Latin War

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the earlier war, see Latin War (498–493 BC).
Latin War
Part of
Roman-Latin wars

Italy in 4th century BC
Date341/340– 338 BC[note 1]
Location
Latium, Campania
,
Result Roman victory, dissolution of Latin League
Belligerents
Roman Republic
Samnites		 Latin League
Campanians
Volsci
Sidicini
Aurunci
Commanders and leaders
Titus Manlius Imperiosus
Gaius Maenius
 unknown

The (Second) Latin War of 340–338 BC[note 1] was a conflict between the Roman Republic and its neighbors, the Latin peoples of ancient Italy. It ended in the dissolution of the Latin League and incorporation of its territory into the Roman sphere of influence, with the Latins gaining partial rights and varying levels of citizenship.

Sources

The most comprehensive source on the Latin War is the Roman historian

Social War (91–88 BC) between Rome and its Italian allies and seem to have interpreted the Latin War in the terms of that war, which may have introduced anachronistic elements into the historical record.[2]

Background

The Latins did not have any central government, but were divided into a number of self-governing towns and cities with a shared language, culture and some legal and religious institutions.

Praeneste, Rome's chief opponents among the Latins, who only made peace with Rome in 354 after a lengthy war.[9] During the 340s, Roman-Latin relations seem to have worsened again.[10] Livy records that, in 349, when again faced with a Gallic invasion, the Latins refused to supply their share of troops,[11] and in 343 actually planned to attack Rome, but following news of Roman victories against the Samnites instead decided to attack the Paeligni.[12]

The Samnites were a tribal federation living in the central

First Samnite War broke out between Rome and the Samnites over the control of Campania. According to Livy, this war originated in Samnite attacks on a smaller tribe, the Sidicini. Unable to resist, the Sidicini appealed to the Campanians, who were led by the famously wealthy city-state of Capua, but these were also defeated and the Samnites invaded Campania. At this point the Campanians decided to surrender themselves unconditionally into the power of Rome, following which the Romans felt compelled to intervene to protect their new subjects against Samnite attacks.[16] Modern historians are in some dispute whether this surrender really took place or was invented to absolve Rome of treaty breaking, but generally agree that Rome formed some kind of alliance with Capua.[17]

The First Samnite War ended in 341 with a negotiated peace and renewal of the former treaty between Rome and the Samnites. Rome retained her Campanian alliance, but accepted that the Sidicini belonged to the Samnite sphere.

Titus Manlius Torquatus, for the third time, and Publius Decius Mus.[21]
The annually elected consuls were the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and responsible for commanding Rome's armies in times of war.

Modern historians have not put much credence in these events supposed to have taken place following the end of the First Samnite War, believing them to be largely invented. There are several similarities with the events supposed to have started the Samnite War, the Samnites are once again at war with the Sidicini and a surrender offer is made to Rome, and this duplication is unlikely to be historical.[22] This time the surrender is refused, showing the moral superiority of the Roman senate.[23] The supposed secret plotting between the Latins and Campani are also likely to be inventions, inspired by similar secret talks held by the Italians before the outbreak of the Social War, news of which were also leaked to the Romans.[24]

Outbreak

Ancient account

Livy writes that when the Romans learnt of the Latins' secret talks with the Campanians they sent for the ten leading men among the Latins to come to Rome and receive instructions, pretending to be concerned for the Samnites. At this time, the Latins had two

Velitrae and also the Volsci were convinced to take up arms against Rome.[25] As there could be no doubt what the real reasons for summoning these men to Rome were, the Latins held a council meeting to decide what their leaders should reply to the questions they expected the Romans to ask.[26] At the meeting, Annius complained that Rome was treating the Latins as subjects rather than allies and proposed that the Latins should demand that henceforth one consul and half the senate should be elected from among the Latins, and so give Latins and Romans an equal share in the government. This measure was adopted and Annius was appointed spokesman for the Latins.[27] The Roman senate received the Latin delegation in an audience in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill, where they advised the Latins not to make war on the Samnites with whom the Romans had a treaty. In a speech to the senate, Annius presented the demands of the Latins to which he received a furious reply from the consul, T. Manlius Torquatus.[28] Livy writes that, according to tradition, while the senators were invoking the gods as guardians of their treaties with the Latins, Annius was heard dismissing the divine power of the Roman Jupiter. However, when storming out of the temple, Annius slipped on the stairs and was knocked unconscious in the fall, or, according to some, killed. When Torquatus saw Annius lying there, he vowed to strike down the armies of the Latins just as the gods had struck the Latin envoy. This speech was wildly cheered by the people of Rome and war was declared.[29]

Modern view

Modern historians consider Livy's account of the outbreak of the Latin War unhistorical fiction, filled with invented speeches written, as was common practice among ancient historians, so as to present the arguments of both sides.[30] There is a general resemblance between the rhetoric of the speeches Livy has written for L. Annius and the complaints and demands made by Rome's Italian allies in the years before the Social War.[31] Several of the writers Livy is known to have used for Roman history during the 4th century lived through the Social War, and it would have been natural for them to see parallels between the Latin War and contemporary events.[32] Like the Roman senate rejected an embassy from the Italian insurgents in 90 BC, so the Latin embassy of 340 BC is also rejected.[33] Later, in his account of the Second Punic War, Livy mentions that some of his sources claimed that the Capuans, after the Battle of Cannae, had similarly sent an embassy and demanded to receive an equal share in the government of the Roman Republic. He, however, rejected this as a duplication of the demands made by the Latins at the outbreak of the Latin War. Modern historians do not believe that the Latins made any demand for a consul and half the senate in 340. It is possible that Capua really did so in 216, but most likely Livy was correct to consider this a duplicate of accounts of the Latin War.[34] Instead, they have proposed that historically these were political demands made by the Italians at the outbreak of the Social War.[35] However, no ancient attestations of such demands exist today.[36] By the early 1st century BC, Rome had risen to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean and Roman citizenship was a highly desired favour. However, such sentiments are considered anachronistic for the 4th century. In 340, Rome was still only a local power in Latium, but whose aggressiveness and recent expansion into Campania was an increasing threat to the independence of the smaller Latin communities who risked becoming entirely surrounded by Roman territory.[37] Rather than being caused by the Roman refusal to share their government with the other Latins, the Latin War was a final bid by the Latins to preserve their own independence. In this endeavour they were joined by the Volsci, who were in much the same situation as the Latins, and the Campani, Sidicini and Aurunci, three peoples who all risked being squeezed between the growing powers of Central Italy, Rome and the Samnites.[38]

The South-Eastern campaign 340 BC

The Latins entered

T. Manlius Torquatus Imperiosus
, defeated the Latins. According to Roman sources, Manlius reinstated army discipline by executing his son for his unintentional disobedience, while Decius sacrificed his own life to the gods for the Roman victory.

Roman subjugation of the Latins and the Volsci 339–338 BC

One year later, Manlius defeated the Latins at the

Velitrae.[40]

Political aftermath

The Latins, forced to leave Campania, moved to Latium, where they put up a long yet unsuccessful resistance against the Roman forces. The defeated Latin peoples were obliged to recognize Roman suzerainty. Some of the Latin towns were Romanized, others became partially Roman, adopting Roman

Roman colonies
.

See also

  • Roman-Latin wars

Note on dates

  1. ^
    Varronian chronology
    , those years become 340 and 338 BC. However, modern historians have shown that the Varronian chronology dates the Latin War four years too early because of inclusion of unhistorical "dictator years". Despite that known inaccuracy, the Varronian chronology remains in use by convention also in academic literature and so is also the chronology used in this article. Forsythe(2005), pp. 369-370

Notes

  1. ^ Oakley (1998), pp. 425-426
  2. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 410
  3. ^ Forsythe (2005), p. 184
  4. ^ Forsythe (2005), pp. 186-188
  5. ^ Forsythe (2005), p. 187
  6. ^ Cornell (1995), pp. 322-323
  7. ^ Cornell (1995), p. 322; Forsythe (2005), p. 258
  8. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 5; Forsythe (2005), p. 258
  9. ^ Oakley (1998), pp. 5-6; Forsythe (2005), p. 258
  10. ^ Oakley (1998), pp. 13-15
  11. ^ Livy, vii.25.5-6
  12. ^ Livy, vii.38.1
  13. ^ Diodorus, xvi.45.8
  14. ^ Livy, vii.19.3–4.
  15. ^ Salmon (1967), pp. 187-193
  16. ^ Livy, vii.29.3-32.1–2
  17. ^ Salmon (1967), p. 197; Cornell (1995), p. 347; Oakley (1998), pp. 286–9; Forsythe (2005), p. 287
  18. ^ Livy, viii.1.8-2.3
  19. ^ Salmon (1967), p. 202; Forsythe (2005), p. 288
  20. ^ Livy, viii.2.4-13
  21. ^ Livy, viii.3.1-5
  22. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 394; Forsythe (2005), p. 289
  23. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 394
  24. ^ Forsythe (2005), p. 289
  25. ^ Livy, viii.3.8-9
  26. ^ Livy, viii.3.10
  27. ^ Livy, viii.4.1-12
  28. ^ Livy, viii.5.1-12
  29. ^ Livy, viii.6.1-7
  30. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 409
  31. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 409
  32. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 410; Forsythe (2005), p. 289
  33. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 409
  34. ^ Oakley (1998), pp. 410-411
  35. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 411; Salmon (1967), p 207
  36. ^ Oakley p. 410
  37. ^ Oakley (1998), p. 409; Forsythe (2005), p. 289
  38. ^ Salmon (1967), p 207
  39. ^ Smith 1867, p. 896.
  40. ^ Livy viii. 13.

References

  • Cornell, TJ (1995), The Beginnings of Rome — Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC), New York:
    ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7
  • Forsythe, Gary (2005), A Critical History of Early Rome, Berkeley:
    ISBN 0-520-24991-7
  • Theodor Mommsen, History of Rome (through Classic Literature)
  • William C. Morey, Outlines of Roman History, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company (1901) (through Forum Romanum)
  • Oakley, SP (1998), A Commentary on Livy Books VI–X, vol. II: Books VII–VIII, Oxford:
    ISBN 978-0-19-815226-2
  • Salmon, ET (1967), Samnium and the Samnites,
    ISBN 978-0-521-13572-6
  • Smith, William (1867). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
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