Battles and Raids in Early Rome

During the regal period, Rome fought wars with the neighboring towns in Etruria and Latium, but the stories of these wars in our sources are largely fictitious. According to tradition, after the last king was expelled, Rome became involved in wars with its Latin neighbors, who were decisively defeated at Lake Regillus (496). A treaty was signed in 493, which, however, did not end hostilities with the Latins. During the fifth century, several wars were also fought with Etruscan towns, among which neighboring Veii - an Etruscan city-state to the north and equal to Rome in wealth and power - was the most important. Enemies of a different nature appear in the annalistic accounts at about the time of the signing of the treaty with the Latins. For the next century or so, the Volsci, Aequi, and Sabines were to be persistent opponents. The incursions of Volsci and Aequi in central Italy and of the Lucanians and Bruttians into the coastal areas of southern Italy were the result of migratory movements from the mountainous regions of the interior. Several towns in Campania and in southern and eastern Latium were taken over by these peoples. For the next decades, important Latin towns, such as Tibur and Praeneste, disappear from view.1

Due to the annalistic nature of our sources, we are told about wars between Rome and the Volsci or Aequi in almost every year. Since events were told year-by-year and later annalists had to work on the basis of very few (if, indeed, any) sources, it was natural to include and repeat for each and every year the same statements about hostilities with one or the other of Rome’s opponents (see also Chapter 2). The Roman sources without exception blame hostilities on the opponents, who are depicted as poor, uncultured, and rapacious highland peoples. However, bands of Romans, who acted upon their own private initiative, were undoubtedly also not averse to some plundering. The main aim of such raids was the gathering of booty, consisting of cattle, slaves, and other movable items of wealth. Raids occasionally caused punitive expeditions on a larger scale, sometimes ending in battle. In most years, however, hostilities did not consist of full-blown campaigns of Rome’s entire army, but rather of small-scale and short-lived raids into enemy territory. Battles were surely not fought each year. Hence, we should distinguish between two kinds of military action in these years: on the one hand, plundering raids by small groups into hostile territory; on the other hand, campaigns by the men in arms of the Roman community, led by their highest magistrates (see also Chapter 6).

The two kinds of military action demanded different kinds of fighting. It is generally assumed that during the sixth century the peoples of central Italy had taken over the Greek way of waging war, i. e., employed heavy infantry (called hoplites) in a solid formation (the phalanx). Hoplite warfare had emerged in Greece during the seventh century, and it is likely that it was introduced soon afterward in central Italy by way of the Greek cities in the south. Hoplite warfare was based on the principle that a heavily armed body of men, who were sufficiently courageous and disciplined to remain in a solid formation, was almost invincible. Hoplite warfare, however, was not suited to many of the hostilities in which Rome was involved during the fifth century. Heavily armed soldiers could not perform swift raids into hostile territory. Moreover, much of the terrain in which the Aequi and Volsci had to be fought was too rugged to suit a phalanx. Hence, many actions were not undertaken by the entire armed forces of Rome but by smaller groups who did not fight in solid formation. The defeat of the gens of the Fabii at the Cremera River, who in 479 went to war against Veii on their own, may reflect such activities: ‘‘And so long as nothing more than plundering was afoot, the Fabii were not only an adequate garrison for the fort, but roaming about in the region where the Tuscan territory bordered on the Roman, they afforded security to their own countrymen and annoyance to the enemy’’ (Livy 2.49.9).

Livy nicely emphasizes (maybe inadvertently) the small scale and mobile nature of the Fabian activities. However, they were annihilated when they met an opposing force. Although one should remain skeptical regarding the stories told by Livy about fifth-century warfare, the fact that - in marked contrast to previous years - members of the Fabian gens disappear from the list of consuls for the next 12 years may offer some support for the veracity of the story. Not all actions, however, were of this kind. Some of the towns in the plains of Latium had been taken over by the highland peoples. Hence, not all actions were raids and not all fights occurred in mountainous areas. Apart from swift and small-scale actions undertaken by lightly armed men, battles were fought between neighboring towns and city-states in which the full force of the heavy infantry was turned against the enemy.