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Hieron found himself face-to-face with a Roman army at morning, just like Pyrrhus had predicted.[/FONT]
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His contingent was camped, a few miles east of Neapolis, on a flat plain. On the one side, a deep river made its tranquil road towards the sea, while on the other, a thick, dark forest made itself the home of Hieron's light infantry, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
his slingers, archers and peltasts crawled in the shadows under the trees, ready to pelt the enemy flank when they came down the centre. Between the forests and the river, there was a long, wide ploughed field, that the autumn rains had turned it to a sea of dark thick mud. It was not rare for him to receive reports of men, horses and equipment trapping themselves in the treacherous terrain.[/FONT]
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Hieron's plan went accordingly: While the thick forest and river protected the flanks, the phalanx would defend the centre, denying the Romans their advantage in numbers. His force was five thousand strong, merely a diversion. For what, Pyrrhus did not tell him, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
It is a much better act if the actor himself has not been told what to do, merely to react, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
the King had explained.[/FONT]
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Hieron was confused, to say the least, nevertheless, he was not one to question the orders of his lord. Pyrrhus had given him his [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
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, his helmet, and his personal banner, and ordered them to take them as his own. Hieron thought he knew what his King's plan was then.[/FONT]
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Gaius, from his vantage point a top a ridge, could see the Greek encampment, before the ploughed, muddy field. Behind him lay the camp of his army, it was well-organized, clear and disciplined, a camp even Fabricius would approve of, he was prickly man, and hard.
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His army was forty-five thousand strong, thirty-thousand legionnaires, with fifteen thousand allies, Etruscans and Umbrians chiefly. He would have liked it better if his army was purely Latin, Gaius did not trust his allies, the Samnites had already betrayed them, the Etruscans would too, he knew it.
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Sadly his scouts had been harried day and night; last he heard, Pyrrhus' army, arrayed before him, numbered forty-five thousand, it had been twenty-thousand at Heraclea, now it had swelled with the Oscans and Bruttians. [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
That damned fool Barbula, if he had merely posted sentries and scouts, Pyrrhus would still be trapped south of Campania. [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
It was useless, he knew. Cursing Barbula would change nothing, Pyrrhus was here, facing him.
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The Roman general [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
believed[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
he [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
already knew[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
how it would go; Pyrrhus would have the Romans [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
charging[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
blindly through the field, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
and while they were slowed down, his skirmishers and archers would slaughter them by the thousands[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
. He counted on Gaius being a fool, that he would not account for Pyrrhus' cavalry, like Laevinus had.[/FONT]
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Gaius was no fool.
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At midday, he ordered a war council, and told them his plans. All his officers approved.[/FONT]
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Fabricius lay in wait, four miles north of the battle;[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
His men were uneasy with the prospect of waiting there while Gaius hogged all the glory.[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
The Dictator of Rome could not care less about glory, if he failed here, Rome would fail with him. Oplax was specially restless, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
He will do something stupid that he will regret, bitterly.[/FONT]
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Yet, Fabricius waited, watching. Pyrrhus' trap, he knew there would be one, could spring at any moment, and he had to be ready for it.[/FONT]
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Excerpt from Hephastion of Syrakuse's Great Battles Of Antiquity, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
written in 165AD.[/FONT]
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The carrion birds circled over the fields of Campania.[/FONT]
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On a stormy day of October; Captain Hieron's troops, numbering five thousand: four thousand phalangites, and a thousand Hypaspists, faced down Gaius' force, near nine times their number. Hieron was an officer in Pyrrhus' service, having been born to a noble of some repute. [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
H[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
e had come to Italy, along with Pyrrhus on his mission to save Taras from the encroaching Roman Republic. He had fought with honour on Heraclea, and again at Venusia. He was a man of loyalty, and a good tactician himself, therefore Pyrrhus listened to his counsel, [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
the King always being a good judge of men.[/FONT]
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Thus he was chosen as the commander of the diversionary force, and found himself in battle four miles off Neapolis. The Romans, afraid of being ridiculed for abandoning an ally, sent an army of forty thousand to their aid, keeping another thirty thousand behind. The Romans were commanded by Caius Fabricius, a noble of high renown, but inordinately poor. Despite that, he was chosen by the Senate as Dictator of Rome after Pyrrhus' annihilation of the twin Roman armies at Heraclea and Venusia.[/FONT]
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Fabricius was a good strategist, although lacked the mind for tactics, but he was careful and prudent. Hearing of Pyrrhus' siege of Neapolis, he split his army in two, sending Gaius first, with forty thousand, to probe the Greek army, and kept thirty thousand men behind. This would prove to be both his undoing and his greatest achievement.[/FONT]
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Pyrrhus himself did not participate in the battle until much later. His main army, numbering thirty-five thousand men, was hidden east of the battlefield proper.
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It was composed of Macedonian and Epirote Phalangites, with Hypaspists and Theurophoroi in support. His allies, the Tarantines, Oscans and Bruttians were not idle. They sent their own forces to Pyrrhus, the Samnites sent their heavy and medium infantry, which the Romans had copied. The Tarantines sent four thousand Hoplites and a thousand horsemen, and the rest middling amounts of infantry and skirmishers. In addition, there were mercenaries attached to the Pyrrhic Coalition, Cretan Archers, Rhodian Slingers, Thessalian cavalry and Illyrian infantry. This was a formidable host.[/FONT]
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On the Roman side, a large part was legionnaires of Roman citizenship, they were backed by 'allies', Etruscans and Umbrians, with some Campanians. Their former allies, Oscans and others, having turned cloak and joined Pyrrhus. Nevertheless, the total army of Rome numbered seventy thousand.[/FONT]
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The battle began in the early morning, Gaius sent skirmishers, Velites and Rorarii to probe the Greek line. With little effect, they withdrew. The Romans then sent another force, eight thousand legionnaires in full order of battle. The terrain made them of little use, while the Greek phalanx countered them at every turn. By evening, the Romans withdrew back to their own line.
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Gaius, at night picked five thousand of his best men, and the most agile. He crossed the river to the north, and rounded around. On the morning, the balance had shifted. Hieron and his army found themselves hemmed from two sides; On the front, the main Roman host, while to the north, beyond the river, Gaius lay with his best men. Hieron, seeing this, ordered his men to retreat, abandoning their vantage point, and sending riders to notify Pyrrhus. The Romans then attacked the Greeks as they withdrew.[/FONT]
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Hieron was caught on rough ground, his phalanx broken up by the [/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
undulated[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]
terrain. The Romans could now fully deploy their army. Unfortunately for Rome, Pyrrhus arrived with his full force, his elephants and Thessalian cavalry delivering a powerful charge into the Roman flank, crushing it while the Pyrrhic Phalanx came up to reinforce Hieron's own. Gaius was forced to retreat, and call for reinforcements.
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On the next day, Fabricius arrived with the remainder of the Roman host, Pyrrhus was dismayed that he was now outnumbered, the Roman army once more half as large as his, Gaius having lost most of his flank during Pyrrhus' charge.[/FONT]
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Nevertheless, Caius Fabricius was determined, he deployed his legionnaires as close as he could to the Greek line, forcing the phalanx to fight on rough ground. The ensuing battle was an exercise in frustration for Pyrrhus. The phalanx was rendered ineffective on the rough ground, while the Samnite infantry and the Thuerophoroi proved themselves exceptional in the terrain they fought in, beating back the Roman assault, and inflicting great losses to the latter.[/FONT]
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There, Leonnatus the Macedonian, one of Pyrrhus' bodyguards, observing that an Italian horseman was intent on Pyrrhus, said to his King, “O King, do you see the barbarian on the black horse with the white feet? He seems to have a dark design on thee, he is fixed on Your Majesty, and pays no heed to others. Be on thy guard.” But Pyrrhus replied, “O Leonnatus, it is impossible to escape; but with impunity neither he nor any other Italian shall come to close quarters with me." Thus he said, thus he regretted. The Italian attacked the King of Epirus, and would have killed him if not for Leonnatus cutting off his arm at the shoulder.[/FONT]
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Thus Pyrrhus learned to be more on his guard, and gave his armour to Megacles, the commander of the Companions, and hid himself among his men, fighting alongside them.
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Fabricius, finally seeing his assault was futile, and with the sun setting, he decided to withdraw for the day. Both armies were camped in sight of each other. The Greeks behind the ridgeline and hills that gave their phalanx so much trouble the day before; And the Romans afore the river, preventing any attack upon them while they slept.[/FONT]
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On the next day, before the first light was up, Pyrrhus sent his Samnites and Theurophoroi to seize the heights, and formed up his phalanx on the field, in the style of the Thebans and Alexander at Gaugamela, his elite troops; the Hypaspists and Agema Hoplites concentrated in the right flank, leaving his left and centre weakened, with the main phalanxes formed up in an echelon formation. The Samnites and Tarantine Hoplites were formed up on the left flank, protecting the phalanx from the Roman cavalry. His plan was to crush the Roman flank, and then wheel around to smash the centre while his own pinned it down.[/FONT]
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Seeing this, Fabricius chose to reinforce his flank with extra Triarii, leaving his rearguard weakened. The rest of the army was deployed in traditional, manipular form. [/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]The battle began at midday. [/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]Oddly, the Greeks advanced first; King Pyrrhus at the helm of the Greek right smashed into the Roman left, the Phalanx cutting a bloody swathe through the Roman formations. The combat was nevertheless fierce, but the Principes and Triarii threw themselves into the advancing Greek phalanx, finally stopping the advance. Meanwhile, the Greek left and centre did not move, except to cover the right. The Roman legionnaires attacked them; While the Samnite flank held strong, the Phalanx itself was pushed back.[/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]The Thessalian cavalry broke the Roman horse, and routed them from the field. Coming around, they slammed into the Roman left, wreaking havoc on the Roman line, and sowing confusion and fear in in their wake. The Roman numerical superiority gave way to Greek valour.[/FONT][FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]Finally, Pyrrhus committed his elephants to the battle; The pachyderms charged through the Roman wing, tossing up men as they went, albeit with the loss of four elephants to the Triarii's spears. Nevertheless, the rest of the pack remained brave, and the phalanx renewed the assault, finally breaking the Romans and routing them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]Just as planned, the Agema wheeled around and slammed into the Romans; Before his army could be destroyed, Fabricius ordered a general retreat. The Romans withdrew, though not without losses, yet the army survived, and the rear-guard repelled the Greek assault over the river, killing an elephant.[/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]Sources disagree over the result of the battle. Dionysus would have us believe the Romans lost forty thousand men, while the Greeks lost a hundred. Saner sources claim the Romans lost fifteen thousand, while the Greeks lost five thousand, many of them crack Macedonian phalangites, veterans of Pyrrhus' campaigns in Macedonia and Illyria. While Pyrrhus did win, it was a Cadmean victory at heart, he lost a great part of his best phalangites, stripping him of valuable soldiers in his later military campaigns and disillusioning Pyrrhus. Ironically, the Romans now were convinced Pyrrhus was invincible, and Fabricius wasted no time trying to secure a favourable peace with Pyrrhus.[/FONT]
[FONT=Gentium Book Basic, serif]The battle however had greater effects than just changing the geopolitical landscape of the Mediterranean, Pyrrhus was a key innovator in the classic Alexandrian phalanx, and he would later create the Pyrrhic Phalanx, a battle formation that combined Roman, Samnite and Greek doctrines to create a synergetic force that quickly became the most feared force in the Mediterranean world. [/FONT]
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The Peace Treaty will be the subject of my next chapter.
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Thanks to Grouchio and Slydessertfox in their invaluable help in rebooting progress in this TL!
Also thanks to Azrubêl for his role as beta-reader, and helping make the chapter so much better than before!
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Or will they content to let the greeks have South Italy while they go North and West? Conquering Gaul and Iberia?
