from strangers, they remained like the Aryans of the
ancient period; they lived in groups with their herds scattered in the
plains; they had no villages nor cities. Fortresses erected on the
mountains defended them in time of war. They were brave martial
people, of simple and substantial manners. They later constituted the
strength of the Roman armies. A proverb ran: "Who could vanquish the
Marsians without the Marsians?"

=The Sacred Spring.=--In the midst of a pressing danger, the Sabines,
according to a legend, believing their gods to be angry, decided to
appease their displeasure by sacrificing to the god of war and of
death everything that was born during a certain spring. This sacrifice
was called a "Sacred Spring." All the children born in this year
belonged to the god. Arrived at the age of manhood, they left the
country and journeyed abroad. These exiles formed several groups, each
taking for guide one of the sacred animals of Italy, a woodpecker, a
wolf, or a bull, and followed it as a messenger of the god. Where the
animal halted the band settled itself. Many peoples of Italy, it was
said, had originated in these colonies of emigrants and still
preserved the name of the animal which had led their ancestors. Such
were, the Hirpines (people of the wolf), the Picentines (people of the
woodpecker), and the Samnites whose capital was named Bovianum (city
of the ox).

=The Samnites.=--The Samnites were the most powerful of all. Settled
in the Abruzzi, a paradise for brigands, they descended into the
fertile plains of Naples and of Apulia and put Etruscan and Greek
towns to ransom.

The Samnites fought against the Romans for two centuries; although
always beaten because they had no central administration and no
discipline they yet reopened the war. Their last fight was heroic. An
old man brought to the chiefs of the army a sacred book written on
linen. They formed in the interior of the camp a wall of linen, raised
an altar in the midst of it, and around this stood soldiers with
unsheathed swords. One by one the bravest of the warriors entered the
precinct. They swore not to flee before the enemy and to kill the
fugitives. Those who took the oath, to the number of 16,000, donned
linen garments. This was the "linen legion"; it engaged in battle, and
was slaughtered to the last man.

=The Greeks of Italy.=--All south Italy was covered with Greek
colonies, some, like Sybaris, Croton, and Tarentum, very populous a