39 “at that moment an invasion” Polyb 2 18 3.
40 All work was hurried Livy 5 55. The story may be an ancient urban myth, invented to explain the haphazard layout of Rome’s drains.
41 work began in 378 Ibid., 6 32.
42 “giving the beholder the impression” Dio of H 4 13 4.
9. Under the Yoke
Livy is the main source, with contributions by Cassius Dio, Cicero, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
1 the Caudine Forks The opening section of this chapter discusses the clades Caudiana, the Caudine catastrophe, which is recounted in Livy 9 1.
2 The Consuls, pretty much half-naked Ibid., 9 6 1–2.
3 “You are never without a reason” Ibid., 9 11 6–7.
4 far from being grateful to the Samnites Dio 8 36 21.
5 speaks of a foedus Cic Invent 2 91–94.
6 in 319, a Roman general is recorded CAH 7, pt. 2, p. 371.
7 “It is not inevitable” Dio 8 36 21.
8 Some fifty-three patrician clans Grant, p. 61.
9 “Very well,” shouted Sextius Livy 6 35 8.
10 tribunes aborted the elections Roman historians, including Livy, reported a five-year vacation of magistrates. This is most unlikely, and was probably proposed to correlate the disjunction between traditional dates in the early Republic and the accurate dates from the middle Republic onward.
11 reserved for patricians The praetorship was opened to plebeians in 337.
12 “Camillus, conqueror of the Veian people” Ovid 1 641–44.
13 “the liberty of the Roman People” Livy 8 28 1. Livy claims that nexum was abolished, but he was probably overstating the case.
14 “Every man is the maker” Sall Epist ad Caesarem senem, I.1.2. Napoleon famously made the same point when he was considering a candidate for the post of maréchal of France: “A-t-il de la chance?”
15 his famous censorship of 312 See Livy 9 29 and Dio Sic 20 36.
16 In my opinion, the three most magnificent works Dio of H 3 67 5.
17 resolutions of the Plebeian Council Livy 8 12 15–17 writes that Quintus Publilius Philo passed such a law about the concilium plebis, but it seems more likely that Publilius recognized the validity of concilium resolutions, provided they received patrum auctoritas—that is, senatorial approval—and that the full measure was taken in 287. See Oakley 2, pp. 524–27.
18 “Our own commonwealth was based” Cic Rep 2 1 2.
19 “not by abstract reasoning” Polyb 6 10 13.
20 Titus Manlius Livy 8 7 tells the story.
21 Janus, Jupiter, father Mars, Quirinus Livy 8 9 6–8. It is uncertain whether this is an accurate citation of the ritual text, or invented by Livy. However, it would certainly have looked convincing to his readers, familiar as they were with the many ceremonies that framed their lives.
22 Did these episodes take place? See CAH 7 2, p. 362.
23 the borders of Latium “Old” Latium, smaller than today’s Lazio.
24 the extent of territory CAH 7 2, p. 367.
25 According to a modern calculation, CAH 7 2 353. Apparent precision masks clever guesswork.
26 If ever a landscape made its people See Salmon pp. 14–27 for a fuller description of Samnium.
27 about 450,000 persons Ibid.
28 They had their pubic hair shaved Ath 12 518b.
29 The Samnites have a splendid law Strabo 5 4 12.
30 the first-century poet Horace Hor Car 3 6 39–41.
31 invented by Oscans For the origins of gladiatorial contests, see Grant, Gladiators, pp. 19 and 55.
32 A short first war Some modern authorities have argued that this war never took place, but see Oakley vol. 2 pp. 307–11.
33 “Let us pitch camp facing each other” Livy 8 23 8–9.
34 greater number of troops contributed by the allies and the Latins Ibid., 10 26 14.
35 A female deer Livy 10 27 8–9.
36 “nearest run thing” Thomas Creevey, Creevey Papers, p. 236 (London: John Murray, 1903).
37 followed his father’s example Some modern opinion challenges the historicity of this devotio; however, there is abundant testimony for both of the Decius Mus devotiones, and it is beyond doubt that the younger Decius Mus fell at Sentinum. See Oakley 4, pp. 290–91.
38 They could carry on no longer Livy 10 31 15.
39 For an individual Roman soldier The paragraphs about the experience of battle are indebted to Randall Collins’s Violence, which summarizes much research about modern warfare. With caution, I have assumed that some basic findings can plausibly be applied to the emotions of a Roman legionary.
40 von Clausewitz’s fog of war Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book 2, chap. 2, paragraph 24.
41 Battles often have a rhythm Collins, p. 40.
42 only a quarter of them actually attack Ibid., pp. 44ff., regarding fighting in the Second World War. 166 A paralysis of terror Ibid., p. 47.
43 about one-third of combatant soldiers Ibid., p. 69. The percentages are based on a review of photographic evidence of Second World War fighting.
44 “in ancient and mediaeval warfare” Ibid., p. 79.
45 The Romans look not so much Polyb 6 24 8–9. 167 its territory had grown See Oakley 4, p. 3.
46 twenty-five percent of all adult male citizens CAH 7 pt. 2, pp. 383ff.
10. The Adventurer
Arrian, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius wrote lives of Alexander. Embedded inside the fanciful Greek Alexander Romance are quotations from the court day book covering the king’s last days. Plutarch is the main literary source for Pyrrhus.
1 What, exactly, was the matter is unknown Some time after his death, it was alleged that Alexander had been poisoned. This is unlikely, because he survived for nearly a fortnight after being taken ill, and the ancient world almost certainly did not have access to very slow poisons. Unexpected deaths from disease were often wrongly put down to foul play.
2 “There will be funeral ‘games’ ” Arr 7 26 3.
3 He would never have remained idle Arr 7 1 4.
4 “to strive, to seek, to find” The final line of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Ulysses.