Battle of Suessula The Battle of Suessula was the third and last battle between the Samnites and the Roman Republic in 343 BC , the first year of the First Samnite War . According to the Augustan historian Livy , the Samnites gathered their army at Suessula , at the eastern edge of Campania . The Roman consul Marcus Valerius Corvus took his army by forced marches to Suessula . When the Samnites had to scatter their army to forage for food , Valerius seized the opportunity to capture Samnite camp and then rout the Samnite foragers . Modern historians believe that details of the battle were entirely invented by Livy and his annalistic sources , and the battle ' s historicity has also been questioned . Background . According to Livy the First Samnite War started because the Samnites attacked the Sidicini , a tribe living north of Campania . The Campani , led by the city - state of Capua , sent an army to help the Sidicini , but were beaten in battle by the Samnites . The Samnites then invaded Campania and won a second battle on the plain near Capua . Facing defeat , the Campani appealed to Rome for aid . The Romans , despite having a treaty with the Samnites , agreed to help and declared war against the Samnites . The two Roman consuls for 343 , Marcus Valerius Corvus and Aulus Cornelius Cossus , marched each their armies against the Samnites . Valerius led his into Campania and Cornelius his into Samnium . In Campania , Valerius won the first Roman victory against the Samnites in the Battle of Mount Gaurus near Cumae , while Cornelius in the Battle of Saticula turned a near disaster into a second Roman victory thanks to the heroism of Publius Decius Mus . The battle . Livy , who is the only source for this battle , writes that the Samnites , even after two defeats determined to achieve victory , brought their whole army to Suessula . When news of this reached Valerius from Capua , he detached a strong force to protect his camp and baggage , and proceeded by forced marches to Suessula . There he established camp close to the enemy , since he had not brought any baggage or camp followers , his camp was much smaller than normal . The Samnites formed battle lines and marched towards the Roman camp , believing there would soon be a battle . When the Samnites learnt from their scouts of the small size of the Roman camp , they believed only a small Roman force were opposing them . The Samnite soldiers wanted to assault the Roman camp at once , but were restrained from by their generals . Owing to their large numbers and long stay outside Suessula , the Samnites were now running out of supplies . Believing the Romans to be too weak to venture outside their camp and short on food as well , the Samnites decided to send foragers into the fields . Seeing the Samnites scattered and their camp weakly held , Valerius led his men in an attack on the Samnite camp camp , which was captured in the first assault . Leaving two legions to hold the Samnite camp , Valerius ordered his men forward to round up the Samnite foragers . The scattered Samnites were slaughtered and fled in fear . The Roman spoils included 40 000 shields , due to the Samnite flight a far larger number than the enemy slain , and 170 standards . Aftermath . Livy records that with the campaign season now at an end , both consuls were rewarded at Rome with a triumph . The Carthaginians , with whom the Romans had concluded a treaty of friendship in 348 , congratulated Rome with her victories by sending a golden crown weighing twenty - five pounds for the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus . The " Fasti Triumphales " record that Valerius and Cornelius celebrated their triumphs over the Samnites on 21 September and 22 September respectively . Little fighting occurred over the two next years . The First Samnite War ended in 341 with Rome and the Samnites renewing their treaty and the Samnites accepting the Roman alliance with the Campani . Modern views . Modern historians have doubted the historical accuracy of Livy ' s description of this battle . Livy ' s battle scenes for this time period are mostly free reconstructions by him and his sources , and there is no reason that this battle should be an exception . The amount of spoils taken and the Samnite losses they imply have clearly been exaggerated . Edward Togo Salmon suspected Valerius ' victories in 343 could be doublets of Roman operations against Hannibal in the same area in 215 . Since the testimony of the " Fasti Triumphales " require some degree of Roman success in 343 , Salmon therefore proposed that there was only one battle in 343 , fought on the outskirts of Capua near the shrine of Juno Gaura , which Livy or his source has then confused with Mount Gaurus . These proposed doublets are rejected by S . P . Oakley , who inclines towards believing the Romans and Samnites fought three battles in 343 . The location of two of the battles at Mount Gaurus and Suessula could reflect a twin Samnite attack on Cumae and Capua .