Historicity of the war The many problems with Livy's account and Diodorus' failure to mention it has even caused some historians to reject the entire war as unhistorical. More recent historians have however accepted the basic historicity of the war. No Roman historian would have invented a series of events so unflattering to Rome. Livy was clearly embarrassed at the way Rome had turned from being an ally to an enemy of the Samnites. It is also unlikely that the Romans could have established such a dominating position in Campania as they had after 341 without Samnite resistance. Finally Diodorus ignores many other events in early Roman history such as all the early years of the Second Samnite War; his omission of the First Samnite War can therefore not be taken as proof of its unhistoricity.
Historicity of the war The many problems with Livy's account and Diodorus' failure to mention it has even caused some historians to reject the entire war as unhistorical More recent historians have however accepted the basic historicity of the war No Roman historian would have invented a series of events so unflattering to Rome Livy was clearly embarrassed at the way Rome had turned from being an ally to an enemy of the Samnites It is also unlikely that the Romans could have established such a dominating position in Campania as they had after 341 without Samnite resistance Finally Diodorus ignores many other events in early Roman history such as all the early years of the Second Samnite War; his omission of the First Samnite War can therefore not be taken as proof of its unhistoricity