CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 2 CHAP. 343 B.C. Sabellians. In the beginning of the Roman history we find four In the extreme south-east, on the Calabrian peninsula, there are found faint traces of a primeval population. called the Messapians, who seem to have preceded all the above-named immigrants, and were driven by them into this remote corner. See Mommsen, Unteritalische Dialecte, p. 41 ff. 2 They were considered by the ancients as Autochthones, or sprung from the soil. See Strabo, v. 3, 1. BOOK 343 B.C. Sabellian immigrations. The Sabines. The Rome, and established for ever the incontestible preeminence of that city and its title to dominion over Italy. That the Sabellians did originally immigrate by the land route from the north, and not by sea is clear from the fact that they had possession of the middle and mountainous part of the peninsula and in historical time moved from north to south. Their most northern tribe, the Umbrians, had been very widely spread in prehistoric times, from the Adriatic Sea to the countries which were possessed at a later period by the Gauls and Etruscans. In the most elevated valleys of the Abruzzi, surrounded by the snow-capped summits of Gran Sasso and Velino, dwelt the Sabines, who, longer than any other Sabellian race, preserved their national peculiarities, and were therefore considered in later times as models of ancestral simplicity, hardiness, and virtue.' From these high mountain lands the different races descended like streams that flood and fertilise the deep-lying valleys and plains. The Latins, whom we meet first in the neighbourhood of the Tiber, belonged to the oldest of these successive streams. Then came the Sabines from Cures, of whom the history of regal Rome has so much to relate. To the same race belonged the Equians and the Volscians, whose wild onset was broken by the stout resistance of the young Roman republic, as also a number of other Sabellian nations on both sides of the peninsula. South of the highest peak of the Abruzzi, the mountain chain of the Apennines rises again in huge masses to the height of 6,000 feet. These high lands, now called Monte Matese, spread around the source of the Volturnus, and command the plain of Campania traversed by that river. Here dwelt two Sabellian races, the Pentrians in the north and the Caudinians in the south, who retained the common name of their race but very slightly changed, and were called by the Romans Samnites.2 The same name is The name Samnites, in Greek Zavvîrai, i.e., Sabnites, or Sabinites, is only a slight variation of Sabini. On coins of their own they called themselves Safines.-Mommsen, Unterital. Dialecte, p. 201. IV. 343 B.C. occasionally applied to other tribes, such as the Hirpinians CHAP. on their southern frontier, the Picentines and the Frentanians who lived on the Adriatic Sea. We must guard against supposing that common descent and kindred blood implied political union. It is even doubtful whether the Pentrians and the Caudinians always were united. At any rate we know that, when the Samnites are mentioned, it is by no means certain that all the races which shared this name are referred to.1 Samnite Of the social and political institutions of the Samnites The we have no authentic account. They were rude but not state. savage mountaineers, hardened by their mode of life, warlike, enterprising, and bold. Although inclined to pillage and plunder, in which the wars of rude nations principally consist, they did not carry on war as mere robbers and incendiaries. Not inferior to the Romans in military equipment, in the arts of war, or in strategy, they were in every respect worthy antagonists. But they had one weak point; they had no firm political unity, and this want caused them to succumb. The individual townships or cantons, it appears, lived almost completely independent in their secluded valleys; there were no large towns in the country, and there was no centre like Rome, where the strength of the people might have been combined for common action. For the conduct of the general affairs of the nation the heads of the separate tribes met and formed a sort of senate, which, however, could not have the support of an assembly of the people, as the senate had in Rome. There were no regular magistrates chosen year by year, to whose hand the executive power might be intrusted with safety. The kingly office was unknown. In war they had common military chiefs; but it is doubtful how far these chiefs could inforce obedience among The Roman historians are generally inclined to apply comprehensive names to the peoples with whom they were at war. Instead of specifying the particular Latin or Etruscan towns concerned, they often speak of Latins or Etruscans generally, sometimes emphatically adding that all the Latins or Etruscans are referred to. See above, p. 96, note 1. This kind of misrepresentation is often due as much to ignorance and inaccuracy as to downright dishonesty. BOOK 343 B.C. Samnite conquests. Capua. the different members of the league. We may take for granted that the confederacy of the Samnites suffered from the defects and vices which are inherent in all alliances of sovereign or partly sovereign states. While Rome was fighting with the Equians and the Volscians for the dominion of Latium, the Samnites sent successive swarms of conquerors to the south of the peninsula. The Lucanians and Bruttians subdued the inland districts where along the coast the numerous Greek colonies stretched from Campania even to Tarentum. But more especially were they attracted by the fruitful plains of Campania. Here the Etruscans had founded or conquered a number of towns at the time of their national power and greatness, when they ruled over Rome and Latium. All these fell one after another into the hands of Samnite conquerors. According to the Roman tradition Capua, the most important of these, was lost in the year 331 U.c. (423 B.C.), and the smaller places-Calatia, Suessula, Acerræ, Nola, Atella-which covered the plain of Campania, shared the same fate, as did also Cumæ, the oldest Greek settlement on Italian ground. Naples alone was able to preserve her independence, and in this last refuge the Greek language and Greek civilisation were preserved, when in almost all other places the Greek element had been overpowered by barbarism. The Samnite conquerors of Campania were soon estranged from their own countrymen. No political union bound the Samnite colonies to the mother country. The Campanians, like the Bruttians and Lucanians, became an independent people. They seem even to have forgotten that they were of the same blood with the mountain tribes of the Apennines. They intermarried with the original inhabitants of the conquered districts, and in its mild climate and fertile soil they lost their old simplicity and contentment, and even their bravery. In Campania the 1 See O. Müller, Etrusker, i. 166 ff. * Livy, iv. 37. It is, however, probable, that the expulsion of the Etruscans from Campania took place earlier.--See above, pp. 99, 171. IV. 343 B.C. Greeks and the Etruscans had vied with each other in CHAP. accumulating the products of highly developed industry and extensive commercial enterprise. In this beautiful land there had arisen, under such favourable opportunities, a refined enjoyment of life, its luxuries and comforts, unknown to the rude mountaineers of the Apennines. Capua was at this time one of the richest and most populous towns of Italy, and the bad character which the inhabitants had then and afterwards for effeminacy and indulgence, though perhaps exaggerated and in some cases unjust, was certainly not quite without foundation. Another cause contributed to weaken the new Sabellian Campanian community of Capua. The conquerors formed a nobility factions. distinct from the mass of the people. They were constantly at variance with the common people, and seemed to regard the state and the productive industry of the people as their private property. While in Rome the patricians and plebeians had gradually become one united people, the breach between the ruling and the subject class in Capua was so widened that the two parties applied for help from abroad. The nobles directed their hopes to Rome; the people endeavoured to join the Samnites. This fatal discord could not fail to make Campania the prey of either the one or the other powerful neighbour who were lying in wait for an opportunity to seize upon that beautiful country. ference nian Such an opportunity was found but too easily. The InterSidicinians, a Sabellian people between Campania and of Rome in Latium, were hard pressed by the Samnites and received Campahelp from the Campanians. But even the two peoples affairs. united were not equal to the Samnites. On the mountain of Tifata, which forms a natural stronghold near Capua, the Samnites established themselves, devastated the country, and defeated the Campanians as often as they ventured to meet them. The latter in their distress now turned to Rome, asked and received Roman assistance; and thus, in the year 343 B.C., the Romans and the z 2 |