The central theme of this chapter is the Italian element in Roman history. Already under her early kings, before 509 B.C., Rome
was beginning to expand at the expense of her immediate neighbours. This process continued under the Republic, so that by the
early third century Rome had no serious rivals south of the Po valley, where the Gauls remained an active threat. But Rome had not
simply conquered Italy, she had also forced its different peoples to fight for her when required. The military manpower thus
acquired was used first to defeat an invader from the east, then to win two wars against Carthage, then to conquer the whole of the
Mediterranean basin.
The great wars of conquest after 200 B.C. form one of the themes of Chapter 17. But the relationship of Rome with Italy remained
till the age of Augustus one of the determining factors in her history. The conquest of the Mediterranean basin led to changes in the
economy of Italy, which from the end of the second century onwards generated a series of political crises, some of which form the
theme of Chapter 19, but some of which are considered here, since they concern the relationship between Rome and Italy. At one
level, these crises were resolved by the emergence of Augustus as Emperor; at another level, their resolution involved the final
stages of the Romanization of Italy and the Italianization of Rome.
The Peoples of Italy
In attempting to write of the early history of Rome, one is confronted at once by the fact that no account written earlier than the late
third century ever existed and that no continuous account written earlier than the age of Augustus now survives. (The Roman
tradition of historical writing is discussed in Chapter 26.) Perhaps the gravest weakness in the literary tradition on early Rome,
however, is its ruthlessly Romanocentric character. Before Polybius, Greek writers such as Aristotle occasionally became conscious
of the existence of Rome, and some of this material is preserved, either directly or as used by later writers. But the histories written
by Etruscans and other local traditions have disappeared almost without trace. It is thus extraordinarily hard to grasp the enormous
diversity in ethnic formation, social and economic structure, political organization, religion, language, and material culture of the
different peoples of Italy. Rome succeeded in conquering and assimilating not only peoples like the neighbouring and related
Latins, but peoples who were as like to herself as chalk to cheese.