for their sheep which they sent down into the plains of Apulia. Now, the Romans had succeeded in attaching the Apulians to their interests and in establishing themselves in their country. Hence the nations that were not on friendly terms with Rome, were excluded from the winter pasture in Apulia. If the Marsians and their confederates had entertained different sentiments, they would have resolved, in conjunction with the Samnites, to expel the Romans from Apulia, which might have been a matter of no great difficulty. I have shown in the first volume of my Roman History, that these four tribes belonged to the Sabine race: in regard to the Pelignians it is clear from Ovid, and the scholiast on the Aeneid proves it in regard to the Marsians. Each of these four tribes was in its own territory sovereign and independent; each also may have been subdivided, but in their relation to foreign countries they formed one state. In speaking of their separation from the Samnites, I was obliged to mention their disgraceful faithlessness, but this does not detract from their worth in other respects. It is acknowledged on all hands, that on account of their extraordinary and antique simplicity and frugality, they belonged to the most respectable nations of Italy; these virtues were preserved there at a time when the other Italians had long sunk into degeneracy, and when the Romans had completely abandoned the severe manners of their ancestors. This is the praise bestowed upon them by Virgil and even by Juvenal; the latter may in his expressions be alluding to earlier poets, but he could not possibly have written in the manner in which he has done, unless at least a shadow of the ancient manners had been preserved there. They were at the same time extremely industrious; their country was for the most part mountainous; agriculture was indeed carried on in the valleys, but it was not very productive, and the greater part of the country was pasture land. They had no wealth; but their strength lay in their contentment. Their valour was not less celebrated than the simplicity of their manners, and this feature too procured them the greatest respect among all the Italian nations; thus Ovid boasts of the _miles Pelignus_, his countryman. The Romans had a proverb saying, that they never triumphed over them and never without them. The former part of this saying may be an exaggeration, for there can be no doubt that they were conquered in the third Samnite war; it is possible, however, that no triumph over them was celebrated; Livy does not mention it, and the Triumphal Fasti of that period are lost.