James Baquet

The year was 321 B.C. It was during the Second Samnite War, the middle of three that the Romans fought against a group of peoples in what is now South-central Italy. The first war had been because the Romans came to the aid of the Samnites’ enemies; the third (like the second) was over who would control that part of Italy.

But this, the second, was also called “The Great Samnite War,” perhaps for its 22-year duration. The first war had been only from 343 to 341 B.C., and the third from 298 to 290 B.C. But the second ran from 326 all the way to 304 B.C.

Near the start of the Second Samnite War, then, in 321 B.C., there was a “battleless battle” called the Battle of the Caudine Forks, in which the Romans were trapped in a narrow mountain pass called the Caudine Forks and forced to surrender. The Samnite commander, Gaius Pontius, had sent 10 of his men, one by one, masquerading as shepherds, each saying that the Samnites were attacking a place called Lucera. The Romans marched toward Lucera through the said pass, which was blocked at the far end. When they returned, their entry point was also blocked. They were stuck.

So surprising was the outcome that Pontius didn’t quite know what to do next. Here’s where it gets interesting.

Pontius sent a note to his father asking for advice. His father told him to release the Romans without delay or condition. Incredulous, Pontius wrote and asked again. This time his father said Pontius should slaughter them all.

Pontius then sent for his father to come, and upon arrival his father told him that if Pontius were to set the Romans free, they would be friends and allies forever. If he slaughtered them, the threat of Roman power would die with them. There was no middle way, he said; to release them with terms would humiliate the Romans and leave them hankering for revenge.

Pontius spurned both of these ideas, and set the Romans free -- but with conditions. According to one account, Pontius’s father proved to be prescient: the Romans reneged on the treaty and returned with a larger force to subdue the Samnites. The war ended nearly two decades later in a Roman victory.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. deeply embarrass

2. rejected

3. pretending (to be)

4. able to see the future

5. without fighting

6. skeptical, unbelieving

7. put down, dominate

8. longing, desiring

9. went back on

10. the one mentioned before