ily had
fallen upon evil days. The Carthaginians had renewed their attacks upon
them, and a new foe had appeared in the Mamertini, Campanian mercenary
soldiers who had seized Messana and made it their headquarters for raiding
the territory of the Greek cities. Caught between these two enemies, the
Greeks appealed to Pyrrhus who came to their aid, possibly with the hope
of uniting Sicily under his own control. His success was immediate. The
Carthaginians were forced to give up all their possessions except
Lilybaeum, and Pyrrhus stood ready to carry the war into Africa. But, at
this juncture, the exactions that he laid upon his Sicilian allies and
their fear that his victory would make him their permanent master caused
them to desert his cause and make peace with their foes. Deprived of their
assistance, and seeing that his allies in Italy were hard pressed by the
Romans, he abandoned his Sicilian venture.

*The end of the war.* Pyrrhus returned to Italy, with the loss of his
fleet in a naval battle with the Carthaginians, reorganized his forces,
and advanced into Lucania or Samnium to meet the Romans. While manoeuvering
for an attack, one of his divisions sustained a severe repulse at
Beneventum (275), whereupon he abandoned the offensive and retired to
Tarentum. Leaving a garrison in that city he withdrew the rest of his
forces to Greece, with the intention of attacking Antigonus Gonatas in
Macedonia. His initial successes in this enterprise led him to withdraw
his garrison from Tarentum and abandon the Western Greeks to their fate.
Thereupon the Romans soon reduced the Samnites and Lucanians, while
Tarentum and the other Greek cities, one after another, were forced to
submit and enter the Roman alliance. By 270 B. C., all South Italy had in
this way been added to the Roman dominions.

By 265 B. C. after a few more brief struggles with revolting or still
unsubdued communities in central and northern Italy, the Romans had
completed the subjugation of the entire Italian peninsula.

VI. THE ROMAN CONFEDERACY

*Roman foreign policy.* By wars and alliances Rome had united Italy. But
it is not to be supposed that this was a goal consistently pursued through
many generations by Roman statesmen. Probably it was not until the end was
nearly within sight that the Romans realized whither their policy was
leading them. Indeed, it is certain that many of Rome's wars were waged in
defence of Rome's te