Threat of the Sabine Tribes

Threat of the Sabine Tribes. When the new Roman republic was threatened with extinction by the neighbouring Sabine tribes, arguments as to how to defeat the enemy became heated in the senate. The senate decided to ask Quinctus Cincinnatus to become dictator, and with this man at their head, the Romans won victory against their foe. Rome's early foes were the Samnites, who forced the entire Roman army to walk under the humiliating yoke, a symbolic frame of spears. A Samnite warrior (left in inset) is shown beside a Roman soldier of the same period. Original artwork.