The Second Samnite War lasted 22 years, and was by far the most important of the three wars which this people waged with Rome. During the first five years (B. C. 326-322) the Roman arms were generally successful. The Samnites became so disheartened that they sued for peace, but obtained only a truce for a year. It was during this period that the well-known quarrel took place between L. Papirius Cursor and Q. Fabius Maximus, the two most celebrated Roman generals of the time, who constantly led the armies of the Republic to victory. In B. C. 325 L. Papirius was Dictator, and Q. Fabius his Master of the Horse. Recalled to Rome by some defect in the auspices, the Dictator left the army in charge of Fabius, but with strict orders not to venture upon an engagement. Compelled or provoked by the growing boldness of the enemy, Fabius attacked and defeated them with great loss. But this victory was no extenuation for his offence in the eyes of the Dictator. Papirius hastened back to the camp, burning with indignation that his commands had been disobeyed, and ordered his lictors to seize Fabius and put him to death. The soldiers, whom Fabius had led to victory, rose in his defence; and in the night he escaped to Rome, to implore the protection of the Senate. He was stating the case to the Fathers, when Papirius entered the senate-house, followed by his lictors, and demanded that the offender should be given up for execution. But the Senate, the people, and the aged father of Maximus interceded so strongly for his life, that the Dictator was obliged to give way and to grant an ungracious pardon.
The year’s truce had not expired when the Samnites again took up arms, and for the next seven years (B. C. 321-315) the balance of success inclined to their side. This appears to have been mainly owing to the military abilities of their general C. Pontius, who deserves to be ranked among the chief men of antiquity. In the first year of his command he inflicted upon the Romans one of the severest blows they ever sustained in the whole course of their history.
In B. C. 321 the two Consuls, T. Veturius and Sp. Postumius, marched into Samnium by the road from Capua to Beneventum. Near the town of Caudium they entered the celebrated pass called the CAUDINE FORKS (Furculae Caudinae). It consisted of two narrow defiles or gorges, between which was a tolerably spacious plain, but shut in on each side by mountains. The Romans, thinking the Samnites to be far distant, had marched through the first pass and the plain; but when they came to the second they found it blocked up by works and trunks of trees, so as to be quite impassable. Retracing their steps to the pass by which they had entered, they found that the enemy had meantime taken possession of this also. They were thus blocked up at either end, and, after making vain attempts to force their way through, were obliged to surrender at discretion. Thus both Consuls and four legions fell into the hands of the Samnites. C. Pontius made a merciful use of his victory. He agreed to dismiss them in safety upon their promising to restore the ancient alliance on equal terms between the two nations, and to give up all the places which they had conquered during the war. The Consuls and the other superior officers swore to these terms in the name of the Republic, and six hundred Roman knights were given as hostages. The whole Roman army was now allowed to depart, and each Roman soldier marched out singly under the yoke.
When the news of this disaster reached Rome the Senate refused to ratify the peace, and resolved that the two Consuls and all the officers who had sworn to the peace should be delivered up to the Samnites as persons who had deceived them. They were conducted to Caudium by a Fetialis; and when they appeared before the tribunal of C. Pontius, Postumius, with superstitious folly, struck the Fetialis with his foot, saying that he was now a Samnite citizen, and that war might be renewed with justice by the Romans, since a Samnite had insulted the sacred envoy of the Roman people. But Pontius refused to accept the persons who were thus offered, and told them, if they wished to nullify the treaty, to send back the army to the Caudine Forks. Thus Postumius and his companions returned to Rome, and the 600 knights were alone left in the hands of the Samnites.
The disaster of Caudium shook the fate of many of the Roman allies, and the fortune of war was for some years in favour of the Samnites. But in B. C. 314 the tide of success again turned, and the decisive victory of the Consuls in that year opened the way into the heart of Samnium. From this time the Romans were uniformly successful; and it seemed probable that the war was drawing to a close, when the Etruscans created a powerful diversion by declaring war against Rome in B. C. 311. But the energy and ability of Q. Fabius Maximus averted this new danger. He boldly carried the war into the very heart of Etruria, and gained a decisive victory over the forces of the League. The Samnites also were repeatedly defeated; and after the capture of Bovianum, the chief city of the Pentri, they were compelled to sue for peace. It was granted them in B. C. 304, on condition of their acknowledging the supremacy of Rome.
At the conclusion of the Second Samnite War the Aequians and Hernicans were reduced to subjection after a brief struggle. A part of the Aequian territory was incorporated in that of Rome by the addition of two new tribes, and two colonies were planted in the other portion. The Marsi, Marrucini, Peligni, and other nations of Central Italy, entered into a league with the Romans on equal terms. Thus, in B. C. 300, the power of Rome seemed firmly established in Central Italy. But this very power awakened the jealousy of the surrounding nations, and the Samnites exerted themselves to form a new and formidable coalition. The Etruscans and Umbrians agreed to make war against Rome, and called in the assistance of the Senonian Gauls.
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