Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (27 page)

This was the moment Servilius was waiting for!  The
ballistae
had ranged their weapons four days ago, stained their arrows black with ash to conceal their flight, and stuck two innocent looking poles into the ground at either end of the field now occupied by the
Gaesatae
.  It was 500 yards, easily within the
Scorpio
range with the wing-like devices attached to the arrows.  Servilius order the
ballistae
to prepare to fire.  The four crossbow weapons were winched back, the sinews staining under the tension.  Arrows were inserted into the slider tracks and the gunners raised their arms signally their readiness.  “Fire!” barked Servilius and four huge arrows snapped off the launchers and flew towards the milling
Gaesatae
.  Ten seconds later they impacted the unsuspecting men.

The results were predictable.  Neither Bagaudas nor his men had any idea what had just hit them!  Scores of men now lay dead and wounded and the formation was thrown into total confusion.  Four seconds later, the second set of four
ballistae
arrows smashed into the
Gaesatae
.  When the third set of four arrows hit, the men broke for the hill in panic leaving dozens of dead and dying lying in the field.  Once back on the hill, Bagaudas was shown one of the arrows and loudly cursed the Romans.

The 3000 hidden in the trees to the west were not sure what was happening.  They saw Bagaudas march his men off the hill and then saw them suddenly running back in panic.  Mandos, thinking he needed to do something, ordered his men to charge the Roman camp.

Servilius was taken by surprise by the loud shouts and lines of men running at his position!  He had not seen this coming, but immediately ordered the
Scorpio
and archers to relocate to the west wall and begin firing as soon as they were ready.  The archers got there first and began shooting directly at the advancing horde.  By the time the
ballistae
were in their new positions, the
Gaesatae
were already in the ditch and trying to climb over the palisades.  Servilius directed Legionaries from the south wall to move to the west.  Hundreds of heavy Roman
pila
were now crashing into
Gaesatae
flesh and shield, but the 3000 pressed their attack.  Archers were now leaning out over the wall and firing point blank; they could not miss.  The
Gaesatae
attack slowed at first and then the men began to back away.  The wall,
pila
, and arrows were too much!

When Bagaudas heard the shouting as the 3000 left the tree line, he immediately ordered a rider to tell them to stop the attack and return to the hill, but the rider was too late.  When he found Mandos, the assault was in full fury.

Seeing his chance of success slipping away and his losses mounting, Mandos summoned his trumpeter and sounded the withdrawal.  Many more
Gaesatae
died as they turned their backs to the Romans.  It was a bad day for the mercenaries.  Barely 1500 made it back to the trees.  Bagaudas was absolutely furious.  He blamed Mandos for the disaster, for everything that went wrong.  He accused him of being a traitor, a secret Roman agent.  He swore; he threw things; he vowed to kill Mandos.  Some of his ranting was genuine, but most of it was theater for the benefit of what remained of his army.  He needed a scapegoat to explain away why so many men died for nothing.  When the demoralized troops returned to the hill, Bagaudas yelled, “Grab him!”  He then screamed at Mandos, “Why did you attack?  I specifically told you not to unless I ordered it.  You are responsible for my men dying.”

Mandos screamed back at Bagaudas, “I thought you were being attacked and I had to do something to help.  I thought it was the right thing to do!”

“Kneel,” ordered Bagaudas in a loud commanding voice.

Mandos screamed “No, do not do this.  I am sorry.  I was trying to help.”  He struggled against the two men trying to force him to his knees.  “No, Bagaudas, please,” he pleaded.

“Lay him down,” ordered Bagaudas.  “Stop him from moving.”  A man grabbed Mandos’ hair and stretched his head flat on the ground.  Three other men held his body flat.  Bagaudas drew his sword and with both hand brought it down.  The tip of the blade hit the ground and took most of the force.  Mandos’ shoulder and neck suffered a deep laceration, but it was not a fatal blow.  Bagaudas drew his sword back for another swing, with the same result.  Mandos was screaming in shock and pain.  Bagaudas then drew his dagger and cut Mandos’ throat to shut him up.  He then cut off his head. Bagaudas had Mandos’ head impaled on a stake facing the Roman camp so he would forever see the disaster he wrought.

The Romans had devastated Bagaudas’ force.  He had lost about 2000 men; almost half his army.  The
Gaesatae
immediately began preparations to resume their march south, but with a lot fewer men.

When the
Gaesatae
were well south of
Patavium
, Servilius allowed the archers and
Scorpio
crews to retrieve their arrows and survey the effects of their weapons.  Legionaries similarly retrieved any still useful
pila
.  Severely wounded
Gaesatae
were quickly killed while the lightly wounded were taken prisoner.  Following their tradition, the Romans leaders walked the battlefield and mined it for lessons learned.  Servilius praised the archers and
ballistae
for their good work and the Legionaries for their defense of the west wall.  He then dispatched riders to inform Tribune Tullus, who was still at Rome and Centurion Vitulus at
Clastidium
of all that had transpired.

As Servilius blew out his candle and ended January 20th, he marveled at all that had happened since he left Rome on December 12th.  It bothered him that he had lost a week’s worth of construction time on the new fort because of the
Gaesatae
.  He needed to begin construction tomorrow and somehow make up for the lost time.

The first thing on his mind when he awoke the next morning was his continuing need for information.  He did not want to be surprised by any more mercenaries moving south to join Hannibal.  Before he left Rome, Elitovius, Tribune Tullus chief spy, told him to see a
Veneti
by the name of Belunum who lived in the port city of Spinea on the Po River, 21 miles from
Patavium
.  Elitovius said he had worked with Belunum in the past and he could be trusted.  Servilius summoned his cavalry commander, Sura, and instructed him to discreetly find Belunum.  Tell him only what he needs to know and arrange for a way to have information discreetly passed.  With that off his mind, he could now concentrate on building the fort.

Prior to the
Gaesatae
attack, his engineers had been busy searching an area closer to the river for the perfect site to build the new fort.  They wanted it reasonably close to the river and on a hill top with good visibility.  It had to be easily accessible from the existing roads, and have sufficient trees close by with which to build the fort.  They had found a site and now awaited the Centurion’s approval to begin staking out its exact dimensions.  Servilius accompanied the engineers to the site, which was about a mile north of the present encampment.  It was ideal and Servilius directed the work to begin immediately.  The engineers estimated it would take a minimum of 90 days to complete, which would be around mid April, 209.

Servilius gathered an escort, which included an engineer and several Maniples’ Centurions, and rode back to the village of Mestre.  Once again, the Romans observed the village from the hilltop and Axius rode up to greet them.  He apologized profusely for the deception he was forced to employ at their last meeting and offered his sympathy for the two Romans who were captured.

He told Servilius how the
Gaesatae
had surprised the village in the early morning hours and threatened to kill the Chief and all the children if they did not cooperate.  Axius told them that they had been raided so frequently by
Gaesatae
and other mercenaries passing through the area that they had taken to hiding anything of value, including their food.  He begged Servilius for Roman weapons, training, and fortifications to better defend themselves.

Once in the village, Servilius met the old Chief, Avitus, who delighted in showing the Romans his many battle scars.  He was all talk.  It became obvious to Servilius that Avitus was the Chief in name only and that his son, Axius, was, in fact, the de facto leader of this village.  Eventually, Avitus was led away to rest and the negotiations started in earnest.  The
Veneti
wanted Roman help with village’s defenses, and Servilius wanted 1000
Veneti
to help build the fort.  Axius was eager to compromise and willingly reduced the cost of providing the 1000 men in exchange for training, weapons, and instructions on building a wall and preparing a ditch to repel raiders.

Axius promised that his men would arrive at the Roman camp within 10 days and could stay for 90 days.  Servilius promised in turn that his engineers would survey the village and propose a proper defensive strategy within the week.  Servilius additionally promised to obtain the desired weapons for the village and a Roman cadre to train the men on their use.  Lastly, Servilius said he would provide foremen to guide and direct the work on the village’s defenses.

Servilius was feeling a little overwhelmed as he rode back to camp.  He thought about all he had to do: build his own fort and now build a fort for the
Veneti
as well as equip and train them.  Providing them with weapons would be an easy first step.  The
Gaesatae
had left a few thousand lying on the battlefield.  His men had already gathered them and put them in the encampment for safe keeping.  He also believed he could trust his engineers to do a professional site survey for the village and that he had adequate Centurions to supervise the building of the two forts.  He felt the same for training the
Veneti
.  He had the people.  The building and training effort just had to be organized and supervised.  “Maybe this won’t be so difficult,” he thought.

“The 30 women that we rescued from the
Ardiaei
seem to be doing well,” he thought.  They did not disrupt life in the camp.  They did the cooking, washed the Legionaries clothing, and performed repairs on broken clasps and other equipment items.  He also heard that they were friendly enough to keep the men from sneaking out at night to find
Veneti
women.

He reminded himself that he needed to put the 300
Gaesatae
prisoners on the next supply ships that arrived at
Fossa Clodia
for their one way trip to Rome.  He figured the ships coming from
Aternum
would dock in about two week’s time with their cargo of food, letters, and replacements.  In the meantime, some of these prisoners could help build the fort.

Tribune Tullus was overjoyed when the riders told him about Centurion Servilius’ victory over the
Gaesatae
.  “That’s twice now he’s proven himself in battle,” he said.  “I need to get him promoted.”  He then read aloud the message from Servilius.  “Construction on the new fort should be starting soon and his Legionaries are faring well,” he told those around him.  He then took the message over to Army Headquarters.  The
Gaesatae
that attacked Servilius were now moving down the east coast and had to be intercepted before reaching Hannibal.  He guessed that the Auxiliary Legion stationed at the port of
Aternum
would be given that task.  This was the same Auxiliary Legion that had escorted his wounded men back to Rome after Servilius’ encounter with Agron and the
Ardiaei
.  He knew the Commander, Praetor Rullus, an uncouth sort of man, but a good commander.  He could be counted on to stop the
Gaesatae
.