ites continued the struggle for five years
longer. During this period C. Pontius, who had defeated the Romans at
the Caudine Forks, again appeared, after twenty-seven years, as the
leader of the Samnites, but was defeated by Q. Fabius Maximus with great
loss and taken prisoner. Being carried to Rome, he was put to death as
the triumphal car of the victor ascended the Capitol (B.C. 292). This
shameful act has been justly branded as one of the greatest stains on
the Roman annals. Two years afterward the Samnites were unable to
continue any longer the hopeless struggle, and became the subjects of
Rome. The third and last Samnite war was brought to a close in B.C. 290.

[Footnote 24: According to the Roman expression, the _Jus Connubii_ and
_Jus Commercii_ were forbidden.]

[Illustration: Coin of Pyrrhus.]

CHAPTER IX.

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE SAMNITE WAR TO THE SUBJUGATION OF ITALY. B.C.
290-265.

Ten years elapsed from the conclusion of the third Samnite war to the
arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy. During this time the Etruscans and Gauls
renewed the war in the north, but were defeated with great slaughter
near the Lake Vadimo. This decisive battle appears to have completely
crushed the Etruscan power; and it inflicted so severe a blow upon the
Gauls that we hear no more of their ravages for the next sixty years.

In the south the Lucanians also rose against Rome. The extension of the
Roman dominion in the south of the peninsula had brought the state into
connection with the Greek cities, which at one period were so numerous
and powerful as to give to this part of Italy the name of Magna
Graecia.[25] Many of these cities had now fallen into decay through
internal dissensions and the conquests of the Lucanians and other
Sabellian tribes; but Tarentum, originally a Lacedaemonian colony, still
maintained her former power and splendor. The Tarentines naturally
regarded with extreme jealousy the progress of the Roman arms in the
south of Italy, and had secretly instigated the Etruscans and Lucanians
to form a new coalition against Rome. But the immediate cause of the war
between the Lucanians and Romans was the assistance which the latter had
rendered to the Greek city of Thurii. Being attacked by the Lucanians,
the Thurians applied to Rome for aid, and the Consul C. Fabricius not
only relieved Thurii, but defeated the Lucanians and their allies in
several engagements (B.C. 252). Upon the departure of Fabricius a R