r city tribes alone, and
the thirty-one rural tribes had for their basis landed property only.

During the censorship of Appius, Rome had its first regular water supply
by the Appian aqueduct. The first military road, the VIA APPIA, was
built under his supervision. This road ran at first from Rome as far
as Capua. It was constructed so well that many parts of it are today in
good condition. The road was afterward extended to Brundisium, through
Venusia and Tarentum.

MANIUS CURIUS DENTATUS was a peasant, a contemporary of Appius, and
his opponent in many ways. He was a strong friend of the plebeians. He
obtained for the soldiers large assignments of the _Ager Publicus_. He
drained the low and swampy country near Reate by a canal. He was
the conqueror of Pyrrhus. A man of sterling qualities, frugal and
unostentatious, after his public life he retired to his farm and spent
the remainder of his days in seclusion as a simple peasant.

GAIUS FABRICIUS, like Dentatus, was from the peasants. He was a
Hernican. As a soldier he was successful. As a statesman he was
incorruptible, and of great use to his country. Previous to the battle
of Asculum, Pyrrhus attempted to bribe him by large sums of money, and,
failing in this, thought to frighten him by hiding an elephant behind
a curtain; the curtain was suddenly removed, but Fabricius, though
immediately under the elephant's trunk, stood unmoved.

In this generation we find Roman character at its best. Wealth had not
flowed into the state in such large quantities as to corrupt it. The
great mass of the people were peasants, small land-owners, of frugal
habits and moral qualities. But comparatively few owned large estates as
yet, or possessed large tracts of the _Ager Publicus_. A century later,
when most of the available land in the peninsula was held by the wealthy
and farmed by slaves, we find a great change.

The fall of TARENTUM marks an important era in Roman history. Large
treasures were obtained from this and other Greek cities in Southern
Italy. Luxury became more fashionable; morals began to degenerate. Greed
for wealth obtained by plunder began to get possession of the Romans.
From now on the moral tone of the people continued to degenerate in
proportion as their empire increased.

CHAPTER XII. FOREIGN CONQUEST.

ROME AND CARTHAGE.--FIRST PUNIC WAR. (264-241.) (Footnote: The word
"Punic" is derived from _Phoenici_. The Carthaginians were said to
have come