The War Against Ariovistus Part IV

Part I: jefffletcher.deviantart.com/ar…

Part II: jefffletcher.deviantart.com/ar…

Part III: jefffletcher.deviantart.com/ar…

THE WAR AGAINST ARIOVISTUS Part IV
September 58 B.C.
Foothills of the Mons Vosegus, Region of Alsatia, Territory of The Germanic Tribe of the Suebi
(Near modern Ostheim Haut-Rhin; 30 miles south of Strasbourg, Alsace, France)

ROMA INVICTA – Roman Victory

His battle line was rapidly crumbling, his finest warriors had fallen, and the spirit of his army had broken. Ariovistus realized that the battle was lost, and called out to his few surviving warriors, exhorting them to follow him. With that, the Suebi King turned and fled the field as fast as his horse could carry him. Most of his fellow tribesmen were too busy being hacked to shreds by the Roman gladii to notice that their King had abandoned them. But with the battle quickly turning against them, thousands of warriors began to share their King’s realization, and followed suit.

However, as the horde of surviving Germanic warriors began to fall back before the advancing Roman line, they quickly found their retreat blocked by their own train of wagons, pack animals, and their own families! Surprisingly, at this stage of the battle, it was the Germanic women who took up the reins of their husbands, bravely fighting off the advancing Romans, sometimes with no weapons other than their fingernails, and all the while screaming the most ghastly banshee-like wails imaginable. They fought and screamed with such furor that even the Roman legionaries found this unsettling and hesitated somewhat before advancing to engage them. This caution is understandable however: seeing as the Tenth had just barely survived an assault by hundreds of superhuman monsters with great difficulty, who knew what other nasty surprises these savages had in store?

It was Centurion Marcus Pulcher, Primus Pilus of the Seventh Legion, who struck first into the Teutonic camp and, finding that for all their ferocity, the Germanic women were still human, called out to the rest of his legion to follow. As the Roman legionary lines advanced, hacking and cutting and brutally plundering their way through the enemy camp, it was Crassus and his cavalrymen who had the honor of locating Mettius and Procillus, both alive and well, though a little shaken from their experiences. Procillus would later state in his report that the barbarians’ runic shamans had wanted to offer them as human sacrifices to the Gods. The two legates were only spared because the Suebi King himself had insisted on adding high-ranking Romans to his already considerable collection of hostages. Caesar too was relieved and delighted with the news of the rescue of Mettius and Procillus, and would later state that this alone was the single greatest victory won that day.

Together with Mettius and Procillus, Crassus also located a couple dozen of the Aedui and Sequani hostages held by Ariovistus, including a few who had been held since Magetobriga four years earlier! Though these hostages had generally been well treated by the German King (barring a few exceptions), they nonetheless expressed relief and gratitude to the Roman commander upon their release. Most prominent among these prisoners was none other than Xenia, daughter of Divitiacus – a small victory that prompted a tearful reunion when Xenia was brought back to the Roman camp to meet her father.

Their camp overrun, the remainder of Ariovistus’ broken army, including the King himself, fled the 15 miles or so back to the banks of the mighty Rhine, relentlessly pursued the whole way through by the victorious Roman and Gallic cavalry. Among those killed in the pursuit were both of Ariovistus’ two wives, and one of his daughters (the other one was captured by the marauding Aedui horsemen) – it was unknown whether they had been cut down by their pursuers, or had simply been caught and trampled in the chaos and panic of the routing Germanic host. Ariovistus himself, however, had nonetheless managed to evade his pursuers, fleeing back across the Rhine on a waiting boat. Regardless of whether he had expected to win the battle or not, it seems that the crafty King always had a backup plan...

CASVS VLTIMVS– Final Casualties

Romans and Gallic Allies: 6,000 total; approx. 3,000 killed and 3,000 wounded.
Germans: roughly 35,000 killed; rest of the army scattered and routed.

EPICINIVM – Aftermath

The misfortunes of the Suebi did not end there, with the crossing of the Rhine. As news of the battle spread like wildfire throughout the neighboring territories, the Germanic Ubii tribe decided to capitalize on the Suebi defeat, and quickly marshaled a raiding party to send into their rival’s territory. Nasuas and Cimberius’ host was still camped on the eastern bank of the Rhine, waiting to cross, when they were suddenly ambushed and routed by the Ubian cavalry. The catastrophic loss of so many men and women to the Romans, to the Gauls, and to the Ubii, combined with the loss of all of their territory west of the Rhine, was an enormous blow to the Suebi’s previously uncontested hegemony among all the tribal confederations of Germania.

It was also a huge personal tragedy for Ariovistus. Not only had he lost both of his wives and his beloved daughters, but his very status as chieftain was now under threat. You see, as their culture lacked the political institutions and Rule Of Law of the Romans, Suebi tribal chieftains greatly depended on shows of strength and prowess to legitimize their rule. And a defeat like that at the Vosges certainly did not help in this respect. But Ariovistus was also a man of great resource and sagacity, and men like him are not easily put down. Though defeated, the King swore an oath to the Gods that Rome and Gaul had not yet seen the last of him…

As the battered but victorious legionaries returned to camp to rest and recover, the lowly decanus of the Tenth Legion known as Titus Romulus Leoninus was summoned before Caesar and presented with the corona aurea (“gold crown”) for his remarkable valor and skill shown in holding the line against the most abominable beast Germania could throw at him. Titus, however, respectfully declined the honor, as the crown was usually reserved only for an individual of centurion-level rank or above. And so Caesar compromised by having him immediately promoted to the rank of Centurio Primus Prior, which Titus accepted out of respect to the legacy of poor Publius Piso (who had fallen at the hands of that vile beast Sigurd Demonhammer). Almost immediately, a great clamor rang throughout the camp as the assembled men of the Tenth proclaimed Titus to be Primus Inter Viris - the "First Among Men" in courage and daring.

All in all, over a hundred men won decorations and honors that day, including Publius Crassus for his timely cavalry charge that had saved the Tenth, as well as Mettius and Procillus, for having survived their harrowing experience. Xenia too, freed after months of imprisonment, was awarded for her courage and resilience (the Romans usually didn’t bestow military awards upon women, but Caesar was willing to make exception for the Aedui, valuable allies as they were). The rest of the soldiers in the army were promised shares in whatever plunder there was to be had (of which there was plenty to go around, as the German King's treasury included a good four years or so worth of accumulated loot and tribute taken from the Gauls). Once the men had been rested, the wounded attended to, and the dead gathered and cremated with the proper rites and honors, the victorious Roman Army then packed up and set off back to Vesontio, where they would be hailed as heroes and liberators by the grateful peoples of the Aedui, the Sequani, and the rest of Gaul.

Although he probably didn’t know it at the time, Gaius Julius Caesar had decisively changed the course of European history twice within the space of a couple months. Between the Battles of Bibracte and the Vosges, Caesar had successfully thwarted two mass migrations and had denied either the Helvetii or the Suebi from gaining footholds in Gaul. Thus, the Helvetii would remain in what will become Switzerland, the Suebi in Germany, and the modern borders of France, Switzerland, and Germany will more or less follow the boundaries that Caesar himself had established. While it is true that Caesar would later go on to subjugate Gaul under Roman rule, he at least ensured that the Gauls would remain ethnically and culturally distinct from these other tribes.

The magnitude of Caesar’s two victories that year were enough that he could have claimed a triumph – the highest honor a military commander could attain. Was this not the glorious military victory that the ambitious Caesar desired? It was indeed, however, Roman law also decreed that to claim a triumph was to signify that the campaign had ended, that all hostilities had ceased, and that the commander would now lay down his arms and return to civilian life. But as we shall see, this was not the end but merely the beginning of Proconsul Caesar’s ambitions in Gaul…

In the mean time, Caesar’s army settled in to their winter quarters at Vesontio, the Sequani capital, so that they may retrain, refresh, and prepare for the next year’s campaigning. Leaving Titus Labienus in command, Caesar then departed to his provinces in Cisalpine Gaul to hear the latest news from Rome, and to begin raising new legions for next year’s campaign. Caesar, however, had also made one significant change to his plans: after the harrowing encounter with the Germanic berserkers, he had determined that he would return to Gaul next year with “super soldiers” (milites superiores) of his own… 

FINIS

Author's Background Notes: jefffletcher.deviantart.com/ar…
The characters of Titus Romulus Leoninus and Sigurd Demonhammer are (c) me. All other events and characters are real life historical figures.