[Footnote 23: qua _duci_ proxime potest. --W. and M.]
[Linenotes: 1. +In campum Stellatem.+ Stellas, a part of the Campanian plain, N.
of Mt. Tifata (E. of Capua).
4. +Tifernum+, E. of Bovianum on the R. Tifernus.
+Postumius ... Minucius+, Consuls 305 B.C.
+Bovianum+, in Samnium, W. of Luceria (in Apulia).
11. +stativa tuta+ = _safe quarters_. Cf. _stativa castra_ = _a stationary camp_.
15. +et ipsum ... sedentem+ = _also lying encamped_ (+sedentem+) _in the face of another army_. --Stephenson.
20. +praepedissent+ = _hampered_, lit. _to entangle the feet_ (_prae_ + _pes_).
21. +occidione occisi.+ This has the force of _a superlative by the repet.i.tion_, a common idiom in Oriental[24] languages. --S.]
[Footnote 24: E.g. in Hebrew, Delivering I will deliver = I will surely deliver.]
+Results of the Second Samnite War.+ Roman influence became supreme in Campania and Apulia, and the Samnites were confined to their own mountains. In 304 B.C. the Romans renewed their ancient Treaty with the Samnites (as Livy tells us) by which they were left in possession of their independence.
+Why the Romans conquered.+ (1) Their conduct of the war was more systematic. (2) By their plan of fortified colonies (e.g. Cales, Fregellae, Luceria) they retained their hold on the conquered territory.
(3) The diplomatic skill of the Senate secured the friendship of the neighbours of the Samnites (e.g. the Apulians and Lucanians).
D40
THIRD SAMNITE WAR, 298-290 B.C.
_Battle of Sentinum, 295 B.C. "Novum pugnae genus."_
Ferocior Decius et aetate et vigore animi quantumcunque virium habuit certamine primo effudit. Et quia lentior videbatur pedestris pugna, equitatum in pugnam concitat et ipse fortissimae iuvenum turmae immixtus orat proceres iuventutis, in hostem {5} ut sec.u.m impetum faciant: duplicem illorum gloriam fore, si ab laevo cornu et ab equite victoria incipiat. Bis avertere Gallic.u.m equitatum; iterum longius evectos et iam inter media peditum agmina proelium cientes novum pugnae conterruit genus: essedis {10} carrisque superstans armatus hostis ingenti sonitu equorum rotarumque advenit et insolitos eius tumultus Romanorum conterruit eqnos. Ita victorem equitatum velut lymphaticus pavor dissipat; sternit inde ruentes equos virosque improvida fuga, {15} turbata hinc etiam signa legionum multique impetu equorum ac vehiculorum raptorum per agmen obtriti antesignani; et insecuta, simul territos hostes vidit, Gallica acies nullum spatium respirandi recipiendique se dedit. {20}
LIVY, x. 28.
[Linenotes: 1. +Decius.+ P. Decius Mus, Consul with Q. Fabius Maximus Rullia.n.u.s, commanded the left wing at the Battle of Sentinum, where he was opposed to the Gauls, and when his troops began to give way before the Gaulish chariots (+essedae+) he, like his father at the Battle of Vesuvius, 340 B.C., devoted[25] himself with the hostile army "to the G.o.ds of earth and of the grave."
5. +proceres iuventutis+ = _the flower of the young men_.
8. +avertere+ (= +se avertere+) = _to retire_ (lit. _turn away_).
10. +essedis+ = _war-chariots_, on two wheels, open in front, but closed behind, and drawn by two horses; used also by the Britons.
14. +lymphaticus+ = _mad_, _frenzied_.
16. +turbata ... signa legionum+ = _the ranks of the legions were thrown into disorder_. +Signa+ is frequently used of military movement, as the most noticeable feature in an army.]
[Footnote 25: Cf. pp. 92, 93.]
+The Cause of the Third Samnite War.+ The democratic party among the Lucanians made overtures to the Samnites. The Romans peremptorily ordered the Samnites not to interfere in Lucania, an arrogant command which the Samnites declined to obey, and war broke out anew.
+Results of the War.+ After an obstinate struggle peace was concluded in 290 B.C., the Samnites retaining their independence.
D41
THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS, 281-275 B.C. (1)
_The Aims of Pyrrhus. Battle of Heraclea, 280 B.C._
Pyrrhus rex Epiri c.u.m iterata Tarentinorum legatione additis Samnitium et Lucanorum precibus, fatigaretur, non tam supplic.u.m precibus quam spe invadendi Italiae imperii inductus venturum se c.u.m exercitu pollicetur.
In quam rem inclinatum semel {5} animum praecipitem agere coeperant exempla maiorum, ne aut inferior patruo suo Alexandro videretur, quo defensore idem Tarentini adversus Bruttios usi fuerant, aut minores animos magno Alexandro habuisse, qui tam longa a domo militia Orientem subegerat. {10} Igitur relicto custode regni Ptolemaeo filio annos xv nato exercitum in portu Tarentino exponit. Cuius audito adventu consul Roma.n.u.s Valerius Laevinus festinans, ut prius c.u.m eo congrederetur, quam auxilia sociorum convenirent, exercitum in {15} aciem educit. Nec rex, tametsi numero militum inferior esset, certamini moram fecit. Sed Romanos vincentes iam inusitata ante elephantorum forma stupere primo, mox cedere proelio coegit, victoresque iam nova Macedonum repente monstra vicerunt. {20} Nec hostibus incruenta victoria fuit. Nam et Pyrrhus ipse graviter vulneratus est, et magna pars militum eius caesa, maioremque gloriam eius victoriae quam laet.i.tiam habuit.
JUSTINUS, xviii. 1.
[Linenotes: 1. +iterata legatione+ = _by a second emba.s.sy_.
3. +fatigaretur+ = _was importuned_.
3-4. +non tam ... inductus.+ Pyrrhus aimed at founding a western Grecian Empire in Italy and Sicily.
7-9. +patruo suo Alexandro ... fuerant.+ Alexander of Epirus had almost succeeded in uniting the whole of Magna Graecia (332-326 B.C.) when he was cut off by the hand of an a.s.sa.s.sin.
9. +magno Alexandro.+ Pyrrhus was acknowledged to be the first general of the school of Alexander, and Hannibal (so Plutarch tells us) considered him the greatest military genius.
18. +inusitata ante ... forma+ = _the unfamiliar appearance of_.
22-23. +magna pars militum.+ Pyrrhus is said to have lost 4000 men, "a serious matter to him in a foreign country, where he could not easily replace the loss of his tried old warriors." --Ihne.]
+Cause of the War.+ By 282 B.C. Rome had taken possession of Magna Graecia, with the exception of Tarentum. In 282 B.C. (in defiance of the treaty of 301 B.C.) a Roman fleet appeared before the Harbour of Tarentum. A naval battle ensued in which the Tarentines were victorious, and the war began.
D42
THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (2)
_Fabricius the Just. Honesty before Expediency._
c.u.m rex Pyrrhus populo Romano bellum ultro intulisset, c.u.mque de imperio certamen esset c.u.m rege generoso ac potenti, perfuga ab eo venit in castra Fabricii eique est pollicitus, si praemium sibi proposuisset, se, ut clam venisset, sic clam in Pyrrhi {5} castra rediturum et eum veneno necaturum. Hunc Fabricius reducendum curavit ad Pyrrhum idque eius factum laudatum a senatu est. Atqui, si speciem utilitatis opinionemque quaerimus, magnum illud bellum perfuga unus et gravem adversarium imperi {10} sustulisset, sed magnum dedecus et flagitium, quic.u.m laudis certamen fuisset, eum non virtute sed scelere superatum. Utrum igitur utilius vel Fabricio, qui talis in hac urbe qualis Aristides Athenis fuit, vel senatui nostro, qui numquam utilitatem a dignitate {15} seiunxit, armis c.u.m hoste certare an venenis? Si gloriae causa imperium expetendum est, scelus absit, in quo non potest esse gloria: sin ipsae opes expetuntur quoquo modo, non poterunt utiles esse c.u.m infamia. {20}
CICERO, _De Officiis_, iii. 86, 87.
[Linenotes: 1-2. +bellum ultro intulisset+ = _had begun an aggressive_ (+ultro+) _war_.
+ultro+ = lit. _to a place beyond_, hence = _beyond expectation_, _unprovoked_.
2. +de imperio+ = _uter imperaret_. --Holden.
3. +perfuga+ = _a deserter_. Aulus Gellius says the traitor was Nicias, a friend of Pyrrhus; Florus and Eutropius, a physician of Pyrrhus.
8. +atqui+ = _and yet_, a more emphatic +at+.
8-9. +speciem utilitatis opinionemque+ (sc. +utilitatis+) = _the semblance and (popular) opinion of expediency_. --H.
11-13. +sed magnum ... superatum+ = _but it would have been a lasting disgrace and scandal for a general, with whom the struggle lay for glory, to have been overcome by an act of wickedness and not by valour_. --H.
14. +Aristides Athenis.+ Aristides the Just. "Sans Peur et sans Reproche."
19. +quoquo modo+ = _in any way_. Cf. _quac.u.mque ratione_. --H.]
+Parallel Pa.s.sage.+ Eutropius ii. 7. 8. 14: _Tum Pyrrhus admiratus eum dixisse fertur: "Ille est Fabricius, qui difficilius ab honestate quam sol a cursu suo averti potest."_
+Fabricius+, like Cincinnatus and M". Curius Dentatus, is the representative of the purity and honesty of the good old times.
D43
THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (3)
_Appius the Blind, 280 B.C._
Ad Appi Claudi senectutem accedebat etiam ut caecus esset; tamen is, c.u.m sententia senatus inclinaret ad pacem c.u.m Pyrrho foedusque faciendum, non dubitavit dicere illa, quae versibus persecutus est Ennius: {5}
_Quo vobis mentes, rectae quae stare solebant Antehac, dementis sese flexere viai?_