y to the
Sabellians and their kindred races. The Etruscans and Umbrians stood
aloof, while the Sabines, Volscians, and other tribes who already
possessed the Roman franchise, supported the Republic, and furnished the
materials of her armies. The nations which composed the formidable
conspiracy against Rome were eight in number--the Marsians, Pelignians,
Marrucinians, Vestinians, Picentines, Samnites, Apulians, and Lucanians.
Of these the Marsians were particularly distinguished for their courage
and skill in war; and from the prominent part which they took in the
struggle, it was frequently termed the Marsic as well as the Social War.

The war broke out at Asculum in Picenum. The Proconsul Q. Servilius, who
had the charge of this part of Italy, hearing that the inhabitants of
Asculum were organizing a revolt, entered the town, and endeavored to
persuade them to lay aside their hostile intentions. But he was
murdered, together with his legate, by the exasperated citizens, and all
the Romans in the place were likewise put to death. The insurrection now
became general. The Allies entered upon the war with feelings of bitter
hatred against their former rulers. They resolved to destroy Rome, and
fixed upon Corfinium, a strong city of the Peligni, to which they gave
the name of Italica, as the new capital of the Italian Confederation.
The government of the new Republic was borrowed from that of Rome. It
was to have two Consuls, twelve Praetors, and a Senate of 500 members. Q.
Pompaedius Silo, a Marsian, one of the chief instigators of the war, and
C. Papius Mutilus, a Samnite, who cherished the hereditary hatred of his
countrymen against the Romans, were chosen Consuls. Under them were many
able lieutenants, who had learned the art of war under the best Roman
generals. The soldiers had also served, in the Roman armies, and were
armed and disciplined in the same way, so that the contest partook of
all the characters of a civil war. But the Romans had the great
advantage which a single state always possesses over a confederation.

Of the details of the war our information is meagre and imperfect. But
in the military operations we clearly see that the Allies formed two
principal groups: the one composed of the Marsians, with their neighbors
the Marrucinians, Pelignians, Vestinians, and Picentines; the other of
the Samnites, with the Lucanians and Apulians. The two Consuls, L.
Julius Caesar and P. Rutilius Lupus, took the field w