The Latins had, as already stated, renewed their league with Rome in B. C. 356, and consequently their troops had fought along with the Romans in the war against the Samnites. But the increasing power of Rome excited their alarm; and it became evident to them that, though nominally on a footing of equality, they were, in reality, becoming subject to Rome. This feeling was confirmed by the treaty of alliance which the Romans had formed with the Samnites. The Latins, therefore, determined to bring matters to a crisis, and sent two Praetors, who were their chief magistrates, to propose to the Romans that the two nations should henceforth form one state; that half of the state should consist of Latins, and that one of the two Consuls should be chosen from Latium. These requests excited the greatest indignation at Rome, and were rejected with the utmost scorn. The Senate met in the Temple of Jupiter, in the Capitol, to receive the Latin deputation, and, after hearing their proposals, the Consul, T. Manlius Torquatus, the same who had slain the Gaul in single combat, declared that, if the Republic should cowardly yield to these demands, he would come into the senate-house sword in hand and cut down the first Latin he saw there. The tale goes on to say that in the discussion which followed, when both parties were excited by anger, the Latin Praetor defied the Roman Jupiter; that thereupon an awful peal of thunder shook the building; and that, as the impious man hurried down the steps from the temple, he fell from top to bottom, and lay there a corpse.
War was now declared, and the most vigorous efforts were made on both sides. The contest was to decide whether Rome should become a Latin town, or the Latins be subject to Rome. The Romans had elected to the consulship two of their most distinguished men. The Patrician Consul was, as already mentioned, T. Manlius Torquatus; his Plebeian colleague was P. Decius Mus, who had gained great renown in the recent war against the Samnites. The two Consuls marched through Samnium into Campania, and threatened Capua, thus leaving Rome exposed to the attacks of the Latins. But the Consuls foresaw that the Latins would not abandon Capua, their great acquisition; and the event proved their wisdom. The contest was thus withdrawn from the territory of Rome and transferred to Campania, where the Romans could receive assistance from the neighbouring country of their Samnite allies. It was at the foot of Mount Vesuvius that the two armies met, and here the battle was fought which decided the contest. It was like a civil war. The soldiers of the two armies spoke the same language, had fought by each others’ sides, and were well known to one another. Under these circumstances, the Consuls published a proclamation that no Roman should engage in single combat with a Latin on pain of death. But the son of Torquatus, provoked by the insults of a Tusculan officer, accepted his challenge, slew his adversary, and carried the bloody spoils in triumph to his father. The Consul had within him the heart of Brutus; he would not pardon this breach of discipline, and ordered the unhappy youth to be beheaded by the lictor in the presence of the assembled army.
In the night before the battle a vision appeared to each Consul, announcing that the general of one side and the army of the other were doomed to destruction. Both agreed that the one whose wing first began to waver should devote himself and the army of the enemy to the gods of the lower world. Decius commanded the left wing; and when it began to give way, he resolved to fulfil his vow. Calling the
Pontifex Maximus, he repeated after him the form of words by which he devoted himself and the army of the enemy to the gods of the dead and the mother earth; then leaping upon his horse, he rushed into the thickest of the fight, and was slain. The Romans gained a signal victory. Scarcely a fourth part of the Latins escaped (B. C. 340).
This victory made the Romans masters ofCampania, and the Latins did not dare to meet them again in the field. The war continued two years longer, each city confining itself to the defence of its own walls, and hoping to receive help from others in case of an attack. But upon the capture of Pedum in B. C. 338 all the Latins laid down their arms, and garrisons were placed in their towns. The Romans were now absolute masters of Latium, and their great object was to prevent the Latin cities from forming any union again. For this purpose not only were all general assemblies forbidden, but, in order to keep the cities completely isolated, the citizens of one town could not marry or make a legal contract of bargain or sale with another. Tibur and Praeneste, the two most powerful cities of the League, which had taken the most active part in the war, were deprived of a portion of their land, but were allowed to retain a nominal independence, preserving their own laws, and renewing from time to time their treaties with Rome. The inhabitants of several other towns, such as Tusculum and Lanuvium, received the Roman franchise; their territory was incorporated in that of the Republic; and two new tribes were created to carry these arrangements into effect. Many of the most distinguished Romans sprung from these Latin towns.
Twelve years elapsed between the subjugation of Latium and the commencement of the Second Samnite War. During this time the Roman arms continued to make steady progress. One of their most important conquests was that of the Volscian town of Privernum in B. C. 329, from which time the Volscians, so long the formidable enemies of Rome, disappear as an independent nation. The extension of the Roman power naturally awakened the jealousy of the Samnites; and the assistance rendered by them to the Greek cities of Palaeopolis and Neapolis was the immediate occasion of the Second Samnite War. These two cities were colonies of the neighbouring Cumae, and were situated only five miles from each other. The position of Palaeopolis, or the “Old City,” is uncertain; but Neapolis, or the “New City,” stands on the site of a part of the modern Naples. The Romans declared war against the two cities in B. C. 327, and sent the Consul Q. Publilius Philo to reduce them to subjection. The Greek colonists had previously formed an alliance with the Samnites, and now received powerful Samnite garrisons. Publilius encamped between the cities; and as he did not succeed in taking them before his year of office expired, he was continued in the command with the title of Proconsul, the first time that this office was created. At the beginning of the following year Palaeopolis was taken; and Neapolis only escaped the same fate by concluding an alliance with the Romans. Meanwhile the Romans had declared war against the Samnites.
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