The Etruscans and Falisci
From the 8th century BC, Rome developed as a polis hand-in-hand with the Etruscan cities to the north. Due to distance and the natural barrier of the Ciminian mountains, it was primarily the southern Etruscan cities, such as Veii, Falerii, Caere and Tarquinii that the Romans had dealings. During the 6th century BC, Etruscan power, characterized by a strong maritime presence and by acquisitions in Campania and in the Po valley, reached its peak and Rome is reported by several alternative traditions to have fallen temporarily into the hands of Etruscan warlords. During the 5th century BC, however, Etruscan power waned, due to a combination of external pressure and internal rivalries. When acting in concert, as they did on occasion, the Etruscans could be a formidable and feared adversary of Rome. Their collective might and martial prowess were well respected and acknowledged by the Romans and not a few Roman armies went down in shattering defeat while campaigning against them. The Etruscan cities, like Rome, early on developed powerful armies, whose primary tactical formation was the phalanx: an array that when properly wielded could shatter enemy armies. Despite their potential collective power, Etruscan cities in the early 4th century were unable or unwilling to join together to effectively thwart Rome. Until 396 BC, Veii constantly stood guard against the Latin city on the Tiber, allowing the other Etruscan cities to concentrate on internal quarrels and the serious threats posed by the powerful Gallic tribes then beginning to migrate into the Po valley. Veii, however, due to its relative size to Rome, was never on an equal footing with its southern nemesis. The Veintines therefore relied for many years on the impregnable nature of their city, alliances with neighbours such as Fidenae and also on Rome's perpetual preoccupation with its myriad foes east and south of the city. In addition to the seasonal depredations of raid and counter-raid, Rome and Veii fought three major wars during the 5th and early 4th century BC, during which time the Romans suffered many reverses, such as the liquidating of the private army of the Fabian gens at the Cremera River in 477 BC (Livy 2.50). Over time, however, Rome was able to wear down the Veintines, so that by the third war, the Romans were able to subject Veii to a close siege, which finally led to its conquest.
The conquest of Veii was an outstanding success for Rome and no doubt all of the Etruscan cities felt great alarm at the fall of their southern-most bastion. Why they did not at that point form an effective alliance is open to debate, as the opportunity for dealing Rome a decisive blow or at least recovering Veii’s independence presented itself in 390 BC, when Rome was sacked by the Gauls of Brennus. One possibility is that they were not disposed to cooperate at this time, being engaged in mutual hostilities. Another possibility is that the Etruscans were at that time also hard-pressed by Gallic incursions. An alternative tradition in Diodorus (14.117.7) has the army of Caere defeating and driving off Brennus and his band after Rome’s sack, which would indicate that the Etruscans could not make the most of Rome’s weakness at this time, as they struggled with the Gallic foe themselves. Soon after 390 BC, the annals begin to indicate a Roman offensive in southern Etruria, making mention of campaigning north of Veii on the territory if the Faliscan people, whose lands lay between Veii and the Ciminian Mountains, and whose principal towns were Falerii and Capena. Livy (6.3) describes this war in the context of Romans coming to the aid of their ‘allies’ the Sutrians against and invading army of Etruscans, but clearly he or his sources are trying to explain away Roman aggression, for the Faliscans were no friends of Rome. More plausible is that the Faliscans were fighting a Roman conquest of their lands: a situation which caused Etruscan cities nearby such as Tarquinii and Caere to enter the conflict on the side of the Faliscans. In any event, fighting in 388 BC and again in 386 BC on Faliscan territory is recorded by Livy, with both Sutrium and Nepete falling permanently into Roman hands in the latter year. The aim and policy of the Romans in this theater perhaps becomes clearer by the establishment of Latin colonies at these two towns in 383 BC (Livy 6.21), which brought Roman hegemony to the natural barrier of the Ciminian mountains and created a substantial buffer for the ager Romanus farther south. The ferocity of the fighting on this frontier was to become so intense that ‘to go to Sutrium’ eventually became synonymous among Romans with ‘to prepare for war’ (Plautus, Casina 524).
Following the establishment of colonies at Sutrium and Nepete in the late 380's BC, fighting between the Rome and its Faliscan and Etruscan neighbours seems to have abated somewhat, as the Etruscans and Falisci, wearied by the unsuccessful struggle, ended for the time being their hostilities. The embers of mutual antipathy, however, did not die, and indeed among Falerii and the other yet free Faliscan towns a great hatred of Rome was no doubt harboured. The lack of attention paid to Rome’s northern frontier during this period, however, does not preclude fighting; just that it was of a much less serious nature than Rome’s concurrent wars south of the Tiber. It is also quite likely that the Etruscan cities had their own problems to deal with and Gallic incursions into Latium in 367, 361 and 358 BC are perhaps good indicators of what the Etruscans faced, quite possibly on an even more frequent basis, being themselves directly adjacent to the Gallic tribes of the Po Valley. Nevertheless, open war did eventually blaze forth in in 359 BC, as Livy reports significant Tarquinian raiding that year, followed by a declaration of war. The next year, a Roman army sent against Tarquinii under the Consul C. Fabius Ambustas went down in defeat (Livy 7.15), which likely was a major factor in the rising to arms of the Faliscan nation the following year, allying themselves with the Tarquinians against Rome in the probable hopes of recovering their lost lands. The rest of the 350’s BC Rome spent in yearly campaigning against Tarquinii and the Faliscans, during which time Caere, or at least an anti-Roman faction from the city, is also reported joining the fight against Rome (Livy 7.19). Roman victories against the Tarquinians are recorded by Livy in 356 and 354 BC, which were countered by the ravaging and depopulation of the Roman salt-works at the mouth of the Tiber (Livy 7.17, 7.19). Significantly, there were no Roman conquests as a result of this war, indicating the inconclusive nature of the war's results. Instead, truces were signed with Caere, Tarquinii and Falerii to end the conflict., likely on the basis of the status quo ante bellum. Thus at the mid 4th century Rome, while still faced with a formidable but nascent threat on its northern border, could look back on some highly significant successes on its northern frontier, including the conquest of both its arch-nemesis Veii and the establishment of two important fortresses at Sutrium and Nepete on formerly Faliscan lands, hard up against the natural barrier of the Ciminian mountains.