CIIAMRKRS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



But even before the Gauls had crossed the 

 Apennines, the fate of Etmria was virtually 

 sealed. The fall of Veil, 396 r,i . was really the 

 death-knell of Ktrusc.in independence. Although 

 the story has undoubtedly descended to us in a 

 inythicai dress, the siege of Veil is hv no means 

 to be placed in the same with the siege 



of Troy. Falerii, Capcna, and Volsinii all sover- 

 eign cities of Ktruria hastened soon after to 

 make peace, and by the middle of the 4th c. B.C. 

 the whole of Southern Etruria had submitted to 

 the supremacy of Rome, was kept in check by 

 Roman garrisons, and denationalised by the in- 

 flux of Roman colonists. In the land of the 

 Volsci, likewise, a scries of Roman fortresses 

 were erected to overawe the native inhabitants ; 

 Velitrae, on the borders of Latium, as far back as 

 492 B.C Sucssa Pomctia (442 B.C.), Circcii (393 

 B.C.), Satricum (385 B.C), and Sctia (382 B.C.) : 

 besides the whole Volscian district, known as the 

 Pontinc Marshes, was distributed into farm-allot- 

 ments among the plebeian soldiery. Becoming 

 alarmed, ii ue\er. at the increasing power of 

 Rome, the Latins and Hernicans withdrew from 

 the league, and a severe and protracted struggle 

 took place between them and their former ally. 

 Nearly thirty years elapsed before the Romans 

 succeeded in crushing the malcontents, and re- 

 storing the league of Spurius Cassius. In the 

 course of this war, the old Latin confederacy of 

 the 'Thirty Cities' was broken up (384 B.C.), 

 probably as being dangerous to the hegemony 

 (now rapidly becoming a supremacy) of Rome. 

 The terms of the treaty made by the Romans 

 (348 B.C.) with the Carthaginians shew how very 

 dependent was the position of the Latin cities. 

 Meanwhile, the Romans had pushed their garri- 

 sons as far south as the Liris, the northern 

 boundary of Campania. Here they came into 

 contact with the Samnites, a people as heroic 

 as themselves, their equals in everything but 

 unity of political organisation ; perhaps their 

 superiors in magnanimity. 



The Samnites had long been extending their 

 conquests in the south of Italy, just as Rome had 

 in the centre and in Etruria. Descending from 

 their native mountains between the plains of 

 Apulia and Campania, they had overrun the lower 

 part of the peninsula, and under the name of 

 Lucanians, Bruttians, &c. had firmly established 

 themselves, threatening everywhere the prosperity 

 of the Greek and Etruscan possessions in those 

 regions. But it was the dwellers in the original 

 mountain territory who properly bore the name of 

 Samnites, and between them and the Romans now 

 commenced" a tremendous struggle ; the former 

 fighting heroically for the preservation of their 

 national freedom the latter warring with superb 

 valour for dominion. The Samnite Wars, of which 

 three are reckoned, extended over 53 years (343- 

 290 B.C.). The second, generally known as the 

 'Great Samnite War,' lasted 22 years (326-304 B.C.). 

 At first, the success was mainly on the side of the 

 Samnites ; and after the disaster at the Caudine 

 Forks, it seemed as if Samnium and not Rome 

 was destined to become the ruler of Italy, but the 

 military genius of the Roman consul, Quintus 

 Fabius Rullianus, triumphed over every danger, 

 and rendered all the heroism of Caius Pontius, the 

 Samnite leader; unavailing. In 304 B.C. Bovianum, 

 the capital of Samnium, was stormed, and the 



104 



hardy highlanders were compelled to acknow- 

 ledge the supremacy of the republic. The third 

 war (298-290 B.c.) was conducted with all the 

 sanguinary energy of despair ; but though the 

 Ktiiiscans and Umbrians now joined the Samnites 

 against the Romans, their help came too late. 

 The victory of Rullianus and of P. Decius Mus, 

 at Sentinum (295 B.C.), virtually ended the struggle, 

 and placed the whole of the Italian peninsula at 

 the mercy of the victor. It only remains to be 

 mentioned here that at the close of the first Samnite 

 War, which was quite indecisive, an insurrection 

 burst out among the Latins and Volscians, and 

 spread over the whole territory of these two 

 nations ; but the defeat inflicted on the insurgents 

 at Trifanum (340 B.C.) by the Roman consul, Titus 

 Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, almost instantly 

 crushed it, and in two years the last spark of 

 rebellion was extinguished. The famous Latin 

 league was now dissolved ; many of the towns lost 

 their independence, and became Roman mitnicipia; 

 new colonies were planted both on the coast and 

 in the interior of the Latino-Volscian region ; and 

 finally, so numerous were the farm-allotments to 

 Roman burgesses, that two additional tribes had 

 to be constituted. 



FROM THE CLOSE OF THE SAMNITE TO THE 

 COMMENCEMENT OF THE PUNIC WARS. 



The war with Pyrrhus, king of Epeirus, which 

 led to the complete subjugation of Peninsular 

 Italy, is a sort of pendant to the great Sam- 

 nite struggle. It was brought about in this 

 way. 



The Lucanians and Bruttians, who had aided 

 the Romans in the Samnite Wars, considering 

 themselves cheated of their portion of the spoil, 

 entered into negotiations with the enemies of their 

 former associate throughout the peninsula. A 

 mighty coalition was immediately formed against 

 Rome, consisting of Etruscans, Umbrians, and 

 Gauls in the north, and of Lucanians, Bruttians, 

 and Samnites in the south, with a sort of tacit 

 understanding on the part of the Tarentines that 

 they would render assistance by and by. The 

 rapidity with which it took shape shews alike the 

 fear and the hatred inspired by the Roman name. 

 In the course of a single year, the whole north was 

 in arms, and once more the power, and even the 

 existence of Rome, were in deadly peril. An entire 

 Roman army of 13,000 men was annihilated at 

 Arretium (284 B.C.) by the Senonian Gauls ; but 

 that dauntless spirit which the republic never failed 

 to display in the crisis of its fortunes, and which 

 gives a sublime dignity to its worst ambition, 

 now shone out in the fulness of its splendour. 

 Publius Cornelius Dolabella marched into the 

 country of the Senones at the head of a large 

 force, and literally extirpated the whole nation, 

 which henceforth disappears from history. Shortly 

 afterwards, the bloody overthrow of the Etrusco- 

 Boian horde at Lake Vadimo (283 B.C.) shattered 

 to pieces the northern confederacy, and left the 

 Romans free to deal with their adversaries in the 

 south. The Lucanians were quickly overpowered 

 (282 B.C.) ; Samnium, broken by its long and luck- 

 less struggle, and overawed by the proximity of a 

 Roman army, could do nothing. A rash and un- 

 provoked attack on a small Roman fleet now 

 brought down on the Tarentines the vengeance of 



