ABSTRACT
The Greek cities in southern Italy had long suffered at the hands of the Sabellic Lucanians and Brittan's, who were receiving the final thrust of that pressure of peoples which began beyond the Alps. Rome is said to have found allies on the other flank of Samnium in the Apulians who, after long struggles with Tarentum, realized that their interests lay with the Greeks against the Oscan invaders. Etruria, which was alien alike in language and religion, was not assimilated till after the Social War, while the more cognate Sabines were soon welcomed into Roman citizenship. The surviving Gauls and Samnites scattered to their homes, while Fabius marched back through Etruria. Though distracted by the presence of Alexander of Epirus in southern Italy, the Samnites coveted the fertile plain of Campania and would not be held at bay for ever; and the Latin revolt had already drawn the Romans into the vortex of Campanian politics.
