Legatus Legionis: Book Two in the Gaius Claudius Scaevola Trilogy (21 page)

Despite Gaius' best efforts, progress was slow because this legion was strongly traditional. They fought with the marching camp, which effectively meant they fought with mobile fortifications. From a defensive point of view, this was sound, and on open ground it appeared to be unbeatable, but it was known that Britain had many forests and much of what was termed open ground was either small or littered with hedges, trees, or other obstructions. From Gaius' point of view, they had to find an alternative to relying on fortifications when giving battle, and there had to be a defence to possible hit and run tactics. Traditionally, the Roman soldier had to accept that sometimes they would fight in forests, and they would do their best, but that often left them at a disadvantage. The big shields and heavy armour greatly reduced mobility and agility in dense shrubbery, and if men became separated they became vulnerable because it was difficult to avoid forming gaps between men if the men continually had to go around trees. The forest exercises were designed to overcome this, but many of the officers seemed reluctant to take advice. The only way around this appeared to be by demonstration; one squad would be under the control of the men he had brought from the XIth, and they would have to humiliate some of the others.

Another issue that disturbed him, although it had not surprised him, was that the cavalry had been doing very little. It was true that, with the exception of a very few more inspired commanders such as Julius, the Roman army generally made little use of cavalry as a primary strike weapon, and even later clean-up operations were frequently carried out with little enthusiasm. That would change. Just because they were not used to being handled this way did not mean they would not learn. Gaius made it very clear that "we don't do it that way" was not an acceptable excuse, and he had better not hear it again.

The standard use for the cavalry was to clean up those fleeing following a victory, and while this was important, there were obvious alternative uses. This was particularly the case for lightly forested areas, where it was still difficult to form solid lines and manoeuvre those formations. This usually led to small groups fighting, or even man on man. Under such circumstances, victory was not a given, and even if the Romans did win there was plenty of scope for an enemy to escape, provided they were given time to put some distance between themselves and the victors. On the other hand, if the Romans could not form solid lines, neither could the enemy, and in such circumstances cavalry should be ideal for picking off fragmented groups of soldiers, as long as there was enough room for the horses to move with reasonable speed between trees. Finally, there was an important point about strategy: everything that could do damage to the enemy had value in combat and should contribute to victory if the commander could find the right way to use it. One of the most important aspects of battle was to do something the enemy did not expect. If everybody thought that the Romans did not use cavalry as a strike weapon, then there was a ready-made surprise. Accordingly, the cavalry units would drill, and one important lesson to learn before any battle was the limiting density of trees that made cavalry less effective. It was absolutely imperative that the cavalry commanders knew what they could do on any terrain; learning that at the hands of the enemy was simply a waste of lives.

The next issue was field strategy. Suppose the opposition approached as one unit in reasonably open terrain where they could form a line? One possible response was to move two or three cohorts so as to attempt to flank the enemy. Either the opposition split to send some forces to follow the fragment or they did not. If they did, a hole would develop momentarily that could be attacked by cavalry. If they did not the flanking manoeuvre would succeed. Certainly the opposition could move men to continually face the flanking movement, and in principle they could fill the gap, while at the same time thinning their lines, however that required discipline and practice. Then, if they did that, a concentrated punch at the weakest spot would often split and rout them. The side taking the initiative invariably had an advantage over those content to defend.

Alternatively, the main force could split on the left to go around the enemy's rear from the other direction, while the remaining two groups could drive into the extended enemy. If the opposition split to follow the first flanking manoeuvre, they could be tempted, with poor discipline, to form extended lines as the front attempted to get ahead of the rest. Alternatively, they would be a small group, open to attack from several directions from a more mobile force. Either way would open possibilities for cavalry attack. He would design exercises.

Accordingly, there were a number of exercises in which the first cohort moved in ways that it should not and the cavalry was supposed to do something about it. Further, on the basis that it might be necessary for the cavalry to respond promptly to such opportunities, some of these opportunities were designed deliberately to be fleeting. The results of these exercises were poor initially, since the commanders tended to be too cautious. They could see that what the infantry was doing was wrong but they did not see such 'errors' as easily approached opportunities. They were not assisted by the fact that they knew that some manoeuvres were deliberately set as traps for cavalry, for Gaius did not want commanders that simply fell into the first trap.

Matius was then put in operational control of the cavalry, and Gaius was pleased to see that the tables were turned; the officers of the first, being told to do something, had no answer to the new circumstances Matius provided. They had been given units of cavalry themselves, but most of the time these were not used. Then, after a number of such exercises, Matius was put in charge of the first, and now the cavalry was much less successful when Matius countered cavalry with his own units. While the overall learning process was slow, at least it had the advantage of giving Matius a little more confidence.

The exercises went on and on, and as winter approached, there were increasingly grumpy cavalrymen, but gradually the ability to sense opportunities, at least in practice, were gained.

Then there was a new complication. As Gaius remarked, he did not wish to see the cavalry charging off against a set enemy while unsupported by infantry. Certainly, the infantrymen could not keep up with cavalry, but the infantry could move to lead the opposition to extend itself, and if it did, the cavalry attack had to be such that infantry support was possible. The days became shorter, but the exercises became much longer.

Eventually the winter snow came, and the exercises had to cease. However, Gaius was now reasonably convinced that he had the elements of a working legion.

It was just before the Saturnalia when a letter arrived from his estate.

My Darling Gaius,

You should now be on the German border, with your new legion. I bet those men are getting a wake-up, winter or no winter. Many of the people in Rome feel sorry for the men, because they know they will be doing far more drills than any other legion, but I also spoke to a few parents of men in the Valeria, and they are pleased you are there. They have heard that you win your battles, and not with the wasteful use of soldier's lives. Your well-earned reputation is spreading!

Recently, I was invited to the Palatine by Claudius himself. He asked after you, and wanted to impress on me how truly grateful he was for your efforts against Scribonianus. There was no doubt he was genuine, and I think you could get whatever you wanted from him now. I know you have a legion, but the reason you have a new one was not as a favour to you, but rather Claudius really believes you are a commander he can trust to win battles, so that's flattering, isn't it? I know you'll do really well, but Claudius also agrees.

Poor Claudius! He knows he does not present as a commanding figure, and he knows the senators are quietly sniggering at him behind his back, but despite his awkwardness and his stuttering, he seems to know what he is doing and while he may seem weak and awkward at a distance, those straight in front of him acknowledge his imperium.

You will be amused to know that once Claudius smiled on me, so to speak, everybody wants to know me. I was invited back to a party on the Palatine, put on by Valeria Messalina. Good thing you weren't here, because really, men seem besotted by her. There was quite bizarre behaviour there. One who was there was Lucius Vitellius, an ex governor of Syria, I think. Did you know him while you were in the east? Well, this Vitellius prostrated himself on the floor before Messalina, and when she put out a foot, he kissed it! Not only that, but somehow he acquired her shoe, hid it in his toga, and from time to time brought it out and began kissing the shoe! Quite ridiculous! I wonder, did he give it back, or did he keep it?

Winter is now upon us, although I know it will be a lot worse for you up in the north. At least as a Legate you should be able to keep nice and warm. I wish we were back together, like at the Saturnalia we had together, with nice big log fires and good Pannonian wine. Still, I know Claudius will bring you back to Rome sooner or later, so get your troops into good shape, win lots of victories, so your return will be sooner.

I love you, and I am thinking of you always,

Your Vipsania.

Gaius' first reaction was, about time! He knew that Vipsania was not a prolific letter writer, but this had taken a rather long time to get written. Then he felt guilty; there was no point in her having written until she was certain she knew he had arrived. Then he felt a little irritated again, for there was no news about Quintus, then he felt a little guilty about that, because his Steward had not replied either. It may be taking longer than he felt it should to get the necessary details. He would have to write back to Vipsania and remind her.

He was half inclined to forget about the missing money and Quintus, for had he not been told, he would never have known about it anyway. Two things annoyed him: he did not like someone taking advantage of him, and he could not leave Vipsania unsupported since this was one of the few things she thought she could do to support him. If Quintus had asked him for ten per cent of something as an administration charge, he would have either accepted the deal immediately or told Quintus his services were no longer needed, but simply taking it and trying to hide the fact that he was taking it was another matter completely. Worse, Vipsania might begin to feel he did not care about her if he did not follow through and he most certainly did not want that to happen.

Chapter 19

The winter was spent preparing to march, and also to reorganize the cohorts. All men with a year or less service remaining would be left behind, to be merged with another legion that would take over the task of protecting the Rhine. A certain amount of material had to be left for them. Everyone else would march as soon as the weather permitted.

The biggest single problem was that the legion had been stationary for a very long time, and accordingly it had accumulated a very large amount of "necessities", many of which had been stored unused for so long that nobody knew why they had been acquired. Most of these would be left. As Gaius explained to the Tribunes, everything taken had to be carried on marches, the marches would be through forested or swampy country, and top priority would go to the food and artillery. Take too much, and they would be personally responsible for seeing that it was carried. On the other hand, they were going to war, so every piece of artillery, and all the weapons and equipment needed to support the men in the field had to be taken, because if needed during a battle, only that which was there could be used.

Once everything to be taken was listed it was measured and barges were ordered. The idea was that the heavy support material would be barged down the Rhine and taken to the embarkation port in Gaul. The barges on the Rhine would operate throughout the winter, but once they met the sea, further progress would depend on the weather. The tricky part was getting between the mouth of the Rhine and the port. Once in salt water, the effect of storms could be terrible, but the alternative for the legion, namely carrying the equipment on the march was not desirable either. The legion would march as soon as possible once spring came, but that would mean marching over early spring slush, and being bogged down with heavy equipment would make progress unnecessarily difficult and slow. Worse, it would be impossible to carry out exercises while marching, and Gaius had no intention of having no exercises.

Once items were scheduled for the barges, they also had to be marked so they could be identified on arrival, for two other legions would be carrying out similar exercises. Catapults in excellent condition could be acquired by some other legion unless they were marked in such a way that the markings could not be erased or altered. Fortunately, as long as the markings were deep, the equipment for the
Valeria
could be securely marked. After all, provided the markings were sufficiently deep they could not be erased, while the number XX was difficult to change to II or XIV.

* * *

Early in the New Year, letters from Rome arrived. He went first to the letter from Vipsania.

My Darling Gaius,

By now you will be in the depths of winter, so I hope you have plenty of good fires to keep you warm. Life here continues as before, although recently we had two storms. Fortunately, there was not very much damage done, but I gather the winter work schedule has been delayed by about three weeks. However, I am sure that nothing serious has happened, and that everything will get planted.

The imperial court is something that would fascinate you; it is seething with intrigue, as everybody is trying to get an advantage, usually at the expense of somebody else. One of the saddest cases was Julia Livilla, who as you will recall, with Agrippina, was a sister of Little Boots. Little Boots publicly honoured her, but he also used her as a prostitute for his catamites, so she and Agrippina plotted to overthrow him and replace him with Lepidus. What would have happened then is anybody's guess, because Lepidus was sleeping with both sisters. Whether they knew or not is anybody's guess. Anyway, both sisters were banished after Lepidus was executed, but Claudius permitted them to return to Rome. Julia was already married to Marcus Vinicius, and I am not quite sure where he fitted in with Lepidus, because there are strong rumours he too was plotting against Little Boots. Anyway, now Julia has been exiled again, apparently for committing adultery with Seneca. There's a rumour around that the accusation was due to Messalina, who gave it as a favour to Vinicius, who is presumably sleeping with someone else.