Mid Term Essay

One of the most important factors in helping Rome thrive as a city, and gain government power throughout Italy was the way in which they treated the outlying Latium towns. In order for Rome to expand their power, they needed to expand their land. Because the Latin towns had a treaty, made by Spurius Cassius, with the neighboring tribe of Hernicans, these cities would be the perfect places to expand. These treaties were made to strengthen Rome against foreign enemies, and allowed for common cause between the Romans, the Latins, and the Hernicans in repelling the attacks from the three main common enemies: the Volscians(occupied the southern plains of Latium, near the coast), the Aequians(Occupied the slopes of the Apennines, on the northeast), and the Etruscans(occupied the right bank of Tiber) (Morey, n.d., ch.

After defeating their three main enemies, Rome was rebuilt, with new armies and more land. Latium was even able to afford homes for the poor. However, the Latium craved equality. They were convinced Rome wanted to retake their position as the head of Latium, so they made a proposal to Rome requesting equality, or they declare their independence. Rome painfully rejected this proposal, causing the Latium to revolt and become hostile enemies of Rome (Morey, n.d., ch. 10). The result of the Latin war proved to Rome that the cities were not all fit to be apart of the rights of Roman citizenship. Having the great governing intelligence that Rome is known for, they devised a certain order to categorize the different levels of Latium citizenship. At first, many Latium inhabitants became full Roman citizens, with their lands becoming a part of Roman territory. Soon after, came the categories of: Most Latium towns partly incorporated, Military/Latin Colonies who possessed the Latin right, and