Dusmanul la Poarta!-Partea-8!

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2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1.

“Allies in war become enemies in peace.”

The end of the Pyrrhic War allowed Rome to assert its dominance over southern Italy, incorporate Magna Graecia firmly into its sphere of control. In 272 BC, the same year that Pyrrhus died, Rome captured Tarentum. A Carthaginian navy also came to the city, though it is unclear if they were supporting the Greeks in resisting Rome, or supporting them in driving out the Epirote garrison under Milo that Pyrrhus had left behind. The Tarentines had become disillusioned with Milo, and were emboldened by news of Pyrrhus’ death to expel him. They attacked with little success but did occupy the citadel, and then heard news of Roman legions under the Consul Lucius Papirius Cursor besieging the city. Milo surrendered on condition he could leave with his men and money, and the city was handed over to Rome, with the Tarentines agreeing to pull down their walls and pay tribute to the growing republic.

The Roman capture of Tarentum also gave the republic control over the Messapii of central and part of southern Apulia, who had been closely tied to the Greek city since 304 BC, despite spending generation fighting them beforehand. The Counsils Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Julius Libo conquered the Salentini in 267 BC, and captured the key Adriatic port city of Brundisium. Support for Pyrrhus in the previous war and alleged expansion into their neighbour’s territory was all the pretext Rome required to annex the Greek city, rather than admitting the strategic value of having a fine harbour into the eastern Mediterranean. Brundisium would serve Rome for centuries as the staging point for sending legions east. Colonists were sent there to Romanise the city, and the Umbrians were also defeated in the same year.

Roman attention then turned to Rhegium, which was be taken by Croton treachery, when it was razed and the Romans there executed. Rome prevented an intervention by the Mamertines, the mercenaries who had seized Messina, and whom the people of Rhegium had expected to call on as allies. Rome besieged Rehgium, but the protracted siege soon saw the legions suffering from lack of food. Hiro II had become tyrant of Syracuse after Pyrrhus had quit Sicily, and favoured the Romans as he was staunchly opposed to Carthaginian expansion. He sent vital grain to the legions besieging Rhegium, allowing them to continue the attack and capture the city. Rehgium was restored to its survivors, and its rebel garrison was punished. There was a second rebellion in the city in 270 BC, and the Consul Gaius Gencius Clespina seized the city and restored it. This time the rebels were taken to Rome, where there were sentenced to death by an Assembly of the Tribes. The 4,500 of them were bound to stakes, 300 at a time, and were then scourged and had the tendons at the back of their necks severed. They were not buried, and their mutilated bodies were left to be picked clean by the crows and dogs in the Forum.

Tensions betwixt Rome and Tarentum seemed to foster rebellion, with the Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttians and Etruscans all defeated in a series of battle around this time. Half of the rich timber of the Sila mountains was given to Rome by the Bruttians as indemnity, with ten triumphs celebrated betwixt 282 and 272 BC, a decade of revolt. The final defeat of Samnium and Lucania was marked by the foundation of colonies at Paestum in 273 BC, in Beneventum in 268 BC, and at Aesernia in 263 BC. A 268 BC rebellion by the Pecentes in central Italy saw a colony founded at Ariminum following its defeat, five years after a colony had been established at Cosa, on the southern Etruscan coast. These various colonies all helped to stamp Rome’s authority across Italy, making people in the vassal states feel more included, while spreading Roman citizens, supporters and advocates across the peninsular, dramatically reducing the likelihood of future rebellion. Rome’s victory in the Pyrrhic War also drew foreign admiration, with Ptolemy II of Egypt establishing diplomatic relations, with generous gifts presented to the Roman envoys arriving in Alexandria.

On Sicily, the Greek cities – now led by Syracuse – finally felt emboldened to rid themselves of the menace of the Mamertines. Messina had been a thriving port, but following its capture by the Mamertines two decades ago, it had merely become a raiding base. The Mamertines had executed the male citizens and essentially usurped their families, with this rebellion emboldening, and inspiring, the rebellion at Rhegium. Hiero II gathered a citizen army to march against them, though essentially used the first battle as an opportunity to rid himself of his pesky mercenaries, who he sent in as a first wave, and were slaughtered. Appearing to retreat, Hiero then drilled his citizen army to make a competent fighting force, and marched out again. The Mamertines had become more accustomed to ambushes than pitched battle and, emboldened by their victory over the mercenaries, were this time routed by the Syracusians at the Longanus River on the Plain of Mylae. Hiero chased the survivors back to Messina, and they were now in a dire situation.

When Hiero besieged Messina in 265 BC, the Mamertines called for aid from a nearby Carthaginian fleet, which occupied their harbour. This caused the Syracusian army to retire, not wishing to enter into a war with Carthage. Uncomfortable at the prospect of becoming mere Carthaginian vassals, a separate faction within the Mamertines now appealed to Rome for the republic’s protection. The Romans had no desire to support a band of mercenaries who had seized a city, but their chief concern was the unchecked spread of Carthaginian expansion over Sicily. After all, once their control of the island was secure, it was only a short trip across the Strait of Messina before they would be landing in southern Italia, the first step of a path to Rome. Rome thus answered the call, entering into alliance with the Mamertines. In response, Carthage now entered into alliance with Syracuse, offering its protection to its former Greek enemies. All great wars seem to begin with the mothballing of a minor conflict, and just as domestic tensions betwixt Serbian nationalists and Austrian aristocrats would explode in the First World War, so here did a minor conflict betwixt the Mamertine mercenaries of Messina and the tyrant of Syracuse advance from being a regional issue in Sicily to dragging in the regions two great superpowers – Rome and Carthage.