and the people chose him consul.

Corvus was no less powerful than popular. He competed with the other
soldiers in their games of the camp, and listened to their jokes like a
companion without taking offence. He thus established a bond between
the two orders. Six times he served as consul, and twice as dictator.
Never was such a man more needed than was he now. At an unknown period
there had come down from the snowy tops of the Apennines a strong
people, known afterwards as Samnites, who now began to press upon the
inhabitants of the region called Campania, in the midst of which is the
volcano Vesuvius. [Footnote: Among the strange customs of the olden
times in Italy was one called _ver sacrum_ (sacred spring). In time of
distress a vow would be made to sacrifice every creature born in April
and May to propitiate an offended deity. In many cases man and beast
were thus offered; but in time humanity revolted against the sacrifice
of children, and they were considered sacred, but allowed to grow up,
and at the age of twenty were sent blindfolded out into the world
beyond the frontier to found a colony wherever the gods might lead
them. The Mamertines in Sicily sprang from such emigrants, and it is
supposed that the Samnites had a similar origin.] There, too, were Cumæ
and Capua, of which we have had occasion to speak, and Herculaneum and
Pompeii; there was Naples on its beautiful bay, and there was
Palæopolis, the "old city," not far distant (_Nea,_ new, _polis,_ city;
_palaios,_ old, _polis,_ city). This was a part of Magna Græcia, which
included many rich cities in the southern portion of the peninsula,
among which were Tarentum, and there had been the earliest of the Greek
colonies, Sybaris, the abode of wealth and luxury, until its
destruction at the time of the fall of the Tarquins.

The Campanians invoked the help of Rome against their sturdy foes, and