It is difficult to tell when exactly the Italians reentered the picture, but with the final annulment of Drusus’s laws, word surely went out that the time had come for action. It did not take long for Quintus Poppaedius Silo to rally ten thousand men to join him in a demonstrative march on Rome. When they neared the city one of the praetors went out to meet the Italians and said: “Whither do you go, Poppaedius, with so great a company?” Silo responded, “To Rome, for I have been summoned by the tribunes of the plebs, to share in the citizenship.” The praetor responded, “You may obtain what you seek far more easily, and much more honorably, if you do not approach the Senate in a hostile manner; for the Senate will not be compelled, but entreated and petitioned, to bestow such a favor upon the Latins, who are their allies and confederates.” Silo turned around and went home, but this was the beginning, not the end.30
After the Italians went home, someone decided Marcus Livius Drusus was going to pay for the trouble he had caused. We don’t know who plotted his death, whether it was Italians believing he had betrayed them or someone nursing a personal grudge. But someone wanted Drusus dead. The tribune grew suspicious and started conducting business in his home, which he thought would protect him. But as he shooed out callers at the end of one evening, Drusus suddenly cried out in pain thanks to a knife lodged in either his hip or groin (depending on the visual you’d prefer). Still brimming with pride despite his failures, Drusus died saying, “O my relatives and friends, will my country ever have another citizen like me?” The killers were never found and no inquest was made into the murder. Everyone just wanted to forget about this whole nasty business and let things get back to normal. But things were a long way from normal.31
THE CITIZENS OF Rome did not know what they were getting into when they rejected the Italian citizenship bill. Given the surprise they all showed when the Social War erupted under their feet, they were clearly oblivious to the ramifications of dropping the bill. For the Romans, it was just another rejection in a long series of rejections of Italian citizenship. No big deal. But for the Italians it was the last straw.32
Ignorant of the hornet’s nest they had just bashed with a stick, it slowly dawned on the Romans that something might be wrong. At the very least, Silo and his march of ten thousand men was enough to put the Senate on notice that
The speed with which the revolt spread is a testament to how long the Italians had been planning. A wide crescent covering most of east-central Italy erupted in a massive coordinated insurrection involving at least a dozen Italian tribes. The Latins remained steadfast with Rome, and the Umbrians and Etruscans kept aloof, but east-central Italy departed the Roman confederation en masse. Two principal tribes led the revolt. First were the Samnites in the south, who had chafed under Roman domination for hundreds of years and who now took the opportunity to bloody a few noses. Joining them were the Marsi in the north, among whom Silo was a principal leader. Contemporary Romans considered the Marsi to be the main drivers of the revolt and often referred to the war as the Marsic War. It was not until later that it became known as the War Against the Allies, which is how
Rebel leaders from across this central Italian crescent of insurrection met in the city of Corfinium. They rechristened the city Italia and established a capital. Roman historians would describe the Italians forming a government modeled on the Roman structure of consuls, praetors, and a Senate. But in realty the structure was far more decentralized. Individual tribes operated under their own leaders, who communicated with each other via a collective war council in Italia. That council presented to Rome its central demand: Either we are equal citizens in the Republic or we are independent. The choice was
