In 295 B.C.E., Rome was faced with the chilling prospect of four peoples combining against it. The situation was so dire that Rome had five men who were given imperium. In other words, the Romans had five armies in the field led by five generals. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius (two experienced generals who had been elected consuls in 297, had their commands prorogued for a year, and then they were reelected in 295) marched a large army into Etruria. There they met a Samnite/Gaul army. The Romans fielded probably their biggest army up to that time. It consisted of four legions and their accompanying alae. This would have given the Romans around 36,000 men. One source puts the enemy army at 625,000. Clearly, they had less, but they did outnumber the Romans. In the Battle of Sentinum (sometimes called the “Battle of the Nations”), Fabius faced the Samnites and Decius was up against the Gauls. As the armies stood facing each other, an odd incident took place, according to Livy.
“On the third day, both parties marched out their while force to the field: here, while the armies stood in order of battle, a hind, chased by a wolf from the mountains, ran through the plain between the two lines: there the animals taking different directions, the hind bent its course toward the Gauls, the wolf towards the Romans: way was made between the ranks for the wolf, the Gauls slew the hind with their javelins; on which one of the Roman soldiers in the van said, ‘To that side, where you see an animal sacred to Diana, lying prostrate, flight and slaughter are directed; on this side the victorious wolf of Mars, safe and untouched, reminds us of our founder, and of our descent from that deity.’”
It was to prove to be the greatest battle in Roman history up to then. Fabius fought a cautious battle aimed at exhausting his foes. He knew that the Samnites and Gaul fought with fury at the start, but then their effort fell off. “[In] their first efforts, they were more than men, yet in their last they were less than women.” (The Romans are going to say the same about the German barbarians.) If you could stand tall and survive the initial onslaught, you would be in good shape. His plan certainly took advantage of the Roman soldier’s perseverance and took into account that the enemy were “remarkably ill able to bear labour and heat.”
However, on the Roman left, Decius was more aggressive. He charged with his infantry and also led his cavalry against the enemy cavalry. He managed to push it back twice. These attacks tend to prove the Roman cavalry was used to make shock charges that would result in a melee with the opposing cavalry. It also shows that the Roman cavalry was not immune to the classic cavalry problem of chasing a defeated enemy cavalry, thus taking itself off the battlefield or riding into trouble. As Decius chased the opposing cavalry off the battle field, his cavalry was hit by a Gallic counterattack by their chariots. According to Livy, the chariots were pulled by cattle! “A number of the enemy, mounted on chariots and cars, made towards them with such a prodigious clatter from the trampling of the cattle and rolling of wheels, as affrighted the horses of the Romans, unaccustomed to such tumultuous operations. By this means the victorious cavalry were dispersed, through a panic, and men and horses, in their headlong flight, were tumbled promiscuously on the ground.” The chariots went on to disrupt the Roman infantry.
With his men showing signs of wavering, Decius performed the devotion (as his father had done in the Battle of Vesuvius). He called out to his deceased father Publius Decius and proclaimed it was his destiny to “serve as expiatory victim to avert public disaster.” It was a family thing, apparently. He had planned ahead and had a priest who he had ordered to stay by him throughout the battle. The priest took him through the checklist of things to do and say for a devotion. He then charged the Gauls and was killed, but his sacrifice refueled the Roman legionaries. The priest proclaimed that Decius’ act doomed the enemy to Hades. Along with that boost of morale came a unit led by Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Caius Marcius that had been sent by Fabius to help bolster the left.
On the right, “as soon as he perceived that neither the shout, nor the efforts of the enemy, nor the weapons which they threw, retained their former force,” Fabius sent his cavalry to hit the Samnites on their flank. The pressure here and from the Roman infantry in the front caused the Samnites to flee the battlefield. The Gauls, now faced by the whole Roman army, put their shields over their heads to counter missile weapons. (Later, the Romans will adopt this tactic and call it a testudo.) The Romans approached from all sides. The legionaries gathered all the javelins lying around and pelted the turtle. Some of them found flesh and the Gallic formation was gradually whittled down. Livy mentions that “a great many, who were unhurt, yet fell as if thunderstruck.” If so, that was one hell of a devotion. Simultaneously, the Romans captured the Samnite camp and cut off the line of retreat for the Gauls. The battle ended in a decisive victory and Fabius was awarded a triumph. (Sorry, Decius. There were no posthumous triumphs.). Livy put the Roman dead at 8,700 and the enemy at 25,000.
- mostly from Livy
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