The Beginning f the Wars with the Samnites. 14 -The history will now be occupied with wars greater than any previously recorded; greater whether we consider the forces engaged in them or the length of time they lasted, or the extent of country over which they were waged. For it was in this year (343 B.C.) that hostilities commenced with the SAMNITES, a people strong in material resources and military power. OUf war with the Samnites, with its varying fortunes, was fonowed by the war with Pyrrhus, and that again by the war with Carthage. What a chapter of great events! How often had we . to pass through the very extremity of danger in order that our dominion might be exalted to its present greatness, a greatness which is with difficulty maintained!
The cause of the war betvveen the Romans and the Samnites, who had been our friends and allies, came, however, from without; it did not arise between the two peoples themselves. The Samnites, simply because they were the stronger, made an unprovoked attack upon the Sidicines; the weaker side were compelled to fly for succour to those who were more powerful and threw in their lot with the Campanians. The Campanians brought to the help of their aI1ies the prestige of their name rather than actual strength; enervated by luxury they were worsted by a people inured to the use of arms, and after being defeated on Sidicine territory diverted the whole weight of the war against themselves. The Samnites, dropping operations against the Sidicines, attacked the Campanians as being the mainstay and stronghold of their neighbours; they saw, too, that whilst victory would be just as easily won here, it would bring more glory and spoils. They seized the Tifata hins which overlook Capua and left a strong force to hold them, then they descended in close order into the plain which lies between the Tifata hills and Capua. Here a second battle took place, in which the Campanians were defeated and driven within their walls. They had lost the flower of their army, and as there was no hope of any assistance near, they found themselves compelled to ask for help from Rome.
The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.
fall of Capua — a candidate entry siege of Capua — a candidate entry siege of Carthage — a candidate entry Pyrrhus — a life Samnites — a candidate entry
The History of Rome, Livy — translated by Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912
Apparatus shelf + pinned Wikisource — Livy, The History of Rome (Rev. Canon Roberts translation, Everyman's Library) · Rev. Canon Roberts, Everyman's Library (J. M. Dent & Sons / E. P. Dutton), first issue 1912; six volumes
license: public-domain (the Roberts translation's Everyman first issue is 1912, pre-1930; Wikisource dates the translation 1905 — either way decades inside the US public domain; digital-door text carries no additional rights)