Interlude: Hortius Decius

The Romans had managed to play the game well, first in trapping his Army between two of their own, cutting down many of Hortius Decius' men before they had managed to break out of the Roman envelopment and withdraw, then in harassing his retreating force so that what had started with fifty-seven-thousand men had been cut in half by battle and whittled down further by harassment. By the time Hortius Decius had reached the dubious safety of Gabii, the amount of non-wounded men he had under his command had been whittled down to just sixteen-thousand with a further five-thousand in varying states of wounded having made the trek.

Not all of those wounded would be able to return to duty, even as the Romans arrived to raise siegeworks around Gabii, cutting off any hope of escape. Some had died from their wounds or infection, others had been too wounded to return to combat service, and still more had been taken by the types of disease that normally occurred in large towns that were placed under siege whilst stuffed to the gills with fighting men. With those types of diseases, the wounded, sick, and infirm were always the first to go. Still, by the time the Romans had finally managed to cut off the Town from the Lacus Gabinus and Lacus Regilus with fieldworks, Hortius Decius could count on some eighteen-thousand fighting men.

Fortunately, Hortius Decius had foreseen the Roman attempt to cut the town off from the twin volcanic lakes that served as the Town of Gabii's main water source. He'd had men drawing water from the lakes from dawn to dusk for the three days it took for the Romans to arrive and begin their twin walls of Circumvallation and Contravallation to fence them in. That had been three months ago and the Romans had only increased their siegeworks since then, tightening the noose on the Town. They had finally cut Hortius Decius and his men off from the Lakes two months ago, and if not for the few wells in the city, as well as one particularly fortuitous rainstorm that had allowed his men to catch rainwater in barrels, they would have been out of their water rations weeks ago.

Latium wasn't like the lands of his birth in Samnium, blessed and cursed in turns as they were by the gods with a cooler climate up in the mountains. This scorching heat was of the kind more often seen in places where Hortius Decius had been as a Mercenary, like the lands near Syracuse, where it gets so hot you would think you were sitting in Vulcan's Forge. While Latium wasn't quite so hot as Syracuse, the summer heat would sap a man's strength here as surely as it would there, necessitating a halt in the more punishing of combat operations.

While that had saved Hortius Decius earlier in the season, it was dooming him now, as the Summer wore on into its third month and no more fortuitous rains seemed to be forthcoming. Already, he'd had to cut down his men to three-quarters of their usual Summer Water Ration. If he cut them down much further, he was worried that he would be preserving his strength on papyrus only and that if Rome attempted an assault, his men would be too weakened from the hot summer sun to put up a successful resistance for long. Without relief, he had no hope of victory.

Relief would not be forthcoming either, not if what the Romans Emisary said was true and Carthage had decided to enter the War. Loathe as Hortius Decius was to trust the word of a faithless Roman, the facts remained that he would be unable to hold out if he had to cut his water ration further. He would also have to cut his water ration further if this damnable heat continued. He needed a miracle, so he prayed, sacrificing a Cockrel to Mamers that something, anything went his way. Mamers must not have heard his plea, because the next day, the bombardment began.

The Romans had managed to build several ballistae that they were using to bombard the walls of Gabii, firing them day and night as they could afford to rotate engineer crews, giving Hortius Decius and his men no rest as the noise of ballista ammunition crashing into the masonry of the walls beat a steady rhythm of noise. Hortius Decius and his men still hung on, repulsing a pair of Roman attempts to assault Gabii through a small breach some five days after the bombardment began.

Unfortunately, all things must end, and by the end of the last week of the third month of this damnable summer siege, even Hortius Decius and his men were unable to endure much longer. It was just as Hortius Decius was contemplating whether to order his men to sally out in a futile charge to at least attempt to maul the Romans badly enough that Pyrrhus could avenge them that an emissary arrived from the Roman Siege Camp.

Hortius Decius received him at the breach the Romans had pounded into the walls, under the watchful gaze of the Goddess Concordia, an Idol of which Hortius Decius demanded be present when he received any Roman Emissary. The Romans may be contemptible, but not even they would risk angering the Gods by performing treachery under the aegis of a parlay sanctioned by Blessed Concordia herself. To do so would be to invite disaster, after all. Of course, at the thought of divine punishment, some small, spiteful, part of Hortius Decius seemed to hope the Romans would try something, and suffer the Wrath of the Gods accordingly.

The Roman Emissary wore a blue cloak, unlike those worn by the Roman Soldiers. A proper diplomat then, rather than an officer pressed into acting as one. A man who seemed hale enough to be an officer, at least, though perhaps a touch old to start out as broad-striped tribune, if Hortius Decius was any judge. The Diplomat stopped short of Hortius himself, offering a brief nod of respect, which Hortius Decius returned.

"Hail, Hortius Decius, my name is Marcus Atilius Regulus and I have come to offer terms to you and your men from Rome. You cannot possibly hold here much longer. With Carthage now entered and Roma herself between Pyrrhus and Gabii, you have no hope of relief any time soon, and you must be running out of water by now. The Honorable Decimus Junius Brutus has elected to offer you and your men these terms to avoid further struggle. Will you hear them?" Questioned the Envoy.

"Speak your terms. I will hear them as if I did not already know what awaits my men and me." Grumbled Hortius Decius.

"You mistake me. These are not my terms, they are Rome's terms. Hear them now, that you, Hortius Decius will surrender yourself to Roman captivity, along with ten of your officers and one hundred-eighty of your men, to be made an example of by order of the Honorable Decimus Junius Brutus. The rest will be disarmed and allowed to return to your mountains upon the War's Completion. By surrendering yourself and some small number of your men, you may yet save the remainder." Informed Regulus.

"And if I refuse to offer myself up?" Queried Hortius Decius.

"Then you and all of your men will die, made an example of so that the next three generations of Samnites will know better than to bite the hand of Rome like some maddened mongrel snapping at the one who holds their leash. Instead of being spoken of with a reverence befitting one who sought to trade his own life for that of his followers, the name Hortius Decius will be a curse spat from the mouth of your children's children's children as Samnium will be reduced to little more than helots, slaves crawling among the dirt. Continue to fight and Rome will see it made so, so swears Decimus Junius Brutus, Dictator of Rome. These are Rome's terms, Rome would have your answer." Intoned Regulus.

"And Rome will have it. Tomorrow, return here and I shall give you my answer." Nodded Hortius Decius.

With that, the Emissary walked away and Hortius Decius went to talk amongst his men. Many wanted to continue the fight, even as futile as it now seemed, but many more realized that if Rome made good on her threats, which was possible if Pyrrhus agreed to a status quo peace with Rome in order to focus on the Carthaginians, that continuing to fight would only doom their homeland and families. Hortius Decius could not order men to offer themselves up to be made example of by Rome, and while ten officers did indeed volunteer, the rank and file were another matter. It was necessary to draw lots, and every hundred men were given a bucket with ninety-nine white stones and one black. Those who drew the black stone were to become the sacrifices necessary to save Samnium.

So it was that on the first day of the fall campaign season of two-eighty-one, Hortius Decius, ten of his officers, and one-hundred-eighty of his men formally surrendered to Rome, trading themselves for the lives of their men and that of all of Samnium. They would be crucified along the Via Latina while the remainder of Hortius Decius' army would be brought to Collatia, their arms and armor confiscated, and held for the remainder of the war.

It would be with these high-quality iron weapons and armor that Decimus Junius Brutus would re-equip fifteen-thousand of his best troops, the rest would be sent to Rome as Spolia Opima to be stored at the Temple of Mars in the hopes the war god would grant him favor in his next battle. He was going to need all the upgraded equipment and divine favor he could get, because his next battle would be against Pyrrhus of Epirus himself.

And the Warrior King of Epirus was not a foe to be taken lightly. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, Hortius Decius lasts the Summer, but the combination of Carthage's entry into the war and the inability to hold on until relief arrives inevitably forced him to take the Romans up on their offer of terms. After all, they were actually pretty generous, provided Rome holds to them, at least as compared to the alternative. Of course, from his position bottled up in Gabii, Hortius Decius has no way of knowing that Carthage's Entry is going to be anemic and localized to Sicily, but that's just how things shake out sometimes.

it didn't help that Summers in Latium can get into the low-hundred in terms of heat. At least Fahrenheit-wise, I have no idea what that is in Celsius. Alas I was schooled in America where we use stupid Freedom Units. Google is saying forty-two degrees Celsius for the highest recorded temperature in Rome.

Now Brutus has fifteen-thousand men equipped with high-quality iron weapons and armor. It isn't quite as good as the steel that Epirote Troops are using, but it at least is a match for the stuff Pyrrhus' Magna Grecian allies are using. Expect Pyrrhus' next battle to be a lot bloodier than he's been having lately. It would've helped if he could also have Kleon's Army there, but he had to send them south.

As to why, that will be revealed next time, as the Fall Campaign Season actually begins in earnest in Sicily with Carthage attempting to seize control of the Polis of Akragas in Sicily.

Stay tuned. . .