The Samnites in 218 B.C.

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

The Samnites were the great Oscan-speaking confederation of the central Apennines — the Pentri, Caudini, and Hirpini — whose highland infantry Rome fought three long wars to subdue between 343 and 290 BC. By 218 they are bound to the Republic by treaty, furnishing tough mountain troops to the allied alae, yet the memory of their lost independence runs deep. Proud, warlike, and resentful under the foedus, they hold to their alliance for now; after the slaughter at Cannae in 216 many of their communities will rise and march with Hannibal.