Paul the Deacon's Roman History (Book Two)
The Samnite Wars, the Pyrrhic War and the First Punic War
(For Book One, which covers Rome’s history up to the sack of Rome by the Senonian Gauls, see here).
The second book of Paul the Deacon’s Roman History approximately spans most of the fourth century BCE and the first half of the third century BCE. It covers Rome’s wars in Italy- in particular against the Samnites, an Italic people who inhabited southern Italy- as well as the war with King Pyrrhus of Epirus (after whom the concept of a ‘Pyrrhic victory’ is named) and the first war with the Carthaginian Empire.
I would like to dedicate my translation and annotation of this book to medieval historian Sam Ottewill-Soulsby (follow on X or Bluesky), who very kindly drew attention to my project to translate the Roman History among the wider medieval academic community active on social media.
Here begins the second book
1. In the 365th year after Rome was founded,[i] being the first year after she was captured, the ranks of office were changed, and instead of the two consuls, military tribunes with consular power were created. From this point on the Roman state began to grow. For in that year Camillus defeated the city state of the Vulsci, which had waged war for 70 years. He also defeated the city state of the Aequi and the Sutrini. He seized control of all these places after destroying their armies, and so he celebrated three triumphs at the same time.
2. In addition, Titus Quintius Cincinnatus pursued the Praenestini, who had come all the way to the city of Rome’s gates by waging war. He defeated them at the river Allia and added eight cities that were under their control to the Roman state. He then attacked Praeneste[ii] itself and accepted its surrender. He accomplished all this in twenty days, and a triumphal procession was decreed for him.
3. But the rank of the military tribunes did not last for long. For after some time, it was decided there should be no military tribunes, and for four years things were in a state of flux in the city, such that there were no greater authorities. Nonetheless, the military tribunes again took up their rank with consular power and lasted for three years. Then the consuls were established again.
4. When Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius were consuls, Camillus died.[iii] The honourable title of the second Romulus was bestowed on him. In these times, a great plague afflicted the Romans for two consecutive years, and in the following year a rather sad portent arose, for in the middle of the city the earth split and in the vast gap blazing fires suddenly appeared. With this lasting for a rather long time and terrorising all, the soothsayers eventually offered the interpretation that the city should seek to bury a man alive. And so M. Curcius the Roman horseman threw himself with his weapons into the abyss, and thus it was shut.
5. In the meantime, the dictator Titus Quintius was sent to fight against the Gauls who had come to Italy. These people had taken up a position across the river Anienis, four miles from the city.[iv] There, the noblest of the senators- the young Lucius Mallius- came forth and killed a Gaul who was calling him to engage in one-on-one combat. He took away the Gaul’s golden necklace and placed it on his neck, and thus he and his descendants received the surname of Torquatus[v] in perpetuity. The Gauls were put to flight, and soon afterwards they were also defeated by the dictator Gaius Sulpicius. Not long afterwards, the Tuscans were defeated by Gaius Marcius, and 8000 captives of theirs were led in a procession of triumph.
6. A census was held again. Since the Latins who had been subjugated by the Romans did not want to offer soldiers, recruits were selected from the Romans alone and ten legions were created. This measure gave rise to a force of more than 60,000 armed men. But the Romans’ state, still small at the time, only had strength in military matters. When these forces, under Lucius Furius’ command, set out against the Gauls, one of the Gauls challenged one of the Romans to prove who was better. Then Marcus Valerius, the tribune of the soldiers, came forward. When he came forth armed, a raven sat on his right shoulder. Soon afterwards, he did battle against the Gaul, and the raven struck the Gauls’ eyes wth its wings and claws so that he could not see things correctly. The Gaul was thus killed by the tribune Valerius, and he gave not only victory to Valerius but also a name. For subsequently this Valerius was called Corvinus.[vi] Because of this merit, he became consul at the age of 23. At that time also, the night was prolonged and seemed to take up most of the daytime. At that time also, rocks fell from the skies, and in the same period Alexander the Great was born.
7. The Latins, who had refused to give soldiers, also began to demand from the Romans that one consul should be elected from their people and the other from the Roman people. When this was rejected by the Romans, the Latins undertook war against the Romans and were defeated in a huge battle, and thus the Romans subdued and conquered them. Statues were placed on the rostra for the consuls as a reward for their victory. In that year also, Alexandria was founded by Alexander of Macedon.[vii]
8. By now the Romans had begun to become powerful. For around 130 miles from Rome, they waged war against the Samnites, who are located in a mid-way position between Picenum, Campania and Apulia.[viii] If you were to look for opulence, you would find these people adorned with golden and silver weapons and clothing of various colours, to the point that they made a show of it. If you were to look for deceptive traps, you would find these people attacking out of groves and ambushes hidden in the mountains. If you were to look for madness and fury, you would find these people driven to destroy the world through their sacrilegious laws and human sacrifices. If you were to look for obstinacy, you would find these people more energetic than the enemy themselves after the breaking of a treaty for the sixtieth time. Before they came into conflict with the Romans, the Samnites provided assistant to the Lucanians against Alexander, the king of the Epirotes.[ix] This Alexander was the brother of Alexander the Great’s mother Olympia. He had brought his forces across to Italy and was preparing to wage war against the Romans. The Samnites defeated him in a huge battle in Lucania, in which Alexander the Epirote was himself killed. And so the Romans waged war against the Samnites on behalf of the Campanians and Sedicini. Campania is not only the most beautiful region of all Italy but almost the entire world: nothing is more hospitable than its sea. Here are the noble ports of Caieta and Misenus, warmed by the springs of Baia, while Lucrinus and Avernus are some gateways to the sea. Here are the mountains of Caurus, Falernus, Massicus and Vesuvius (the most beautiful of them): friends of the vineyards. You also have the cities located at the sea: Formiae, Cumae, Puteoli, Herculanium, Pompey and the regional capital Capua, once named among the three largest cities with Rome and Carthage. On behalf of this city and these regions, the Roman people attacked the Samnites. Holding the honour of position of dictator, Lucius Papirius Cursor set out to wage that war. When he returned to Rome while Quintus Fabius Maximus was the master of horsemen (whom Papirius had left behind with an army), Lucius ordered that he should not fight in his absence. But Quintus found an opportune occasion and fought very successfully against the Samnites and annihilated them. Because of this, he was condemned to death by the dictator, on the grounds that he had fought in spite of the dictator’s prohibition. He was freed because of the massive support shown to him by the soldiers and people, with such a great revolt having been stirred against Papirius that Papirius himself was almost killed.[x]
9. Subsequently, while Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius were consuls,[xi] the Samnites defeated the Romans who were hemmed in at Caudinae Furculae because of the narrowness of the location. This was a huge disgrace for the Romans. The Samnites’ leader Pontius took advantage of the sense of security afforded by the victory, and so he thought he should ask his father Herennius as to whether he should kill the Romans who were hemmed in or spare these people who had been subjugated. He chose nonetheless to spare the living so they could be subjected to disgrace. The entire Roman army, disgracefully captured, was stripped of its arms and also its clothes, with only individual, rather cheap coverings being allowed so they could cover their private parts. The Samnites placed this army under the yoke and subjected it to servitude, ordering them to form a long line of procession. With 600 Roman horsemen received as hostages, the Samnites sent back the consuls, burdened with disgrace and deprived of all their possessions. But they did so under a condition of peace that was on the Samnites’ terms.
However, if, in their subjection to the Samnites, the Romans had abided by the treaty in the way that the Romans wish for such treaties to be kept by those subject to them, today either the Romans would not exist at all or would be subject to the domination of Samnium. Indeed, in the following year, the peace treaty that had been signed with the Samnites was annulled on the Senate’s orders, and the consul Lucius Papirius was sent to fight against them. He was considered so valiant among the Romans, that when Alexander was said to be crossing into Italy, the Romans chose him in particular among all the other generals in order to defend against Alexander’s attack. When the Samnites entered into battle with Papirius, they were overcome. 7000 of them were placed under the yoke, and so Papirius led them in a triumphal procession. In that time, Appius Claudius the censor set up the Claudian aqueduct and laid the Appian road.
Around these times, Jaddus was high-priest in Jerusalem. His brother Manasseh built a temple on Mount Gerizim.
After restarting the war, the Samnites defeated Quintus Fabius Maximus, killing three thousand of his men. Subsequently, when his father Fabius Maximus was given to him to serve as his ambassador, he defeated the Samnites and captured many of their cities. Then Publius Cornelius Rufinus and Marcus Curius Dentatus, who were both consuls,[xii] were sent to fight against the Samnites. They defeated the Samnites in huge battles, razing the ruins of their cities in such a way that today one may search for Samnium in Samnium itself and it cannot be found easily. Then the war with the Samnites, which was waged over a period of 49 years, came to an end. No other enemy within Italy wore out the Romans’ strength more than they did.
10. Some years later, the forces of the Gauls again allied with the Tuscans and Samnites to fight against the Romans. But when these forces headed to Rome, they were wiped out. This was during Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella’s consulship.[xiii]
11. During the same period, war was declared on the Tarentines, who are located in the far south of Italy, on the grounds that they had treated the Romans’ ambassadors unjustly. These people demanded that King Pyrrhus of Epirus provide them help against the Romans. Pyrrhus was descended from Achilles’ line. Soon afterwards he came to Italy, and then the Romans first fought with the enemy from across the sea. The consul Publius Valerius Levinus[xiv] was sent to fight against him. Once he captured Pyrrhus’ scouts, he ordered that they should be led through the camp, the entire army should be shown to them, and then they should be let go, so that they could report to Pyrrhus what he would be dealing with in fighting the Romans. Soon afterwards, battle commenced, and although Pyrrhus was initially fleeing, he defeated the Romans with the help of elephants, whom the Romans did not know and feared. But night caused the battle to come to an end. Levinus fled by night. Pyrrhus captured 1800 Romans and treated them with utmost honour. He buried the Romans who had been killed. When he saw them lying on the ground dead with their wounds to their front parts and with stern facial-expressions, he is said to have raised his hands to the sky and proclaimed that he could be ruler of the whole world if he had such soldiers.
12. After this, Pyrrhus brought the Samnites, Lucanians and Brittinians into an alliance with him. He then headed to Rome, ravaged everything with fire and sword, plundered Campania and came to Praeneste, located 18 miles from the city of Rome. Soon afterwards he withdrew to Campania because he was terrified of the army that was led by the consul and pursuing him. Ambassadors sent by the consul to Pyrrhus for redeeming captives were received by Pyrrhus with honours. Pyrrhus sent the captives to Rome without a ransom, for he admired Fabricius (one of the Romans’ ambassadors) so much that when he learned Fabricius was poor, he promised a quarter of his kingdom to him and wanted to ensure Fabricius would join him. But Fabricius rejected him. Thus, since Pyrrhus was taken in with great admiration for the Romans, he sent an ambassador- an outstanding man called Cineas- to seek a peace treaty on equitable terms, whereby Pyrrhus would gain control of the part of Italy he had already seized by force. On the day after the ambassador Cineas had entered Rome, he greeted both the equestrian order and Senate by their own names.
13. But the peace treaty Cineas offered was displeasing. A reply was given by the Senate to be sent back to Pyrrhus, informing him that he could not have peace with the Romans unless he withdrew from Italy. Then the Romans ordered that all the captives whom Pyrrhus had returned should be considered disgraced on the basis that they had managed to be captured despite being armed, and they could not return to their old status before bringing back the spoils of the slain enemies known to them. Thus did Pyrrhus’ ambassador return. When Pyrrhus asked him what he had found Rome to be like, Cineas said that he had seen a country of kings: i.e. almost all the people there were just as Pyrrhus alone was deemed in Epirus and the rest of Greece.
The consuls Publius Sulpicius and Decius[xv] were sent to fight against Pyrrhus. Once battle was commenced, Pyrrhus was wounded, his elephants were killed, and 20,000 of the enemy were slaughtered as opposed to only 5000 Romans. Pyrrhus was put to flight towards Tarentum.
14. After a year passed, Fabricius was sent to fight against Pyrrhus. Among the ambassadors, he was the one who could not be won over after Pyrrhus promised him a quarter of his kingdom. Then, once Fabricius and the king were in camps opposite each other, Pyrrhus’ doctor came to Fabricius by night, promising he would kill Pyrrhus by poisoning him if Fabricius promised him something. Fabricius ordered that he should be bound and led back to his master, and that Pyrrhus should be informed what his doctor had been conspiring to do to him. Then the king was filled with admiration for Fabricius and is said to have said: “This is Fabricius: it is more difficult to turn him away from decency than it is to turn the Sun away from its course.” Then the king set out to Sicily. Fabricius defeated the Lucanians and Samnites and celebrated his triumph over them. Then the consuls Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus were sent to fight against Pyrrhus.[xvi] Curius fought against him, slaughtered his army, put him to flight towards Tarentum, and captured his camp. On that day 23,000 of the enemy were slaughtered. Curius held a triumphal procession in his consulate. He was the first to lead four elephants to Rome. Pyrrhus also withdrew from Tarentum soon afterwards and was killed at the city of Argos in Greece. In this period, the High Priest Simon the son of Onias was renowned among the Jews. His nickname was the Just. Subsequently, once the Tarentans learned of Pyrrhus’ death, they again sought to wage war against the Romans. They demanded auxiliary forces from the Carthaginians by sending ambassadors to the latter, and received those forces. The Carthaginians were beaten by the Romans. Although not yet deemed enemies at the time, they nonetheless realised they could be beaten by the Romans.
15. While Gaius Favius Licinius and Gaius Claudius Cannia were consuls,[xvii] in the 461st year after the city of Rome was founded, ambassadors from Alexandria sent by Ptolemy came to Rome and received the alliance treaty that they had sought from the Romans.
16. While Quintus Gulone and Favius Pictor were consuls,[xviii] the Picentes initiated a war and were defeated by the subsequent consuls Publius Sempronius and Appius Claudius. A triumph over them was celebrated. The Romans founded the cities of Ariminus[xix] in Gaul and Beneventum in Samnium. Also during that time, the Romans attacked Cotrona. In that time blood flowed from springs in many places and milk in the form of rain fell from the clouds.
17. When Marcus Atillius Regulus and Lucius Julius Libo were consuls,[xx] war was declared on the Sallentini in Apulia. They were taken captive along with their city of Brundisium,[xxi] and a triumph over them was celebrated.
18. In the 477th year after Rome was founded, the city of Rome’s name was by now distinguished, but no military campaigns had been undertaken outside Rome. A census was held for the purpose of ascertaining how large the Romans’ forces were. At that time, it was found that there were 292,334 citizens, despite the fact that the wars had never ceased since the time the city was founded. War was first undertaken against the Africans[xxii] when Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius were consuls.[xxiii] The Romans fought a battle against them in Sicily and Appius Claudius celebrated his triumph over the Africans and King Hiero of Sicily.
19. In the following year, when Valerius Marcus and Otacilius were consuls,[xxiv] the Romans realised great accomplishments in Sicily. The Tauromenitani, Catinenses and 50 cities became Rome’s allies.
In the third year, preparations were made for war against Hiero, the king of the Sicilians. With the help of all the nobles of Syracuse, he managed to strike a peace treaty with the Romans and he gave 200 talents of silver. The Africans were defeated in Sicily, and a triumph celebrating the victory over them was held at Rome for a second time.
20. In the fifth year of the Punic war that was waged against the Africans, the Romans waged their first naval battle during the consulship of Gaius Duillus and Gneus Cornelius Asina.[xxv] Ships with beaked prows were prepare for this battle. The Romans call them Liburnae. The consul Cornelius was deceived in an act of trickery. After commencing battle, Duillius defeated the Carthaginian commander, captured 31 ships, sank 14 of them, captured 7000 of the enemy, and killed 3000 of them. No other victory was more pleasing to the Romans, on the basis that having been unconquered by land, they were now also very powerful at sea.
When Gaius Aquilius Florus and Lucius Scipio were consuls,[xxvi] Scipio ravaged Corsica and Sardinia. From there he brought many thousands of captives, and he held a triumphal procession.
21. When Lucius Mallius Vulso and Marcus Atilius Regulus were consuls,[xxvii] the war was brought over to Africa. A battle was fought with Hamilcar (the Carthaginian commander) at sea, and he was defeated. For after losing 64 ships, he withdrew. The Romans lost 22 ships. When they came over to Africa, Clipea became the first city in Africa that surrendered to them. The consuls marched all the way to Carthage, and having ravaged many places, Mallius returned to Rome as victor and led back 27000 captives, while Atilius Regulus remained in Africa. He drew up a battle-line to fight the Africans. Fighting against three Carthaginian commanders, he emerged victorious, killing 18000 of the enemy, capturing 5000 of their men and 18 elephants, and receiving 74 cities as allies. Amid all this, Regulus killed a wondrously large serpent at the river Bagrada: its skin was 120 feet long. It was brought to Rome and for some time seemed to be a miracle for all to behold. At that time the defeated Carthaginians sought a peace treaty with the Romans. But Regulus refused to grant it except under the harshest conditions, and so the Africans sought help from the Spartans. The Spartans sent the general Xantippus, and so the Romans’ commander Regulus was defeated and met his demise. For only two men of the entire Roman army escaped, while 500 were captured along with their commander Regulus, and 30000 were slaughtered. Regulus himself was put in chains. During this time, Ptolemy Philadelphus allowed the Jews in Egypt to be free men. He sent the votive vessels to Eleazar (the priest of Jerusalem) and arranged for the divine Scriptures to be translated from Greek to Hebrew by 70 translators.[xxviii] He had these scriptures in the library of Alexandria, which he had prepared for himself by bringing together every kind of literature.
22. When Marcus Aemlius Paulus and Servius Fulvius Nobilior were consuls,[xxix] both Roman consuls set out to Africa with a fleet of 300 ships. Initially they overcame the Africans in a naval battle. The consul Aemilius sank 104 ships, captured 30 of them with their fighters, and killed or captured 15,000 of the enemy. He endowed his soldiers with a huge amount of booty. Africa would have been subjugated at that time, had there not been such great hunger that the Roman army could not wait any longer. Returning with their victorious fleet, the consuls suffered a shipwreck around Sicily. The storm was so powerful that only 80 out of 460 ships could be saved. Nor has such a great coastal storm been heard of at any other time. The Romans immediately repaired 200 ships, and their morale was not broken here in any way. At this time, the silver coin was first forged in the city of Rome.
23. The consuls Gneus Servilius Caepio and Gaius Simpronius Blesus[xxx] set out to Africa with 260 ships. They captured some cities. While bringing back a huge quantity of booty, they suffered a shipwreck. And so since the continuous calamities were displeasing to the Romans, the Senate decreed that naval battles should be abandoned and only 60 ships would be sufficient to protect Italy.
24. When Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Gaius Furius Placidus were consuls,[xxxi] Metellus overcame the African commander who came to Sicily with 130 elephants and large forces. He killed 20,000 of the enemy, captured 26 elephants, and brought together the remaining wandering men with the help of the Numidians[xxxii] he had as auxiliary forces. He led these men to Rome in a huge procession, with 130 elephants filling up the entire procession. After these misfortunes, the Carthaginians asked the commander Regulus (whom they had captured) to set out to Rome, make a peace treaty with the Romans and bring about an exchange of captives.
25. When Regulus came to Rome, he was brought into the Senate, did not act as a Roman in any way, and said he had ceased to be a Roman on the day he had fallen into the Africans’ hands. And so he pushed away his wife from her embrace and urged the Senate not to have a peace treaty with the Romans: for he said that they had been broken by so many misfortunes and had no hope, and it was of no benefit for the Romans to hand back so many thousands of captives for him, an old man and a few other Romans who had been captured. And so he got his wish. For no one granted the Africans’ petitions for peace. Regulus himself returned to Carthage: although the Romans offered to keep him at Rome, he refused to remain in that city, where, after he had become a servant of the Africans, he could no longer have the dignity of a citizen in good standing. And so Regulus returned to Africa. His eyelids were cut off so that he could remain awake with intolerable torture and pain till the point of death. Finally he was killed after suffering all kinds of punishment.
26. Subsequently, while Claudius Pulcher and Gaius Iunius were consuls,[xxxiii] Claudius fought contrary to the auspices and was defeated by the Carthaginians. For he escaped with only 30 out of 220 ships. 110 ships were captured with their fighters, while the rest were sunk. The other consul also lost his fleet in a shipwreck, although he managed to keep his army safe because they were near the shoreline. In addition, in the following year, the Punic fleet crossed over to Italy and ravaged very many parts of it far and wide. While this was happening, Eleazar’s uncle Manasses became high priest after him.
27. While Gaius Lutatius Catulus and Aulus Postumius Allinus were consuls,[xxxiv] in the 23rd year of the Punic war, Catulus engaged in war against the Africans. He set out with 300 ships to Sicily. The Africans prepared 400 ships to fight against him. Never has such a battle been fought at sea with so many forces. Lutatius Catulus boarded his ship despite being sickly because of the fact that he had been wounded in an earlier battle. A huge Roman force assailed the city of Lilybaeum in Sicily. 73 Carthaginian ships were captured, 25 sunk. 32000 of the enemy were taken captive, and 13000 killed. A countless amount of gold, silver and booty came into the Romans’ hands. Of the Roman fleet, 12 ships were sunk. The battle was fought six days before the Ides of March. Immediately afterwards the Carthaginians sued for peace, and a peace treaty was granted to them. The Roman captives who were being held by the Carthaginians were handed back. The Carthaginians also requested that they should be allowed to redeem the African captives the Romans were holding. The Senate ordered that those in public custody should be handed over without a ransom. But those held by private citizens should return to Carthage with their masters granted the ransom, and the ransom should be paid more from the treasury than by the Carthaginians. Indeed, the Carthaginians made peace with the Romans under the following condition: that they should pay the Romans 3000 talents of pure silver for a continual period of 20 years.
In those days, Simon the Just’s son Onias was considered renowned as the Jews’ high priest. At that time also, the poet Quintus Ennius was born at Tarentum. He later lived at Rome, content with the service of a slave girl.
28. Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius were made consuls.[xxxv] They made war on the Falisci, which was once Italy’s opulent city. Both consuls subjugated it within six days after they came, killing 15000 of the enemy. Peace was granted to the rest of its inhabitants, though their land located to the south was confiscated.
[i] 388 BCE.
[ii] Corresponding to Palestrina in Italy.
[iii] 365 BCE.
[iv] The battle is dated to 361 BCE.
[v] Etymological link via the Latin word torques (which translates as a necklace).
[vi] Etymological link via the Latin word corvus (raven). The events here are to be dated to 349-348 BCE.
[vii] 331 BCE.
[viii] A people who lived in southern Italy.
[ix] A people who lived in what is now northwest Greece and south Albania.
[x] The events here are to be dated to 325 BCE.
[xi] 321 BCE.
[xii] 290 BCE.
[xiii] 283 BCE.
[xiv] Consul in 280 BCE.
[xv] Consuls in 279 BCE.
[xvi] 278 BCE.
[xvii] 273 BCE.
[xviii] 269 BCE.
[xix] Probably Rimini in Italy.
[xx] 267 BCE.
[xxi] Corresponding to Brindisi, located in southeast Italy.
[xxii] i.e. The Carthaginians.
[xxiii] 264 BCE.
[xxiv] 263 BCE.
[xxv] 260 BCE.
[xxvi] 259 BCE.
[xxvii] 256 BCE.
[xxviii] The Septuaagint.
[xxix] 255 BCE.
[xxx] 253 BCE.
[xxxi] 251 BCE.
[xxxii] A people of North Africa.
[xxxiii] 249 BCE.
[xxxiv] 242 BCE.
[xxxv] 241 BCE.