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Mobile and Wireless
Design Essentials

Martyn Mallick
Mobile and Wireless
Design Essentials

Martyn Mallick
Publisher: Robert Ipsen
Editor: Carol Long
Developmental Editor: Scott Amerman
Managing Editor: Micheline Frederick
Text Design & Composition: Wiley Composition Services
This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Copyright  2003 by Martyn Mallick. All rights reserved.
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
ISBN: 0-471-21419-1
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my beautiful wife Catherine, for her support,
understanding, and encouragement.
 Contents

Acknowledgments xviii
Introduction xix
Part One Introduction to the Mobile and Wireless Landscape 1
Chapter 1 Welcome to Mobile and Wireless 3
Definition of Mobile and Wireless 4
m-Commerce 5
m-Business 7
Components of a Wireless Environment 9
Wireless Operators and Service Providers 9
Independent Hardware Vendors 9
Software Infrastructure Providers 10
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) 10
System Integrators (SIs) 10
Device Manufacturers 10
The Mobile Market Evolution 11
Why Go Mobile? 12
Business Benefits 12
Increasing Revenue 12
Reducing Costs 13
End-User Benefits 14
Challenges 14
Wireless Network Issues 14
Mobile Device Diversity 15
Software Infrastructure Choices 16

v
vi Contents

Mobility Enablers 17
Wireless Networks 17
Mobile Devices 19
Software Infrastructure 20
Standardization 20
Summary 21
Helpful Links 22

Chapter 2 Mobile Devices 23

Device Overview 23
Input Mechanisms 24
Keypad Input 25
Pen-Based Input 25
Keyboard Input 26
Voice Input 26
Wireless Communication 27
Two-Unit Configuration 27
Detachable Configuration 28
Integrated Configuration 28
Mobile Device Classifications 29
Web-Enabled Phones 30
Two-Way Pagers 31
Low-End Smart Phones 32
Palm-Sized PDAs 33
High-End Smart Phones 35
Handheld PCs 37
Tablet PCs 38
Notebook/Laptop 39
Device Manufacturers 40
Summary 41
Helpful Links 42

Chapter 3 Wireless Networks 43

Overview of Wireless Networks 43
Four Categories of Wireless Networks 44
Frequency Fundamentals 45
Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) 46
WPAN Standards 47
IrDA 47
Bluetooth 48
802.15 52
WPAN Comparison 53
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) 54
WLAN Configurations 55
WLAN Standards 56
802.11 57
802.11b/Wi-Fi 57
802.11a 59
 Contents vii

802.11g 60
Other 802.11 Standards 60
HomeRF 61
HIPERLAN/1 and HIPERLAN/2 61
WLAN Summary 62
Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANs) 64
Communication Fundamentals 65
Analog versus Digital Signals 65
Circuit-Switching versus Packet-Switching 66
Cells, Handoffs, and Roaming 66
Multiplexing Techniques 67
First-Generation Networks (1G) 68
Second-Generation Networks (2G) 69
Second-and-a-Half-Generation Networks (2.5G) 70
GPRS Handsets 71
2.5G Applications 71
Third-Generation Networks (3G) 72
3G Devices 74
3G Applications 74
Network Protocols 74
Paging Networks 75
Data-Only Networks 75
TDMA (2G) 76
GSM (2G) 76
cdmaOne (2G) 77
PDC (2G) 78
GPRS (2.5G) 78
CDMA2000 1x (2.5G) 78
EDGE (3G) 79
CDMA2000 1x EV (3G) 79
WCDMA (3G) 80
WWAN Operators 80
Criteria for Selecting a WWAN Operator 81
Evolution to 3G 82
WWAN Summary 83
Satellite Systems 85
Summary 87
Helpful Links 87
Chapter 4 Mobile Application Architectures 89
Choosing the Right Architecture 89
Application Users 90
Device Type 90
Enterprise Connectivity 90
Enterprise Data 91
Enterprise Integration 91
User Notification 91
viii Contents

Security 92
Battery Life 92
Other Services 93
Application Architectures 93
Wireless Internet 94
Wireless Internet Architecture Components 95
Additional Information on Wireless Internet Applications 95
Advantages of Wireless Internet Architectures 96
Disadvantages of Wireless Internet Architectures 96
Application Examples 97
Smart Client 98
Smart Client Architecture Components 99
Additional Information on Smart Client Applications 100
Advantages of Smart Client Applications 100
Disadvantages of Smart Client Applications 101
Application Examples 101
Messaging 103
Application-to-Application Messaging Architecture
Components 105
Additional Information on Messaging Applications 105
Advantages of Messaging 106
Disadvantages of Messaging 106
Sample Consumer Applications 107
Sample Corporate Applications 108
Other Architecture Selection Considerations 109
Summary 110
Helpful Links 111
Chapter 5 Mobile and Wireless Messaging 113
Messaging Basics 114
Asynchronous versus Synchronous Messaging 114
Push versus Pull 114
Types of Messaging 115
Email 115
SMTP Server 116
POP3 Server 116
Paging 117
Short Message Service (SMS) 117
Enhanced Message Service (EMS) 119
Multimedia Message Service (MMS) 120
Instant Messaging 122
HDML Notifications 123
WAP Push 124
Architecture 124
Operations 126
Application-to-Application Messaging 126
 Contents ix

Messaging Value Chain 128

Device Manufacturer 129
Wireless Carrier 130
System Aggregator 131
Mobile Message-Oriented Middleware (MOM) 131
Summary 132
Helpful Links 132

Chapter 6 Mobile and Wireless Security 133

Security Primer 133
Creating a Secure Environment 134
Authentication 134
Data Integrity 134
Confidentiality 134
Authorization 135
Nonrepudiation 135
Security Threats 135
Spoofing 135
Sniffing 136
Tampering 136
Theft 136
Security Technologies 137
Cryptography 137
Digital Certificates 139
Digital Signatures 140
Public Key Infrastructure 141
Leading Protocols 141
Other Security Measures 142
Firewalls 143
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) 143
Two-Factor Authentication 143
Biometrics 144
Security Policy 144
WAP Security 145
Transport-Level Security 145
WTLS 146
The WAP Gap 146
WAP 2.x 147
Application-Level Security 147
Smart Client Security 148
User Authentication 148
Data Store Security 149
Transport-Level Security 149
Summary 150
Helpful Links 150
x Contents

Part Two Building Smart Client Applications 151

Chapter 7 Smart Client Overview 153
Smart Client Architecture 154
The Client 155
User Interface 155
Data Storage 155
Performance 156
Data Synchronization 156
Messaging 156
The Server 157
Data Synchronization 157
Enterprise Data Source 158
Messaging 158
Mobile Operating Systems 159
Windows CE 160
Palm OS 162
Symbian OS 164
Linux 165
Java and J2ME 166
Proprietary Operating Systems 168
Summary 169
Helpful Links 169
Chapter 8 Smart Client Development 171
The Development Process 172
Needs Analysis Phase 172
Questions to Ask When Researching User Requirements 173
Things to Consider 173
Design Phase 175
Client Data Access 175
Enterprise Integration 176
User Interface 177
Wireless Connectivity 178
Implementation and Testing Phase 179
Prototypes 180
Development Tools 181
Device Emulators 185
Physical Devices 191
Deployment Phase 192
Deployment and Management Software 193
Wireless Deployment Options 193
Native versus Java Applications 195
Benefits of Java 195
Benefits of Native Applications 196
Summary 196
Helpful Links 197
 Contents xi

Chapter 9 Persistent Data on the Client 199

Types of Data Storage 199
Flat-File Databases 200
Relational Databases 200
Object Databases 201
XML Databases 202
Reasons for Using a Database 202
Key Features 203
Data Storage Properties 203
Tool Support 204
Flexible Synchronization 204
Administration Requirements 204
Low Resource Requirements 205
Operating System/Device Support 205
Standards Support 205
Security 205
Persistent Storage versus Real-Time Access 206
Database Development Options 206
Proprietary Storage 207
Palm OS 207
Windows CE 209
Symbian OS 209
J2ME 210
Proprietary Storage Summary 211
Custom-Coded Databases 211
Commercial Relational Databases 212
Sybase/iAnywhere Solutions 213
IBM 214
Oracle 215
Microsoft 216
PointBase 217
Other Database Vendors 218
Conclusions 218
Summary 219
Helpful Links 219

Chapter 10 Enterprise Integration through Synchronization 221

Synchronization Fundamentals 222
PIM Synchronization 223
File/Application Synchronization 223
Data Synchronization 223
Synchronization Architectures 224
Architecture Overview 224
Publish/Subscribe Model 226
Common Synchronization Configurations 227
The Data Synchronization Process 229
xii Contents

Synchronization Techniques 230

Synchronization Modes 230
Data Propagation Methods 231
Key Features of Synchronization 233
Data Subsetting and Partitioning 233
Data Compression 233
Data Transformation 234
Transactional Integrity 234
Conflict Detection 234
Conflict Resolution 235
Network Protocol Support 235
Multiple Transport Mechanisms 236
Enterprise Integration 236
Security 237
Synchronization Development Options 238
Mobile OS Synchronization Conduits 238
Windows CE ActiveSync 238
Palm OS HotSync 239
Symbian OS Connect 239
Synchronization Conduit Considerations 240
Custom-Coded Synchronization Solution 240
Commercial Synchronization Solutions 241
Database Synchronization Vendors 242
Other Synchronization Vendors 245
Commercial Solution Conclusions 246
SyncML Overview 247
What Is SyncML? 247
Why Use SyncML? 248
SyncML Target Audiences 248
SyncML Advantages 249
How SyncML Works 250
Future of SyncML 252
Summary 253
Helpful Links 253
Part Three Building Wireless Internet Applications 255
Chapter 11 Thin Client Overview 257
Architecture Overview 257
Client 259
User Interface 259
Browsers and Content Types 259
Wireless Networks 261
Middleware 261
Wireless Application Servers 261
Wireless Gateways 267
Messaging Servers 268
 Contents xiii

Processing a Wireless Request 270

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Overview 272
WAP Programming Model 272
WAP Components 274
Wireless Application Environment (WAE) 274
WAP Protocol Stack 275
Other WAP 2.x Services 277
WAP Benefits 278
Summary 279
Helpful Links 279
Chapter 12 Thin Client Development 281
The Development Process 282
Needs Analysis Phase 282
Questions to Ask When Researching User Requirements 283
Things to Consider During Needs Analysis 283
Design Phase 286
User Interface 286
Enterprise Integration 288
Business Logic 289
Implementation and Testing Phase 289
Prototypes 290
Development Tools and Emulators 291
Physical Devices 298
Deployment Phase 298
Thin Client Application Models 300
Extending Existing Web-Based Applications 300
Creating New m-Business Applications 302
Offline Web Support 304
Summary 305
Helpful Links 305
Chapter 13 Wireless Languages and Content-Generation Technologies 307
Wireless Content Types 307
Markup Languages 308
HDML 308
WML 311
HTML 316
cHTML 318
XHTML 320
VoiceXML 323
Content-Generation Technologies 324
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) with Perl 324
Java Servlets 326
JavaServer Pages 328
Active Server Pages 332
xiv Contents

XML with XSL Stylesheets 334

XML Document 335
XSL Stylesheet 337
Summary 341
Helpful Links 342
Chapter 14 Wireless Internet Technology and Vendors 343
Microbrowsers 344
Technology 344
Markup Languages 344
Image Support 345
Push Technologies 345
Offline Support 345
Web Clippings 345
Security 346
Device Support 346
Microbrowser Vendors 346
Openwave Mobile Browser 346
Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 347
AvantGo Client 347
GoAmerica Go.Web 348
Neomar Microbrowser 348
Palm Web Browser 348
Opera Software 349
Device-Specific Browsers 349
Wireless Application Servers 349
Technology 350
Request-Handling Proxies 350
Content Transformation 350
Device/Browser Identification 351
Dynamic Content Generation 351
Session and State Management 351
Enterprise Integration 352
Messaging Integration 352
Security Services 352
Scalability 353
Operating System Support 353
Development Tools 353
Wireless Application Server Vendors 354
Development Tools 355
Technology 355
Rapid Application Development 355
Multichannel Support 356
Built-in Emulators 356
Extensibility 356
 Contents xv

Support for Standards 356

Server Integration 357
Development Tool Vendors 357
Wireless Internet Service Providers 358
Summary 359
Helpful Links 360
Chapter 15 Voice Applications with VoiceXML 361
Why Voice? 362
VoiceXML 363
History of VoiceXML 363
Design Goals 364
VoiceXML Architecture 364
Building VoiceXML Applications 367
Language Concepts 367
Session 367
Dialogs 367
Applications 368
Grammars 368
Events 368
Links 368
Scripting 369
Application Example 369
Voice Vendors 373
Summary 374
Helpful Links 375
Part Four Beyond Enterprise Data 377
Chapter 16 Mobile Information Management 379
PIM Sync 380
What Is PIM? 380
Email 381
Calendar 382
Contact Lists 382
Task Lists 383
Memo Pad 383
PIM Architectures 383
Wireless Internet 383
Smart Client 384
Mobile OS PIM Software 385
Core PIM Product Features 386
Standardization Efforts 388
SyncML 388
vCalendar/iCalendar 389
vCard 390
Enterprise PIM Vendors 390
xvi Contents

Mobile Device Management 392

Architecture 392
What Mobile Device Management Software Solves 392
Software Distribution 393
Application and Asset Management 394
Remote Administration 394
System Backup and Restoration 394
Core Mobile Device Management Software Features 395
Server Administration 395
Mobile Agents/Operating System Support 395
Extensibility 396
Connectivity Options 396
Support for Standards 396
Enterprise Integration 396
Security 397
Scalability 397
Optimized Communication 397
Self-Healing 398
Logging and Reporting 398
The Role of SyncML DM 398
MDM Vendors 399
Summary 400
Helpful Links 401
Chapter 17 Location-Based Services 403
Location-Based Services: What, Why, and When 403
Location Applications 406
Mobile Positioning Techniques 407
Network-Based Solutions 408
Cell Identity 408
Time of Arrival (TOA) 409
Angle of Arrival (AOA) 410
Handset-Based Solutions 410
Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) 411
GPS and A-GPS 412
What Is a GIS? 414
LBS Development 415
LBS Vendors 416
Summary 419
Helpful Links 419
Chapter 18 Other Useful Technologies 421
Web Services 421
Web Services Technologies 422
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 423
Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 423
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) 424
Bringing Them Together 424
 Contents xvii

.NET versus J2EE 425

Web Services in a Mobile Environment 427
Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) 428
BREW Benefits 429
Relationship between BREW and J2ME 430
Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) 430
SALT Elements 431
Competition between SALT and VoiceXML 431
M-Services 432
M-Services: What Are They? 433
User Interface and Navigation 434
Downloadable Objects 434
Messaging 435
Who Benefits from M-Services? 435
Summary 436
Helpful Links 437
Index 439
Other documents randomly have
different content
refused. They could not, they said, effectually remedy the social evils
of their poor brethren unless they had access to the highest political
power; and they declared they would not allow the first two bills to
become law unless the third was passed together with them. “If the
people will not eat,” said Licinius, “neither shall they drink.” In vain
the patricians endeavoured to turn this declaration against them; in
vain they represented the tribunes as ambitious men who cared not
really for the wants of the poor in comparison of their own honour
and dignity; in vain the mass of the plebeians avowed themselves
ready to accept the compromise. The tribunes set their faces like
iron against the threats of the higher sort and the supplications of
the lower. For another five years the grim conflict lasted, till at
length their resolution prevailed, and in the year 367 b.c. all the
three Licinian rogations became law.
This great triumph was achieved with little tumult (so far as we
hear) and no bloodshed. Who can refuse his admiration to a people
which could carry through their most violent changes with such
calmness and moderation?
But the patricians, worsted as they were, had not yet shot away
all their arrows. At the first election after these laws were passed, L.
Sextius was chosen the first plebeian consul. Now the consuls,
though elected at the comitia of the centuries, were invested with
the imperium or sovereign power by a law of the curies. This law the
patricians, who alone composed the curies, refused to grant; and to
support this refusal the senate had ordered Camillus, who was now
some eighty years old, to be named dictator for the fifth time. The
old soldier, always ready to fight at an advantage, perceived that
nothing now was practicable but an honourable capitulation. The
tribunes advised the people to submit to the dictator, but declared
that they would indict him at the close of his office; and he, taking a
calm view of the state of things, resolved to act as mediator.

EQUALISATION OF THE TWO ORDERS

 The matter was finally adjusted by a further
[368-367 b.c.] compromise. The plebeian consul was invested
with the imperium; but the judicial power was
now taken from the consuls and put into the hands of a supreme
patrician judge, called the Prætor of the City (Prætor Urbanus), and
Sp. Camillus, son of the dictator, was the first prætor. A hundred
men (centumviri) were named, to whom he might delegate all
difficult cases not of a criminal nature. At the same time also
another magistracy, the curule ædileship, was created, to be filled by
patricians and plebeians in alternate years. These curule ædiles
shared the duties of the plebeian ædiles, and besides this, had to
superintend the great games, for which they were allowed a certain
sum from the treasury. At the same time a fourth day was added to
these games in honour of the plebeians.
Thus the patricians lost one of the consulships, but retained part
of the consular functions under other titles. And when Camillus had
thus effected peace between the orders, he vowed a temple to
Concord; but before he could dedicate it, the old hero died. The
temple, however, was built according to his design; its site, now one
of the best known among those of ancient Rome, can still be traced
with great certainty at the northwestern angle of the Forum,
immediately under the Capitoline. The building was restored with
great magnificence by the emperor Tiberius; and it deserved to be
so, for it commemorated one of the greatest events of Roman
history,—the final union of the two orders, from which point we must
date that splendid period on which we now enter. By this event was
a single city enabled to conquer, first of all Italy, and then all the
civilised countries of the known world, that is, all the peoples
bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
Various causes were for some time interposed to prevent the due
execution of the Licinian laws. Indeed the first two of these
measures, which aimed at social improvements, may be said to have
failed. Social abuses are always difficult to correct. The evils are, in
these cases, of slow growth; their roots strike deep; they can only
be abated by altering the habits and feelings of the people, which
cannot be effected in the existing generation; they will not give way
at once to the will of a law-giver, however good his judgment,
however pure his motives, however just his objects. But the
common difficulty of removing social evils was increased in Rome at
this time by circumstances.
For two years a pestilence raged in the city,
[367-343 b.c.] which swept away great numbers of citizens
and paralysed the industry of all. The most
illustrious of its victims was Camillus, who died even more gloriously
than he had lived, while discharging the office of peacemaker. About
the same time the region of the city was shaken by earthquakes; the
Tiber overflowed its bed and flooded the Great Circus, so that the
games then going on were broken off. Not long after a vast gulf
opened in the Forum, as if to say that the meeting-place of the
Roman people was to be used no more. The seers said that the gods
forbade this gulf to close till that which Rome held most valuable
were thrown into it. Then, when men were asking what this might
be, a noble youth, named M. Curtius, said aloud that Rome’s true
riches were brave men, that nothing else so worthy could be
devoted to the gods. Thus saying, he put on his armour, and
mounting his horse, leaped into the gulf; and straightway, says the
legend, the earth closed and became solid as before; and the place
was called the Lacus Curtius forever after.
To these direct visitations of God, the pestilence and the
earthquake, was added a still more terrible scourge in the continued
inroads of the Gauls. It has been noticed above that in the years 361
and 350 b.c. hordes of these barbarians again burst into Latium and
again ravaged the Roman territory.
These combined causes increased the distress of the poor, and we
read without surprise that in the year 357 b.c., ten years after the
passing of the Licinian laws, a bill was brought forward by Duilius
and Mænius, tribunes of the plebs, to restore the rate of interest
fixed by the Twelve Tables, which in the late troubles had fallen into
neglect; and five years later (in 352) the consuls brought forward a
measure to assist the operation of the Licinian law of debt. They
appointed five commissioners (quinqueviri), with power to make
estimates of all debts and of the property of the debtors. This done,
the commissioners advanced money to discharge the debt, as far as
it was covered by the property of the debtor. The measure was wise
and useful, but could only be partial in its effects. It could not help
those debtors who had no property, or not enough property to pay
their debts withal. Hence we find that in another five years (347 b.c.)
the rate of interest was reduced to 5 per cent.; and some years
afterwards it was tried to abolish interest altogether. But, laws to
limit interest proved then, as they have proved ever since,
ineffectual to restrain the practices of grasping and dishonest
usurers.
There were, then, great difficulties in the way of a law for relieving
debtors. These were increased, as has been seen, by circumstances,
and we must now add the selfishness and dishonesty of the rich
patricians and plebeians, who held the bulk of the public land in their
own hands, and contrived to evade the Licinian law in the following
way. If a man held more than five hundred jugera, he emancipated
his son and made over a portion of the land nominally to him, or, if
he had no son, to some other trusty person. With sorrow we hear of
these practices, and with still greater sorrow we learn that in the
year 354 b.c. C. Licinius himself was indicted by the curule ædile, M.
Popilius Lænas, for fraudulently making over five hundred jugera to
his son, while he held another five hundred in his own name. Thus
this remedy for pauperism was set aside and neglected, till the
Gracchi arose, and vainly endeavoured, after more than two
centuries of abuse, to correct that which at first might have been
prevented.
The law for equalising political power was more effective. For
eleven years after the Licinian law one consul was always a plebeian.
Then the patricians made one last struggle to recover their exclusive
privilege; and in the year 355 b.c. we have a Sulpicius and a Valerius
as consuls, both of them patricians; and in the course of the next
dozen years we find the law violated in like manner no less than
seven times. After that it is regularly observed, one consul being
patrician and the other plebeian, till at length in the year 172 b.c.,
when the patrician families had greatly decreased, both consulships
were opened to the plebeians, and from that time forth the offices
were held by men of either order without distinction.
These violations of the law above mentioned were effected by the
power by which the senate ordered the patrician consul to name a
dictator. At least in the space twenty-five years after the Licinian
laws we have no fewer than fifteen dictators. Now several of these
were appointed for sudden emergencies of war, such as the Gallic
invasions of 361 and 350. But often we find dictators when there is
no mention of foreign war. In the year 360 we find that both the
consuls enjoyed a triumph, and not the dictator. These and other
reasons have led to the belief that these dictators were appointed to
hold the consular comitia, and brought the overbearing weight of
their political power to secure the election of two patrician consuls.
But if this were the plan of the
patricians, it availed not. After
the year 343 b.c. the law was
regularly observed, by which
one consul was necessarily a
plebeian. The plebeians also
forced their way to other offices.
C. Marcius Rutilus, the most
distinguished plebeian of his
time, who was four times
elected consul, was named
dictator in the year 356 b.c., no
doubt, by the plebeian consul
Popilius Lænas; and five years
later (351) we find the same
Marcius elected to the
censorship.
 Etruscan Woman of Quality Practically, therefore, the
political reform of Licinius and
Sextius had been effectual so far
as the admission of plebeians to the highest offices of state was
concerned. It must be remarked, however, that these privileges,
though no longer engrossed by patricians, seem to have been open
only to a few wealthy plebeian families. C. Marcius Rutilus, as we
have just remarked, held the consulship four times in sixteen years
(357-342). M. Popilius Lænas and C. Pœtelius Libo enjoyed a similar
monopoly of honours.
As the exclusive privileges of the patricians thus gradually and
quietly gave way, instead of being maintained (as in modern France)
till swept away by the violent tide of revolution, so did the power of
the senate rise. It was by the wisdom or policy of this famous
assembly that the city of Rome became mistress of Italy and of the
world. Hitherto the contest has been internal, of citizen against
citizen, in order to gain an equality of rights. Henceforth, for two
hundred years, we shall have to relate contests with foreign peoples,
and to give an account of the conquest of Italy, for which the Roman
senate and people, now at length politically united, were prepared.

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Abroad, after the burning of the city, Rome

[390-342 b.c.] had once more to struggle for very existence.
Before the city was so far restored as to be
habitable, it was announced that the Æquians and Volscians were in
arms. The Æquians seem to have shared in the general disaster
caused by the Gallic inroad; henceforth at least the part they play is
insignificant. But the Volscians boldly advanced to Lanuvium, and
once more encamped at the foot of the Alban hills. The city was in
great alarm; and Camillus was named dictator for the exigency. He
defeated them with great loss, and pursued them into their own
territory. He then marched rapidly to Bola, to which place the
Æquians had advanced and gained another victory.
 But in the moment of triumph news came that Etruria was in
arms. The Etruscans hoped by a brave effort to recover the territory
which the Romans had for the second time appropriated. A force
was sent against them; but so completely was it routed on the
nones of July, that this day was noted in the Calendar as the
Poplifugia. Siege was then laid to Sutrium by the victors, and it fell.
But the prompt dictator, on the first alarm, marched his troops
straight from Bola to the point of danger; and on the very day on
which Sutrium had yielded to the foe, it was again taken by the
Roman general. Thus Camillus again appears as the saviour of
Rome. He enjoyed a threefold triumph over the Volscians, the
Æquians, and the Etrurians.
It was two years after, that the Etruscan territory, now effectually
conquered, was formed into four tribes. By the addition of these new
tribes, the first that had been added since this very territory had
been wrested from Rome by Porsenna, the whole number was raised
to twenty-five. The late assault of the Etruscans, perhaps, suggested
the wisdom of making the free inhabitants of this district citizens of
Rome. Men who had lately been subject to the oppressive
government of a civic oligarchy, being now mingled with Roman
plebeians who had received allotments in the district, and seeing the
comparative freedom of all Roman burgesses, were sure to fight for
Rome rather than join in an insurrection against her. Here was the
beginning of that sagacious policy, which for a time led political
enfranchisement hand in hand with conquest. Thirty years later (358
b.c.) the senate pursued the same course with respect to the Pontine
district and other lowlands which had been recovered from the grasp
of the Volscians. A settlement of poor plebeians, which was
attempted in 387 b.c., failed; the emigrants were cut off by the
Volscian hills-men. But the territory being now formed into two
tribes, so as to make the whole number twenty-seven, the
inhabitants had an interest in repressing predatory inroads.
Soon after followed the struggle for the
[387-354 b.c.] Licinian laws; and during this period the annals
are altogether silent on the subject of wars.
 But before the promulgation of the Licinian laws, there were
threatenings of greater danger than was to be feared either from
Etruscans or Volscians. The Latins and Hernicans, who since the time
of Sp. Cassius had fought by the side of Rome in all her border wars,
no longer appeared in this position. The inroad of the Gauls had
broken up the league. Rome had been reduced to ashes, and was
left in miserable weakness. Many of the thirty Latin towns, the
names of which occur in the league of Cassius, were so utterly
destroyed, that the antiquary in vain seeks for their site in the
desolation of the Campagna. But the two important cities of Tibur
and Præneste (Tivoli and Palestrina), perched on steep-scarped
rocks, defying the rude arts of the invader, had gained strength by
the ruin of their neighbours, and appear as independent
communities, standing apart from the rest of Latium and from Rome.
It was believed that the Prænestines encouraged the Volscians in
their inroads, and in 382 b.c. war was declared against them. Some
of the Latin cities joined Præneste; others sought protection against
her from Rome. In this war even the Tusculans deserted Rome. But
after a struggle of five years, the dictator, T. Quinctius, took nine
insurgent cities, and blockaded Præneste itself, which capitulated on
terms of which we are not informed. Soon after Tusculum also was
recovered; and for the present all fear of the Latins subsided.
But a few years after the temple of Concord had been erected by
old Camillus, fresh alarms arose. The Hernicans gave signs of
disquietude. War was declared against them in 362 b.c. Next year
came the second inroad of the Gauls, and it was observed with
consternation, that this terrible foe occupied the valley of the Anio,
and was not molested either by the Latins of Tibur or by the
Hernicans. In the year 360 b.c. the Fasti record a triumph of the
consul Fabius over this last-named people, and another of his
colleague Pœtelius over the men of Tibur and the Gauls—an
ominous conjunction.
But this new inroad of the barbarians, which threatened Rome
with a second ruin, really proved a blessing; for the remaining Latin
cities, which in the late conflicts had stood aloof, terrified by the
presence of the Gauls, and seeing safety only in union, now renewed
their league with Rome, and the Hernicans soon after followed their
example. The glory of concluding this second league belongs to C.
Plautius, the plebeian consul of the year 358 b.c. The Gauls now
quitted Latium; and Privernum and Tibur, the only Latin cities which
rejected the alliance, were both compelled to yield (357, 354 b.c.).
While these dangers were successfully averted on the
northeastern frontier, war had been declared against Rome by the
powerful Etruscan city of Tarquinii, which lies beyond the Ciminian
hills. This was in the very year in which the new league was formed
with the Latins and Hernicans. But for this, it is hard to imagine that
Rome, exhausted as she was, could have resisted the united assaults
of Gauls, Volscians, Latins, Hernicans, and Etruscans. As it was, she
found it hard to repel the Tarquinians. This people made a sudden
descent from the hills, defeated the consul C. Fabius, and sacrificed
307 Roman prisoners to their gods (358 b.c.). Two years later they
were joined by the Faliscans. Bearing torches in their hands, and
having their hair wreathed into snake-like tresses, they attacked the
Romans with savage cries, and drove them before them. They
overran the four new tribes, and threatened Rome itself. Then M.
Popilius Lænas, the plebeian consul, being ordered by the senate to
name a dictator, named another plebeian, C. Marcius Rutilus, the
first of his order who was advanced to this high office; and his
conduct justified the appointment. The enemy was defeated. The
senate refused a triumph to the plebeian, but the people in their
tribes voted that he should enjoy the well-earned honour.
For a moment the people of Cære, the old
[356-351 b.c.] allies of the Roman people, who had given
shelter to their sacred things, their women, and
children, in the panic of the Gallic invasion, joined the war; but
almost immediately after sued for peace. The Romans, however,
remembered this defection. The Tarquinians were again defeated in
a great battle. Three hundred and fifty-eight prisoners were
scourged and beheaded in the Forum to retaliate for former
barbarity. In the year 351 b.c. a peace of forty years was concluded,
after a struggle of eight years’ duration.
It was in the very next year after the conclusion of this war that
the third inroad of the Gauls took place, of which we have above
spoken, when M. Valerius gained his name of Corvus. Thus
remarkably was Rome carried through the dangers of intestine strife
and surrounding wars. When she was at strife within, her enemies
were quiet. Before each new assault commenced, a former foe had
retired from the field, and Rome rose stronger from every fall. She
had now recovered all the Latin coast land from the Tibur to Circeii;
and her increasing importance is shown by a renewed treaty with
the great commercial city of Carthage. But a more formidable enemy
was now to be encountered than had as yet challenged Rome to
conflict, and a larger area opened to her ambition. In the course of a
very few years after the last event of which we have spoken the First
Samnite War began.b
The destruction of Rome by the Gauls is the dividing point
between historical and ante-historical Rome, as Ihneg justly notes;
for the conflagration wiped out not only the records but most of the
monuments as well. He complains, however, that it is long after the
conflagration before the chronicles become really trustworthy. He
doubts equally the story of how Valerius won the name of Corvus
and the achievements of L. Furius Camillus. He says in conclusion:
“The result of our investigations is that the whole of the six wars
with the Gauls, as Livyc relates them, are not much more than stop-
gaps, marking points of time at which the annals of the old time
have been filled up with edifying and patriotic matter. We can,
therefore, infer that a considerable part of the other wars is equally
apocryphal, and we may perhaps have the satisfaction of thinking
that there were no wars to relate and that the Romans had now and
then a little breathing-place.” So extreme an erasure of tradition with
all its details will not, however, win the approval of many students of
these times.a
 FOOTNOTES

[33] The aged were doomed to perish under any circumstances

(utique), from scarcity of provisions, whether they retired into the
Capitol with the military youth, or were left behind in the city.
[34] [As a forewarning here of the comparatively recent Gallic
re-invasions of Italy, one may quote what J. J. Ampèred says in
his L’histoire romaine à Rome: “To terminate cheerfully the story
of the geese of Manlius, I will recall a caricature representing a
French soldier plucking a goose on the Capitoline Hill; beneath
were the words, ‘Vengeance of a Gaul.’”]
[35] It may be observed that each gens et familia clung to the
same forenames. Thus Publius, Lucius, Cneius, were favourite
forenames of the Cornelii; Caius of the Julii; Appius of the Claudii;
and so on.
[36] [And yet, though constitutionally eligible, Licinius could
hardly have won the consular tribuneship, for the patricians had
practically monopolised the office, as the fasti prove.]
[37] [The annalists were probably wrong in supposing that
Rome was without magistrates for this period. Doubtless their
error is due to chronological confusion.]
 CHAPTER VIII. THE CONQUEST OF CENTRAL
ITALY
THE SAMNITES

The fifth century is the most beautiful century of Rome. The

plebeians had conquered the consulship and are succeeding in
conquering their admission to other magistracies which the
patricians wished to reserve; they free themselves from the
servitude which, under the name of Nexus, weighed on the debtors.
They arrive at political equality and individual independence; at the
same time the old aristocracy still dominates in the senate and
maintains there the inflexibility of its resolves and the persistence of
its designs. It was thanks to this interior condition that the Roman
people was able to survive the strongest tests from without over
which it had triumphed, and to make that progress which cost it
most dear. We see the peoples fight, one by one, and often all
together; the Latin people, the Etruscans, the Goths, the Samnites,
the other Sabellic peoples of the Apennines; and the end is always
victory. The beginnings of this history were sombre. Rome was
afflicted by one of those pestilences which one finds in all the
epochs of the history of this unsanitary city. Thence was the origin of
those scenic pieces imported by the Etruscans and giving origin to
comedy—a means devised to appease the gods; so that Roman
comedy had an origin religious and dismal. The fifth century is for
Rome the age of great devotions and of grand sacrifices.d
We must now carry our eyes beyond the plain of Latium, and
penetrate into Campania and the valleys of the Apennines.
The Sabines are a people connected with the earliest legends of
Rome. But the Sabines of Cures and the country between the Anio
and the Tiber are those who have hitherto engaged our attention. It
is in the highlands of Reate and Amiternum that we must search for
the cradle of the race. The valleys of this high district afford but
scanty subsistence; and the hardy mountaineers ever and anon cast
off swarms of emigrants, who sought other homes, and made good
their claim by arms. It was a custom of the Sabellian tribes, when
famine threatened and population became dense, to devote the
whole produce of one spring-time to the gods. Among other
produce, the youth born in that year were dedicated to the god
Mamers (Mars), and went forth to seek their fortunes abroad. On
one such occasion the emigrants, pressing southward from the
Sabine highlands, occupied the broad mountainous district which lies
northward of Campania, and took the name of Samnites. The
Picenians and Frentanians, on the north coast, with the four allied
cantons of the Vestinians, Marrucinians, Pelignians, and Marsians,
who were interposed between the Samnites and their ancestral
Sabines, claimed kin with both nations. The Samnites themselves
also formed four cantons—the Caracenians, Pentrians, Caudinians,
and Hirpinians. Of these the Pentrians were far the most
considerable; they occupied the rugged mountain district between
the upper valleys of the Vulturnus and the Calor. Here a great mass
of mountains, now known by the name of Mount Matese, rises boldly
from the central chain to the height of more than six thousand feet;
and its steep defiles offer defences of great natural strength. But the
remains of massive polygonal masonry, which are still seen on the
rocky heights occupied by their towns of Æsernia and Bovianum
(Isernia and Bojano), showed that the Samnites used art to
strengthen their natural defences. Below Mount Matese, in the valley
of the Calor, lay the canton of the Caudinians, whose town of
Beneventum (anciently called Maleventum or Maliessa) was also
made strong by art. It is within these limits, from Æsernia to
Beneventum, that the scenes of the chief campaigns of the Samnite
wars were laid.
From the nature of their country the Samnites
[423-354 b.c.] were a pastoral people. Their mountains break
into numberless valleys, sloping both north and
south, well watered, and fresh even in the summer heats. Into these
valleys, as is still the practice of the country, the flocks were driven
from the lower lands, ascending higher as the heats increased, and
descending towards the plain as autumn inclined towards winter.
But the Samnites were not contented with these mountain homes.
As they had themselves been sent forth from a central hive, so in
time they cast forth new swarms of emigrants. In early times a
Samnite tribe, under the name of Frentanians, had taken possession
of the coast lands north of Apulia. Other bands of adventurous
settlers pushed down the Vulturnus and Calor into the rich plain that
lay beneath their mountains, to which they gave the name of
Campania, or the champagne land. In earlier times this fair plain had
attracted Etruscan conquerors; and its chief city, anciently called
Vulturnum, is said from them to have received the lasting name of
Capua. But about the year 423 b.c., nearly a century before the time
of which we are presently to speak, a band of Samnites seized the
famous city, and reduced the ancient Oscan inhabitants to the
condition of clients. Soon after, the great Greek city of Cumæ, which
then gave name to the Bay of Naples, was conquered by the new
lords of Capua, who from this time forth, under the name of
Campanians, became the dominant power of the country. In course
of time, however, the Samnites of Capua, or the Campanians,
adopted the language and customs of their Oscan subjects. Hence
the Campanian Samnites broke off their connection with the old
Samnites of the mountains, just as the Roman Sabines lost all
sympathy with the old Sabines of Cures, and as in England the
Anglo-Normans became the national enemies of the French.
It may be added that the Lucanians and Apulians, who stretched
across the breadth of Italy below Campania, were formed by a
mixture of Samnite invaders with the ancient population, themselves
a compound of Oscan and Pelasgian races; while the Bruttians, who
occupied the mountainous district south of the Gulf of Tarentum,
were a similar offcast from the Lucanians. But these half-Sabellian
tribes, like the old races from whom the Samnites came, lent
uncertain aid to their kinsmen in the struggle with Rome.
These remarks will prepare us for the great
[354-343 b.c.] conflict which in fact determined the
sovereignty of Italy to be the right of the
Roman, and not of the Samnite people.[38] The first war arose out of
a quarrel such as we have just alluded to between the Campanians
and the old Samnites of the Matese. In the year 354 b.c. a league
had been concluded with the Romans and the Samnites. Since that
time, Samnite adventurers had been pressing down the valley of the
Liris, and had taken the Volscian cities of Sora and Fregellæ, while
the Romans, combined with the Latins again since the year 358 b.c.,
were forcing back the Volscians from the west. In 343 b.c., the
Samnites pursued their encroachments so far as to assail Teanum,
the chief city of the Sidicines, an Oscan tribe, who occupied the
lower hills in the north of Campania. The Sidicines demanded the aid
of Capua against their assailants; and the Campanians, venturing to
give this aid, drew upon their own heads the wrath of the
mountaineers. The Samnites took possession of Mount Tifata, a bare
hill which overhangs Capua on the north, and plundered at will the
rich plain below. Unable to meet the enemy in the field, the
degenerate Campanians entreated the assistance of the Roman and
Latin league. There was some difficulty in listening to this
application; for a treaty of peace had been concluded eleven years
before, and no aggression against Rome was chargeable upon the
Samnites. But it is probable that their progress in the valleys of the
Liris and Vulturnus had alarmed the senate; and all scruples were
removed when the Campanians offered to surrender their city
absolutely, so that in defending them Rome would be defending her
own subjects. This quibbling bargain was struck, and war was
declared against the Samnites.b

THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR

The consuls were ordered to take the field.

[343-342 b.c.] The consul M. Valerius Corvus led his legions
into Campania, where, probably in consequence
of some reverses of which we are not informed, he encamped on the
side of Mount Gaurus over Cumæ. The Samnite army came full of
confidence; the consul led out his troops, and a battle commenced,
highly important in the history of the world, as the prelude of those
which were to decide whether the empire of Italy and of the world
was reserved for Rome or for Samnium.
The two armies were equal in courage, and similarly armed and
arrayed; that of the Samnites consisted entirely of infantry, and the
cavalry, which the consul sent first into action, could make no
impression on its firm ranks. He then ordered the cavalry to fall aside
to the wings, and led on the legions in person. The fight was most
obstinate: each seemed resolved to die rather than yield: at length,
a desperate effort of despair on the part of the Romans drove the
Samnites back; they wavered, broke, and fled to their entrenched
camp, which they abandoned in the night, and fell back to Suessula.
They declared to those who asked why they had fled, that the eyes
of the Romans seemed to be on fire and their gestures those of
madmen, so that they could not stand before them.
The other consul, A. Cornelius Cossus, having been directed to
invade Samnium, led his army to Saticula, the nearest Samnite town
to Capua. The Apennines in this part run from north to south, in
parallel ranges, enclosing fertile valleys, and the road to Beneventum
passes over them. The consul, advancing carelessly, had crossed the
first range, and his line of march had reached the valley, when on
looking back the Romans saw the wooded heights behind them
occupied by a Samnite army. To advance was dangerous, retreat
seemed impossible. In this perplexity a tribune named P. Decius
proposed to occupy with the hastats and principes of one legion
(that is, sixteen hundred men,) an eminence over the way along
which the Samnites were coming. The consul gave permission;
Decius seized the height, which he maintained against all the efforts
of the enemy till the favourable moment was lost, and the consul
had led back his army and gained the ridge. When night came, the
Samnites remained about the hill and went to sleep; in the second
watch Decius led down his men in silence, and they took their way
through the midst of the slumbering foes. They had got halfway
through, when one of the Romans in stepping over the Samnites
struck against a shield; the noise awoke those at hand; the alarm
spread; the Romans then raised a shout, fell on all they met, and
got off without loss. They reached their own camp while it was yet
night, but they halted outside of it till the day was come. At dawn,
when their presence was announced, all poured forth to greet them,
and Decius was led in triumph through the camp to the consul, who
began to extol his deeds; but Decius interrupted him, saying that
now was the time to take the enemy by surprise. The army was then
led out, and the scattered Samnites were fallen on and routed with
great slaughter. After the victory the consul gave Decius a golden
crown and a hundred oxen, one of which was white with gilded
horns; this Decius offered in sacrifice to Father Mars, the rest he
gave to his comrades in peril, and each soldier presented them with
a pound of corn and a pint (sextarius) of wine, while the consul,
giving them each an ox and two garments, assured them of a double
allowance of corn in future. The army further wove the obsidional
crown of grass and placed it on the brows of Decius, and a similar
crown was bestowed on him by his own men. Such were the
generous arts by which Rome fostered the heroic spirit in her sons!
Meantime the Samnites at Suessula had been largely reinforced,
and they spread their ravages over Campania. The two consular
armies being united under Valerius, came and encamped hard by
them, and as Valerius had left all the baggage and camp-followers
behind, the Roman army occupied a much smaller camp than was
usual to their numbers. Deceived by the size of their camp the
Samnites clamoured to storm it, but the caution of their leaders
withheld them. Necessity soon compelled them to scour the country
in quest of provisions, and emboldened by the consul’s inactivity
they went to greater and greater distances. This was what Valerius
waited for; he suddenly assailed and took their camp, which was but
slightly guarded; then leaving two legions to keep it, he divided the
rest of the army, and falling on the scattered Samnites cut them
everywhere to pieces. The shields of the slain and fugitives
amounted, we are told, to forty thousand, the captured standards to
one hundred and seventy. Both consuls triumphed.
While the Roman arms were thus engaged in Campania, the Latins
invaded the territory of the Pelignians, the kinsmen and allies of the
Samnites.
No military events are recorded of the year 342, but a strange tale
of an insurrection of the Roman army has been handed down. The
tale runs thus: The Roman soldiers, who at the end of the last
campaign, had been left to winter in Capua, corrupted by the luxury
which they there witnessed and enjoyed, formed the nefarious plan
of massacring the inhabitants and seizing the town. Their projects
had not ripened, when C. Marcius Rutilus, the consul for 342, came
to take the command. He first, to keep them quiet, gave out that the
troops were to be quartered in Capua the following winter also; then
noting the ringleaders, he sent them home under various pretexts
and gave furloughs to any that asked for them; his colleague, Q.
Servilius Ahala, meantime taking care to detain all who came to
Rome. The stratagem succeeded for some time; but at length the
soldiers perceived that none of their comrades came back; and a
cohort that was going home on furlough halted at Lautulæ, a narrow
pass between the sea and the mountains east of Tarracina; it was
there joined by all who were going home singly on leave, and the
whole number soon equalled that of an army. They soon after broke
up, and marching for Rome encamped under Alba Longa. Feeling
their want of a leader, and learning that T. Quinctius, a distinguished
patrician, who being lame of one leg from a wound had retired from
the city, was living on his farm in the Tusculan district, they sent a
party by night, who seized him in his bed, and gave him the option
of death or becoming their commander. He therefore came to the
camp, where he was saluted as general, and desired to lead them to
Rome. Eight miles from the city they were met by an army led by
the dictator M. Valerius Corvus. Each side shuddered at the thought
of civil war, and readily agreed to a conference. The mutineers
consented to entrust their cause to the dictator, whose name was a
sufficient security. He rode back to the city, and at his desire the
senate and curies decreed that none should be punished for, or even
reproached with, their share in the mutiny, that no soldier’s name
should be struck out of the roll without his own consent, that no one
who had been a tribune should be made a centurion, and that the
pay of the knights (as they had refused to join in the mutiny) should
be reduced. And thus this formidable mutiny commenced in crime
and ended in—nothing!
Another and a far more probable account says that the
insurrection broke out in the city, where the plebeians took arms,
and having seized C. Manlius in the night, and forced him to be their
leader, went out and encamped four miles from the city, where, as it
would seem, they were joined by the army from Campania. The
consuls raised an army and advanced against them; but when the
two armies met, that of the consuls saluted the insurgents, and the
soldiers embraced one another. The consuls then advised the senate
to comply with the desires of the people, and peace was effected.
The still existing weight of debt seems to have been the cause of
this secession also, and a cancel of debts to have been a condition
of the peace. Lending on interest at all is said to have been
prohibited at this time by a plebiscitum, or decree of the tribes; and
others were passed forbidding any one to hold the same office till
after an interval of ten years, or to hold two offices at the same
time. It was also decreed that both the consuls might be plebeians.
The name of the tribune L. Genucius being mentioned, it is probable
that he was the author of the new laws.
The following year (341) peace was made
[341-340 b.c.] with the Samnites on the light condition of their
giving a year’s pay and three months’ provisions
to the Roman army; and they were allowed to make war on the
Sidicinians. This moderation on the side of the Romans might cause
surprise, were it not that we know they now apprehended a conflict
with their ancient allies the Latins; for the original terms of their
federation could not remain in force, and one or other must become
the dominant state.
The Sidicinians and Campanians, on being thus abandoned, put
themselves under the protection of the Latins, with whom the
Volscians also formed an alliance. The Hernicans adhered to the
Romans, and the Samnites also became their allies. As war between
Rome and Latium seemed inevitable, T. Manlius Torquatus, and P.
Decius Mus were made consuls for the ensuing year with a view to
it. But the Latins would first try the path of peace and
accommodation; and at the call, it is said, of the Roman senate,
their two prætors and ten principal senators repaired to Rome.
Audience was given to them on the Capitol, and nothing could be
more reasonable than their demands. Though the Latins were now
the more numerous people of the two, they only required a union of
perfect equality,—one of the consuls and one-half of the senate to
be Latins, while Rome should be the seat of government, and
Romans the name of the united nation.[39] But the senate exclaimed
against the unheard-of extravagance of these demands, the gods
were invoked as witnesses of this scandalous breach of faith, and
the consul Manlius vowed that if they consented to be thus dictated
to, he would come girt with his sword into the senate-house and slay
the first Latin he saw there. Tradition said, that when the gods were
appealed to, and the Latin prætor L. Annius spoke with contempt of
the Roman Jupiter, loud claps of thunder and a sudden storm of
wind and rain told the anger of the deity, and that as Annius went
off full of rage, he tumbled down the flight of steps and lay lifeless
at the bottom. It was with difficulty that the magistrates saved the
other envoys from the fury of the people. War was forthwith
declared, and the consular armies were levied.

THE LATIN WAR

As the Latin legions were now in Campania

[340 b.c.] (340), the Romans, instead of taking the direct
route through Latium, made a circuit through
the country of the Sabines, Marsians, and Pelignians, and being
joined by the Samnites, and probably the Hernicans, came and
encamped before the Latins near Capua. Here a dream presented
itself to the consuls: the form of a man, of size more than human,
appeared to each, and announced that the general on one side, the
army on the other, was due to the Manes and Mother Earth; of
whichever people the general should devote himself and the adverse
legions, theirs would be the victory. The victims when slain
portending the same, the consuls announced, in presence of their
officers, that he of them whose forces first began to yield would
devote himself for Rome.
To restore strict discipline and to prevent any treachery, the
consuls forbade, under pain of death, any single combats with the
enemy. One day the son of the consul Manlius chanced with his
troop of horse to come near to where the Tusculan horse was
stationed, whose commander, Geminus Metius, knowing young
Manlius, challenged him to a single combat. Shame and indignation
overpowered the sense of duty in the mind of the Roman; they ran
against each other, and the Tusculan fell; the victor, bearing the
bloody spoils, returned to the camp and came with them to his
father. The consul said nothing, but forthwith called an assembly of
the army; then reproaching his son with his breach of discipline, he
ordered the lictor to lay hold of him and bind him to the stake. The
assembly stood mute with horror; but when the axe fell, and the
blood of the gallant youth gushed forth, bitter lamentation, mingled
with curses on the ruthless sire, arose. They took up the body of the
slain, and buried it without the camp, covered with the spoils he had
won; and when after the war Manlius entered Rome in triumph, the
young men would not go forth to receive him, and throughout life he
was to them an object of hatred and aversion.
 Manlius condemning his Son to Death

The war between Rome and Latium was little less than civil; the
soldiers and officers had for years served together in the same
companies and they were all acquainted. They now stood in battle-
array opposite each other at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, the
Samnites and Hernicans being opposed to the Oscan allies of the
Latins. Both the consuls sacrificed before the battle; the entrails of
the victim offered by Decius portended misfortune, but hearing that
the signs boded well to Manlius, “’Tis well,” said he, “if my colleague
has good signs.” In the battle, the left wing, led by Decius, was
giving way; the consul saw that his hour was come; he called aloud
for M. Valerius, the pontifex maximus, and standing on a naked
weapon, clad in his consular robe, his head veiled, and his hand on
his chin, he repeated after the pontiff the form of devotion. He then
sent the lictors to announce to Manlius what he had done, and
girding his robe tightly round him, and mounting his horse, he
rushed into the midst of the enemies. He seemed a destructive spirit
sent from heaven; wherever he came he carried dismay and death;
at length he fell covered with wounds. The ardour of the Roman
soldiers revived, and the skill of Manlius secured the victory. When
the front ranks (antesignani) of both armies were wearied, he
ordered the accensi to advance; the Latins then sent forward their
triarians; and when these were wearied, the consul ordered the
Roman triarians to rise and advance. The Latins having no fresh
troops to oppose to them were speedily defeated, and so great was
the slaughter that but one-fourth of their army escaped. Next day
the body of the consul Decius was found amidst heaps of slain, and
magnificently interred.
The Latins fled to the town of Vescia, and by
[340-338 b.c.] the advice of their prætor Numisius a general
levy was made in Latium, with which, in reliance
on the reduced state of the Roman army, he ventured to give the
consul battle at a place named Trifanum, between Sinuessa and
Minturnæ, on the other side of the Liris. The rout of the Latins,
however, was so complete, that few of the towns even thought of
resistance when the consul entered Latium. The Latin public land,
two-thirds of that of Privernum, and the Falernian district of
Campania, were seized for the Roman people, and assignments of
2¾ jugera on this side, 3¼ on the other side of the Liris, were made
to the poor plebeians, who murmured greatly at the large quantity
that was reserved as domain. As the Campanian knights (sixteen
hundred in number) had remained faithful to Rome, they were given
the Roman municipium, and each assigned a rent charge of 350
denarii a year on the state of Capua.
The Latin and Volscian towns continued singly to resist, and the
conquest was not completed till the year 338. Prudence and some
moderation were requisite on the part of Rome, in order not to have
rebellious subjects in the Latins. Citizenship therefore, in different
degrees, was conferred on them; but they were forbidden to hold
national diets, and commerce and intermarriage between the people
of their different towns were prohibited. The principal families of
Velitræ were forced to go and live beyond the Tiber, and their lands
were given to Roman colonists. Their ships of war were taken from
the Antiates, who were forbidden to possess any in future. Some of
them were brought to Rome; the beaks (rostra) of others were cut
off, and the pulpit (suggestum) in the Forum was adorned with
them, whence it was named the “rostra.” The municipium, such as
the Latins had formerly had, was given to the people of Capua,
Cumæ, Suessula, Fundi, and Formiæ. The Latin contingents in war
were henceforth to serve under their own officers apart from the
legions.
While the Roman dominion was thus extended without, wise and
patriotic men of both orders saw the necessity of internal concord,
and of abolishing antiquated and now mischievous claims and
pretensions. In 339, therefore, the patrician consul Tib. Æmilius
named his plebeian colleague Q. Publilius Philo dictator, who then
brought forward the following laws to complete the constitution. (1)
The patricians should give a previous consent to any law that was to
be brought before the centuries; for as such a law must previously
have passed the senate, and the centuries could make no alteration
in it, their opposition, it would seem, could hardly have any ground
but prejudice and spite. (2) The Plebiscita should be binding on all
Quirites. (3) One of the censors should of necessity be a plebeian.
The curies were induced, we know not how, to give their assent to
these laws.[40] Internal discord was now at an end, and the golden
age of Roman heroism and virtue began.

THE SECOND SAMNITE WAR

The affairs for the ten succeeding years are of

[338-325 b.c.] comparative unimportance. The Romans and
Samnites both knew that another war was
inevitable, and they made the necessary preparations for it. In the
year 327 the people of the Greek town of Palæopolis (Old Town)
being in alliance with the Samnites, began to exercise hostilities
against the Roman colonists in Campania. As they refused to give
satisfaction, the consul Q. Publilius Philo was sent against them,
while his colleague, L. Cornelius Lentulus, watched the motions of
the Samnites. Publilius encamped between Palæopolis and its
kindred town of Neapolis (New Town), and on his sending word
home that there was a large body of Samnite and Nolan troops in
them, envoys were sent to Samnium to complain of this breach of
treaty. The Samnites replied that those were volunteers, over whom
the state had no control; that moreover they had not, as the
Romans had alleged, excited the people of Fundi and Formiæ to
revolt, while the Romans had sent a colony to Fregellæ, in a district
which of right was theirs; that, in fine, there was no use in arguing
or complaining when the plain between Capua and Suessula offered
a space on which they might decide whose should be the empire of
Italy. The Roman fetial then veiled his head, and with hands raised
to heaven prayed the gods to prosper the arms and counsels of
Rome if right was on her side; if not, to blast and confound them.
Right certainly was not on the side of Rome, for she had first
violated the treaty; but war was not to be averted, and it was now
to begin.
A Roman army entered Samnium on the Volscian side, ravaged the
country, and took some towns. Publilius’ year having expired, his
command was continued to him (326) under the new title of
proconsul; and soon a party in Neapolis, weary of the insolence of
the foreign soldiers, began to plot a surrender. While Nymphius, one
of the leading men, induced the Samnites to go out of the town, to
embark in the ships in the port, and make a descent on the coast of
Latium, Charilaus, another of the party, closed the gate after them,
and admitted the Romans at another. The Samnites instantly
dispersed and fled home; the Nolans retired from the town
unmolested.
A chief ally of the Samnites were the people of the Greek city of
Tarentum; on the other hand, their kinsmen, the Apulians and
Lucanians, were in alliance with Rome. But in this year, a revolution
took place in Lucania, in consequence of which the country became
subject to Samnium. A similar fate menaced the Apulians, if not
aided; but to reach Apulia it was necessary to pass through the
Vestinian country, the people of which (one of the Marsian
confederacy) refused a passage. It was apprehended at Rome, that
if the Vestinians were attacked, the other three states, who were
now neutral, would take arms, and throw their weight into the
Samnite scale, and their valour was well known; but, on the other
hand, the importance of Apulia, in a military point of view, was too
great to allow it to be lost. The consul D. Junius Brutus accordingly
led his army (325) into the Vestinian country: a hard-fought victory,
and the capture of two of their towns, reduced the Vestinians to
submission, and the other members of the league remained at
peace.
The other consul, L. Camillus, fell sick as he was about to invade
Samnium and L. Papirius Cursor was made dictator;[41] but as there
was said to have been some error in the auspices, he was obliged to
return to Rome to renew them. As he was departing, he strictly
charged Q. Fabius Rullianus, the master of the horse, whom he left
in command, not to risk an action on any account during his
absence. But, heedless of his orders, Fabius seized the first occasion
of engaging the enemy, over whom he gained a complete victory. As
soon as the dictator learned what had occurred, he hastened to the
camp, breathing fury. Fabius, warned of his approach, besought the
soldiers to protect him. Papirius came, ascended his tribunal,
summoned the master of the horse before him, and demanded why
he had disobeyed orders, and thus weakened the military discipline.
His defence but irritated his judge the more; the lictors approached
and began to strip him for death; he broke from them, and sought
refuge among the triarians: confusion arose; those nearest the
tribunal prayed, the more remote menaced, the dictator: the legates
came round him, entreating him to defer his judgment till the next
day; but he would not hear them. Night at length ended the contest.
During the night Fabius fled to Rome, and by
[325-322 b.c.] his father’s advice made his complaint of the
dictator to the assembled senate; but while he
was speaking, Papirius, who had followed him from the camp with
the utmost rapidity, entered, and ordered his lictors to seize him.
The senate implored; but he was inexorable: the elder Fabius then
appealed to the people, before whom he enlarged on the cruelty of
the dictator. Every heart beat in unison with that of the time-
honoured father; but when Papirius showed the rigorous necessity of
upholding military discipline, by which the state was maintained, all
were silent, from conviction. At length the people and their tribunes
united with Fabius and the senate in supplication, and the dictator,
deeming his authority sufficiently vindicated, granted life to his
master of the horse.
Papirius, when he returned to his army, gave the Samnites a
decisive defeat; and having divided the spoil among his soldiers to
regain their favour, and granted a truce for a year to the enemy, on
condition of their giving each soldier a garment and a year’s pay, he
returned to Rome and triumphed.
The events of the next year (323) are dubious; but in 322 the
camp of the dictator, A. Cornelius Arvina, who had entered Samnium
without sufficient caution, was surprised by a superior force of the
enemy. The day closed before an attack could be made, and in the
night the dictator, leaving a number of fires burning in the camp, led
away his legions in silence. But the enemy were on the alert, and
their cavalry hung on the retiring army, to slacken its pace. With
daybreak the Samnite infantry came up, and the dictator, finding
further retreat impossible, drew his forces up in order of battle. A
desperate conflict commenced; during five hours neither side gave
way an inch; the Samnite horse, seeing the baggage of the Romans
but slightly guarded, made for it, and began to plunder: while thus
engaged, they were fallen on and cut to pieces by the Roman horse,
who then turned and assailed the now unprotected rear of the
Samnite infantry. The dictator urged his legions to new exertions;
the Samnites wavered, broke, and fled; their general and thousands
fell, and thousands were made captives.
Meantime, on the side of Apulia an equally
[322-321 b.c.] glorious victory was gained by the consul Q.
Fabius; and the spirit of the Samnites being now
quite broken, they were anxious for peace on almost any terms. As it
is usual with a people, when measures to which they have given
their full and eager consent have failed, to throw the entire blame on
their leaders, so now the Samnites cast all their misfortunes on
Papius Brutulus, one of their principal men, and resolved to deliver
him up to the Romans as the cause of the war. The noble Samnite
saved himself from disgrace by a voluntary death; his lifeless corpse
was carried to Rome; the Roman prisoners, of whom there was a
large number, were released, and gold was sent to ransom the
Samnites. The utmost readiness to yield to all reasonable terms was
evinced; but nothing would content the haughty senate but the
supremacy, and sooner than thus resign their national independence
the Samnites resolved to dare and endure the uttermost.
In the spring (321) the Roman legions, led by the consuls T.
Veturius and Sp. Postumius, encamped at Calatia in Campania, with
the intention of directing their entire force against central Samnium.
But the Samnite general, C. Pontius, having spread a false report
that Luceria, in Apulia, was hard pressed by a Samnite army, and on
the point of surrender, the consuls resolved to attempt its relief
without delay. They entered the Samnite country, and advanced
heedlessly and incautiously. In the vicinity of the town of Caudium
they reached the Caudine Forks, as a pass was named consisting of
a deep valley between two wooded mountains; a hollow way led into
it at one end, and a narrow path over a mountain, which closed it
up, led out of it at the other end. Into these toils the consuls
conducted their army; they saw nothing to alarm them till the head
of the column came to the further end, and found the passage
stopped with rocks and trunks of trees, and on looking round they
beheld the hills occupied by soldiery. To advance or to retreat was
now equally impossible; they therefore threw up entrenchments in
the valley, and remained there, the Samnites not attacking them, in
reliance on the aid of famine. At length, when their food was spent
and hunger began to be felt, they sent deputies to learn the will of
the Samnite leaders. It is said that Pontius, on this occasion, sent for
his father to advise him: this venerable old man, who, in high repute
for wisdom, dwelt at Caudium, was conveyed to the camp in a wain,
and his advice was either to let the Romans go free and uninjured,
or totally to destroy the army. Pontius preferred a middle course,
and the old man retired, shedding tears at the misery he saw thence
to come on his country. The terms accorded by Pontius were the
restoration of the ancient alliance between Rome and Samnium, the
withdrawal of Roman colonies from places belonging to the
Samnites, and the giving back of all places to which they had a right.
The arms and baggage of the vanquished army, were, as a matter of
course, to be given up to the conquerors. How rarely has Rome ever
granted a vanquished enemy terms so mild as these! Yet the Roman
historians had the audacity to talk of the insolence of the victorious
Samnites, and the Roman senate and people the baseness and
barbarity to put to an ignominous death the noble Pontius twenty-
seven years after!
These terms were sworn to by the consuls and their principal
officers, and six hundred knights were given as hostages till they
should have been ratified by the senate and people. A passage wide
enough for one person to pass was made in the paling with which
the Samnites had enclosed them, and one of the pales laid across it,
and through this door the consuls, followed by their officers and
men, each in a single garment, came forth. Pontius gave beasts of
burden to convey the sick and wounded, and provisions enough to
take the army to Rome. They then departed and reached Capua
before nightfall; but shame, or doubt of the reception they might
meet with, kept them from entering. Next morning, however, all the
people came out to meet and console them. Refreshments and aid
of every kind were given them, and they thence pursued their way
to Rome.
When the news of their calamity had first reached Rome, a total
cessation of business (justitium) had taken place, and a general levy,
either to attempt their relief or to defend the city, had been made,
and all orders of people went into mourning. In this state of things
the disgraced army reached the gates. It there dispersed; those who
lived in the country went away; those who dwelt in the city slank
with night to their houses. The consuls, having named a dictator for
the consular elections, laid down their office; and Q. Publilius Philo
and L. Papirius Cursor were appointed to be their successors.c

Triumph of Papirius

“If other nations delight in remembering the days of national

triumphs,” says Wilhelm Ihne, “and in celebrating the memory of
victories by which they feel their strength was increased and their
pride gratified, the greatness of the Roman people is shown much
more by their keeping continually before their eyes the evil days
when the god of battles was unfavourable to them, and by
celebrating the anniversaries of their defeats, in a certain degree, as
days of national humiliation. The day of the Allia and the day of
Cannæ stood before the eye of the Roman in more burning colours
than the day of the victory of Zama. But by the side of those names
there was yet a third in the list of evil days—a name which was more
painful than any other to the proud Roman, because the feeling of
national disgrace and humiliation could not be separated from it; it
was the name of the Caudine Pass. At the Allia and at Cannæ
thousands fell in open battle; at Caudium four legions agreed to
purchase life and freedom by the sacrifice of military honour, and the
Roman people, when they refused to ratify the agreement, covered
themselves with a load of infamy, from which no sophistry could free
them, even in their own conscience.”f
The senate having met to consider of the
[321-315 b.c.] peace, the consul Publilius called on Sp.
Postumius to give his opinion. He rose with
downcast looks, and advised that himself and all who had sworn to
the treaty should be delivered up to the Samnites, as having
deceived them, by making a treaty without the consent of the
Roman people, and a fresh army be levied, and the war renewed;
and though there was hardly a senator who had not a son or some
other relative among the hostages, it was resolved to do as he
advised. Postumius and his companions were taken bound to
Caudium; the fetial led them before the tribunal of Pontius, and
made the surrender of them in the solemn form. Postumius, as he
concluded, struck his knee against the fetial’s thigh, and drove him
off, crying, “I am now a Samnite, thou an ambassador: I thus violate
the law of nations; ye may justly now resume the war.”
Pontius replied with dignity: he treated this act of religious
hypocrisy as a childish manœuvre; he told the Romans that if they
wished to renounce the treaty with any show of justice, they should
place their legions as they were when it was made; but their present
conduct he said was base and unworthy, and he would not accept
such a surrender as this, or let them thus hope to avert the anger of
the gods. He then ordered Postumius and the other Romans to be
unbound and dismissed.
The war therefore was renewed, and the Romans returning to
their original plan of carrying it on simultaneously in Apulia and on
the western frontier of Samnium, sent (319) the consul Papirius to
lay siege to Luceria, which was now in the hands of the Samnites,
while his colleague Publilius led his army into Samnium. Papirius sat
down before Luceria; but a Samnite army came and encamped at
hand, and rendered his communication with Arpi, whence he drew
his supplies, so difficult, that it was only by the knights’ going and
fetching corn in little bags on their horses that any food could be
had in the camp. They were at length relieved by the arrival of
Publilius, who having defeated a Samnite army marched to their aid;
and after a fruitless attempt of the Tarentines to mediate a peace,
the Romans attacked and stormed the Samnite camp with great
slaughter, which, though they were unable to retain it, had the effect
of making the Samnite army retire, and leave Luceria to its fate. Its
garrison of seven thousand men then capitulated, on condition of a
free passage, without arms or baggage.
The two following years were years of truce, in consequence of
exhaustion on both sides; and during the truce the Romans so
extended and consolidated their dominion in Apulia that no attempt
was ever after made to shake it off. The war was resumed in 316,
and the Romans laid siege to Saticula, an Oscan town not far from
Capua and in alliance with the Samnites. Meantime the Samnites
reduced the colonial town of Plistia; and the Volscians of Sora,
having slain their Roman garrison, revolted to them. They then
made an attack on the Roman army before Saticula, but were
defeated with great loss, and the town immediately surrendered.
The Roman armies forthwith entered and ravaged Samnium, and the
seat of war was transferred to Apulia. While the consular armies
were thus distant, the Samnites made a general levy, and came and
took a position at Lautulæ, in order to cut off the communication
between Rome and Campania. The dictator, Q. Fabius, instantly
levied an army, and hastened to give them battle. The Romans were
utterly defeated, and fled from the field; the master of the horse, Q.
Aulius, unable to outlive the disgrace of flight, maintained his
ground, and fell fighting bravely. Revolt spread far and wide among
the Roman subjects in the vicinity; the danger was great and
imminent, but the fortune of Rome prevailed, and the menacing
storm dispersed.
In 314 the Samnites sustained a great defeat
[314-311 b.c.] near a town named Cinna, whose site is
unknown. The Campanians, who were in the act
of revolting at this time, submitted on the appearance of the
dictator, C. Mænius, and the most guilty withdrew themselves from
punishment by a voluntary death. The Ausonian towns, Ausona,
Minturnæ, and Vescia, were taken by treachery and stratagem, and
their population massacred or enslaved, as a fearful lesson to the
subjects of Rome against wavering in their allegiance.
The united armies of the consuls, M. Pœtelius and C. Sulpicius,
entered Samnium on the side of Caudium; but while they were
advancing timidly and cautiously through that formidable region,
they learned that the Samnite army was wasting the plain of
Campania. They immediately led back their forces, and ere long the
two armies encountered. The tactics of the Romans were new on
this occasion; the left wing, under Pœtelius, was made dense and
deep, while the right was expanded more than usual. Pœtelius,
adding the reserve to his wing, made a steady charge with the
whole mass: the Samnites gave way; their horse hastened to their
aid, but Sulpicius coming up with his body of horse, and charging
them with the whole Roman cavalry, put them to the rout. He then
hastened to his own wing, which now was yielding; the timely
reinforcement turned the scale, and the Samnites were routed on all
sides with great slaughter.
The following year (313) was marked by the capture of Nola and
some other towns, and by the founding of colonies, to secure the
dominion which had been acquired. In 312 Sora was taken in the
following manner: A deserter came to the consuls, and offered to
lead some Roman soldiers by a secret path up to the Arx, or citadel,
which was a precipitous eminence over the town. His offer was
accepted; the legions were withdrawn to a distance of six miles from
the town; some cohorts were concealed in a wood at hand, and ten
men accompanied the Soran traitor. They clambered in the night up
through the stones and bushes, and at length reached the area of
the citadel. Their guide, showing them the narrow, steep path that
led thence to the town, desired them to guard it while he went down
and gave the alarm. He then ran through the town crying that the
enemy was on the citadel; and when the truth of his report was
ascertained, the people prepared to fly from the town; but in the
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