Sword of Rome

by Douglas Jackson

It was an old jest and should have brought a smile, but when he finally spoke Serpentius’s voice was grave.

  ‘Word reached the village yesterday that the legions of Syria and Egypt have hailed General Titus Flavius Vespasian as Emperor and the Balkan units who would have fought for Otho have joined them. They say they’re already marching on Italia to bring Vitellius to battle.’

  So, more war, more bloodshed and more death, but, oddly, Valerius felt a wellspring of hope. There was still a chance. He would do what he did best, fight, and defeat his old friend. He would regain his honour and win back Domitia. He turned to the Spaniard.

  ‘So it begins again.’

  Glossary

  Ala milliaria –

  A reinforced auxiliary cavalry wing, normally between 700 and 1,000 strong. In Britain and the west the units would be a mix of cavalry and infantry, in the east a mix of spearmen and archers.

  Ala quingenaria –

  Auxiliary cavalry wing normally composed of 500 auxiliary horsemen.

  Aquilifer –

  The standard bearer who carried the eagle of the legion.

  As –

  A small copper coin worth approximately one fifth of a sestertius.

  Aureus (pl. Aurei) –

  Valuable gold coin worth twenty-five denarii.

  Auxiliary –

  Non-citizen soldiers recruited from the provinces as light infantry or for specialist tasks, e.g. cavalry, slingers, archers.

  Ballista (pl. Ballistae) –

  Artillery for throwing heavy missiles of varying size and type. The smaller machines were called scorpions or onagers.

  Batavians –

  Members of a powerful Germanic tribe which lived in the area of the Rhine delta, now part of the Netherlands. Traditionally provided auxiliary units for the Roman Empire in return for relief from tribute and taxes.

  Beneficiarius –

  A legion’s record keeper or scribe.

  Boars Head (alt. Wedge) –

  A compact arrowhead formation used by Roman infantry and cavalry to break up enemy formations.

  Caligae –

  Sturdily constructed, reinforced leather sandals worn by Roman soldiers. Normally with iron-studded sole.

  Century –

  Smallest tactical unit of the legion, numbering eighty men.

  Classis Germanica –

  Fleet of galleys which patrolled and carried military traffic on the River Rhine frontier.

  Cohort –

  Tactical fighting unit of the legion. Normally contained six centuries, apart from the elite First cohort, which had five double-strength centuries (800 men).

  Consul –

  One of two annually elected chief magistrates of Rome, normally appointed by the people and ratified by the Senate.

  Contubernium –

  Unit of eight soldiers who shared a tent or barracks.

  Cornicen (pl. Cornicines) –

  Legionary signal trumpeter who used an instrument called a cornu.

  Decimation –

  A brutal and seldom used Roman military punishment where one man in every ten of a unit found guilty of cowardice or mutiny was chosen for execution by his comrades.

  Decurion –

  A junior officer in a century, or a troop commander in a cavalry unit.

  Denarius (pl. Denarii) –

  A silver coin.

  Domus –

  The house of a wealthy Roman, e.g. Nero’s Domus Aurea (Golden House).

  Duplicarius –

  Literally ‘double pay man’. A senior legionary with a trade, or an NCO.

  Equestrian –

  Roman knightly class.

  Fortuna –

  The goddess of luck and good fortune.

  Frumentarii –

  Messengers who carried out secret duties for the Emperor, possibly including spying and assassination.

  Gladius (pl. Gladii) –

  The short sword of the legionary. A lethal killing weapon at close quarters.

  Governor –

  Citizen of senatorial rank given charge of a province. Would normally have a military background (see Proconsul).

  Haruspex –

  Soothsayer, sometimes a priest.

  Hispania Tarraconensis –

  Roman province covering a large part of what is now Spain.

  Jupiter –

  Most powerful of the Roman gods, often referred to as Optimus Maximus (greatest and best).

  Legate –

  The general in charge of a legion. A man of senatorial rank.

  Legion –

  Unit of approximately 5,000 men, all of whom would be Roman citizens.

  Lictor –

  Bodyguard of a Roman magistrate. There were strict limits on the numbers of lictors associated with different ranks.

  Lituus –

  Curved trumpet used to transmit cavalry commands.

  Lusitania –

  The Roman province which covered a territory now southern Portugal and part of western Spain.

  Magister navis –

  A ship’s captain.

  Manumission –

  The act of freeing a slave.

  Mars –

  The Roman god of war.

  Mithras –

  An Eastern religion popular among Roman soldiers.

  Nomentan –

  A superior variety of Roman wine, mentioned by Martial in his Epigrams.

  Phalera (pl. Phalerae) –

  Awards won in battle worn on a legionary’s chest harness.

  Pilum (pl. Pila) –

  Heavy spear carried by a Roman legionary.

  Praetorian Guard –

  Powerful military force stationed in Rome. Accompanied the Emperor on campaign, but could be of dubious loyalty and were responsible for the overthrow of several Roman rulers.

  Prefect –

  Auxiliary cavalry commander.

  Primus Pilus –

  ‘First File’. The senior centurion of a legion.

  Principia –

  Legionary headquarters building.

  Proconsul –

  Governor of a Roman province, such as Spain or Syria, and of consular rank.

  Procurator –

  Civilian administrator subordinate to a governor.

  Proscaenium –

  The area where plays were staged in a Roman theatre.

  Quaestor –

  Civilian administrator in charge of finance.

  Scorpio –

  Bolt-firing Roman light artillery piece.

  Scutum (pl. Scuta) –

  The big, richly decorated curved shield carried by a legionary.

  Senator –

  Patrician member of the Senate, the key political institution which administered the Roman Empire. Had to meet strict financial and property rules and be at least thirty years of age.

  Sestertius (pl. Sestertii) –

  Roman brass coin worth a quarter of a denarius.

  Signifer –

  Standard bearer who carried the emblem of a cohort or century.

  Testudo –

  Literally ‘tortoise’. A unit of soldiers with shields interlocked for protection.

  Tribune –

  One of six senior officers acting as aides to a Legate. Often, but not always, on short commissions of six months upwards.

  Tribunus laticlavius –

  Literally ‘broad stripe tribune’. The most senior of a legion’s military tribunes.

  Urban cohorts –

  Force founded by Augustus to combat the power of the Praetorian Guard. Used for policing large mobs and riot-control duties.

  Vascones –

  Roman auxiliaries from a tribe inhabiting northern Spain. Gave their name to the Basque region.

  Victimarius –

  Servant who delivers and attends to the victim of a sacrifice.

  Victory –

  Roman goddess equivalent to the Greek Nike.

  Vigiles –
r />   Force responsible for the day-to-day policing of Rome’s streets and fire prevention and fighting.

  Historical Note

  Gaius Valerius Verrens lives in interesting times, and none more interesting than the tumultuous period of civil war erroneously dubbed The Year of the Four Emperors. The year is actually eighteen months and it would be unfair not to count Nero, whose policies and fatally flawed decision making were the genesis for all that followed, among its key players, taking the Emperor count to five. It was a remarkably untidy and sprawling civil war, which had a devastating impact on every subject of the empire from Lusitania in the west to Alexandria in the east, and from Britannia to Africa. With a little more composure and confidence, Nero might have survived to do more damage. His successor, Galba, was the worst possible candidate; arrogant, elderly, stubborn – admittedly not in themselves a barrier to high office – a skinflint who refused to pay the Praetorian Guard their due, and so aloof he could not see what was happening under his nose. He was also a poor judge of character who, of several possible alternatives, chose an heir in his own image, alienating all others. Marcus Salvius Otho came to the throne with Galba’s blood on his hands and a reputation as the man who sold his own wife to Nero for Imperial favour. Our main sources, Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius, portray him in a poor light for different reasons. Yet despite all the carnage and political upheaval of his succession, and the horrors that followed, some decisions he took in office point to a thoughtful, if impetuous, leader who might have grown to become a fine Emperor. Otho’s misfortune was to inherit power without strength, and to be presented with a military crisis before he could create political stability. The man who faced him, Aulus Vitellius, is another who suffers from the record; a spendthrift glutton who cared for nothing but his own belly. Again there are certain facts that cloud this judgement, which is why I’ve chosen to portray Vitellius as a man carried along by flattery and events, unfortunate in his choice of collaborators. If the civil war was untidy, the first major confrontation between the two sides – at Bedriacum – was diabolically so. It was so badly botched on both sides that it’s a wonder anyone emerged a winner, and afterwards Otho’s supporters cried ‘Betrayal’, possibly with some justification. In the aftermath, a devastated Otho chose to commit suicide, and his death probably paints him in a much more flattering light than his life, because it prevented further bloodshed. If he had waited a week, or even a few days, he would have been joined by an overwhelming force of veterans from the Danube frontier. His impetuosity was literally the death of him.

  Whereas the final battle in Avenger of Rome was entirely a work of fiction, the major events of Sword of Rome are as accurate as I can make them. The scratch marine legion, First Adiutrix, recovered from the massacre at the Milvian Bridge to acquit themselves heroically at Bedriacum. Otho was so starved of soldiers that he recruited Rome’s gladiators to his cause, though his generals wasted many of their lives in futile engagements, and they ended up fighting each other for Vitellius’s entertainment. Aulus Vitellius did borrow Julius Caesar’s sword from the temple of Mars Ultor to make himself look more of a general.

  The result of First Bedriacum leaves Vitellius on the throne of Rome and soon to be confirmed as Emperor by the Senate. His old friend Gaius Valerius Verrens is an outcast, stripped of his rights and his property. The only way to have them returned is to join the growing insurrection of the new contender for the purple, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the elder, and become an Enemy of Rome.

  Acknowledgements

  I’m grateful to my editor Simon Taylor and his team at Transworld for helping me make Sword of Rome the book it is, and to my agent Stan, of Jenny Brown Associates in Edinburgh, for all his advice and encouragement. As always my wife Alison and my children, Kara, Nikki and Gregor, have been the rocks on which this book has been built. Apart from the primary sources, Plutarch, Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio, Gwyn Morgan’s 69 AD, The Year of the Four Emperors was constantly at my side, and any gaps in my ever-advancing knowledge of life in the legions were filled by Stephen Dando-Collins’s Legions of Rome. Special thanks to my friend Moira Pringle in Milan for her help in guiding me through the swampland and forests of northern Italy in the 1st century AD.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  A journalist by profession, Douglas Jackson transformed a lifelong fascination for Rome and the Romans into his first two highly praised novels, Caligula and Claudius. His third novel, Hero of Rome, introduced readers to his new series hero, Gaius Valerius Verrens, tribune of the Twentieth legion. Defender of Rome and Avenger of Rome followed, and this acclaimed series has established its author as one of the UK’s foremost historical novelists. An active member of the Historical Writers’ Association and the Historical Novels Society, Douglas Jackson lives near Stirling in Scotland.

  Also by Douglas Jackson

  CALIGULA

  CLAUDIUS

  HERO OF ROME

  DEFENDER OF ROME

  AVENGER OF ROME

  For more information on Douglas Jackson and his books, see his website at www.douglas-jackson.net

  TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

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  First published in Great Britain

  in 2013 by Bantam Press

  an imprint of Transworld Publishers

  Copyright © Douglas Jackson 2013

  Douglas Jackson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448127610

  ISBNs 9780593070543 (cased)

  9780593070550 (tpb)

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