War at Home and Abroad (492-496)
“The only lessons to extract from any civil war is that...there are heroes, but the causes are never heroic.” - Anthony Minghella
To say that the Megelli rebellion had thrown the Republic into anarchy, would be an understatement. Southern Italy had slipped almost entirely from Rome’s control, as had several cities along the Adriatic. To make matters worse, the legions were all deployed abroad, either in Sicily or in Sardinia, and could thus not be easily recalled. Further, the masses of starving southern Italians had flocked to the Megelli standard, swelling their ranks to over 30,000 men.
The forces in Sicily, which at this point were the Legio II and Legio III numbered some 17,000 men and were dispatched to Messana which they would reach in July of 492, though any attempt at crossing would be foiled by the nascent Megelli navy until August. Meanwhile, in Sardinia, the Legio I, still under the command of Gaius Luscinus, forced the surrender of the fortress at Turris, yet the continued Republican insistence on campaigning in Sardinia would prove devastating to their cause.
The fall of Turres would give the Republicans false hope that both the civil war and Punic War could be prosecuted simultaneously.
Still, at this early date, the Megelli and the Republicans seemed evenly matched. In August, the Sicilian legions finally began their crossing into mainland Italy, and reached Croton the follow month. The main Megelli force was stationed around Thurii, besieging the settlement, and did not move once the Republicans had landed, bolstering their confidence. Moreover, a Carthaginian relief force sent to recapture Turres was beaten back at Caralis, and Luscinus was beginning the campaign which would cover much of 493, as he chased the Carthaginian forces from one end of the island to the other. In another piece of good news for the Republicans, it seems at this point that the Maniple system seems to have finally come into widespread use, largely as the necessity of military innovation grew.
The Battle of Turres allowed the Roman presence in Sardinia to survive.
The maniples would become the backbone of the mid-Republican army.
Yet, as 493 dawned, the situation began to deteriorate. That spring the Legio II and Legio III were forced back from Italy and into Sicily, and at this point the Legio III disappears from our records, with most scholars agreeing that it was simply absorbed into the Legio II. In northern Italy, Pisae and Perugia had both fallen to the Megelli, who had hastily organized militias in the region to take advantage of the Republican lack of men. In June of 493 it appears that the Republicans hastily organized the Legio V, whose descriptor is now lost to history, in order to protect Rome itself. In late 493 the Republican situation had deteriorated so severely in Italy that Luscinus was recalled to Rome. On his retreat, he received a mortal wound and expired in December. Further, the financial situation of the Republic had become so dire that archeological evidence points to a general ransacking of the Roman Forum in order to meet basic expenses. In a testament to the Republicans’ increasingly desperate situation, no Consular elections were held in 493, with Regulus instead being appointed dictator until the crisis was resolved [1].
The death of Luscinus was a blow to Republican morale.
The destruction of the Roman forum was born out of financial need, though doubtless future Romans looked back with anger at their short-sighted predecessors for the move.
494 brought with it more dire news as Carthaginian forces, having landed at Megelli occupied Corfinium and stormed the city, made their way to Rome, where the Legio V narrowly repelled them in February. At this point even the militaristic Senate acknowledged that the Carthaginian war had become untenable and proposed a status quo antebellum to their Punic neighbor, which gratefully for the Republicans was accepted in April. The spring of 494 also brought with it some good news, as the now leaderless Legio I arrived in Italy and the recently battle tested Legio V was merged into it. A certain Gaius Licinius Varrus would take command of the newly enlarged Legio I, and lead it to a series of victories in northern Italy. Varrus proved so competent that by the fall, he was preparing for a campaign in southern Italy to crush the Megelli once and for all, and this is when disaster struck.
The terms which Republicans sent to Carthage were accepted, though the Megelli continued the fight against the North African state.
Varrus's victories allowed the Republicans to dream of victory.
The Legio I in Italy and the Legio II in Sicily together now numbered 40,000 men, yet to bring the full might of their numbers to bear, the Legio II had to be recalled from Sicily. The crossing the legion again accomplished successfully, but at Thurii, just a week’s ride from Varrus’s army, the main Megelli force, still with over 30,000 men, fell upon them. Of the original 17,000 men in the Legio II only 7,000 escaped with their lives. The Republican manpower advantage had evaporated. Varrus rushed into Lucania to save the battered force, and there met the Megelli in an engagement that saw 60,000 men on the field of battle. After over a week of fighting, the Megelli were forced back, though with heavy casualties for the Republicans. After spending the winter recovering, Varrus continued onto Thurii in an attempt to rout the Megelli army. In the spring of 495 they met in another bloody battle, and here the Republicans were soundly defeated. Varrus fell back into Picenum, where he would lick his wounds, while the Megelli advanced into Samnium, their hold on southern Italy secure. Worse yet, while Carthage had officially made peace with the Republicans, they continued the war with the Megelli, and sensing weakness set about occupying a swath of land from Corfinium to Perugia.
The Battle of Lucania averted disaster for the Republicans, but left the Megelli force intact.
The Battle of Thurii would cripple the Republican capability to launch an offensive.
State of the civil war in 496. The green stripped areas show the extent of the Carthaginian occupation.
As 495 finally ended, and Rome entered its fourth year of civil war, the situation was as muddled as ever, though a Megelli victory was looking likely, if not inevitable. Republican manpower and gold reserves were nonexistent. Another grand public building, the harbor of Syracuse, was ransacked to fund war operations, yet all that did was buy the Republic time, and a new rebellion had broken out in Messana, where rebels seized the city for the Megelli, and imperilled the only unravaged territory for the Republicans. It was increasingly a question of when, not if, the Republicans would fall and Megellus would enter Rome.
The destruction of the Syracuse's harbor was symbolic of Republican desperation.
The Republicans were in dire straits by 496.
[1]: This is mainly my explanation for the lack of an election, though I do think it would make sense given the circumstances.
[2]: I decided to go ahead an do away with the updates on office holders and the like at least for this turn. It's quite tiring to do, and takes away from my enjoyment writing this.
Well folks here you go! Things are looking really rough for me right now. Maybe Rome will fair better under Megellus?