3

ROME AND ITALY IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

The fourth and early third centuries marked an important turning point in the Romans' history. From the middle of the fourth century, they clearly began to develop and elaborate the political system of the classical Roman Republic, which would govern the city and eventually much of the Mediterranean world for centuries. It was the same period, too, which saw Rome's domination of Italy firmly established, as well as the formation of those institutions and practices that would ensure its leadership not only there, but also in due course likewise across the Mediterranean.

FALL OF VEil AND THE SACK OF ROME

Early in the fourth century, a Roman victory made the city preeminent in its region. Around 396, the Romans succeeded in capturing the Etruscan city of Veii after a siege. Veii, about ten miles (16 km) from Rome, was a wealthy and powerful city-state, which, like Rome, dominated some ts smaller neighbors. In the fifth century, Rome and Veii had fought over _nd nd over the leadership of smaller cities, without either gaining a distinc age. The Romans marked their victory by eliminating Veii as an autom 0u' r-state. Veii's land became Roman territory, and some of its citizens l:. Jman citizens. Rome also enslaved or expelled the remainder of the pol- ldtiOJ -md Roman officials settled some Roman citizens on parts of Veii' s territor that were made vacant as a result. Rome's victory was matched by a defeat. Around 387, a large army of Gauls that had been plundering in the upper Tiber Valley moved down the river toward

32

Chapter 3: Rome and Italy in the Fourth Century

33

Rome, defeated a Roman army, and entered the city. In the opening decades of the fourth century, Gauls dominated the valley of the Po River and the northern portion of the plains along the eastern coast of the Italian peninsula. Their origins lie across the Alps in central Europe, and their advance into northern Italy formed part of a larger movement that would carry Gallic tribes to the margins of the Greek world, and even (in the third century) into Asia Minor. By the end of the fifth century, the Etruscan cities north of the Apennines were hard-pressed by Gauls, and some may already have been wiped out. The Gauls did not have an urban culture and the social and political organization that went with it. Instead, their political life centered on aristocratic families and their armed followers. Prominent leaders could assemble large forces, and they faced relatively few communal restraints on their actions. Gallic warbands, some apparently fairly large, would raid across the Apennines for centuries. Cities or northeast Etruria and the upper Tiber Valley were especially vulnerable to them, but their southern neighbors were not immune either. Such Gallic raids would persist, with decreasing frequency, well into the third century. Greeks and Romans would long continue to regard Gauls as uncivilized, warlike, predatory, and expansionist. Roman historians would later make Marcus Furius Camillus the hero both of the final war against Veii and of the recovery after the sack of Rome. As dictator, he commanded the Roman army that captured Veii. After the Gauls had entered Rome, Camillus was supposedly once again made dictator, defeated the Gallic army, and recovered the treasure that the Gauls had taken from the city. As dictator yet again, he was reported to have had a central role in opening the highest offices to plebeians in 367, a crucial event in the Struggle of the Orders (see next section). In all, Rome's historians thought that he had been military tribune with consular powers six times and dictator five times; his career, however, has certainly grown in the telling.

THE CITY AND ITS INSTITUTIONS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

The political order that would govern Rome in better-documented centuries emerged in a series of reforms and reorganizations that began during the midfourth century and continued into the ea " third century. Roman government required the direct participation of citu' , although all did not have equal responsibilities. Officials, priests, SL .1 .:rs 1d citizens performed their roles in and around the temples, public sqt. . , .:1 pr ,cessional routes of the city. Most official actions took place in the L _ C': _, :_c er the gaze of others, and, because Rome lacked a bureaucracy, offici tl-; c!edl lirectly wi th those whom they governed. Roman assumptions about ;o-vernml.nt were markedly hierarchical, and, in all periods, a few leading families dominated public life. In the fourth century,

Chapter 3: Rome and Italy in the Fourth Century

49

Figure 3.3 The Latin colony of Cosa, founded in 273, occupied a high and easily defensible hill along the coast overlooking a nearby Etruscan town. This plan of the site shows the line of the walls and the sites of the town's (A) forum and (B) arx (the equivalent of the Capitol), necessary for a civic life on the model of Rome.

THE EXPANSION OF RO

)OMINANCE

In the second half of the fourth ce a the opening decades of the third, Roman commanders fought num ot.s \- s against other states throughout peninsular Italy, an indication of the large .cale of the military resources that the Roman system of alliances had made available to the Roman elite. Wars with the

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50

A Brief History of the Romans

Samnites were the greatest in their significance and consequences. The Samnite Confederacy, very aggressive and possessing a formidable military reputation, was the strongest power in the central highlands. Since there was a fairly close match between Samnite and Roman military power, the Second (326-304) and Third (298-290) Samnite Wars determined who would be the leading power in Italy. In 295, the two consuls of the year decisively defeated a force of Samnites, Umbrians, and Gauls in a great battle at Sentinum in Umbria, a victory that ensured Rome's triumph. Rome's success did not end its wars. In 290, Manius Curius Dentatus, consul in that year, ravaged the land of the Sabines, who lived in scattered villages, and then reached the Adriatic Sea. As a result of this campaign, the Romans made the Sabines Roman citizens without the right to vote. In the 280s and 270s, Roman armies forced most of the cities of Etruria and Umbria into a dependent status. Here, defeated communities became allies of Rome, but of a lesser status than Rome's Latin allies and without Latin rights of intermarriage and freedom of contract. At the same time, Roman armies began to intrude into Gallic areas. In 284, the Gallic Senones defeated a Roman army at Arretium in northern Etruria. In the following year, by contrast, another Roman army defeated the Boii and some of their Etruscan allies at Lake Vadimon, about fifty miles (80 km) north of Rome. However, the Romans then expelled the Senones from a portion of their territory, which would become known as the ager Gallicus. There, the Romans would establish colonies at Sena Gallica (in 283) and Ariminum (in 268; modern Rimini). After the Third Samnite War, Roman officials quickly involved themselves in the affairs of the Greek cities of southern Italy. This growing Roman presence now alarmed the citizens of Tarentum, the largest Greek city in the region and often ambitious to lead the others. In 281, the Tarentines sought assistance from Pyrrhus, king of the Molossians in Epirus across the Adriatic. Pyrrhus was a typical monarch of his time (the "Hellenistic" period) in the Greek world. His power base was his kingship over the Molossians, an office with traditional limitations. Pyrrhus also controlled cities and districts in his own name, which were administered by his personal officials and commanders; here he was able to raise revenue and soldiers outside the limits of Molossian law and custom. Altogether these territories provided the means for pursuing greater ambitions than had traditionally been within reach of the Molossian king, and Pyrrhus would spend much of his reign doing just this on an increasing sc .le. Accord ingly, when he received the Tarentines' invitation in 281, h e resol ed t< op portunities in the West. For a time, Pyrrhus and his Tarentine allies we ' u..: sft. L In 280, Pyrrhus' army, reinforced by the Tarentines' citizen army, e a..,ed i{oman consular army at Heraclea, southwest of Tarentum. Pyrrh us wo mt \\ h immense loss of life, giving rise to the expression "Pyrrhic victory" for battk won at such cost that it almost amounted to a defeat. The w ar then spread, and a n umber of Rome's allies-the Samnites were the most important-decided to join Pyrrhus. The king

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52

A Brief History of the Romans

then invaded Campania, but without capturing any major community or inspiring any to desert Rome and join him. Next he turned towards Rome itself, approaching to within fifty miles (80 km) of the city. By this time, however, another Roman army that had been campaigning in Etruria returned to protect Rome, and Pyrrhus led his army back to Tarentum, where he began offering harsh peace terms, which the Roman elite would not accept. In the following year (279), Pyrrhus brought over reinforcements from Epirus. He met the Romans at Ausculum, and another lengthy, fearsome clash ensued. Once again, Pyrrhus proved victorious in battle, but at terrible cost. At this point, therefore, he decided to respond to a call for help against the Carthaginians from Syracuse, the leading Greek city in Sicily. In 275, Pyrrhus returned to Italy, prompted perhaps by renewed appeals from his Italian allies as well as increasing dissatisfaction with his leadership in Sicily. Later that year, Pyrrhus' army met the Romans at Beneventum in Samnium, and this time the Roman army won. By the end of the year, Pyrrhus had crossed the Adriatic and returned home. There he would achieve some success for a time, only to be killed during street fighting at Argos in southern Greece in 272. Pyrrhus' failure proved disastrous for many of his allies, who in consequence would lose their independence to Rome and suffer Rome's vengeance. In 272, Tarentum became a Roman ally. Wars with the Samnites continued into the 260s. By this time, the Romans had reduced to the status of allies, voluntarily or otherwise, around 150 once-independent communities. Another important consequence of Rome's war with Pyrrhus and the associated involvement in the affairs of the Greek cities of the south was an altogether closer engagement with the wider Greek world and its culture.

WAR AND THE ROMAN STATE

In over a century of virtually continuous warfare, Roman officials and armies established their city as the most powerful in Italy, and they erected around it a network of alliances that made Rome a key participant in the larger politics of the Mediterranean world. This pattern of regular warfare merits explanation, although no single element or cause can serve to account for all of Rome's wars. Several features of Roman society and politics encouraged acceptance of, and perhaps the active search for, frequent wars. Possession of :he '1 ilitary virtues was central to the self-image of the Roman elite, to the W'1 ; 1ts embers competed among themselves for offices and honors, and to their 1 teadership in their .Jvided ambitious city and elsewhere (see Chapter Four). Regular Romans with the opportunity to display their bravery md <.k memorably-vital achievements for those who wished to reach high 1ffice. 1deed, the highest Roman office of consul was itself substantially military 1 1 nature, and its occupants would have expected, and probably desired, to command armies in the field.