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that immediately around the seven hills, partly through alliances and partly by conquests, as we have observed. After the wars in Latium and Campania, which brought a larger accession both of territory and population to the Commonwealth than it had ever before so rapidly obtained, it became a more constant and a more important part of the Roman policy to deal with the forfeited possessions and liberties of the conquered. Some of these were recompensed, as if for services rendered during the recent hostilities; being not only received as Roman citizens, like the people of Lanuvium,52 but, in some instances, made a charge upon their own countrymen, as a privileged class, like the sixteen hundred knights of Capua.53 It followed, as by contraries, that the foes who had been steadfast in their resistance should be proportionally humbled, plundered, like the people of Antium, of their possessions, or dislodged from their homes, and removed to distant places, like the inhabitants of Velitræ. The ties that were severed amongst these neighbouring enemies, or the rights that were taken from them, might be, and were, in after times restored or compensated; but before the day of recovery dawned, one genera

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54

52Lanuvinis civitas data, sacra- equitibus Campanis civitas data. que sua reddita cum eo, ut ædes Vectigal quoque iis Camlucusque Sospitæ Junonis communis panus populus jussus pendere in Lanuvinis municipibus cum populo singulos quotannis (fuere autem Romano esset." See the whole mille et sexcenti) denarios nummos section, the 14th of Livy's eighth quadringenos quinquagenos." Liv., Book. VIII. 11.

53"Quia non desciverant,

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54 Liv., VIII. 14.

tion, or several, would have mouldered away. We shall have, however, too many cases, hereafter, of cruelty and despair, to weigh against those which have now arrived; and, as sacrifice was more consonant than mercy to such an age, we give it no credit it does not deserve in passing to some brighter incidents in its history.

The Volscians, though much reduced by the victories of Valerius Corvus, in his second consulship, were, like nearly all the enemies that environed Rome, hard to be really conquered. Many of their separate states and cities took part in the subsequent Latin war; and several years after the conquest of Latium, the people of Fundi and Privernum, both Volscian towns, appeared again in arms, but with no better fortune. On the overthrow of their forces, their leader 55 was şentenced to death, and their chief men to transportation beyond the Tiber.56 But the people, or the popular party as it should perhaps be called, of Privernum, without waiting further sentence upon themselves, sent off an embassy to Rome, where it was introduced by Plautius Decianus, the conqueror of Privernum and one of the Consuls, into the presence of the Senate. The envoys came, of course, to plead for merciful treatment; but they no sooner appeared than one of them was pointedly asked what punishment he thought befitting his rebellious fellow-towns

55 Vitruvius Vaccus, who belonged to Fundi, but had a house on the Palatine in Rome. Arnold thinks he aspired after complete citizenship, and took the lead in the

VOL. II.

4

rebellion or the war because he was disappointed. Hist. Rome, Vol. II. pp. 178, 179.

56 Liv., VIII. 20.

men.

"Such," he answered, swiftly and truly, "such as they deserve who think themselves worthy of being free." "And, if we pardon you," interrupted the Consul Plautius, "what kind of peace shall we have in return?" And again the ambassador replied, with spirit:-"Give us good terms, and they shall be observed; but impose hard ones, and ye cannot expect them to be kept." Plautius spoke out as became a man who had a heart to forbear as well as an arm to conquer, declaring that they who esteemed liberty above all things were fit to be citizens of Rome, and prevailed upon the Senate to dismiss the embassy with assurances of pardon and good-will. The Centuries, being shortly after convened, confirmed the proposal of the Senate, that the rights of citizenship" should be granted to Privernum.58 The other city, Fundi, appears to have been dealt with as wisely.

Five years afterwards, when the Samnite war had involved the allies as well as the citizens of Rome in increased hardships, Privernum was again driven to insurrection, together with the Volscian Velitræ and the Latin Tusculum. There are but confused accounts, however, of an advance of forces, their retreat, and their submission; and it is only through the dust, as it were, of marches and battles, that we catch a glimpse of a more peaceful scene, in which

57 Not meaning in this, or in most instances, that the new citizens were completely naturalized, but that they obtained only the private, or personal and social, rights of citizenship.

The public or political privileges were acquired by actual admission into the Tribes.

58 A. C. 326. Liv., VIII. 21. Cf. Dion. Hal., Excerpt. XIV. 23.

the victors, whether on account of their other dangers, or from real moderation, forgave the vanquished, and even allowed the leader of the insurgents, a citizen of Tusculum, to be chosen Consul of Rome for the next succeeding year.59 The claims he had upheld are unknown; but the people whom he led, though triumphant, were twice conquered by the treatment they received.60

Amidst the dismal confusion of campaigns and conflicts, some figures stand forth prominent in the history of the present epoch, illustrating, in one point or another, the spirit which was developed under the institutions and the customs of the Commonwealth. To these we may now direct our attention, before passing on to the successive changes in the liberty of Rome.

61

The dictatorship of Lucius Papirius Cursor occurred in the year following the outbreak of the second Samnite war. He was one of a class, apparently, who, having grown old in unswerving bravery on the field 62 and in rigid support of the laws amongst their fellow-citizens, would, when advanced in years, naturally claim from younger men the same conduct and the same opinions of which they had themselves set or kept the example. Papirius, on

59 Liv., VIII. 37, where the difficulty of the Tusculans in obtaining pardon is perhaps exaggerated.

60 The fate of Brutulus Papius, the gallant leader of the Samnites (Liv. VIII. 39), and the horrible

treatment of the Ausonian towns

(IX. 25) can only be referred to as instances of the contrary policy amongst the Roman conquerors.

61 A. C. 322. Liv., VIII. 29. 62 Livy (ut supra) calls him "longe clarissimum bello ea tempestate."

being nominated Dictator, appointed Quintus Fabius Rullianus to the mastership of the Knights; and the two together, the one as commander, and the other as lieutenant, hastened to meet the untiring foe in Samnium. Instead, however, of the campaign proceeding smoothly, the auspices under which it had been begun were declared to have been imperfectly observed; of which Papirius was no sooner informed, than he set out to take them over again, at Rome, charging his lieutenant, as he left the camp, on no account to come to an engagement during his absence. Fabius was too young, whether in love of glory or in heat of temper, to lose an opportunity, which soon presented itself, of meeting the enemy under great advantages, and, having marched to their encounter, he gained, as is told, a wonderful victory. The news was brought to the Senate in despatches from Fabius, who chose to address them rather than the Dictator, in order, probably, to obtain their support against the anger he was sure to rouse on the part of his commander. The remainder of the narrative is too well known 63 to be repeated in detail. Suffice it to say, that Papirius hurried, full of wrath and determination, to the camp, where he would have put Fabius to death, had not the master fled to Rome, and there, aided by the entreaties of his father and the whole people, prevailed upon the Dictator to pardon the offence he judged so heinous against himself and against the laws. The story reads like that

63 Or, if not, it ought to be read in Livy alone. See VIII. 29-35. Cf. Val. Max., II. 7. 8.

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