In 282 B.C., the city of Thurii asked Tarentum to help it against the Lucanians. When the Tarentines turned them down, Thurii asked Rome. As you can imagine, the Romans were only too happy to rescue the damsel in distress. A Roman army defeated a Lucanian army that was besieging Thurii. Several more Greek cities became vassals of Rome, including the strategically important Rhegion (Rhegium) on the strait of Messina across from Sicily. Rome sent 4,000 legionaries to garrison the city. Tarentum, recognizing that Rome had now cast its gaze on southern Italy, signed a treaty with Rome that allowed Rome to send soldiers into Magna Grecia, but no Roman fleet could sail around the toe of Italy.
It did not take long for Rome to send ten ships to Tarentum harbor to provoke war. This was a clear violation of the treaty. In Tarentum, the festival of Dionysus was underway and many citizens were at a play. When word spread that there was a Roman fleet in the harbor, the enraged and wine-fueled mob descended on the harbor and sank four of the Roman galleys and killed the admiral. Oops! Realizing they had been baited into war by the Romans, the Tarentines decided what the Hades, let’s do this. Tarentum attacked and sacked Thurii, evicting the Roman garrison. Rome sent a delegation led by Lucius Postumius Megallus to demand redress. He arrived during another drunken festival. When he addressed the Tarentum assembly, he was taunted unmercifully. Megallus demanded the release of a captured galley and its crew. Thurii must be evacuated and compensation must be paid. And the perpetrators of the attack on the Roman fleet must be turned over for Roman justice. You can imagine how the crowd reacted to those demands. Megallus had his say and then tried with dignity to exit the stage. On his way out, he was pelted with jeers. His path was blocked by a man who turned, lifted his tunic, and unloosed his bowels on Megallus’ toga! “’Laugh while you can. This toga will be washed clean with much blood!’” [Livy] vHe returned to Rome where he brought the stained toga to the Forum as a visual aid to his recap of his trip to Tarentum. Rome had been pooped on! That meant war.
- from The Scipios in Spain
0 Comments