The Sword of Rome

by Jeremiah McCall

2. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 65–128, especially pp. 66–69, pp. 74–5, pp. 84–95.

  3. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 128.

  4. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 129–130.

  5. Liv. 21.1.4.

  6. J Briscoe, ‘The Second Punic War’, in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 45–46.

  7. Briscoe, ‘The Second Punic War’, pp. 44–46.

  8. Briscoe, ‘The Second Punic War’, p. 47; JF Lazenby, Hannibal’s War: A Military History of the Second Punic War, (Warminster, 1998), pp. 35–37, p. 50 ; Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 158–163.

  9. Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, pp. 29–30, but see Briscoe, ‘The Second Punic War’, p. 46 for the argument that Hannibal probably did not have a good understanding of Italian geography and thus the Roman alliance system.

  10. K Lomas, ‘Italy During the Roman Republic’, in HI Flower (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 204–206.

  11. Dion. Hal. 6.95 as translated by CJ Smith, Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society C. 1000 to 500 BC (Oxford, 1996), p. 212.

  12. Lomas, ‘Italy During the Roman Republic’, p. 206.

  13. Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, p. 48, pp. 52–53; Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 169–173.

  14. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 73–75.

  15. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 34–37.

  16. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 173–174.

  17. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 174–175.

  18. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 35–36.

  19. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 175–181.

  20. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 181–196.

  21. Liv. 22.35.

  22. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 36–37.

  23. Polyb. 3.113.2.

  24. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 37–38.

  25. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 37–38.

  26. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 213–214.

  27. Liv. 22.49. (Roberts trans.).

  28. Liv. 22.54, 22.56.

  29. Liv. 22.57; Plut. Marc. 9.

  30. Liv. 23.7.

  31. Liv. 23.14.5.

  32. Liv. 23.14.7.

  33. On the position of Casilinum see Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, p. 93.

  34. Liv. 23.14.5.

  35. Liv. 23.14.

  36. Liv. 23.15.

  37. Liv. 23.15.7–16.1; Plut. Marc. 10–11.1.

  38. Liv. 23.15.7–16.8–9; Plut. Marc. 10.2–3.

  39. Liv. 23.15.15; Plut. Marc. 10.5.

  40. Liv. 23.16.2.

  41. Liv. 23.16.6.

  42. Plutarch makes a similar inference, that Marcellus brought psychological support to the Neapolitians. Plut. Marc. 10.1.

  43. Liv. 23.16.8.

  44. Liv. 23.16.8–9; Plut. Marc. 11.1–4.

  45. Liv. 23.16.8–9.

  46. Liv. 23.16.11–12; Plut. Marc. 11.2.

  47. Liv. 23.16.11–12; Plut. Marc. 11.2.

  48. Liv. 23.16.16.

  49. Liv. 23.16.16; Plut. Marc. 11.4.

  50. Cic. Brut. 12.

  51. Liv. 23.16.16; Cic. Brut. 12; Val. Max. 4.1.7; Plut. Marc. 11.4.

  52. Liv. 22.17.1.

  53. Liv. 23.17.5–8.

  54. Liv. 23.17.2–3.

  55. Liv. 23.31.3–4.

  56. Liv. 23.17.8–9.

  57. Liv. 23.17.8, 11.

  58. Liv. 23.18.1–5.

  59. Liv. 23.17.5–9.

  60. Liv. 23.15.2–4.

  61. Liv. 23.24.3.

  62. Liv. 23.19.3.

  63. Liv. 23.22.1–3.

  64. Liv. 23.22.1–23.9.

  65. Liv. 23.23.5–7.

  66. Liv. 23.24.1–3.

  67. Liv. 23.24.3–5.

  68. On these points, see N Rosenstein, Imperatores Victi (Berkeley, 1990).

  69. Liv. 23.24.6–14.

  70. Liv. 23. 25.6–10.

  71. Again, Ryan, Rank and Participation in the Republican Senate, esp. pp. 96–136, tackles these difficult problems very well.

  72. Liv. 23.25.2.

  73. W Jashemski, Origins and History of the Proconsular and the Propraeotian Imperium to 27 BC (Chicago, 1950), p. 14.

  74. Liv. 23.30.19.

  75. Liv. 23.31.1–6.

  76. Liv. 23.31.7–8.

  77. Liv. 23.8–9.

  78. Liv. 23.31.7–10 (Moore trans.).

  79. R Billows, ‘Legal Fiction and Political Reform at Rome in Early Second Century BC’, in Phoenix, 43 (1989), pp. 112–133.

  80. Liv. 23.31.13–14.

  81. Liv. 23.31.13–14.

  82. An excellent discussion of these issues of early Roman history can be found in T Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome (London, 1995), pp. 242–340.

  83. On the coalescing of an aristocracy, see KJ Holkeskamp, ‘Conquest, Competition, and Consensus: Roman Expansion in Italy and the Rise of the Nobilitas’, in Historia, 42 (1993), pp. 12–39.

  84. Cic. De Div. 2.73 (Falconer trans.).

  85. See Rosentein, Imperatores Victi, pp. 80–81.

  86. Liv. 23.31.14.

  87. Liv. 30.26.7–10.

  88. J Linderski, ‘The Augural Law,’ in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, 2.16.3 (1986), 2168–2172.

  89. Liv. 23.32.2–3.

  90. Liv. 23.33.41.13–14.

  91. Liv. 23.41.13–42.13.

  92. Liv. 23.48.2.

  93. Liv. 24.7.10–9.3.

  94. Liv. 24.9.9.

  95. Liv. 24.8–10.

  96. Liv. 24.19.4–8.

  97. Liv. 24.19.8–9 (Moore trans.).

  98. Liv. 24.18.8–11.

  Chapter 3

  1. Liv. 24.4.1; Livy’s chronology for the revolt of Syracuse and Marcellus’ campaign is notorious for its confusion. In this work, I have followed the chronology worked out by A Eckstein, Senate and General (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 345–349.

  2. Polyb. 7.3–4; Liv. 24.6.1–8.

  3. Polyb. 7.5.

  4. Polyb. 7.7.3

  5. Eckstein, Senate and General, p. 348.

  6. Liv. 24.21.1–23.4.

  7. Liv. 24.24.1–3.

  8. Liv. 24.24.1–4.

  9. Liv. 24.27.1–5.

  10. Eckstein, Senate and General, p. 348.

  11. Liv. 24.20.3, 7.

  12. Liv. 24.21.1–2

  13. Liv. 24.27.6–7.

  14. Liv. 24.27.7–28.9.

  15. Liv. 24.29.1–6.

  16. Liv. 24.29.12.

  17. Liv. 24.30.

  18. Liv. 24.32.

  19. Liv. 24.33.2–8; On the chronology, Eckstein, Senate and General, pp. 345–349.

  20. Polyb. 8.3.4 (Paton trans.).

  21. Liv. 25.24.10–11; J Peddie, Hannibal’s War (Thrupp, Gloucestershire, 1997), p. 157.

  22. Polyb. 8.3.5.

  23. Polyb. 8.3.3. Liv. 24.33.41–6.

  24. Polyb. 8.3.1.

  25. Liv. 23.25.8, 24.18.9–10, 25.5.10, 26.1.7–9, 26.1.14, 26.2.14; Front. Strat. 4.44; Plut. Marc. 13.

  26. Liv. 25.6.10.

  27. Liv. 25.6.22 (Moore trans.).

  28. Liv. 25.7.3–4.

  29. See Eckstein, Senate and General, pp. 345–9, and FW Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius (Oxford, 1967), p. 2, p. 3, p. 69.

  30. Plut. Marc. 13 (Perrin trans.).

  31. PA Brunt, Italian Manpower (London, 1971), pp. 648–654, worked this out years ago; I have sifted through the available evidence several times over the past 15 years and failed to find a better solution.

  32. Brunt, Italian Manpower, pp. 648–654.

  33. Brunt, Italian Manpower, p. 654.

  34. Liv. 23.25.8, 24.18.9–10, 25.5.10, 26.1.7–9, 26.1.14, 26.2.14; Front. Strat. 4.44; Plut, Marc. 13.

  35. Liv. 25.6.2–23 (Roberts trans.).

  36. Polyb. 8.3.5–4.2.

  37. Polyb. 8.4.1–11.

  38. Polyb. 8.4.1.

  39. Polyb. 8.3.5.

  40. Polyb. 8.5.6

  41. Polyb. 8.5.8–11; S
ee also Diod. 26.8 and Zonaras 9.4 for the addition of defences consisting of lenses that focused the sun into a heat ray to burn ships – presumably a legend.

  42. Polyb. 8.6.5.

  43. Polyb. 8.7.6–12; Liv. 24.34.13–16.

  44. Polyb. 8.7.12; Liv. 24.35.1–3.

  45. Liv. 24.35.3–4.

  46. Liv. 24.35.9–10.

  47. Liv. 24.35.9–36.1.

  48. Liv. 24.36.2–3, 8–10.

  49. Liv. 24.36.3–7; Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, pp. 107–108.

  50. Liv. 24.36.9–10.

  51. Liv. 24.37.1–39.9.

  52. Liv. 24.39.12–13; Old camp: Liv. 24.33.3.

  53. Liv. 24.43.5; 24.44.4–5.

  54. Liv. 25.23.1–7.

  55. Liv. 25.23.8–14.

  56. Front. Strat. 3.3.2.

  57. Liv. 25.23.13–24.4; Polyb. 8.37.2–12.

  58. Liv. 25.24.11–12.

  59. Liv. 25.25.2–3

  60. Liv. 25.25.10.

  61. Though we should avoid assuming that generals had complete control over the behaviour of their soldiers in such heated and chaotic situations as the capture of a city. See A Ziolkowlski, ‘Urbs direpta or how the Romans sacked cities’, in G Rich and J Shipley (eds.), War and Society in the Roman World (London, 1993), pp. 69–91.

  62. Liv. 25.25.7–11.

  63. Liv. 25.25.3–6.

  64. Liv. 25.26.7–15.

  65. Liv. 25.27.1–13.

  66. Liv. 25.28.1–29.

  67. Liv. 25.29.8–10.

  68. Liv. 25.30.1–5.

  69. Liv. 25.30.5–12.

  70. Liv. 25.30.12.

  71. Liv. 25.31.1– 7.

  72. Liv. 25.31.8–9; Plut. Marc. 21.

  73. Liv. 25.31.9.

  74. Liv. 25.31.9–10; Plut. Marc. 19.4–5.

  75. Cic. 2 Verr. 1.55; 4.121; Liv. 25.31.11.

  76. Cic. De Rep. 1.21.

  77. Liv. 25.40.1–5.

  78. Liv. 25.40.5–6.

  79. Liv. 25.40.11–12.

  80.Liv.25.40.8–12.

  81.Liv.25.40.12–13

  82.Liv.25.41.6.

  83.Liv.25.41.4–5.

  84.Liv.25.41.5–7.

  85.Liv.25.41.7.

  Chapter 4

  1. Liv. 26.21.2.

  2. Although as M Beard, The Roman Triumph (Cambridge, Ma., 2007), pp. 202–205 shows it is not at all clear what exactly the rules were for imperium lapsing, which should be of little surprise to readers at this point.

  3. Liv. 26.21.1.

  4. Liv. 45.35–39.

  5. Liv. 26.21.1–2.

  6. Liv. 26.21.3–4.

  7. 24.44.4–5 (Moore trans.).

  8. Liv. 25.3.6 (Moore trans.).

  9. Liv. 26.1.6–7 (Moore trans.).

  10. Polyb. 8.7.6.

  11. Liv. 25.26.7.

  12. Liv. 25.41.7.

  13. Liv. 26.21.10–17.

  14. Liv. 26.21.4.

  15. Liv. 26.21.4.

  16. For 295 to 293 see A Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae (Rome, 1937), 13.73; for the triumphs in 291 and 290 see Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 1.182–3.

  17. Liv. 10.31.

  18. For 294 the Consuls were M Atilius Regulus and L Postumius Megellus. See Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.73.

  19. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 1.203, 206, 207, 212, 213.

  20. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.75.

  21. Polyb. 1.17.1–13; Polyb. 1.62.1–2.

  22. Polyb. 2.31.

  23. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.79.

  24. Polyb. 2.34.1–3.

  25. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.79.

  26. Plut. Marc. 22.1

  27. Liv. 26.21.5–6; Plut. Marc. 22.1.

  28. Plut. Marc. 22.1–2.

  29. Concerning all these points, see JS Richardson, ‘The Triumph, The Praetors and the Senate’, in Journal of Roman Studies, 65 (1975), pp. 55–56.

  30. Liv. 26.21.6; Plut. Marc. 22.1; De Vir. Ill. 45.7.

  31. Richardson, ‘The Triumph, The Praetors and the Senate’, pp. 55–8.

  32. Richardson, ‘The Triumph, The Praetors and the Senate’, p. 55.

  33. Richardson, ‘The Triumph, The Praetors and the Senate’, p. 55.

  34. Liv. 26.21.6–9. (Roberts trans.).

  35. Plut. Marc. 28; See McDonnell, Roman Manliness, pp. 219–220.

  36. Polyb. 9.10–12.

  37. Liv. 25.40.2–4.

  38. Plut. Marc. 21 (Perrin trans.).

  39. Liv. 26.22.1–10.

  40. Liv. 26.22.15 (Moore trans.).

  41. Liv. 26.26.6–9 (Moore trans.).

  42. DF Epstein, Personal Enmity in Roman Politics 218–43 BC (London, 1987), p. 21.

  43. Liv. 26.29.5.

  44. Liv. 26.29.6–8.

  45. Liv. 26.30.1–11; Plut. Marc. 23.3–5.

  46. Liv. 26.31.9–11. (Moore trans.); Cf. Plut. Marc. 23.4–5.

  47. Plut. Marc. 23.4–5.

  48. Liv. 26.32.4–5 (Roberts trans.).

  49. Liv. 26.33.1–34.13.

  50. Liv. 26.33.1–34.13.

  51. Liv. 26.31.1.

  52. Liv. 26.33.4.

  53. Liv. 25.40.2.

  54. Plut. Marc. 21.3–5.

  55. Liv. 22.60.3–61.1; 23.22.4–8 (Roberts trans.); 26.32.1–2.

  56. The Syracusans offered to surrender themselves and become Marcellus’ clients in 211 but were prevented from doing so by the Roman deserters and mercenaries who were defending Achradina. This may have been part of the Sicilian argument when accusing Marcellus of refusing to accept their initial surrender, either in the senate house or when travelling among the houses of senators, rousing opposition to Marcellus.

  57. Liv. 26.32.5–8; Plut. Marc. 23.6–7.

  58. Plut. Marc. 23.7.

  59. JB Rives, ‘Marcellus and the Syracusans’, Classical Philology, 88 (1993), pp. 32–35.

  Chapter 5

  1. Liv. 26.35.1–36.12.

  2. Liv. 26.38.1–6.

  3. Liv. 26.38.6.

  4. Liv. 26.37.6–14.

  5. Liv. 27.1.1–3.

  6. Liv. 27.1.4–14.

  7. Liv. 27.1.14–15.

  8. Liv. 27.2.1–6.

  9. For this point about Roman battles in general see P Sabin, ‘The Face of Roman Battle’, in Journal of Roman Studies, 90 (2000), pp. 1–17.

  10. Liv. 27.2.10–11.

  11. Liv. 27.2.11–12.

  12. Liv. 27.4.1–4.

  13. Liv. 27.7.11–13; 27.8.13.

  14. Liv. 27.9.7–10.11.

  15. Liv. 27.11.2–6 (Moore trans.).

  16. Liv. 27.11.9–12.

  17. Liv. 27.11.12–16.

  18. Liv. 27.12.1–8 (Moore trans.).

  19. Liv. 27.12.7–9.

  20. Liv. 27.12.9–13.

  21. Liv. 27.12.15.

  22. Plut. Marc. 25.4.

  23. P Culham, ‘Chance, Command, and Chao in Ancient Military Engagements’, in World Futures, 27 (1989), pp. 191–205 is an outstanding analysis of how entropy worked its way into ancient infantry formations.

  24. Liv. 27.12.14–17.

  25. Liv. 27.14.4.

  26. Plut. Marc. 26.3.

  27. Liv. 27.14.7–13.

  28. Liv. 27.14.13–14.

  29. Liv. 27.15.1.

  30. Liv. 27.20.10.

  31. Liv. 27.21.3.

  32. Liv. 27.15.9–16.7.

  33. Liv. 27.16.7–8 (Moore trans.).

  34. Plut. Marc. 21.3–4.

  35. Plut. Fab. 22.5–6.

  36. Plin. NH 34.40.

  37. Liv. 27.20.9–13.

  38. Liv. 27.20.11–13.

  39. Liv. 27.20.12–13.

  40. McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, pp. 91–5.

  41. Rosenstein, Imperatores Victi, pp. 114–52.

  42. Liv. 27.21.4–5.

  43. Liv. 27.21.6–8.

  44. Liv. 27.22.1.

  45. Liv. 27.23.4.

  46. Liv. 27.25.9.

  47. Liv. 27.25.
/>
  48. Liv. 27.25.11.4.

  49. Liv. 27.26.4–6.

  50. Liv. 27.28.1–13.

  51. Liv. 27.29.2.

  52. Liv. 27.27.12–14 (Moore trans.).

  53. Polyb. 10.32.5–6.

  54. Liv. 27.27.3–7.

  55. Plut. Marc. 29.7–9.

  56. Polyb. 10.32.7–12 (Paton trans).

  57. Liv. 27.27.11 (Moore trans).

  58. Liv. 27.26.13–27.2.

  59. Plut. Marc. 29.4–5.

  60. Plut. Marc. 30.1–4 (Perrin trans.).

  61. Liv. 27.28.1–2.

  62. Polyb. 6.53–54 (Paton trans.).

  63. See Appendix A.

  64. H Flower, ‘The Tradition of the Spolia Opima: M Claudius Marcellus and Augustus’, in Classical Antiquity, 19 (2000), p. 54.

  65. Flower, ‘The Tradition of the Spolia Opima’, p. 47.

  Conclusion

  1. Polyb. 6.19.2.

  2. Polyb. 6.19.2; McCall, Cavalry of the Roman Republic, p. 116.

  3. P Culham, ‘Archives and Alternatives in Ancient Rome’, in Classical Philology, 84 (1989), pp. 100–115, provides an illuminating, almost troubling, account of the state of record keeping in the Republic.

  4. Liv. Preface 10 (De Selincourt trans.).

  Appendix A

  1. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 2.563, 567; Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.77.

  2. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 2.567.

  3. Liv. 23.30.18, 24.9.5–6, 25.2.3–5.

  4. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 2.551.

  5. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 2.625.

  6. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 2.587.

  7. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 13.77.

  Bibliography

  Albrecht, Michael von, A History of Roman Literature from Livius Andronicus to Boethius: with Special Regard to its Influence on World Literature, Vol. 1 (Leiden, 1997).

  Ardant du Picq, Charles Jean JJ (Colonel JN Greely and Major RC Cotton trans.), Battle Studies, 1921; Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7294/pg7294.html. Accessed 6/28/2011.

  Astin, AE, ‘The Lex Annalis before Sulla’, Latomus, 16 (1957), pp. 588–613, and 17 (1958), pp. 49–64.

  Beard, Mary, The Roman Triumph (Cambridge, Ma., 2009).

  Billows, Richard, ‘Legal Fiction and Political Reform at Rome in the Early Second Century BC’, Phoenix, 43 (1989), pp. 112–133.

  Brennan, T Corey, ‘Power and Progress under the Republican Constitution’, in Harriet Flower (ed.), Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 31–65.

  Brennan, T Corey, The Praetorship of the Roman Republic, Vol 2. (Oxford, 2000).

  Briscoe, John, ‘The Second Punic War’, in AE Astin, FW Walbank, and MW Frederiksen (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 8 (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 44–63.