294 B.C. was marked by raiding by both sides and several battles. One of the battles saw the Samnites taking advantage of a thick fog to assault a Roman camp. They captured the tent of the quaestor (the lowest elected official who supervised the treasury; they were sometimes assigned to military command) and he was killed. The Samnites reached the middle of the camp before withdrawing. It was a terrible embarrassment for the Romans. In the next year, the Samnites were so hard up for troops, they called upon all eligible males to join the army and pledge never to retreat. This special unit became known as the “Linen Legion” because the men swore to die in battle at an altar in a tent whose opening was covered by a linen curtain (or because they wore white linen tunics). If the inductee refused to take the oath, they were executed and their body was left at the altar. I think we can assume few refused. Their family would be cursed if they ran in battle. This elite unit was given white armor and plumed helmets. The Linen Legion was part of a large Samnite army that was sent to lift the siege of Aquilonia.
On the day of the battle, consul Lucius Papirius Cursor called upon the sacred chickens to determine whether it was a good day to fight. Roman commanders had a ritual to determine if the gods favored them before a battle. Sacred chickens would be taken from their cage and were enticed to eat grain spread on the ground. If they balked, it was a sign that the day was not a good one to do battle. In this case, the keeper of the chickens (the pullarius) lied and told Papirius that the chickens had eaten. Probably he was just telling Paparius what he wanted to hear. Word of the false augury reached Paparius’ nephew, who confirmed it and brought the bad news to his uncle. Livy describes the youth as “born in an age when that sort of learning which inculcates contempt for the gods was yet unknown.” (Livy and Augustus would have called that age “the good old days.”) When Papirius was told of the fabrication, he was faced with a dilemma. Giving battle with a false omen would likely lead to low morale among his men. On the other hand, Papirius thought that today was the best day to face the foe. He compromised by telling his soldiers that the omen applied only to the chicken-feeder. He placed the pullarius in the front line and when the man was killed by the first javelin volley, it was taken as confirmation of Papirius’ explanation of the incident. He also pointed towards the Linen Legion in its finery and assured his men that “the plumes make no wounds” and soon their white tunics would be smeared with their own blood. Breathing a sigh of relief, the legionaries got busy with the task at hand.
The Battle of Aquilonia was touch and go with the infantries slugging it out. Papirius had formed a reserve unit, including the mule drivers and the camp followers, and sent it on a march to the Samnite left. The mules pulled tree branches behind them to kick up a lot of dust. During the battle, the dust cloud was sighted causing the Samnites to fear the arrival of another Roman legion. Conversely, the Roman soldiers were inspired by the belief that reinforcements were arriving. With the morale of both armies heading in opposite directions, Papirius’ cavalry (which he had kept in his rear instead of his flanks) attacked the enemy center. Paparius had prepared his infantry for this maneuver. Upon signal, the maniples opened lanes for the cavalry to ride through. The cavalry “rushed into the midst of the enemy’s battalions, breaking down the ranks wherever they charged.” Papirius’ right and left infantries (the left commanded by Scipio Barbatus) double- enveloped the Samnites. The Samnite army collapsed and their camp was taken and the city of Aquilonia fell. The amount of treasure Paparius’ army took in the campaign was enormous. Livy wrote that there was enough gold and silver to make every public building in Rome shine. The Samnites lost 20,000 dead and 4,000 captured in the battle. 97 standards were taken. A standard was an emblem of the unit that was carried into battle. It was equivalent to the flags American Civil War units used. Loss of a standard was devastating to unit morale. The higher the number of standards lost in a battle, the worse the defeat. After the battle, Papirius followed it up by hounding the retreating Samnites. Their camp was taken. The other half of the enemy fled to the city of Aquilonia. Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus was in command of the left wing of infantry that advanced on the city. The walls of the city made it more defensible than the camp. Barbatus asked his men if they could endure the shame of the right half of the infantry taking the camp and themselves being stymied by a city wall. His men responded as you would expect. They formed testudos to reach the walls and then bulled their way in. The Third Samnite War was effectively over. Rome spent the last three years taking cities.
- from The Scipios in Spain
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