Any reader of Roman history might be puzzled by the abundance of wars-in-triplicate. The 1st Samnite war, 2nd Samnite war, 3rd Samnite war.... 1st Illyrian war, 2nd Illyrian war.... etc. The first defeat of the enemy usually served as a warning and besides peace treaty nothing happened. The second served as  "now we really meant it and you will be punished". The third one usually resulted in a new province of Rome.

The Samnite Wars

Samnite warriors 4th cent.BC

The First Samnite War.

            This short, but consequential war erupted at 343 BC. The historical accounts, including Livy’s, are probably quite fictitious, taken from the family chronicles of self-aggrandising families seeking better status than they held, but the Romans undoubtedly won and it ended in 341 BC with a peace treaty which acknowledged the Roman alliance with Capua.

Silver coin with Manlius's name

            This short war which led Roman armies away from Rome seemed to the Latin tribes around Rome a good time to try for asserting their preeminence in the Latin League of city states, where Rome held dominant position. In 340 BC erupted the Latin War, where the Latins allied themselves with the Campanians and attacked Rome. They lost badly. Under the command of the consul Titus Manlius the legions crushed them at the battle of Trifanum. The Campanians bitterly regretted their silly notions about dominating Rome and with alacrity and proper humility swore that they did not mean it.

Tusculum - one of the Latin cities

           It took another two year to convince the Latins that alliance with Rome is better than anything else (like destruction). In 338 BC Romans dismantled the Latin League. Rome decided that it had about enough of fighting with linguistically and culturally close neighbours. Some of the Latin city-states were incorporated fully within the Republic, others were given rights to lesser Roman citizenship (Latin Rights). To stop new plotting among the city-states (at least among those who did not get the full Roman citizenship), Romans decreed that Latin city-states could make alliances and treaties only between Rome and individual states and not among each other. This effectively stopped the victim industry from appearing – like we should get together and crush those upstarts, who did not sack out town, did not enslave our people, but do not respect us as they should, boohoo.

            The Latin Rights (ius Latii) became the first step in the future for newly defeated communities to feel a part of Rome and if they behaved, did not raid their neighbours, respected the Roman law and rules, the next step was full Roman citizenship and the chance to lord it over others.

            The potential whiners from the ranks of the elites of the Latin city-states were effectively shut up, by having been given the task of managing the individual cities, with dangling carrot of full Roman citizenship and potential seat in the Roman Senate in front of their noses. 

The Second Samnite War.

            The matters in Latium were settled in most satisfactory way – from the Roman perspective – and it seems that thereafter the Romans decided to settle the question of the Samnites. They founded colonies of Roman citizens south of Latium, especially the colony of Fregellae in 328 BC to goad the Samnites.

            The Samnites were annoyed by this intrusion, however, they were locked in troubles with the Greek colony of Tarentum in the south of Italy. Greek colonies, city-states founded centuries earlier, were in the habit of calling for help their original states in Greece for help, any old time they were in trouble. Tarentum called for help the king of Epirus, Alexander. But by 331 BC the Samnites were free to deal with the reality of Romans, expanding behind their backs.

         That is where the Campanian alliance came to a good use. Romans claimed that the Samnites helped the good folks of Greek city-state of Neapolis to intrude into Campanian territory and to prevent that, the Romans had to plant citizen colonies of their own in the disputed areas. The Samnites were not amused and sent a garrison of mountain fighters with bad hygienic habits to occupy and ‘protect’ Neapolis. The citizens of Neapolis screamed for help to Rome. It was one matter to annoy the Romans, the most powerful state in central Italy, to pretend to be on good terms with the very rustic Samnites and even have their help, another entirely to have them inside the sophisticated, centuries old Greek colony.

Silver coin of Neapolis 4th cent. BC (Naples today)

            In 327 BC the Roman army arrived and promptly threw out the Samnite garrison. The war was on. It was a war where overconfident Romans were humbled and had to rethink their strategies, and served them right. The Samnites had about twice as much population as the Romans and their allies and controlled about twice as much territory.

            Actually, in the beginning, the Romans were clearly victorious and Samnites sued for peace in 321 BC. But Rome offered such lopsided and arrogant terms, that Samnites rejected them and the war continued. That’s when the Roman hubris met their Nemesis.  Both Rome’s consuls, Titus Veturius Calvinus and Spurius Postumius, led a Roman army into a trap deep in the Samnite territory, and were trapped in a mountain pass at Caudine Forks. Completely surrounded and facing certain annihilation, the Romans surrendered and had to walk under “the yoke’, that is a gate made of three spears. That was a complete humiliation.

            According to some later historians, looking for heroic deeds, the surrender was rejected by Rome, however it seems that after Caudine Forks there was 5 years of peace, or at least truce. Samnites were happy and went around boasting of their military prowess, not checking what the Romans did during the enforced truce.

            A mistake. Romans attacked and took over Apulia and Lucania to the east and south of Samnium.  As usual, not burning and enslaving, but making new Friends and Allies in the process.  In 316 BC the war resumed, but Romans were still on the losing side. That meant that the Etruscans, whose 40 –year peace treaty with Rome ran out about that time, joined gleefully the Samnites in attacking Rome.

            The Etruscans had an unerring sense of joining the losing side. They were forced to sue for peace in 308 BC on severe terms and in 304 BC the Samnites followed suit. The final decade of the 4^th century BC was the last gasp of some of the tribes of Aequi, Paeglini and Hernici to reassert themselves and they did it by joining the Samnites. Even tribes which had never fought with Rome before, and had no grievance, joined the alliance, like Marrucini, Marsi, Frentani and others. They wanted in on the fun of defeating Rome and get the spoils. They were all soundly defeated or surrendered before defeat and made Friends and Allies of the Roman People.

Peter is looking closely
at the famous road

Part of Via Appia reserved for
PEDESTRIANS!!

           Notwithstanding all the troubles and wars with about everybody, the Romans introduced another innovation in the long range planning and tactics which ultimately won them an empire. In 312 BC, the censor Appius Claudius (of the eccentric Claudius clan) arranged a state contract to build a paved road from Rome to Capua, in the length of 211 km. Roman enemies gaped at this huge expense, but it meant that troops could move swiftly in any kind of weather. The old guy Claudius must have been a hard taskmaster, when one looks today at the buses and cars moving without any problem on the Via Appia (there is asphalt over the old paving). 

Purported image
of Appius Claudius Caecus

          The popularity of the politician Appius Claudius was changeable. Even though a patrician, he introduced sensible reforms, like allowing the sons of manumitted slaves to enter the Senate (thus annoying the senators to no end) on the other hand he did not intend to let Popular Assembly to vote themselves goodies from state treasury (thus annoying the Tribunes of the People and the Assembly to no end). The result was a great respect from everybody, and he retained his influence even when he went blind in his old age. As Cicero wrote about 250 years later : “Seeing people were coming to ask him, a blind man, for advice”.

         Since the Samnites held such a large and mountainous territory, the Romans did not occupy or rule Samnium after the peace treaty. That encouraged Samnites to hope for a rematch.