Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome.

The Romans enjoyed ten years of peace after the end of the Latin War in 338 BC and spent

the years quietly expanding their territory.

This decade saw the emergence of a new attitude towards territorial expansion.

It was no longer enough to merely ensure the survival of Rome by controlling Ladium and

fending off intruders.

The Romans now sought to spread their influence over a much wider geographic area in order

to draw taxes and manpower from a wider pool of citizens.

No one power had controlled the entire Italian peninsula before, but the Romans started to

think that maybe they could pull it off.

They essentially looked around Italy, sized up the competition, liked their odds, and went

for it.

The Samnites were a number one on the list of potential threats, and the Romans knew that

if they were able to conquer the powerful hill tribe, nothing would stand in their way

of conquering all of Italy.

However, the Romans were loathed to simply expand, that would be immoral.

The Romans only engaged in just wars when they, or one of their allies, was threatened.

They would never declare a war unprovoked, it was considered barbaric, so they set about

needling the Samnites into attacking first, so Rome could enter the war wanted honorably.

They dispatched citizens to form a colony in Samnite territory, figuring the Samnites would

either let them get away with it, and the Romans would have gained more land without drawing

swords, or the Samnites would attack, and the Romans would come to the rescue of their

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