r which the Samnites called to their aid the Gauls. This war
lasted nine years, and was virtually closed by the great victory of
Seutinum--a fiercely contested battle, where the Romans, though victorious,
lost nine thousand men. Umbria submitted, the Gauls dispersed, and the
Etruscans made a truce for four hundred months. The Samnites still made
desperate resistance, but were finally subdued in a decisive battle, where
twenty thousand were slain, and their great general, Pontius, was taken
prisoner, with four thousand Samnites. This misfortune closed the war, but
the Samnites were not subjected to humiliating terms. The Romans, however,
sullied their victories by the execution of C. Pontius, the Samnite
general, who had once spared the lives of two Roman armies, B.C. 291. Rome
now became the ruling State of Italy, but there were still two great
nations unsubdued--the Etruscans in the north, and the Lucanians in the
south.

(M821) A new coalition arose against Rome, soon after the Samnites were
subdued, composed of Etruscans, Bruttians, and Lucanians. The war began in
Etruria, B.C. 283, and continued with alternate successes, until the
decisive victory at the Vadimonian Lake, gained by G. Domitius Calvinus,
destroyed forever the power of the Etruscans. The attention of Rome was
now given to Tarentum, a Greek city, at the bottom of the gulf of that
name, adjacent to the fertile plain of Lucania. This city, which was
pre-eminent among the States of Magna Grecia, had grown rich by commerce,
and was sufficiently powerful to defend herself against the Etruscans and
the Syracusans. It was a Dorian colony, but had abandoned the Lacedaemonian
simplicity, and was given over to pleasure and luxury; but, luxurious as
it was, it was the only obstacle to the supremacy of Rome over Italy.

(M822) This thoughtless and enervated, but great city, ruled by
demagogues, had insulted Rome--burning and destroying some of her ships. It
was a reckless insult which Rome could not forget, prompted by fear as
well as hatred. When the Samnite war closed, the Tarentines, fearing the
vengeance of the most powerful State in Italy, sent to Pyrrhus, king of
Epirus, a soldier of fortune, for aid. They offered the supreme command of
their forces, with the right to keep a garrison in their city, till the
independence of Italy was secured.

(M823) Pyrrhus, who was compared with Alexander of Macedon, aspired to
found an Hellenic empire in the West, as Alexa