In 439 B.C.E., the Romans turned their attention to the region of Etruria, which was north of the Tiber. The target was Veii, again. Veii was the most important city in Etruria. It was about ten miles north-northwest of Rome. In 438 B.C.E., the Roman colony of Fidanae revolted and allied with Veii. When Rome sent four envoys to ask what the Hades was going on, the Fidenates, with the okay of their tyrant Lars Tolumnius, killed the Romans. Lars Tolumnius was the greatest Etruscan king. He probably approved the assassinations in order to provoke Rome into war. However, one story has him playing dice when the Fedinates came to ask if they should murder the envoys. He made a good roll and said “excellent!” The Fedinates took that as a yes. Even Livy is skeptical of this story, so let’s stick with Lars wanted war. And he got it. This was the Second Veientian War.
The Romans sent an army led by Lucius Sergius. He won a hard-fought battle, but the battle in the next year was indecisive. The Roman losses were so high that the crisis resulted in appointment of Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus as dictator. Mamercinus marched into Veiente territory and fortified a hill. Tolumnius wanted to wait for the Romans to come down, but the Fidenates insisted on an attack. The ensuing engagement became known as the Battle of Fidinae. It was fought in 437 B.C.E. Tolumnius sent a contingent of Veientes to attack the Romans from the rear. The battle came down to the two cavalries. The Roman cavalry broke through the enemy infantry. Tolumnius countered with his cavalry. In the melee that ensued, Aulus Cornelius Cossus (the cognomen meant “worm”), decided to take on Tolumnius. According to Livy, Cossus was “a tribune of the soldiers, distinguished for the beauty of his person, and equally so for courage and great strength of body.” He proclaimed to the Romans, who were wavering in the face of this one Etruscan, “’Is this the infringer of human treaties and the violator of the law of nations? This victim I shall now slay…’” He charged at Tolumnius and unhorsed the Etruscan king. Cossus dismounted, knocked Tolumnius back down with his shield, and then stabbed him to death with his spear. The loss of their leader in such a spectacular fashion disheartened the Etruscan army and it retreated. Cossus became famous and was awarded the spolia opima (“the greatest spoils”). This was the highest award a Roman soldier could attain. You had to kill an enemy general or chieftain in one-on-one combat and strip him of his armor and weapons. The panoply would then be dedicated at the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius. The first of this award was earned by Romulus during the Rape of the Sabine Women. It will be won only one more time. In the Second Punic War, the consul Marcellus killed a Celtic king in battle. Even Livy did not invent a few spectacular duels of generals. In 436 B.C.E., Rome was struck by another plague. The Veientes took advantage of the situation to attack. The Romans held and then launched a counteroffensive that took Fidenae when they entered the city via a tunnel. It will not surprise you to learn that the Romans razed the city and enslaved the citizens.
In the engraving by Bartolomeo Pinelli, Cossus is carrying away what looks like the upper body of Tolumnius.
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