A fierce patriot, he was one of the rebel commanders in the Social War (91–87 BC) against Rome, leading the last remnants of the rebellion in southern Italy after the main uprising had already been suppressed.
[citation needed] The Samnites were a people who inhabited central and southern Italy, and had fought several wars against the Roman Republic before being subjugated in the third century BC.
[1][2] Several Roman sources list Pontius as one of the leaders of the Samnites during the Social War against Rome in 91 BC, holding the rank of "praetor", but no specific actions of his in the main part of the conflict are known.
[5] In late 88 or early 87 BC, he and other remaining rebel leaders[ii] besieged Isiae in Bruttium and Rhegium on the strait of Messina, but were repelled by the Roman governor of Sicily, Gaius Norbanus.
[12] Hearing of this disaster, Pontius Telesinus and the Lucanian leader Marcus Lamponius raised a large force to relieve Marius at Praeneste,[13] but, finding that Sulla's armies were both blocking the road to the city and threatening their rear, decided instead to march towards Rome, encamping near the Colline Gate.