The History of Rome. Book II

The king took the field in the spring of 479 with the view of aiding the hard-pressed Samnites, in whose territory the Romans had passed the previous winter; and he forced the consul Manius Curius to give battle near Beneventum on the campus Arusinus, before he could form a junction with his colleague advancing from Lucania. But the division of the army, which was intended to take the Romans in flank, lost its way during its night march in the woods, and failed to appear at the decisive moment; and after a hot conflict the elephants again decided the battle, but decided it this time in favour of the Romans, for, thrown into confusion by the archers who were stationed to protect the camp, they attacked their own people. The victors occupied the camp; there fell into their hands 1300 prisoners and four elephants - the first that were seen in Rome - besides an immense spoil, from the proceeds of which the aqueduct, which conveyed the water of the Anio from Tibur to Rome, was subsequently built. Without troops to keep the field and without money, Pyrrhus applied to his allies who had contributed to his equipment for Italy, the kings of Macedonia and Asia; but even in his native land he was no longer feared, and his request was refused. Despairing of success against Rome and exasperated by these refusals, Pyrrhus left a garrison in Tarentum, and went home himself in the same year (479) to Greece, where some prospect of gain might open up to the desperate player sooner than amidst the steady and measured course of Italian affairs. In fact, he not only rapidly recovered the portion of his kingdom that had been taken away, but once more grasped, and not without success, at the Macedonian throne. But his last plans also were thwarted by the calm and cautious policy of Antigonus Gonatas, and still more by his own vehemence and inability to tame his proud spirit; he still gained battles, but he no longer gained any lasting success, and met his death in a miserable street combat in Peloponnesian Argos (482).

Last Struggles in Italy - Capture of Tarentum

In italy the war came to an end with the battle of beneventum; the last convulsive struggles of the national party died slowly away. So long indeed as the warrior prince, whose mighty arm had ventured to seize the reins of destiny in italy, was still among the living, he held, even when absent, the stronghold of tarentum against rome. Although after the departure of the king the peace party recovered ascendency in the city, milo, who commanded there on behalf of pyrrhus, rejected their suggestions and allowed the citizens favourable to rome, who had erected a separate fort for themselves in the territory of tarentum, to conclude peace with rome as they pleased, without on that account opening his gates. But when after the death of pyrrhus a carthaginian fleet entered the harbour, and milo saw that the citizens were on the point of delivering up the city to the carthaginians, he preferred to hand over the citadel to the roman consul lucius papirius (482), and by that means to secure a free departure for himself and his troops. For the romans this was an immense piece of good fortune. After the experiences of philip before perinthus and byzantium, of demetrius before rhodes, and of pyrrhus before lilybaeum, it may be doubted whether the strategy of that period was at all able to compel the surrender of a town well fortified, well defended, and freely accessible by sea; and how different a turn matters might have taken, had tarentum become to the phoenicians in italy what lilybaeum was to them in sicily! what was done, however, could not be undone. The carthaginian admiral, when he saw the citadel in the hands of the romans, declared that he had only appeared before Tarentum conformably to the treaty to lend assistance to his allies in the siege of the town, and set sail for africa; and the roman embassy, which was sent to carthage to demand explanations and make complaints regarding the attempted occupation of Tarentum, brought back nothing but a solemn confirmation on oath of that allegation as to its ally's friendly design, with which accordingly the romans had for the time to rest content. The tarentines obtained from rome, presumably on the intercession of their emigrants, the restoration of autonomy; but their arms and ships had to be given up and their walls had to be pulled down.

Submission of Lower Italy

In the same year, in which Tarentum became Roman, the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians finally submitted. The latter were obliged to cede the half of the lucrative, and for ship-building important, forest of Sila.