A few years later (272) Tarentum was surrendered to Rome by its Epirot garrison ; it was granted a treaty of alliance, but its walls were razed and its fleet handed over to Rome. In 27o Rhegium also entered the ranks of Roman allies, and finally in 269 a single campaign crushed the last efforts at resistance in Sam nium. Rome was now at leisure to consolidate the position she had won. Between 273 and 263 three new colonies were founded in Samnium and Lucania—Paestum in 273, Beneventum in 268, Aesernia in 263. In central Italy the area of Roman territory was increased by the full enfranchisement (268) of the Sabines, and of their neighbours to the east, the people of Picenum. To guard the Adriatic coast, colonies were established at Ariminum (268), at Firmum and at Castrum Novum (264), while to the already numerous maritime colonies was added that of Cosa in Etruria.
But the rule of Rome over Italy, like her wider rule over the Mediterranean coasts, was not an absolute dominion over con quered subjects. It was in form at least a confederacy under Roman protection and guidance ; and the Italians, like the pro vincials, were not the subjects, but the "allies and friends" of the Roman people. In the treatment of these allies Rome consistently followed the maxim, divide et impera. In every possible way she strove to isolate them from each other, while binding them closely to herself. The old federal groups were in most cases broken up, and each of the members united with Rome by a special treaty of alliance. In Etruria, Latium, Campania and Magna Graecia the city was taken as the unit ; in central Italy where urban life was non-existent, the unit was the tribe. The northern Sabellian peoples, for instance—the Marsi, Paeligni, Vestini, Marrucini and Frentani—were now constituted as separate communities in alli ance with Rome. In many cases, too, no freedom of trade or intermarriage was allowed between the allies themselves. Nor were all these numerous allied communities placed on the same footing as regarded their relations with Rome herself. To begin with, a sharp distinction was drawn between the "Latini" and the general mass of Italian allies. The "Latins" of this period had little more than the name in common with the old 3o Latin peo ples of the days of Spurius Cassius. With a few exceptions, such as Tibur and Praeneste, the latter had either disappeared or had been incorporated with the Roman State, and the Latins of 268 B.C. were almost exclusively the "Latin colonies," that is to say,
communities founded by Rome, composed partly of allies but chiefly of men of Roman blood, and whose only claim to the title "Latin" lay in the fact that Rome granted to them some portion of the rights and privileges formerly enjoyed by the old Latin cities under the Cassian treaty. Though nominally allies, they were in fact offshoots of Rome herself, bound to her by com munity of race, language and interest, and planted as Roman garrisons among alien and conquered peoples. The Roman citi zen who joined a Latin colony lost his citizenship—to have allowed him to retain it would no doubt have been regarded as enlarging too rapidly the limits of the citizen body ; but he received in exchange the status of a favoured ally. The member of a Latin colony had the right of commercium and down to 268 of conubium also with Roman citizens. Provided they left sons and property to represent them at home, they were free to migrate to Rome and acquire the Roman franchise. In war-time they not only shared in the booty, but claimed a portion of any land confiscated by Rome and declared "public." These privileges, coupled with their close natural affinities with Rome, success fully secured the fidelity of the Latin colonies, which became not only the most efficient props of Roman supremacy, but powerful agents in the work of Romanizing Italy. Below the privileged Latins stood the Italian allies ; and here again we know generally that there were considerable differences of status, determined in each case by the terms of their respective treaties with Rome. We are told that the Greek cities of Neapolis and Heraclea were among the most favoured ; the Bruttii, on the other hand, seem, even before the Hannibalic War, to have been less generously treated. But beyond this we have no detailed information.
Rome, however, did not rely only on this policy. Her allies were attached as closely to herself as they were clearly separated from each other, and from the first she took every security for the maintenance of her own paramount authority. Within its own borders, each ally was left to manage its own affairs as an independent State. The badges which marked subjection to Rome in the provinces—the resident magistrate and the tribute—were unknown in Italy. But in all points affecting the relations of one ally with another, in all questions of the general interests of Italy and of foreign policy, the decision rested solely with Rome. The place of a federal constitution, of a federal council, of federal officers, was filled by the Roman senate, assembly and magistrates.