serve as a central rallying point and bond of union
for the Samnite stock, such as Rome was for the Latins.
The strength of the land lay in its -communes-of
husbandmen, and authority was vested in the assembly
formed of their representatives; it was this assembly
which in case of need nominated a federal commander-in-chief.
In consequence of its constitution the policy of
this confederacy was not aggressive like the Roman,
but was limited to the defence of its own bounds; only
where the state forms a unity is power so concentrated
and passion so strong, that the extension of territory
can be systematically pursued. Accordingly the
whole history of the two nations is prefigured in
their diametrically opposite systems of colonization.
Whatever the Romans gained, was a gain to the state:
the conquests of the Samnites were achieved by bands
of volunteers who went forth in search of plunder
and, whether they prospered or were unfortunate, were
left to their own resources by their native home.
The conquests, however, which the Samnites made on
the coasts of the Tyrrhenian and Ionic seas, belong
to a later age; during the regal period in Rome they
seem to have been only gaining possession of the settlements
in which we afterwards find them. As a single
incident in the series of movements among the neighbouring
peoples caused by this Samnite settlement may be mentioned
the surprise of Cumae by Tyrrhenians from the Upper
Sea, Umbrians, and Daunians in the year 230.
If we may give credit to the accounts of the matter
which present certainly a considerable colouring of
romance, it would appear that in this instance, as
was often the case in such expeditions, the intruders
and those whom they supplanted combined to form one
army, the Etruscans joining with their Umbrian enemies,
and these again joined by the Iapygians whom the Umbrian
settlers had driven towards the south. Nevertheless
the undertaking proved a failure: on this occasion
at least the Hellenic superiority in the art of war,
and the bravery of the tyrant Aristodemus, succeeded
in repelling the barbarian assault on the beautiful
seaport.
Notes for Book I Chapter VIII
1. In the alphabet the -"id:r” especially
deserves notice, being of the Latin (-"id:R”)
and not of the Etruscan form (-"id:D"), and also the
-"id:z” (—“id:XI"); it can only
be derived from the primitive Latin, and must very
faithfully represent it. The language likewise
has close affinity with the oldest Latin; -Marci Acarcelini
he cupa-, that is, -Marcius Acarcelinius heic cubat-:
-Menerva A. Cotena La. f...zenatuo sentem..dedet cuando..cuncaptum-,
that is, -Minervae A(ulus?) Cotena La(rtis) f(ilius)
de senatus sententia dedit quando (perhaps=olim) conceptum-.
At the same time with these and similar inscriptions
there have been found some others in a different character
and language, undoubtedly Etruscan.
2. I. IV. Tities, Luceres