Osci

Oscan inscription with relief on a terracotta artifact, first half of the 3rd century BC, found in a tomb near Capua, exhibited in the British Museum

The beginning of the end of Oscan sovereignty was their attempted exploitation of an opportunity to maraud against the Romans in the period of instability following a major victory against the Volsci, a tribe occupying the Volsci Mountains overlooking and including the Pontine Marshes. During the final revolt of the Volsci, the Romans had sacked and leveled Satricum about 346 BC and had sold the remaining 4,000 fighting men into slavery.[10] For whatever reasons, the Aurunci chose this moment to send a marauding expedition against the Romans. Panic ensued in the city. The senators saw a wider conspiracy with the Latin League. They appointed Lucius Furius Camillus dictator, halted business, drafted an army on the spot and sent it into the field against the Aurunci, but "the war was finished in the very first battle". The Romans used the army to complete the conquest of the Volsci at Sora.[11]

The Samnites in 343 BC "made an unprovoked attack upon the Sidicini", who appealed to Campania for military assistance and received it. After losing two battles and being penned within Capua, the Campanians offered themselves to Rome with tears and prostrations in the Senate House.[12] The Senate accepted the offer and granted assistance on the grounds that Campania would be an ally in the rear of the Aequi and Volsci in case of further conflict with them. When Roman envoys presented the Samnite Senate with demands for withdrawal from Campania, the answer was no; moreover, the envoys were allowed to hear staged orders of Samnite commanders to their troops to march on Campania immediately. So began the First Samnite War (343–341 BC).

The Roman Senate declared war, the people ratified the declaration, two consular armies were sent into Samnium and Campania respectively. For two years the Romans knew only victories, until at last the Samnites sued for the restoration of their former alliance with one condition: they would be free to war on the Sidicini if they wished. The Romans had an agreement with Campania, but none with the Sidicini. The Senate bought peace by ratifying the treaty and paying off their army.[13]

Magna Graecia helmet in bronze, with inscription in Oscan language, Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum

The Samnites used their army to attack the Sidicini again. In desperation, the latter offered themselves to Rome but were turned down on the grounds that they were too late. The Sidicini allied with a force being raised by the Latin league against the Samnites. They were joined by the Campanians. A multi-national army began to devastate Samnium. The Samnites now appealed to Rome under the terms of their treaty, asking if in fact Rome was sovereign over Campania. The Romans disavowed any agreement that would restrain the Campanians and Latins from making war on whomever else they pleased.

Encouraged by Roman refusal to assume leadership, the Latins made plans to turn their army against Rome once the Samnite threat had been neutralized. Word of the plans leaked to the Romans, who reacted by inviting ten Latin chiefs to Rome to receive orders under the terms of the treaty. As the price for submitting to Rome, the Latins demanded a new common government, with one consul and half the Senate to be elected from the Latins. When Titus Manlius Torquatus, one of the consuls for 340 BC, heard these conditions, he swore by Jupiter's statue that if the Senate accepted them he would kill every Latin in the Senate House with drawn sword. Emotional posturing began around the statue; a Latin envoy, Lucius Annaeus, slipped on the stairs while railing against Jupiter and hit his head, becoming unconscious. At that moment, a thunderstorm burst on the Senate House. Interpreting these events as a sign the Romans declared war on the Latins and their allies and allied themselves with the Samnites.[14] The two years of conflict, 340–338, is known as the Latin War.

In a number of legendary battles, the Romans defeated the Latin League, taking away the sovereignty of its tribal states, who subsequently assimilated to Rome. The consul, Lucius Furius Camillus, asked the Senate: "Do you wish to adopt ruthless measures against a people that have surrendered and been defeated? ... Or do you wish to follow the example of your ancestors and make Rome greater by conferring her citizenship on those whom she has defeated?" The Senate chose to offer different terms to different Latin cities. Colonists were placed throughout Latium.[15]

The Aurunci and Sidicini, who had been perforce in the Latin camp, received separate treaties from Rome. In 337, the Sidicini attacked the Aurunci for no reason given by Livy.[16] The Roman Senate decided that the terms of the latter's treaty warranted military intervention, but meanwhile the Aurunci abandoned their towns in Campania in favor of a mountain stronghold, Suessa, which they renamed Aurunca. Further events escalated the conflict: the Ausones of Cales joined the Sidicini. In 335, the Romans sent a consular army under Marcus Valerius Corvus to lay siege to Cales. Informed by an escaped prisoner (who broke his chains and climbed the wall in plain sight without being observed) that the enemy were all drunk and sleeping, Corvus took the city in a night time rout and garrisoned it. The Senate voted to send 2,500 colonists, to whom enemy land was distributed. The Ausoni were never again sovereign.

Denarius of Marsican Confederation with Oscan legend

After the fall of Cales, both consular armies were sent against the Sidicini, who fortified themselves in Teanum with a large army. Livy does not reveal the outcome of this campaign. The Romans were struck by a plague (the most typical plague in the region was malaria, carried by the marsh mosquitos); both consuls were relieved for suspicion of impiety, but the Roman army remained among the Sidicini.[17] Livy changes the topic to relations with the Samnites in preparation for his account of the Second Samnite War (326–304 BC). The Sidicini do not appear in that war or ever again in history, but Teanum goes on as Teanum Sidicinum and its territory as Sidicinus ager. If the Romans had fought a great battle and had obliterated the Sidicini there would be some mention of it or some evidence of a discontinuity at Teano. Instead, the city prospers. Smith accords with the general conclusion that between 335 and 326, most likely in 334, the Sidicini consented to lay down their arms and become part of the greater Roman municipality.[8] Livy's omission remains unexplained.

The Aurunci similarly disappeared from tradition after they became subject to Rome. After the Samnites were pacified, the region kept the peace and was prosperous. It was popular vacation spot, being on high ground away from the pestilential air, which today is recognized to be the malaria mosquito.