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Powandas Directory 02
Five bells were hung at regular intervals on a round hoop erected on a sort of stage. A rope was attached to each bell after the manner of church bells. At a given signal from their master, they all sprang to their feet, and at a second signal, each advanced to the ropes, and standing on their hind feet, stuck their front claws firmly into the ropes, which were in that part covered with worsted, or something of the kind, so as to give the claws a firmer hold. There was a moment's pause--then No. 1 pulled his or her rope, and so sounded the largest bell; No. 2 followed, then No. 3, and so on, till a regular peal was rung with almost as much precision and spirit as though it were human hands instead of cats' claws that effected it.
Twelve years elapsed between the subjugation of Latium and the commencement of the Second Samnite War. During this time the Roman arms continued to make steady progress. One of their most important conquests was that of the Volscian town of Privernum in B.C. 329, from which time the Volscians, so long the formidable enemies of Rome, disappear as an independent nation. The extension of the Roman power naturally awakened the jealousy of the Samnites; and the assistance rendered by them to the Greek cities of Palaeopolis and Neapolis was the immediate occasion of the Second Samnite War. These two cities were colonies of the neighboring Cumae, and were situated only five miles from each other. The position of Palaeopolis, or the "Old City," is uncertain; but Neapolis, or the "New City," stands on the site of a part of the modern Naples. The Romans declared war against the two cities in B.C. 327, and sent the Consul Q. Publilius Philo to reduce them to subjection. The Greek colonists had previously formed an alliance with the Samnites, and now received powerful Samnite garrisons. Publilius encamped between the cities; and as he did not succeed in taking them before his year of office expired, he was continued in the command with the title of _Proconsul_, the first time that this office was created. At the beginning of the following year Palaeopolis was taken; and Neapolis only escaped the same fate by concluding an alliance with the Romans. Meanwhile the Romans had declared war against the Samnites.
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