Interlude-Scenes from Elsewhere I

Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, 5-time Consul of Rome and current head of the Roman army in Etruria surveyed the carnage of the battlefield at Sentium. Even with the two Etruscan turncoats leaking the battle plans it had been a close thing. The fighting had been extremely heavy all along the line and his former Co-consul had bought the Legions the time they needed to regroup and shatter the Gauls on the right wing with his life. Poor Publius had charged the Gallic line with a hand-picked century and been slaughtered to a man. The man himself had fallen to a Gallic javelin punching through his leg and severing the femoral artery as it went through. Still, his gambit had paid off and roused the Roman left to shatter the Gauls.

Unfortunately, the thrice-cursed Samnites had managed to retreat from the field in good order and withdraw beyond the ability of his cavalry to find them. The Etruscan and Umbrian armies were also still in the field, though they had taken a beating from the trap he had prepared in the Roman camp. At least the Gauls who had massacred the Roman garrison at Clusium had met their just end. 1 out of 4 enemy Armies had been defeated, and his spies were telling him that the Etruscans were bleeding men to desertion and may soon ask for terms. If they did, then that would leave just the Samnites and the Umbrians. The war might wrap up sooner than the Senate anticipated after all.

"As if. The Samnites may be warmongers but they aren't stupid. Their army is probably halfway back to Samnium by now, on their way to pick up fresh troops and supplies in their home ground." Scoffed Quintus.

As he sighed at the thought, a messenger arrived, still dusty from travel. The messenger saluted and said, "Salve, Consul. I bring urgent word from the Senate on a matter of grave importance to the war effort."

"Is that so? Well, then you had better give me your message." Replied Fabius with an arched eyebrow.

"The Senate demands you bring your army back to Latium with all haste. A large Samnite force has raided Nomentum and sacked the city. The Senate requires you to withdraw from Etruria and return to Latium to chase out the Samnite bandits." Replied the Messenger.

"What happened to Volumnius? Wasn't he supposed to be back in Latium?" Asked Quintus.

"Legate Volumnius entered Samnium 2 weeks ago with his army to besiege Beneventum. He was ambushed by a force of Samnites in the mountains last week and has pulled back to Nola." Replied the Messenger.

Quintus wanted to shout in frustration. If Volumnius had just stayed in Latium a few more weeks like he was supposed to, he would not have to rush back home with his army. As it stood now, the Senate's recall order would undermine any work he had put into forcing the Etruscans out of the war. The Samnite raid on a city within Latium had spooked the Senate into giving the Etruscans breathing room to retain some semblance of an army. This was what you got when you made a Plebian Consul, he supposed. The lower classes just weren't trained for this sort of thing.

"Very well, we shall withdraw in the morning." Sighed Quintus.

It appeared the war would continue for some years yet. . .

XXXX

Demetrios Poliorketes had received some troubling news. When Pyrrhus of Epirus' envoys had arrived last year, asking to negotiate a fairer border settlement so their Master could go galavanting off into Illyria and get himself killed on a fool's errand, he had gone along with it. He had even ceded control of both ends of the vital mountain pass into Thessalia that most of the trade with Epirus went through. He hadn't seen the harm at the time, since Pyrrhus was just a young man with dreams of glory and little appreciable track record in foreign invasions. Not without backing. He had thought the young king of Epirus would spend his forces and possibly his life in a fruitless struggle against the several tribes of Southern Illyria for no gain, thus securing Macedon's western border for a generation.

"I didn't think he would actually pull off his invasion. By rights, Bardyllis alone should have been his match." Muttered Demetrios into his wine cup.

As he drank another mouthful of the intoxicating Carthagenian vintage, he paused as if a thought had occurred out of the blue. Had his father not served just such an ambitious young king who had conquered the world once? And was not Pyrrhus related to said king? Distantly, true, but some traits seemed to breed true in families. Suddenly, Demetrios was not so certain that his estimation of Pyrrhus of Epirus as a brash commander who got lucky in his first major solo campaign was so accurate.

As he swallowed his wine, yet another thought occurred, one more terrible than the last. Megas Alexandros had never been satisfied with his conquests either. There had been rumors floating about for a while, even after the Mutiny at Opis, that Megas Alexandros had been planning campaigns west into Carthage from Cyrenaica at the time of his death. Would Pyrrus take after his kinsman in that respect as well? And if he did, would he turn his eyes to more of Illyria, or somewhere closer to home? Suddenly, Demetrios was no longer as certain as he had been about the security of his western border.

"I could muster forces that would annihilate even the army Pyrrhus has expanded with troops from conquered Illyrians and subject Greeks. Doing so would leave either the border with Lysimachus or the Aetolian League underdefended. Neither is an option I am willing to take, though the latter is more palatable than the former. I need a preventative measure." Frowned Demetrios.

His mind cast about for a solution and found it in the form of Alexander V, the young son of Demetrios' former enemy Cassander. Demetrios had planned to dispense with Alexander as a puppet this year so he could rule openly as king and not just as regent for a 10-year-old child who happened to be born to the last king. It wasn't Cassander that made Demetrios pause in his plan for regicide, though. It was Alexander's mother, Thessalonike. Thessalonike was the sister of Megas Alexandros, which made Alexander V the nephew of the Great Conqueror. Pyrrhus was only second cousins with Megas Alexandros. His puppet has the superior claim by blood. It also had the advantage of forcing Pyrrhus to become a kinslayer if he wanted to step over Alexander's young body to gain the throne of Macedon. That was something that Demetrios could use to rouse a larger coalition against a potential Epirote attempt to claim Macedon.

"Yes, that could work. I could keep the boy on as a puppet and he would be my Hoplon against Pyrrhus." Smiled Demetrios. Sometimes, his cunning astounded even himself.

As Demetrios called for another flagon of this delicious Carthagenian Wine, he began to plan out a different approach to politics for the next year than he had planned. Money put aside for a coronation would have to be quietly rerouted to other purposes and plans would have to be redrawn for use with his current level of soft power, rather than the absolute fist of a King. The future was still workable with a little more finesse, perhaps he could reroute some of the funds he had planned to use for a gift to Crete and Rhodes as a stepping stone towards some of Lysimachus' Anatolian Vassals? The man himself was still a prisoner of the Getae in their rump Thracian state and wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

As Demetrios schemed, the course of Macedonian history was changed forever. . .

XXXX

AN: So that's a look at what is going on with Rome and Macedon. Butterflies are flapping their wings and only partly because Demetrios got real drunk on undiluted Carthagenian Wine when he heard Pyrrhus had won in Illyria.

IOTL the Romans managed to force both the Senones and Etruscans out of the war after Sentium. Here, because Volumnius decided not to wait for reinforcements and went charging straight for Beneventum, a major Samnite stronghold, he got spanked by an ambush in the mountains and retreated to Roman Campania to lick his wounds, forcing the Senate to recall Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus from Etruscan territory before the Etruscans could ask for terms. All cause of Samnite raids that Volumnius should have been in place to stop.

Volumnius was kind of an aggressive hothead IRL, in fact, his twin cognomen were Flamma and Violens. Flamma means the flame and referred to his temper, and Violens also referred to his temper. No prize for guessing what Violens translates to. . .

Next, we'll have other interludes for less consequential parts of the World. At least for the moment.