Roman Republic in 218 B.C.

Roman Republic — Spring 218 BC · Eve of the Second Punic War.

On the eve of the Second Punic War, Rome dominated Italy through a layered system of citizenship and alliance rather than a unitary state. Roman citizens, Latin colonists, and allied communities (socii) together supplied the manpower Polybius totals at over 700,000 foot and 70,000 horse in the census of 225 BC. Beyond Italy lay Rome’s first overseas provinces — Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica — and a chain of protectorates across the Adriatic.

The peace that closed the First Punic War is shattering. Hannibal’s sack of Saguntum, an ally of Rome in Spain, has handed the Senate its casus belli — its envoys have flung down the declaration of war at Carthage. The consuls Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus levy their armies for Spain and Africa. But Hannibal is already marching north for the Alps: the war will come to Italy itself.