The Gracchi Marius and Sulla: Epochs of Ancient HistoryBeesly, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
History
The Gracchi Marius and Sulla: Epochs of Ancient History
Beesly, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
All night and next day the barbarians prepared for a final struggle.
Marius planted an ambuscade of mounted camp-followers, headed by a
few foot and horse in some ravines on the enemy's rear. [Sidenote:
Circumstances of the battle.] He drew the legions up in front of the
camp, and the cavalry went ahead to the plain. The barbarians charged
up the hill, but were met by a shower of 'pila,' which the legionaries
followed up by coming to close quarters with their swords. The enemy
were rolled back down the hill, and at the same time with loud cries
the ambuscade attacked them from behind. Then the battle became a
butchery, in which, it was said, 200,000 men were slain, and among
them Teutoboduus, their king. Others, however, say that he was taken
prisoner, and became the chief ornament of Marius's triumph. Much of
the spoil was gathered together to be burnt, and Marius, as the army
stood round, was just lighting the heap, when men came riding at full
speed and told him he was elected consul for the fifth time. The
soldiers set up a joyful cheer, and his officers crowned him with
a chaplet of bay. The name of the village of Pourrières (Campus de
Putridis) and the hill of Sainte Victoire commemorate this great fight
to our day, and till the French Revolution a procession used to be
made by the neighbouring villagers every year to the hill, where a
bonfire was lit, round which they paraded, crowned with flowers, and
shouting 'Victoire, Victoire!'
[Sidenote: The Cimbri.] Meanwhile Catulus was waiting for the Cimbri
on the east. A son of M. Aemilius Scaurus fled before them in the pass
of Tridentum, and in 102 B.C., about the time of the battle of Aquae
Sextiae, they poured down the valley on the east of the Athesis
(Adige). [Sidenote: Catulus on the Adige.] Catulus was posted just
below Verona on the west bank, with a bridge connecting him with a
smaller force on the other side. When the foe appeared his men took to
flight; but the detachment on the east side stood its ground, and kept
the enemy from crossing the bridge in pursuit. The Cimbri admired
their bravery, and when they had forced the bridge let its defenders
go. Pursuing Catulus, they cut him off from a river for which he was
making, probably the Ticinus, though according to some, the Po. He
then pretended to encamp on a hill as if for a long stay. The Cimbri
dispersed over the country, and Catulus immediately came down,
assaulted their camp and crossed the river, where he was joined by
the victorious army of Gaul and by Marius, who had been to Rome.
[Sidenote: Battle with the Cimbri, July 30, 101 B.C.] The village
festival on the hill of Sainte Victoire was held in May. The battle
with the Cimbri was fought on July 30, 101. More than a year therefore
had elapsed since the Teutones were defeated. But it was the
barbarians' custom not to fight in winter, and they were in a rich
country which had not been invaded for a century, where they were
revelling in unwonted comforts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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