289-277 B.C. ther the political designs of the Epirot king. Forced by his wound to renounce the campaign and remain inactive in Tarentum, Pyrrhus soon perceived that the losses he had sustained and the petty quarrels and hatred of discipline which characterized his allies, rendered all chances of ultimate success with his present resources out of the question. The condition of the Sicilian Greeks gave him an opportunity of leaving Italy, and of this he gladly availed himself. After the death of Agathocles of Syracuse, in 289 B.C., Carthage had made great strides in the subjugation of Sicily. No resistance could be offered by the smaller Greek cities, whose government, whether under demagogues or despots, was always equally incapable. Agrigentum had fallen, and Syracuse was now hard pressed by the victorious Carthaginians. In the hour of her peril Syracuse acted as Tarentum had done; she offered the supreme power to Pyrrhus. Thus fortune, by placing in his hands at the same moment Tarentum and Syracuse, seemed to give to Pyrrhus a great opportunity of realizing his mighty schemes. One effect of this union of Italian and Sicilian Greeks under one head was to bring into closer relations Carthage and Rome. An offensive and defensive treaty was concluded between them, in 279 B.C., against Pyrrhus, binding each party to assist the other in case of attack, and binding both states not to conclude a separate peace with Pyrrhus. Messana, which had previously been seized by the Mamertines, who were the Campanian mercenaries of Agathacles, in fear of the vengeance of Pyrrhus joined the Romans and Carthaginians, and thus secured for them the Sicilian side of the straits. A strong Carthaginian fleet proceeded to blockade Syracuse, while at the same time a land army laid siege to it, in 278 B.C. Pyrrhus was therefore forced to desert the Lucanians and Samnites, and content himself with occupying Tarentum by a garrison under Milo, and Locri with a force under his son Alexander. He himself set sail with the rest of his troops for Syracuse in the spring of 278 B.C. During his absence from Italy the Romans, exhausted by their previous struggles, allowed the war to drag on, without being able to completely expel the troops left behind by Pyrrhus. Heraclea, indeed, made peace with Rome in 278, and Locri slaughtered its Epirot garrison in 277 B.C.; but Milo retained his hold of Tarentum, and made successful sorties against the Romans. Ignorance of the art of besieging towns, and the want of a fleet, made the capture of Tarentum almost impossible; and the Carthaginians, owing to their 276-272 B.C. disasters in Sicily, were unable to render any real assistance. Pyrrhus, on landing at Syracuse, met with complete success. At the head of the Greek cities he wrested from the Carthaginians almost all that they had won. To cope with their powerful fleet and capture the all-important position of Lilybaeum, Pyrrhus built himself a fleet, and in 276 B.C. seemed to have within his grasp the realization of his aims. But his methods of governing Sicily were those which he had seen Ptolemy practice in Egypt: personal favorites, not native Greeks, exercised absolute authority as magistrates and judges in the various cities; his own troops acted as garrisons, and his own acts were arbitrary and despotic to the last degree. His reign thus became more detested than even the threatened Carthaginian yoke had been, and negotiations were entered into by the principal Greek cities with the Carthaginians. To this error Pyrrhus added a second. Instead of securing his rule in Sicily, expelling the Carthaginians and capturing Lilybaeum, he turned his thoughts once more to Italy. Possibly a sense of honor and the cry of his old allies, the Lucanians and Samnites, moved him to do so; but the folly of the step was at once apparent. When once it was known that he had set sail for Italy, towards the close of 276 B.C., all the Sicilian cities revolted, and refused to grant him money or troops; and thus the enterprise of Pyrrhus was wrecked, and the plan of his life irretrievably ruined; he was thenceforth an adventurer who felt that he had been great, and was so no longer. Foiled in an attack on Rhegium, he surprised Locri, and avenged himself on the treacherous inhabitants. In the spring of 275 B.C. he marched to the aid of the hard-pressed Samnites, and near Beneventum, on the Campus Arusinus, he fought his final battle on Italian soil. The very elephants which had won his previous victories proved the cause of his defeat by attacking their own side. Unable any longer to keep the field, or to get reinforcements from abroad, Pyrrhus left Italy, and once more took part in Greek politics. He even succeeded in recovering the whole of his former kingdom, and in paving the way for a return to the throne of Macedonia. But his successes bore no lasting fruit, and he perished ingloriously in a street fight at Argos, in 272 B.C. With the battle of Beneventum and the departure of Pyrrhus the war in Italy came to an end. Milo, who had been left behind in Tarentum, made over that city to the Roman consul Lucius 350-264 B.C. Papirius in 272 B.C., on hearing of his master's death. He thus prevented the citizens from surrendering the town to the Carthaginians, who had entered the harbor with a fleet, and secured for himself and his troops a free departure. The Carthaginians, thus frustrated in their attempt to gain a foothold in Italy, pretended that their presence was merely due to their wish to help the Romans. The gain to Rome from the act of Milo can scarcely be overestimated. In the same year the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians laid down their arms. Rome was now mistress of all Italy. New colonies and new roads held in a firm grip the conquered territories. Paestum and Cosa in Lucania, Beneventum and Aesernia to command Samnium, Ariminum, Firmum in Picenum, and Castrum Novum to hold in check the Gauls, were all established in the ten years from 273-264 B.C. Preparations were made to continue the southern highway to the seaports of Tarentum and Brundisium, to colonize the latter seaport and make it the rival of Tarentum. Wars with small tribes whose territory was encroached upon were caused by the construction of these fortresses and roads, and Rome's dominion was thus extended from the Apennines to the Ionian Sea. Nor did she solely confine her attention to the development of her power by land. At this time Carthage was practically paramount in the western water of the Mediterranean. Even Syracuse gradually ceased to compete with her; Tarentum, owing to the Roman occupation, was no longer formidable; the naval power of Etruria had long been broken, and the Etruscan island of Corsica lay open to the ships of Carthage. The constant struggles by land had caused the Roman fleet to dwindle in neglect, until about 350 B.C. it reached its lowest point of inefficiency. A treaty with Carthage in 348 B.C. bound Roman ships not to sail beyond the Fair Promontory (Cape Bon) on the Libyan coast; a like stipulation with Tarentum excluded Roman ships from the eastern basin of the Mediter ranean. As soon as able, Rome made efforts to free herself from this humiliating position. The chief towns along the Tyrrhene and Adriatic Seas were colonized, and thus protected the coasts from invasion and pillage. The Roman navy was in part revived, and the war-ships taken from Antium in 338 B.C. served as a nucleus for this purpose. Such Greek cities as were admitted into a state of dependence on Rome furnished a certain number of vessels as 280-268 B.C. a war contribution. In 311 B.C. two masters of the fleet were created by a special resolution of the burgesses, and the Roman fleet lent assistance in the Samnite war at the siege of Nuceria. But the renewal of the treaty with Carthage in 306 B.C. shows how little Rome really accomplished. Although continuing to improve the state of her navy, she was allowed to trade only with Sicily and Carthage, and was thus restricted to the narrow space of the western Mediterranean. It remains for us to consider the political effect of the mighty changes consequent upon the establishment of Roman supremacy in Italy. We do not know with exactness what privileges Rome reserved for herself as sovereign state. It is certain that she alone could make war, conclude treaties, and coin money; and that, further, any war or treaty resolved upon by the Roman people was legally binding on all Italian communities, and that the silver money of Rome was current everywhere in Italy. The relations of the Italians to Rome cannot in all cases be precisely defined, but the main features are as follows. In the first place, the full Roman franchise was extended as far as was cɩmpatible with the preservation of the urban character of the Roman community. Those who received this franchise may be divided into three classes. First, all the occupants of the various allotments of state lands, now embracing a considerable portion of Etruria and Campania, were included. Second, all the communities which, after the method first adopted in the case of Tusculum, were incorporated and completely merged in the Roman state. As we have seen this course had been followed in the case of many of the original members of the Latin league; it was now, in 268 B.C., pursued with regard to all the Sabine communities and many of the Volscian. Finally, full Roman citizenship was possessed by the maritime or burgess colonies which had been instituted for the protection of the coast. In these towns the young men were exempted from service in the legions, and devoted all their attention to guarding the coasts. Thus the title of Roman citizen in its fullest sense was possessed by men dwelling as far north as Lake Sabatinus, as far east as the Apennines, and as far south as Formiae. But within those limits. isolated communities, such as Tibur, Praeneste, Signia, and Norba, were without the Roman franchise; while beyond them other communities, such as Sena, possessed it. 280-268 B.C. In the next place, we must distinguish the various grades of subjection which marked all the communities not honored with the full Roman franchise. As in the case of the recipients of full citizenship, so here we may make a threefold division. To the first division belong the Latin towns: these retained their Latin rights; that is, they were self-governing and stood on an equal footing with Roman citizens as regards the right of trading and inheritance. But it is important to observe that the Latins of the later times of the Republic were no longer for the most part members of the old Latin towns, which had participated in the Alban festival, but were colonists planted in Latium by Rome, who honored Rome as their capital and parent city, and formed the main supports of Roman rule in Latium. Indeed, the old Latin communities, with the exception of Tibur and Praeneste, had sunk into insignificance. It was but natural that the Latin colonies, issuing as they did from the burgess-body of Rome, should not rest content with mere Latin rights, but should aim at the full rights of Roman citizens. Rome, on the other hand, now that Italy was subjugated, no longer felt her former need of these colonies; nor did she deem it prudent to extend the full franchise with the same freedom as she hitherto had done. A line was now strictly drawn, and all members of autonomous communities founded after 268 B.C. could no longer by settling in Rome become municipes or passive burgesses with the power of voting in the comitia tributa. Men of eminence, e.g., public magistrates, in such communities were alone in future eligible to the Roman franchise. By these means the old power of migration to Rome was somewhat restricted, and a jealous guard was set upon the privilege of becoming a full Roman citizen. To the second division belong those towns whose inhabitants were passive citizens of Rome (cives sine suffragio). They were liable to service in the Roman legions, and to taxation, and were included in the Roman census. A deputy or prefect appointed annually by the Roman pretor administered justice according to laws which were subjected to Roman revision. In other respects they retained their old form of government and appointed their own magistrates. Caere was the first town to be placed on this footing; afterwards Capua and other more remote towns were treated in the same way. In the third and last division we may include all allied communities which were not Latin states; the relation of these towns to |