them, and knew there was nothing contemptible about their opponents. In terms of fighting ability the rebels actually seemed to have the edge. This is because war was essentially one of the rebels attempting to capture or destroy the Roman colonies on their lands. Therefore the rebels were essentially operating in their home territory as they laid siege to the colonies. To lift a siege the Romans had to venture on to land the rebels knew intimately. This partly explains why the attempts to relieve besieged cities were uniformly unsuccessful, and why, with two equally matched sides the Italians
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