Tarentum

“ There was a young Tarentine in the army that had a sister in Tarentum, then in possession of the enemy, who entirely loved her brother, and wholly depended upon him. He, being informed that a certain Bruttian, whom Hannibal had made a commander of the garrison, was deeply in love with his sister, conceived hopes that he might possibly turn it to the advantage of the Romans. And having first communicated his design to Fabius, he left the army as a deserter in show, and went over to Tarentum. ”

“ A feud with the Thurians for the district of the Siris was settled in 432 by the joint foundation of Heraclea, which, however, was regarded as a Tarentine colony. In the 4th century Tarentum was the first city of Magna Graecia, and its wealth and artistic culture at this time are amply attested by its rich and splendid coins; the gold pieces in particular (mainly later than 360) are perhaps the most beautiful ever struck by Greeks (see Numismatics) . ”

“ General opinion is unfavourable to the Tarentines. At the time when they were engaged in war with the Romans, they were indeed a luxurious, unwarlike people; but the blame which is generally heaped upon [Pg 461] them, is in the true spirit of human nature, which when some one, formerly mighty, has fallen, chooses rather to trace to the man himself the causes of his own ruin, than to pity him. I am convinced that in Tarentum, next to Athens, the wisest and most eminently intellectual men have been bred, and that the commonwealth made an excellent use of them. ”

“ Marcus Livius, who was governor of Tarentum when it was betrayed to Hannibal, and had then retired into the citadel, which he kept till the town was retaken, was annoyed at these honors and distinctions, and, on one occasion, openly declared in the senate, that by his resistance, more than by any actions of Fabius, Tarentum had been recovered; on which Fabius laughingly replied: "What you say is very true, for if Marcus Livius had not lost Tarentum, Fabius Maximus had never recovered it." ”

“ Delegates were also sent to some of the allies north of Tarentum, partly to keep them in their faith, and partly to demand hostages. Among these was C. Fabricius, who, in violation of the law of nations, was arrested, as it seems, by the Samnites. At Rome the greatest exertions were now made: they wished to overawe the enemy, without having at once to begin the war. At the head of an embassy to Tarentum was L. Postumius. A reckless, excitable, giddy people, as the Tarentines were, must have felt their courage rising, when the hated Romans showed themselves frightened ”

“ Locri Epizephyrii (about 710) was settled by Ozolian Locrians, so that, had it not been for the Dorian colony of Tarentum, the southern coast of Italy would have been entirely occupied by a group of Achaean cities. Tarentum (whether or no founded by pre-Dorian Greeks—its founders bore the unexplained name of Partheniae) became a Laconian colony at some unknown date, whence a legend grew up connecting the Partheniae with Sparta, and 707 B.C. was assigned as its traditional date. Tarentum is remarkable as the only foreign settlement made by the Spartans. ”

“ Then draught animals and men were got together, and the work promptly began. After a few days a completely equipped fleet sailed round the citadel and cast anchor off the very mouth of the harbour. Such was the condition of affairs which Hannibal left behind him at Tarentum when he returned to his winter quarters. Authorities, however, are divided on the question whether the defection of Tarentum occurred this year or last, but the majority, including those who lived nearest to the time of the events, assert that it happened this year. ”

“ After the Caudine catastrophe, when the Romans and Samnites stood opposed in Apulia, they had sent envoys thither to enjoin both parties to lay down their arms (434) . This diplomatic intervention in the decisive struggle of the Italians could not rationally have any other meaning than that of an announcement that Tarentum had at length resolved to abandon the neutrality which it had hitherto maintained. It had in fact sufficient reason to do so. It was no doubt a difficult and dangerous thing for Tarentum to be entangled in such a war ”

“ This stopped the course of the barbarians, amazed and confounded at Pyrrhus, as one more than man; so that continuing his march all the rest of the way undisturbed, he arrived at Tarentum with twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse, where, reinforcing himself with the choicest troops of the Tarentines, he advanced immediately against the Romans, who then lay encamped in the territories of the Samnites, whose affairs were extremely shattered, and their counsels broken, having been in many fights beaten by the Romans. ”

“ The effeminate inhabitants of Tarentum, the abode of luxury, delighted in good living, and boasted of possessing the finest scallops of Campania, and of the whole empire. [XXI_251] The infallible authority of this voluptuous city in matters of taste gave a surprising vogue to this fish. Rome, and all the population of Italy, believed it was forced to eat the scallops of Tarentum prepared with oysters, and at other times with mussels. ”

“ Samnites, and established Roman garrisons in Locri, Croton, Rhegium and Thurii. At Tarentum, the most powerful and flourishing of the Greek seaports, this sudden and rapid advance of Rome excited the greatest anxiety. Tarentum was already allied by treaty (301) with Rome, and she had now to decide whether this treaty should be exchanged for one which would place her, like the other Greek communities, under the protectorate of Rome, or whether she should find 453. some ally able and willing to assist in making a last stand for independence. ”

“ But Clearchus, in the fourth book of his Lives, says that the people of Tarentum, being a very valiant and powerful people, carried their luxury to such a height, that they used to make their whole body smooth, and that they were the first people who set other nations an example of this smoothness. ”

“ Pyrrhus is said to have lost 4000 men, ‘a serious matter to him in a foreign country, where he could not easily replace the loss of his tried old warriors.’—Ihne.
Cause of the War. By 282 B.C. Rome had taken possession of Magna Graecia, with the exception of Tarentum. In 282 B.C. (in defiance of the treaty of 301 B.C.) a Roman fleet appeared before the Harbour of Tarentum. A naval battle ensued in which the Tarentines were victorious, and the war began. ”

“ But these very conditions have entailed certain drawbacks—drawbacks which Buckle would have lovingly enumerated to prove their influence upon the habits and disposition of the Tarentines. That marine situation . . . only think of three thousand years of scirocco, summer and winter! It is alone enough to explain molle Tarentum—enough to drain the energy out of a Newfoundland puppy! And then, the odious dust of the country roadways—for it is odious. ”

“ But it is their independence that makes them hold revels; and this they always do handsomely, but during the festivals they revel more than usual."
Once upon a time the citizens of Tarentum paid to the Romans the penalty for this sort of jesting, [D] seeing that, when drunk at the festival of Dionysus, they insulted the Roman ambassadors. [53] But you are in all respects more fortunate than the citizens of Tarentum, for you give yourselves up to pleasure throughout the whole year, instead of for a few days ”

“ As in the mother country, they had constant dissensions among themselves. This rivalship induced them to call in the assistance of the Sicilians—a measure which prepared the way for their subjection to the vigorous but detestable sway of the elder Dionysius, and of Agathocles. Tarentum, founded about the same time with Sybaris and Crotona, was the most powerful city of the Grecian colonies toward the conclusion of their political existence, and the last formidable rival to the Romans in Italy. ”

“ He therefore left Milo behind in Tarentum with a considerable force, which was strong enough to keep the [Pg 569] enemy from a siege, but was a dreadful nuisance for the place itself. The Romans now turned against the several peoples which they had to subdue, while Pyrrhus made use of a stratagem to get off. For he caused the report to be spread among the Tarentines, that he intended, first to settle matters in Macedon, and then to come back again with the whole power of that country: and really he may have had some thoughts of the kind. ”

“ For the Romans call the infernal gods Manes, and Valere signifies to be in good health; and the surname of Tarentius he derived from Tarentum where he sacrificed. Some time afterwards, when a plague happened in the city, which was the year after the expulsion of the kings, Publius Valerius Publicola sacrificed a black bull and a black heifer to Pluto and Proserpine, by which he freed the city from the disease. He wrote on the altar this inscription ”

“ The most natural allies of the Samnites would have been the Tarentines; but it was part of that fatality that hung over Samnium and over Italy in general, that at this moment so fraught with the destinies of the future the decision lay in the hands of these Athenians of Italy. Since the constitution of Tarentum, which was originally after the old Doric fashion strictly aristocratic, had become changed to a complete democracy, a life of singular activity had sprung up in that city, which was inhabited chiefly by mariners, fishermen, and artisans. ”

“ Tarentum was occupied by a garrison of Bruttians, given them by Hannibal and the commander of that garrison was desperately in love with a girl, whose brother was in the army of the consul Fabius. Being informed, by a letter from his sister, of the new acquaintance she had formed with a wealthy stranger and one so honoured among his countrymen, and conceiving a hope that the lover, by means of his sister, might be induced to any thing she pleased, he acquainted the consul with the hope he had formed. ”

“ When the Romans were besieging Tarentum, Bomilcar the admiral of the Carthaginian fleet came to its The Carthaginian fleet invited from Sicily to relieve Tarentum does more harm than good, and departs to the joy of the people, B.C. 211. Livy, 26, 20. relief with a very large force; and being unable to afford efficient aid to those in the town, owing to the strict blockade maintained by the Romans, without meaning to do so he used up more than he brought ”

“ But Tarentum did not act as Rome would in similar circumstances have acted; and prince Cleonymus himself was far from being an Alexander or a Pyrrhus. He was in no hurry to undertake a war in which he might expect more blows than booty, but preferred to make common cause with the Lucanians against Metapontum, and made himself comfortable in that city, while he talked of an expedition against Agathocles of Syracuse and of liberating the Sicilian Greeks. Thereupon the Samnites made peace ”

“ Ptolemy Philadelphus (jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as King of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews, who flourish exceedingly.
282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the ambassadors, who demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the Tarentines engage Pyrrhus to assist them.
281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and slain in Phrygia.
The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.
280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause of Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. ”

“ This being accordingly executed, while the Tarentines hurried to defend the town on the side attacked, Fabius received the signal from the Bruttian, scaled the walls, and entered the town unopposed.
Here, we must confess, ambition seems to have overcome him. To make it appear to the world that he had taken Tarentum by force and his own prowess, and not by treachery, he commanded his men to kill the Bruttians before all others ”

“ Meanwhile Tarentum had sent envoys to ask aid of PYRRHUS, the young and ambitious KING OF EPÍRUS. He was cousin of Alexander the Great, and, since he had obtained no share in the division of the conquests of this great leader, his dream was to found an empire in the West that would surpass the exhausted monarchies of the East.
Pyrrhus landed in Italy in 281 with a force of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and 20 elephants. He at once set about compelling the effeminate Greeks to prepare for their own defence. Places of amusement were closed; the people were forced to perform military duty ”

“ By these proceedings, in which he was thought to have acted with true royal magnanimity, he won the affection and support of all the inhabitants of that part of the country.
THE HANNIBALIAN WAR—TARENTUM
26. It was in the wantonness of excessive prosperity that the Tarentines invited Pyrrhus of Epirus; for democratic liberty that has enjoyed a long and unchecked career comes naturally to experience a satiety of its blessings, and then it looks out for a master; and when it has got one, it is not long before it hates him, because it is seen that the change is for the worse. ”

“ His boyhood had been stained by notorious immorality; he had great acuteness and a retentive memory; in the presence of the vulgar no one could be more bullying and audacious; to those in high position no one more insinuating and servile. He had been originally banished from his native city from a suspicion of being engaged in an intrigue to hand over Tarentum to the Romans: not that he had any political influence, but being an architect, and employed in some repairs of the walls, he got possession of the keys of the gate on the landward side of the town. ”