it was already broad daylight when he reached the heights above the Roman camp. Still their arrival was quite unexpected; but, as a battle was now inevitable, Curius led out his men. The troops of Pyrrhus, exhausted by fatigue, were easily put to the rout; two elephants were killed and eight more taken. Encouraged by this success, Curius no longer hesitated to meet the king in the open plain, and gained a decisive victory. Pyrrhus arrived at Tarentum with only a few horsemen. Shortly afterward he crossed over to Greece, leaving Milo with a garrison at Tarentum. Two years afterward he perished in an attack upon Argos, ingloriously slain by a tile hurled by a woman from the roof of a house.

The departure of Pyrrhus left the Lucanians and other Italian tribes exposed to the full power of Rome. They nevertheless continued the hopeless struggle a little longer; but in B.C. 272 Tarentum fell into the hands of Rome, and in a few years afterward every nation in Italy, to the south of the Macra and the Rubicon, owned the supremacy of Rome. She had now become one of the first powers in the ancient world. The defeat of Pyrrhus attracted the attention of the nations of the East; and in B.C. 273, Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, sent an embassy to Rome, and concluded a treaty with the Republic.

The dominion which Rome had acquired by her arms was confirmed by her policy. She pursued the same system which she had adopted upon the subjugation of Latium, keeping the cities isolated from one another, but at the same time allowing them to manage their own affairs. The population of Italy was divided into three classes. Cives Romani, Nomen Latinum, and Socii.

I. CIVES ROMANI, or ROMAN CITIZENS.—These consisted: (1.) Of the citizens of the thirty-three Tribes into which the Roman territory was now divided, and which extended north of the Tiber a little beyond Veii, and southward as far as the Liris; though even in this district there were some towns, such as Tibur and Prænesté, which did not possess the Roman franchise. (2.) Of the citizens of Roman colonies planted in different parts of Italy. (3.) Of the citizens of municipal towns upon whom the Roman franchise was conferred. In some cases the Roman franchise was granted without the right of voting in the Comitia (civitas sine suffragio), but in course of time this right also was generally conceded.

II. NOMEN LATINUM, or the LATIN NAME.—This term was applied to the colonies founded by Rome which did not enjoy the rights of Roman citizenship, and which stood in the same position with regard to the Roman state as had been formerly occupied by the cities of the Latin League. The name originated at a period when colonies were actually sent out in common by the Romans and Latins, but similar colonies continued to be founded by the Romans alone long after the extinction of the Latin League. In fact, the majority of the colonies planted by Rome were of this kind, the Roman citizens who took part in them voluntarily resigning their citizenship, in consideration of the grants of land which they obtained. But the citizen of any Latin colony might emigrate to Rome, and be enrolled in one of the Roman tribes, provided he had held a magistracy in his native town. These Latin colonies—the Nomen Latinum—were some of the most flourishing towns in Italy.

III. SOCII, or ALLIES, included the rest of Italy. Each of the towns which had been conquered by Rome had formed a treaty (fœdus) with the latter, which determined their rights and duties. These treaties were of various kinds, some securing nominal independence to the towns, and others reducing them to absolute subjection.