The Latins and Hernici
The Latin people, of which the Romans formed a part, from the earliest times shared strong cultural and social bonds and in times of stress could act in concert against foreign foes. The Latin alliance that fought Arruns Porsenna’s army at the Battle of Aricia in 504 BC (Livy 2.14) is a good early example of concerted Latin action. Such bonhomie and friendship, however, could and did turn on occasion to enmity and disputes. Early on, when the Latins inhabited small settlements and villages, this could take the form of clan feuding or cattle-raiding, but over time as some communities grew into towns and city-states, mutual animosity could take the form of outright war, sometimes even to the point of annihilation. Aricia and Ardea, for example, are described by Livy (3.71) as coming to blows over disputed territory in 445 BC, while earlier during the Regal period the Romans are said to have first established their local pre-eminence with the destruction of the Latin town of Alba Longa, and the transfer of it population to Rome (Livy 1.29). The smaller Latin communities were ever at odds with the growing metropolis on the Tiber and in time this suspicion proved prescient. The Romans, always keenly aware of their own military superiority, during the Etruscan phase of the monarchy fought against its brethren for hegemony and domination, while the smaller Latin communities resisted with all their might, always desiring political as well as economic equality: something the Romans were never quite prepared to extend.
During the hard times of the 5th century BC, as foreign arms threatened the Latin peoples on all sides, a strong alliance of mutual defense was faithfully adhered to, as outlined in the foedus Cassinum of 493 BC. Although the exact nature of this treaty remains open to dispute among scholars, the evidence seems to point to Rome being a ‘first among equals’, representing a compromise of both sides in the face of a dire threat. Shared plunder, mutual colonization of conquered territory and possibly even rotating military commands formed some of the working details of this relationship. To this alliance was added during the 5th century the Sabellian tribe of the Hernici, whose occupation of the Trerus valley in between the Aequi and Volsci helped to hinder the aggressions of those peoples. Even if periodic disputes with Rome did on occasion arise, the alliance during the 400's BC held together well in the face of the various common enemies, and shows that the Latin states could when threatened by an outside foe, work together. This close relationship under the foedus Cassinum eventually fell apart in acrimony and distrust.
At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Rome’s rising power began to outstrip any military potential even the Latins combined could put in the field. This situation no doubt alarmed the smaller Latin cities and in the face of growing Roman demands for fidelity, led the Latins to gird for war and even to make alliances with their former adversaries: the Volscians. Following Rome’s recovery from the Gallic sack in 390 BC, the dispute rapidly devolved into a serious and deadly conflict. Livy (6.2) implies that the refusal of the Latins and Hernici to send their contingents to help Rome during the Gallic invasion was the action that rent the alliance asunder, and there is no reason to doubt this. The Latin explanation that this was because their towns were also gravely threatened makes sense, but it should also be considered that the Latins may have considered the city's defeat an opportune moment to break with a growing hegemon. Yet another possibility is that the annalists are making are covering up a conscious decision by the Romans to end the alliance, so that they could free themselves of any limits on the ability to expand and also to provide an opportunity gaining a much firmer mastery over their brethren through war. This last speculation however is unlikely, given that the Romans a plethora of enemies in 389 BC, making the idea of actively looking for more unlikely.
In the context of intra-Latin affairs, the years from 390 BC to 350 BC were a period of almost constant war between Rome and its Latin neighbours: one in which the Romans were ultimately successful. A battle between Rome and a coalition of various un-named Latin states and the Volsci on the Pomptine plain in 385 BC (Livy 6.13) seems to have been a strong, but not decisive, blow to the Latin arms, with many prisoners taken. Subsequently, another important Roman city-state, Praeneste, is reported by Livy to have led a coalition of nine Latin towns against Rome, which resulted in a three-year war and the capture of the city in 380 BC. Three years later, the Latins again combined their army with the Volsci and fought a two-day battle with the Romans at Satricum, which resulted in a Roman victory. At this point cooperation with the Volsci ended abruptly, as the Volsci bowed out of the conflict and surrendered to Rome. With Rome engaged in a serious conflict with the Etruscans north of the Tiber, its conflict with the Latins and Hernici dragged on in a desultory and inconclusive fashion over the years until 358 BC, when finally the remaining Latins, minus Tibur, having been ground down by the yearly campaigning, reportedly surrendered to Roman hegemony (Livy 7.12). Tibur, north of Praeneste in the foothills of the Apennines, bravely fought on alone, but was unequal to the task. After having their lands ravaged from end to end for several successive years, they finally capitulated in 354 BC (Livy 7.19). The Hernici, meanwhile, fighting separately dealt the Romans several defeats, including the destruction of a Roman army in 362 BC, in which a Consul was slain (Livy 7.6). The Hernicians, however, even when fighting along with Tibur concurrent wars against Rome, were unable to withstand the persistent onslaught of the surging Roman power. In 358 BC the Hernici submitted to the yoke, four years before Tibur took the same step. From this year down to the beginning of the war with Samnium in 343 BC, the Latins are not significantly mentioned in the annalistic tradition. Yet, as later events prove, their submission was grudging, reluctant and not long in lasting. The fact was however, that the Latins and Hernici’s days as free and separate political entities were numbered, as the power of Rome continued to grow while their power dwindled. The strong will of the the Latins and Hernici was finally broken for good with their defeat in the Latin War of 341-339 BC.