Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/912

 892 SAJINIUM the tract of country from the Silarus to the Sarnus, Avliich was subsequently occupied by the Picentini. (Scylax, p. 3. § 1 1 ; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 94.) They certainly were still in possession of this district in the Second Samnite War; and it is probable that it was not till the close of their long struggles with Koine that it was wrested from them, when the Ko- nians transplanted thither a colony of Picentines, and tlius finally cut off the Samnites from the sea. Ou the side of Apulia the progress of the Samnites was less definite; and it does not appear that they established themselves in the permanent po.ssession of any part of that country, though they were cer- tainly pressing hard upon its frontier cities ; and it was probably the sense of this and the fear of the Samnite arms that induced the Apulians early to court tlie alliance of Rome. [Apulia.] The Sanmite nation, when it first appears in Eonian history, seems to have consisted of four dif- ferent tribes or cantons. Of these the Pentri and the HiKi'iNi were much the most powerful; so much so indeed that it is difficult to understand how such petty tribes as the Caraceni and Caudini could i-ank on terms of equality with them. The Fren- TANi are frequently considered as forming a fifth canton ; but though that people was certainly of Samnite race, and must have been regarded by Scylax as forming an integral part of the Samnite nation, as he describes the Samnites as occupying a considerable part of the coast of the Adriatic {Peripl. p. 5. § 15), they seem to have already ceased to form a jart of tlieir political body at the time when they first came into contact with Rome. [Fkentani.} We have no account of the nature and character of the political constitution that bound together these different tribes. It seems to have been a mere federal league, the bonds of which were drawn closer together in time of war, when a supreme general or commander-in-chief was chosen to preside over the forces of the whole confederacy, with the title of Eiiibratur, the Sabellian form corresponding to the Latin Imperalor. (Liv. ix. 1; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 107.) But we find no mention, even on occasions of the greatest emergency, of any regular council or deliberative assembly to direct the policy of the nation; and the story told by Livy of the manner in which Herennius Pontius was consulted in regard to the fate of the Roman army at the Caudine Forks seems to negative the supposition that any such bod}' could have existed. (Liv. ix. 3; see also viii. 39.) The first mention of the Samnites in Roman liistory, is in b. c. 354, when we are told that they concluded a treaty of alliance with the republic, the progress of whose arms was already beginning to attract their attention (Liv. vii. 19; Diod. xvi. 45). It is probable that the Samnites, who were already masters of Aesernia and the upper valley of the Vulturnus, were at this time pushing forward their arms down the course of that valley, and across the mountain country from thence to the Liris, then occupied by the Volscians, Auruncans, and other tribes, of Ausonian or Oscan origin. It was not long before these onward movements brought them into collision with the Romans, notwithstanding their recent alliance. Among the minor tribes in this part of Italy were the Sidicini, who, though situated on the very borders of Campania, had hitherto pre- served their independence, and were not included in the Campanian people [Sidicini]. This petty people having been assailed by the Samnites, upon SAMNIUM. what cause or pretext we know not, and finding themselves unable to cope with such powerful neighbours, invoked the assistance of theCampaniaiis. The latter, notwithstanding their connection with the Samnites, readily espoused the cause of the Sidicini, but it was only to bring the danger upon their own heads : for the Samnites now turned their arms against the Campanians, and after occupying with a strong force the ridge of Mount Tifata, which immediately overlooks Capua, they descended into the plain, defeated the Campanians in a pitched battle at the very gates of Capua, and shut them up within the walls of the city (Liv. vii. 29). In this extremity the Campanians in their turn applied for assistance to Rome, and the senate, after some hesitation on account of their recent alliance with the Samnites, granted it (lb. 30, 31). Thus began the First Samnite War (b. c. 343), the commence- ment of that long struggle which was eventually to decide whether the supremacy of Italy was to rest with the Romans or the Samnites. This first contest was, however, of short duration. In the first campaign the two consuls M. Valerius Corvus and A. Cornelius Cossus gained two decisive victories ; the one at the foot of Mount Gaurus, the other near Saticula. The first of these, as Niebuhr observes (vol. iii. p. 119), was of especial importance; it was the first trial of arms between the two rival nations, and might be taken as a sort of omen of the ultimate issue of the contest. A third battle near Suessula, where the remains of the army that had been defeated at Mount Gaurus, after having been reinforced, again attacked Valerius, terminated in an equally decisive victory of the Romans; and both consuls triumphed over the Samnites (Liv. vii. 32—38 ; Fast. Capit.). The next year the mili- tary operations of the Romans were checked by a mutiny of their own army, of which the commons at Rome took advantage; and the city was divided by dissensions. These causes, as well as the in- creasing disaffection of the Latins, naturally disposed the Romans to peace, and a treaty was concluded with the Samnites in the following year, b. c. 341. The account which represents that people as humi- liated and suing for peace, is sufficiently refuted by the fact that the Romans abandoned the Sidicini to their fate, and left the Samnites free to carry out their aggressive designs against that unfortunate people (Liv. viii. 1, 2). The peace which terminated the First Samnite War renewed the alliance previously existing between the Romans and the Samnites. In consequence of this the latter took part in the great war with the Latins and Campanians, which almost immediately followed, not as the enemies, but as the allies, of Rome; and the Roman armies were thus enabled to reach Campania by the circuitous route through the country of the JIarsi and Peligni, and down the valley of the Vulturnus (Liv. viii. 6). During the fifteen years that followed, down to the renewal of the contest between Rome and Samnium, the course of events was almost uniformly favourable to the former power. The successful termination of the war with the Latins and Campanians, and the con- solidation of the Roman power in both those countries had added greatly to the strength of the republic; and the latter had followed up this advantage by the reduction of several of the smaller independent tribes in the same neighbourhood — the Ausones, Sidicini, and the Privernates, who appear on this occasion as independent of, and separate from, the