CHAPTER XXIII.

THIRD SAMNITE WAR. (299-290 B.C.)

§ 1. Hollowness of the late Peace. § 2. Rome engaged in war with Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls. § 3. Samnites choose this crisis for declaring war. § 4. Samnium desolated by Fabius and Decius. § 5. Great confederacy organised by Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite. § 6. Fabius and Decius again elected Consuls: great efforts for Campaign. § 7. Decisive battle of Sentinum: self-sacrifice of second Decius. § 8. Victory in Samnium by Papirius and Carvilius. § 9. C. Pontius again appears, and is taken prisoner by Fabius. § 10. Great Colony planted at Venusia. § 11. Submission of Samnites. § 12. Shameful death of C. Pontius.

§ 1. THE peace which concluded the Second Samnite War was made in 304 B.C., and in less than six years from that time the Third Samnite War began. This peace indeed was no peace (in our sense of the word), but a mere armistice on the part of the Samnites, who no doubt were resolved to break it as soon as they felt themselves strong enough to renew hostilities.

Their great want in the late war had been allies. They had fought single-handed against Rome, who was supported by Latins, Campanians, and Apulians. The greater part of the Sabellian tribes had stood aloof in cold neutrality, or had rendered a very doubtful succour. But an opportunity now offered which seemed to present occasion for forming a great confederation of Central Italy against Rome.

§ 2. After the conclusion of the peace before-named, Rome again appears in hostility with many of the Etruscan cities, notwithstanding the thirty years' truce which all except Vulsinii had lately made. At Arretium (Arezzo) we find the noble house of the Cilnii, from whom C. Cilnius Mæcenas, the minister of Augustus, claimed descent, inviting the Romans to restore

b"Mæcenas atavis edite regibus."-Horat. 1 Carm. i. 1.

"Non quia, Mæcenas, Lydorum quicquid Etruscos

Incoluit fines, nemo generosior est te."-2 Serm. vi. 1.

them to the city from which they had been banished. Perusia also and other cities appear in arms. Even beyond Etruria, in Umbria, we find the Romans at war with the people of Nequinum, a city strongly situated on the Nar (Nera). After an obstinate siege they took the place, and planted a Colony there, under the name of Narnia (Narni), to command the point at which the frontiers of Etruria, Umbria, and the Sabines meet. The Umbrians were so alarmed by this aggressive movement, that they called in to aid them a people who had hitherto been regarded with horror by all Italian nations.

A tribe of the Senonian Gauls, the same who had burnt Rome, had made a permanent settlement on the Umbrian coast-land, between the Utis and the Esis. The Umbrians, once a large and powerful nation, had been gradually confined to the mountain land on the left bank of the Tiber; and these Gauls had been the last enemy who had encroached upon their lands till the late settlement of the Romans at Narnia. We may infer the alarm felt by the Umbrians from the fact of their seeking such assistance.

§ 3. In the year 298 B.C. the Consuls were preparing to resist an attack from the Umbrians and Gauls; and this was the favourable moment chosen by the Samnites for renewing the

war.

Their first step was to overpower the Roman party in Lucania and Apulia; the colony of Luceria alone held out. Then they attempted to draw over the Marsians to their league; but this people turned a deaf ear to the voice of the tempter. The Sabines, however, of the upper country gave a favourable

answer.

With this formidable confederacy on the one hand, and the fear of the Etrurians, Umbrians, and Senonian Gauls on the other, the position of Rome appeared critical. But for some reason the fickle Gauls failed in their engagement, the Umbrians did not move, and Rome was left to deal with the Samnite league on the south, and the Etruscan cities on the north. But no doubt the interposition of the Frentanians and of the Marsians, with their associated cantons, between the Samnites and Northern Italy, must have greatly strengthened the hands of Rome in the ensuing war.

§ 4. The patrician Consul of the year 298 B.C., L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, the first of a great name, invaded Etruria, while his colleague, Cn. Fulvius, entered the country of the Pentrian Samnites. Fulvius gained not that advantage which the Roman people expected over an enemy whom they considered as already conquered. Accordingly, the general wish was to elect Q. Fabius Maximus, the hero of the late war, Consul for the next year. Fabius was now an elderly man, and this would be his fourth Consulship. He was fain to decline the task, but at length gave way on condition that his plebeian colleague should be P. Decius Mus, son of him who devoted himself in the great Latin war; and he also had been Consul twice before. They had been colleagues in the Consulship four years before (301 B.C.), and had cordially united in measures calculated to preserve harmony in the state, as we shall show in the next chapter. They continued firm friends till the death of Decius, and present a most honourable specimen of a Patrician and Plebeian combined for the common good.

Etruria was neglected. Both Consuls invaded Samnium : Fabius the Pentrian, Decius the Caudine valleys. They overran every part, burning and destroying. It is said that in this summer's campaign, Decius encamped in forty-five different places, Fabius in eighty-six. The campaign served to detach the Lucanians and Apulians from alliance with the Samnites.

§ 5. It appeared as if this brave people were again at the feet of Rome; and L. Volumnius, the plebeian Consul of the next year (296 B.C.), whilst his colleague App. Claudius was sent into Etruria, entered Samnium as if to take possession. But the Samnites rose from under their calamities with an elasticity as great as Rome herself displayed. Probably in the terrible assault of the last year great part of their flocks and herds, their chief wealth, had been secured in mountain fastnesses, and therefore they suffered not so much as an agricultural people might have done. But the chief merit of their renewed vigour must be at

This was the Scipio whose sarcophagus is so familiar to all eyes. The inscription on it records that he "took several places in Samnium, subdued the Lucanians, and led away hostages." The time of these exploits is not recorded in Livy. He served under the Consuls in Samnium in 297 and 293 B.C., and to one of these years the inscription must refer.

tributed to a brave chief, named Gellius Egnatius, who shines forth for a moment, like Pontius in the former war, through the uncertain mist of Samnite history, as it is transmitted to us by Roman annalists. The plan for an Italian confederation, which had been faintly attempted at the beginning of the war, this man attempted to realise by a step as bold as ever was taken in a desperate emergency.

With a chosen body of Samnites he made a rapid march into the valley of the Tiber, between Umbria and Etruria, hoping that his presence might rouse to action the slumbering energies of those countries, leaving, however, a sufficient force to keep Volumnius employed in Samnium. App. Claudius, a remarkable man, of whose acts in peace we shall have to speak in the next chapter, was more skilled in the contests of the Senate than of the field, and he was alarmed to hear that Gellius was likely to rouse both Umbrians and Gauls to join the Etruscans. He shut himself up in an entrenched camp, and sent orders to his colleague to join him. But no attack was made that year.

§ 6. In this state of alarm the people were convened to elect Consuls for the ensuing year (295 B.C.). They at once chose old Fabius for the fifth time, and would have continued Volumnius in office. But Fabius again refused to be elected unless he was united to his old and tried colleague, P. Decius; and this noble Plebeian was elected for the fourth time Consul.

At the very beginning of the year Fabius went to the camp of the late Consuls, where he found Appius adding to the fortifications. He treated the statesman with contempt, and led forth the men into the field, exercising them daily. He then returned for a short time to the city, to concert measures with the Senate for the eventful campaign that followed.

It was settled that both the Consuls, with four legions, were to go forward into Umbria, so as to separate the Samnites, with their Umbrian and Gallic allies, from Etruria. Scipio Barbatus had been sent forward with a single legion to watch the movements of the enemy. Volumnius, as Proconsul, was sent into Samnium. Fulvius was to be stationed near Falerii with a reserve force to overawe Etruria; while a fourth army, under Postumius, was to cover Rome herself. This was the largest number of troops that the Republic had ever yet called into

the field. With her allies she could not have had less than 100,000 men under arms.

§ 7. When the Consuls took the field, they were greeted with the unwelcome news that Scipio had been overpowered by the Gauls; and that these barbarians, with some of the Etruscans, had joined the brave Gellius Egnatius in Umbria. They immediately pushed across the Apennines, and (probably to supply Scipio's place) recalled Volumnius from Samnium. At the same time they sent orders to Fulvius to advance into Etruria, hoping by this diversion to draw off the Etruscans, and thus weaken the confederate army. The scheme was successful; and when the Roman army met the confederates at Sentinum in Umbria, the Etruscans had already returned home. Here, as on all occasions, the conduct of that people was weak and selfish. No brave man could trust his fortunes in their hands.

The Roman army of Umbria, legionaries and allies, amounted to not less than 60,000 men. The enemy, even without the Etruscans, were far more numerous. Fabius commanded the right wing, which was opposed to Gellius with his Samnites, the Umbrians, and probably some other Italian tribes; Decius on the left faced an immense host of Gauls. Just before the battle began, a hind and a wolf (so runs the story) ran down between the armies: the hind turned in among the Gauls, and was slain by their javelins; the wolf sought refuge in the Roman ranks, and no man touched the sacred beast of Romulus. This was hailed as an omen of good, and the battle began. Fabius, after an obstinate struggle, brought up his reserve and the Samnites gave way. But he could not pursue them; for Decius on his side had been less successful. The Gauls had brought their war-chariots into action, and the Romans were terror-struck by these strange engines of destruction. A panic seized the cavalry, and the legions wavered; when Decius resolved to follow the example of his father, and devote himself for his country. He went through the same solemn forms; his heroic death lent new courage to his men, and they returned to the charge under the command of M. Livius, the Pontifex Maximus. Still the Gauls kept their ground unflinching, though the heat of an Italian sun relaxed the strength of their northern frames. At this time Fabius, having driven the Samnites and

VOL. I.

R