In 295 B.C., Rome was faced with the chilling prospect of four peoples combining against it. The situation was so dire that Rome had five men who were given imperium. (Imperium was the power to command an army.). In other words, the Romans had five armies deployed, led by five generals. The Romans fielded probably their biggest army up to that time – nine legions with a total of 80-100,000 men! Quintus Fabius Rullianus and Publius Decius Mus were two experienced generals who had been elected consuls in 297, had their commands prorogued for a year, and then they were reelected in 295. They marched a large army into Etruria. It consisted of four legions and their accompanying alae. This would have given the two consuls around 38,000 men. They were met by a Samnite/Gaul army led by the Samnite general Egnatius. Nearby was the Etruscan/Umbrian army. One source puts the enemy total at 625,000. Clearly, they had less, but they did outnumber the Romans, even after the Etruscans and Umbrians left. Egnatius’ plan was to engage with his forces and have the Etruscan/Umbrian force maneuver behind the Romans to attack their camp. It was a good plan, but some deserters from Egnatius’ army went over to the Romans and told them about the plan. Rullianus sent a messenger to Rome to have them send the two legions stationed nearby into Etruria to ravage and hopefully this would cause the Etruscan army to return home. It worked. The Etruscan/Umbrian army did not participate in the battle. In the Battle of Sentinum (sometimes called the “Battle of the Nations”), Rullianus opposed the Samnites and Decius was up against the Gauls. As the armies stood facing each other, an odd incident took place, according to Livy.
“On the third day, both parties marched out their whole force to the field: here, while the armies stood in order of battle, a hind, chased by a wolf from the mountains, ran through the plain between the two lines: there the animals taking different directions, the hind bent its course toward the Gauls, the wolf towards the Romans: way was made between the ranks for the wolf, but the Gauls slew the hind with their javelins; upon which one of the Roman soldiers in the van said, ‘To that side, where you see an animal sacred to Diana, lying prostrate, flight and slaughter are directed; on this side the victorious wolf of Mars, safe and untouched, reminds us of our founder, and of our descent from that deity.’”
It was to be the greatest battle in Roman history up to then. Fabius fought a cautious battle aimed at exhausting his foes. He knew that the Samnites and Gauls fought with fury at the start, but then their effort fell off. “’[In] their first efforts, they were more than men, yet in their last they were less than women.’” (The Romans are going to say the same about the German barbarians.) If you could stand tall and survive the initial onslaught, you would be in good shape. His plan certainly took advantage of the Roman soldier’s perseverance and took into account that the enemy were “remarkably ill able to bear labour and heat.” On the right, Rullianus probably had his army in the triplex acies with the gaps between the hastati maniples covered by the roraii. (It is possible that since he was on the defensive, he had the hastati form a solid front line.) The hastati stood stoically as they charged. When they got in range, the front ranks hurled their javelins. The rain of pila caused fearful injuries and many men went down. Samnites further back tripped over the fallen men. Other Samnites had to throw away their shields because they were encumbered by pila. And then the second hail of javelins hit them, repeating the results of the first. The legionaries unsheathed their swords and got inside their scuta in preparation. They dug their sandals into the ground because they knew they were about to be rammed. Staying on your feet was crucial. The lucky survivors, and luck does play a role in who survives a pila storm, added rage to their war cries and smashed bodily into the Roman line. They crashed their long swords down onto the scutums. The metal rim protected the shield from splintering, but the blow must have sent a shiver up the shield arm. Then the legionaries began stabbing with their swords. Often it was not the Samnite that was hacking at you that felt your steel, it was the enemy to your right that left his side open as he swung his sword in an arc. The shorter Roman sword did terrible damage to internal organs, whereas the enemy swords might cause gashes and severing of arms and concussions from blows to the helmet. In Roman warfare, shorter was more deadly. The scutum not only absorbed massive blows, but was used to smash into a foe to knock him off balance. The bash/stab motions were ingrained in the legionaries through training. It was almost robotic. Roman soldiers were given more space to fight than hoplites, but they did not have to do a lot more thinking. Combat was mechanical and efficient. The efficiency of their movements was much less tiring than the Samnite flailings. It was still tiring. All that bashing and stabbing did take its toll, but Rulianus had his principe maniples to feed into areas that showed signs of wavering. Fabius had correctly judged the ability of his men to go on the defensive against an angry horde.
- from The Scipios in Spain
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