veyed, and communication was frequent, the origin of a fleet which appears to have remained some time off the south-western coast of Italy, could not have continued uncertain.(141)

Livy likewise mentions a treaty having been made at Rome with Carthaginian envoys in 348 B.C., and a golden crown having been sent to Rome by Carthage, as a gratulatory present on account of the recent victories over the Samnites, in 343 B.C.(142) He further speaks of a treaty having been renewed for the third time with Carthage in 306 B.C.(143) These notices do not accord with the detailed account of the earliest treaties between Rome and Carthage, given by Polybius. (144)

§ 15 Some notices of prodigies, and religious ceremonies for their expiation, which occur in this period, deserve attention, as they are likely to have been recorded by cotemporary annalists. Scenic games, which at first consisted only of music and dancing, and were destitute of any dramatic element, are related to have been first introduced among the expiatory rites for the pestilence of 365 B.C.(145) This celebration however was not deemed acceptable to the gods; for while the games were in progress, the circus was inundated by the Tiber. Another atonement was therefore sought for; and it was remembered by some aged persons, that a pestilence had once been stopped by the ceremony of the dictator driving a nail into a temple. According to Livy, this custom had originally been intended to mark the year, at a time when writing was rarely practised: it had however now become a mere form, which had only a religious meaning (146) In a later year (331 B.C.) this ceremony was repeated, as a purification for the poisonings of the matrons: the

(141) See above, vol. i. p. 63.

(142) Livy, vii. 27, 38; cf. ix. 43. It is stated by Diod. xvi. 69, that in the consulship of Valerius and Popillius (348 B.C.) the Romans first made a treaty with the Carthaginians. This agrees with the notice in Livy; but is quite inconsistent with the detailed account of Polybius.

(143) ix. 43.

(144) See Niebuhr, Hist. vol. iii. p. 86.

(145) Livy, vii. 2.

(146) vii. 3. The connexion of ideas in this passage is extremely obSee above, vol. i. p. 176.

scure.

precedent then followed is reported to have been found in historical records, and to have been the driving of a nail in a secession of the plebs. (147)

Shortly afterwards (362 B.C.) the chasm in the forum, which could not be filled until M. Curtius leaped into it on horseback, is said to have occurred; and the Lacus Curtius, a reservoir of water in the forum, marked the place of this event. The prevailing belief deduced the origin of the name from this story; but another legend traced it to Mettus Curtius, a soldier of Titus Tatius, who was here swallowed up in a swamp.(148)

Under the year 345 B.C., it is related that L. Furius, the dictator, in a battle against the Aurunci vowed a temple to Juno Moneta; after he had returned victorious to Rome, the Senate appointed decemvirs to build the temple, and assigned for it the site of the house of Manlius, on the Capitol.(149) The temple was dedicated in the following year; and its dedication is stated to have been immediately followed by a prodigy, similar to that which had occurred in the Alban mount, in the reign of Tullus Hostilius: stones fell from the sky, and there was darkness during the day. The Sibylline books were inspected, a dictator was appointed for the celebration of proper holidays, and supplications were directed, not only for the Roman tribes, but also for the neighbouring communities. (150)

(147) Livy, viii. 18.

(148) Livy, i. 13, vii. 6; Dion. Hal. ii. 42, xiv. 10-1; Dio Cass. fragm. xxx. 1. Zon. vii. 25, who tells the story at length, and adds: rave' ourw τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἱστόρηται· εἰ δέ τῳ μυθώδη κριθείη καὶ μὴ πιστὰ, ἔξεστιν οἱ μὴ poσέxeiv avтois. Prop. iv. 11, 61; Val. Max. v. 6, 2; Festus, in Curti lacum, p. 49; Plin. N. H. xv. 20. Varro, L. L. v. § 148-50, mentions both stories, and adds a third, that the place had been struck by lightning, and that it was built round by the consul Curtius in 445 B.C. See Arnold, vol. ii. p. 80-1; above, vol. i. p. 426, n. 60; Schwegler, vol. i. n. 463, 484. The name is mentioned by Tacitus, Hist. i. 41. The lacus Curtius contained water; Suet. Oct. 57.

(149) Manlius was condemned in 384 B.C., and therefore the area had remained vacant for thirty-nine years.

(150) Livy, vii. 28. Concerning the shower of stones on the Alban hill, see above, vol. i. p. 164, n. 106.

PART II.-FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SAMNITE WARS

TO THE LANDING OF PYRRHUS.

(343-281 B.C.)

§ 16 WE now arrive at the commencement of the Samnite wars, which, with their direct and indirect consequences, nearly fill up the entire interval of sixty-two years until the landing of Pyrrhus in Italy.() The origin of the First Samnite War, in the year 343 B.C.,() is described by Livy in a perspicuous and coherent narrative.

The Samnites, who occupied the midland region of Southern Italy, had attacked the Sidicines, a less powerful community, who dwelt to the north of Campania, on the confines of Latium.(3) The Sidicines obtain the assistance of the Campanians; but the latter find that they are not only unable to protect their weaker ally, but even to defend themselves against the brave and hardy Samnites. Besieged in Capua, and pressed by the persevering vigour of their assailants, they send ambassadors to the Roman Senate to implore assistance. The Senate give them an audience, but refuse their application, on the ground that there is a subsisting treaty with the Samnites, and that Rome cannot assist the Campanians against them without a breach of faith. Upon this, the leader of the embassy, following the instructions given him in contemplation of a refusal, makes a formal surrender of the Campanian people, the city of Capua, the territory, the temples of the gods, and everything

(1) Majora jam hinc bella et viribus hostium, et longinquitate vel regionum, vel temporum spatio, quibus bellatum est, dicentur : namque eo anno adversus Samnites, gentem opibus armisque validam, mota arma. Samnitium bellum, ancipiti Marte gestum, Pyrrhus hostis, Pyrrhum Pœni secuti; Livy, vii. 29.

(2) In this year the final expulsion of Dionysius the younger by Timoleon likewise took place.

(3) Teanum, the chief place of the Sidicines, is described by Strabo as the largest of the Campanian towns upon the Latin frontier: μeyiorη ovoa τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ Λατίνῃ πόλεων, ν. 3, § 9. Niebuhr overstrains the testimony of Strabo in saying that he represents Teanum as 'great even among the largest cities of Italy;' Hist. vol. iii. p. 112.

divine and human in their power, to the Romans. The Senate are moved by this decisive mark of desperate helplessness, in a people once so potent and renowned ;(1) and think that the cession alters the complexion of the case; that it cancels the obligation of their treaty with the Samnites, and raises an obligation to protect a subject community, now engrafted into their empire. The surrender is accepted; ambassadors are sent to the Samnites to announce the fact, and to call upon them as allies of the Romans to spare the Campanians, who have become Roman subjects by surrender.(5) If the Samnites refused to listen to this appeal, the ambassadors were to warn them, on behalf of the Roman Senate and people, not to violate the Campanian territory.

This message gave such offence to the Samnite council, that they not only refused to comply with the demand of the Romans, but even issued instant orders for plundering parties to enter the Campanian country.(") The Romans, on their part, after having sent feciales to demand redress, declared war against the Samnites in the most solemn manner; and sent the two consuls, Valerius Corvinus and Cornelius Cossus, each with an army, the one to Campania, the other to Samnium. The former, a member of the celebrated Valerian family, and now distinguished by the name which he owed to his single combat with the Gaul-a general of popular manners, beloved by the soldiers defeated the Samnites in a severe and hard fought

(4) According to Livy, iv. 37, the Campanians took Capua from the Etruscans in 423 B.C., so that they had now held it for eighty years. Niebuhr, Hist. vol. iii. p. 110, thinks that Capua was at this time not inferior to Rome either in size or population, and, p. 107, that the Samnites were in extent of territory and population far superior to Rome and her allies. The Romans were said to have derived most of their arms from the Samnites; Sallust, Cat. 51. Itanus the Samnite was the inventor of the Oupeòs, or scutum, the oblong shield; according to the authors cited by Clem. Alex. Strom. i. § 75. See Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 490. The Samnites are likewise described as the inventors of the scutum, in Athen. vi. p. 273, F. Plutarch on the other hand, states that Romulus adopted the scutum from the Sabines, in the place of the round Argolic shield, previously used by the Romans; Rom. 21. See Marquardt, iii. 2, p. 241. (5) Dediticii-which, according to the analogy of our legal language, may be translated surrenderees.

(6) Livy, vii. 29-31.

battle under Mount Gaurus, close to Cuma.(7) The other consul, Cossus, in marching from Saticula into Samnium, involved his army in a wooded defile between hills, and was saved only by the presence of mind and courage of P. Decius, a military tribune.(8) An unexpected attack was afterwards made upon the Samnites, of whom the Romans are stated to have slain 30,000 men. A third battle was fought by Valerius at Suessula, to the south-east of Capua, against the army which he had previously defeated, but which had now received reinforcements. In this encounter he again gained a great success: for he stormed their camp, dispersed their army, and took 40,000 shields, and 170 standards. The result of the first campaign against the Samnites was therefore eminently favourable to the Romans.

§ 17 For the origin of the First Samnite War, and its events, we have only the narrative of Livy. There is no extant fragment of Dionysius or Dio Cassius for this portion of the history: Diodorus, Eutropius, and Zonaras are silent respecting it; Florus despatches it with a brief notice. (") Livy's account

(7) Ib. 32-3. In the description of this battle, Livy says: "Tum primum referri pedem atque inclinari rem in fugam apparuit; tum capi, occidi Samnis: nec superfuissent multi, ni nox victoriam magis quam prælium diremisset.' Niebuhr, Hist. vol. iii. p. 120, wishes to read, Tum capi, non occidi Samnis.' There is no reason for supposing that the Romans were disposed to spare the Samnites on this occasion, and the insertion of the negative particle would be inconsistent with what follows as to the darkness arresting the slaughter of the fugitives. The saying of the Samnites in Livy, Oculos sibi Romanorum ardere visos,' is transferred by Florus, i. 16, § 12, to another battle after the Caudine disaster.

(8) This exploit of P. Decius Mus is likewise mentioned by Victor de Vir. Ill. 26, where it is placed in the defiles of Mount Gaurus, by a confusion with the army of Valerius. A dream of P. Decius, in connexion with this exploit, was (as we learn from Cicero) mentioned by the early historians, but it is not noticed by Livy. At vero P. Decius ille, Q. F. qui primus e Deciis consul fuit, cum esset tribunus militum M. Valerio, A. Cornelio consulibus, a Samnitibusque premeretur noster exercitus, cum pericula præliorum iniret audacius, monereturque ut cautior esset, dixit, quod extat in annalibus; sibi in somnis visum esse, cum in mediis hostibus versaretur, occidere cum maximâ gloriâ. Et tum quidem incolumis exercitum obsidione liberavit. Post triennium autem, cum consul esset, devovit se. Cic. de Div. i. 24. Cicero agrees with Livy as to the time, for Livy interposes two years between the battle of the Gaurus and the battle of Veseris.

(9) Precibus deinde Campaniæ motus, non pro se, sed, quod speciosius, pro sociis Samnitas invadit. Erat foedus cum utrisque percussum, sed hoc