Ab urbe condita

power. Our war with the Samnites, with its varying fortunes, was followed by the war with Pyrrhus, and that again by the war with Carthage. What a chapter of great events! How often had we to pass through the very extremity of danger in order that our dominion might be exalted to its present greatness, a greatness which is with difficulty

maintained! The cause of the war between the Romans and the Samnites, who had been our friends and allies, came, however, from without; it did not arise between the two peoples