Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/104

 88 ITALIA. their relations with the surrounding tribes, are given under the head of Magna Graecia. 1. Conquest of Italy hj the Romans, B. c. 509 — 264. — The earliest wars of the Romans with their immediate neighbours scarcely come here under our consideration. Placed on the very frontier of three powerful nations, the infant city was from the veiy first engaged in perpetual liostilities with the Latins, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. And, however little dejjendence can be placed upon the details of these wars, as related to us, there seems no doubt that, • even under the kings, Eome had risen to a superiority over most of her neighbours, and had extended her actual dominion over a considerable part of Latium. The earliest period of the Republic, on the other hand (from the expulsion of the Tarquins to the Gaulish invasion, b. c. 509 — 390), when stripped of the romantic garb in which it has been clothed by Roman writers, presents the spectacle of a dhticult and often dubious struggle, with the Etruscans on the one hand, and the Volscians on the other. The capture of Veil, in b. c. 396, and the permanent an- nexation of its territoiy to that of Rome, was the first decisive advantage acquired by the rising re- public, and may be looked upon as the first step to the domination of Italy. Even the great calamity sustained by the Romans, when their city was taken and in part destroyed by the Gauls, b. c. 390, was so far Irom permanently checking their progress, that it would rather seem to have been the means of opening out to them a career of conquest. It is probable that that event, or rather the series of pre- datory invasions by the Gauls of which it farmed a part, gave a serious shock to the nations of Central Italy, and produced among them much disorganisa- tion and consequent weakness. The attention of the Etruscans was naturally drawn off towards the N., and the Romans were able to estabhsh colonies at Sutrium and Nt-pete; while the power of the Vol- scians appears to have been greatly enfeebled, and the series of triumphs over them recorded in the Fasti now marks real progress. That of JL Valerius Corvus, after the destruction of Satricum in b. c. 346 (Liv. vii. 27; Fast. Capit.), seems to indicate the total subjugation of the Volscian people, who never again appear in history as an independent power. Shortly after this, in B.C. 343, the Romans for the first time came into collision with the Samnites. That people were then undoubtedly at the height of their power: they and their kindred Sabellian tribes had recently extended their conquests over almost the whole southern portion of the peninsula (see above, p. 86); and it cannot be doubted, that when the Romans and Samnites first found them- selves opposed in arms, the contest between them was one for the supremacy of Italy. Jleanwhile, a still more formidable danger, though of much briefer duration, threatened the rising power of Rome. The revolt of the Latins, who had hitherto been among the main instruments and supports of that power, threatened to shake it to its foundation; and the victory of the Romans at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, under T. lilanlius and P. Decius (rt. c. 340), was perhaps the most important in their whole history. Three campaigns sufiiced to terminate this formid- able war (b. c. 340 — 338). The Latins were now reduced from the condition of dependent allies to that of subjects, whether under the name of Roman citizens or on less favourable terms [Latium] ; and the greater part of Campania was placed in the same condition. ITALIA. At this time, therefore, only seventy years before the First Punic War, the Roman dominion still com- prised only Latium, in the more limited sense of the name (for the Aequi and Hernici were still inde- pendent), together with the southern part of Elruria, the territory of the Volscians, and a part of Cam- pania. During th&next fifty years, which was the period of the great extension of the Roman arms and influence, the contest between Rome and Samniuni was the main point of interest; but almost all the surrounding nations of Italy were gradually drawn in to take part in the struggle. Thus, in the Second Samnite War (b. c. 326—304), the names of the Lucanians and Apulians — nations with which (as Livy observes, viii. 25) the Roman people had, up to that period, had nothing to do — appear as taking ;m active part in the contest. In another part of Itiily, the JIarsi, Vestini, and Peligni, all of them, as we have seen, probably kindred races with the Samnites, took up arras at one time or another in support of that people, and were thus for the first time brought into collision with Rome. It was not till B.C. 311 that the Etruscans on their side joined in the con- test: but the Etruscan War at once assumed a character and dimensions scarcely less formidable than that with the Samnites. It was now that the Romans for the first time carried their arms beyond the Ciminian Hills; and the northern cities of Etruria, Perusia, Cortona, and Arretium, now first appear as taking part in the war. [Etkukia.] Before the close of the contest, the Umbrians also took up arms for the first time against the Romans. The peace which put an end to the Second Sam- nite War (n. c. 304) added nothing to the territorial extent of the Roman power; but nearly contemporary with it, was the revolt of the Hernicans, which ended in the complete subjugation of that people (b.c. 306) ; and a few years later the Aequians, who followed their example, shared the same fate, B. C. 302. About the same time (b. c. 304) a treaty was con- cluded with the Marsi, Marrucini, Peligni, and Frentani, by which those nations appear to have passed into the condition of dependent allies of Rome, in which we always subsequently find them. A similar treaty was granted to the Vestini in B.C. 301. In b. c. 298, the contest between Eome and Samnium was renewed, but in this Third Samnite War the people of that name was only one member of a powerful confederacy, consisting of the Samnites, Etniscans, Umbrians, and Gauls; nevertheless, their united forces were defeated by the Romans, who, after several successful campaigns, compelled both Etrus- cans and Samnites to sue for peace (b. c. 290). The same year in which tliis was concluded wit- nessed also the subjugation of the Sabines, who had been so long the faithful allies of Rome, and now appear, for the first time after a long interval, in arms : they were admitted to the Roman franchise. {Uw Epit. xL; Veil. Pat. i. 14.) The short in- terval which elapsed before hostilities were generally renewed, afforded an opportunity for the subjugation of the Galli Senones, whose territory was wasted with fire and sword by the consul Dolabella, in 283; and the Roman colony of Sena (Sena Gallica) esta- blished there, to secure their permanent submission. Already in b. c. 282, the war was renewed both with the Etruscans and the Samnites ; but this Fourth Samnite War, as it is often called, was soon merged in one of a more extensive character. The Samnites were at first assisted by the Lucanian.s