The Campanians in 218 B.C.

The Campanians — Roman Republic › Socii (Italic Allies).

The Campanians held the richest plain in Italy — the volcanic, well-watered country about Capua, its soil and its luxury alike proverbial. Capua, the second city of the peninsula, had been bound to Rome since the Samnite wars with civitas sine suffragio, citizenship without the vote, and its wealthy aristocracy enjoyed privilege while its proud commons chafed at Roman dominion. In 218 the great city watches and weighs; after Cannae in 216 it will throw open its gates to Hannibal and make itself his capital in Italy, the most famous defection of the war.