7.29
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. Our
war with the Samnites, with its varying fortunes, was followed 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 between
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 allies 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 hills 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.
