10. In the interior is the metropolis, Capua, being, as the etymon of the name signifies, the head; for in regard to it all the other cities appear small, excepting Teanum-Sidicinum,[2019] which is a very considerable place. This city lies on the Via Appia, as also the others which lead from hence to Brundusium, [viz.] Callateria,[2020] Caudium,[2021] and Beneventum.[2022] On the side of Rome is Casilinum,[2023] situated on the river Vulturnus.[2024] Here 540 men of Præneste sustained against Hannibal in the height of his power so desperate a siege, that by reason of the famine, a rat[2025] was sold for two hundred drachmæ, the seller dying [of hunger], but the purchaser being saved. Hannibal observing some of them sowing turnip-seed near to the wall, admired, as well he might, the patient courage of these men, who hoped to hold out in the mean while, until these turnips should be ready for food. However, we are assured that they all survived, with the exception of a few who perished either by famine or in war. 11. In addition to those just spoken of, there are these Campanian cities which we have already mentioned, viz. Cales,[2026] and Teanum-Sidicinum, the limits of which are respectively marked out by the two temples of Fortune situated on either side of the Via Latina. Besides these are Suessula,[2027] Atella,[2028] Nola,[2029] Nuceria,[2030] Acerræ,[2031] Abella,[2032] with other smaller settlements, some of which are said to be Samnite.[2033] The Samnites, by making incursions into Latium as far as Ardea, and afterwards devastating Campania itself, greatly extended their power. The Campanians, being otherwise accustomed to a despotic government, yielded ready obedience to their commands. At the present day they have been almost entirely exterminated by the various Roman generals, and last of all by Sulla, who was absolute master of the republic. He, after having by numerous battles extinguished the Italian revolt, observing that the Samnites, almost without exception, remained in one body, and with one sole intention, so that they had even marched upon Rome itself, gave them battle under the walls, and as he had issued orders to make no prisoners, many of them were cut to pieces on the field, while the remainder, said to be about three or four thousand men, who threw down their arms, were led off to the _Villa Publica_ in the Campus Martius, and there shut in; three days after soldiers were sent in who massacred the whole; and when [Sulla] drew up his conscription list, he did not rest satisfied until he had destroyed, or driven from Italy, every one who bore a Samnite name. To those who reproached him for this animosity, he replied that he had learned by experience that not a single Roman could rest in peace so long as any of the Samnites survived. Thus their cities have now dwindled into villages, some indeed being entirely deserted, as Boianum,[2034] Æsernia,[2035] Panna, Telesia[2036]