1. THE ROMAN COLUMN OF MARCH ENTERS THE WESTERN DEFILE
Livy describes the Caudine Forks, Furculae Caudinae, as formed by two narrow wooded defiles, between which lay an upland valley, verdant and well-watered, but entirely enclosed by the surrounding mountains. Through this valley passed the route from Capua in Campania to Beneventum in Samnium.
In this plate we see the Roman consular armies (1), having marched that morning from their last camp near Calatia, now heading for Caudium, strung out in column of march. The head of the column is just entering the valley unopposed through the western defile. All is seemingly serene; there is no sign of the Samnites. Pack animals can be seen towards the rear of the column (2).
However, two Samnite warriors are monitoring the passage of the Roman marching column carefully. Both wear the distinctive Oscan broad belt (3). The standing warrior wears triple-disc cuirass body armour (4), while his companion to the left sports a simpler style of body protection (5). He has removed his Italo-Attic helmet, and it lies on the ground (6). They are armed with hastae (thrusting spears, 7) and xiphoi (double-edged, straight shortswords) housed in scabbards suspended from baldrics (8).
Terrain is not just the field where the battle is fought – it is very much a part of the battle itself. A commander who makes the terrain work in a positive manner against the enemy can restrict the mobility of his army, which can even put it in a fatal position.
2. THE ROMANS ATTEMPT TO BREAK OUT THROUGH THE EASTERN DEFILE
Having penetrated what turned out to be an ambush site, the Romans (1) discovered the exit through the second defile at the eastern end of the valley had been barricaded by the Samnites. As a military maxim spells out, ‘an obstacle not covered by fire is little more than a nuisance to the enemy's movement': in other words, it is not an obstacle. This is the fundamental rule: any obstacle can be surmounted given time, energy and no distractions. At this stage, despite the apparent hopelessness of their situation, the Romans would have attempted to break through the entrapment. However, at this end of the valley the Samnites (2) soon revealed themselves and manned their barricade.
In this plate we witness the Romans mounting an assault in a brave attempt (in vain, as it would turn out) to carry the obstacle across their path. The Samnite defenders are holding the Roman onslaught from behind their barricade, made of boulders, felled trees, earth and an abatis of sharpened tree branches.
The Roman officer to the left (3) is a wealthier citizen, equipped with the panoply of the Greek hoplite, with helmet and muscled cuirass of bronze, and the clipeus (double-grip bowl-shaped shield). His Italo-Corinthian helmet has a transverse crest and upright feathers. His sword is the kopis, a type which had a single-edged recurved blade that pitched towards its point.
The figure to the right (4) is a less well-off Roman citizen, wearing a simple pectoral plate secured into place by means of a harness in the form of leather cross straps. He carries the oval scutum body shield, Italic in origin, and wears a Montefortino helmet with cheek pieces. The less well-off citizens might be armed only with a hasta, the long thrusting spear.
3. THE TWO CONSULS NEGOTIATE WITH THE SAMNITE GENERALISSIMO
Gavius Pontius (1), the Samnite generalissimo, is depicted in a short linen tunic and an Oscan broad bronze belt (2). This is a leather belt, some 9cm in breadth and covered with bronze sheeting, fastened with two elaborate hooks and beautifully embossed. Accentuating the waist and drawing attention to the groin area, it is the very symbol of the wearer's manhood. Prominent, however, is his splendid gilded bronze body armour (3), the triple-disc cuirass peculiar to an Oscan warrior. This consists of three symmetrical bronze discs placed on the chest and the back. Our fine example is based upon that found in a chamber tomb at Ksour Essef, Tunisia, which has the lower disc replaced with a bust of a goddess adorned with a triple-crested helmet. She is probably the Oscan equivalent of Athena Promachos, ‘Athena who fights in the front line', a very appropriate divine patron for the shrewd Gavius Pontius.
The Roman political system consisted of a series of annually elected magistrates, with two consuls acting as the chief executive magistrates of the state, as well as its supreme military commanders in the field. The two consuls for the year 321 bc, Titus Veturius Calvinus (4) and Spurius Postumius Albinus (5), like their adversary, are both decked out in their finest panoply. This consists of an Italo-Corinthian helmet (6), a peculiar and perverted development of the closed Greek Corinthian helmet once commonly worn by hoplites. These helmets, which are silvered, are adorned with a horsehair crest. Their body armour consists of Etruscan muscle-corselets (7), likewise silvered, complete with shoulder guards and pteruges. Beneath this they wear fine linen tunics, which have been bleached white.
Though the Samnite and the two Romans in all probability understand one another's language, Oscan and Latin respectively, so as not to misunderstand the finer points of their discussions they are accompanied by interpreters (8 and 9) speaking in Attic Greek, the lingua franca of diplomacy. Gavius Pontius has also brought with him his two Molossian hounds (10), for added protection.
4. THE ROMANS SURRENDER THEIR ARMS AND ARMOUR
The Samnite tunic (1) was a short garment of wool or linen with short sleeves and a rounded neckline, and either a straight, rounded or pointed hemline. Bands of decorated material were applied to the shoulders, sleeves, hem and chest, and the examples depicted in this artwork reconstruction are based on the funerary paintings from Paestum and south Italian red-figure vases, the tunicae versicolores of Livy (9.40.3). By contrast, the Roman soldiers are clothed in the cheapest undyed woollen cloth; consequently, we see them depicted wearing tunics of a natural off-white colour.
Here we see a procession of dispirited Roman soldiers (2), having tossed down their arms and armour, submitting themselves to the disgrace of passing under the yoke (3). They pass between two throngs of Samnite warriors (4), who look on, jeering at and taunting the humiliated Romans with understandable satisfaction. Some have erected trophies of Roman weapons and armour, hoisted on the tops of their spears (5)
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