by David Adkins
“I have paid Telemus compensation for the loss of income due to the departure of a most promising gladiatrix but I still require funds to purchase Arite’s freedom from him. I will see him tomorrow before we leave and then Arite can depart and go her way.”
“You will pay him nothing more, Parthenian, and you will not go to see him,” grunted Domitian.
“I do not understand. I had an agreement with him.”
“The agreement is null and void. He has had enough money from me and Arite will not yet be enjoying her freedom. She will be coming with us.”
“Will she not be a distraction on such an important campaign?” I ventured wishing to obtain freedom from slavery for Arite as that was what I had promised her.
“I will try not to allow her to be a distraction,” he grinned. “You do not realize just how priceless she is. She is a Sarmatian Lazyge and a warrior at that and as such she knows the Sarmatian lands well. It is unknown territory for us and so she will act as a guide. Sometimes she will be with me and the generals leading the way and seeking out the enemy and part of the time she will be in the baggage train where you will look after her. She will also continue to visit my bed.”
“I see,” I was shocked at the turn of events but I should not have been surprised.
“We will seek out the Lazyges and try to seek terms with them as we did with the Alamanni, for if we can isolate the Dacians the task of destroying Decebalus will be so much easier. She could be useful in any negotiations.”
“She has a dual purpose,” I reiterated.
“Indeed she has and her dual usefulness is down to you for finding her. That was one of your better moments, Parthenian.”
“Thank you, your majesty.”
“You will not return to Singidunum. You will remain on the encampment and help in the preparations to make the baggage train ready to leave.”
“Yes, I will do as you order, your majesty.” I felt a little guilty that I could not fulfil my part of the deal with Telemus, but the guilt was not too great as I had already paid him well and the man was greedy.
Chapter 24
Sarmatia – Spring and Summer AD93
Two days later our vast army left Singidunum and headed in a north eastern direction into unknown territory and into an unconquered world which had never been part of the Empire. It was a land of hills, forests and rivers but most of all of vast empty grasslands that seemed to stretch on and on forever. Sarmatia was huge and the Lazyges occupied the eastern part of it with Roman territory to the west and Dacian territory to the south. I could understand the freedom that Arite had alluded to when she described riding in this vast wasteland.
The plan was to seek out the Lazyges and intimidate them with the size and discipline of the Roman army. We had four legions including the famous IV Flavia Felix, the victor of so many past battles and also numerous auxiliaries. The total numbered about twenty thousand men and we had little doubt that the savages would be overawed and terrorized by the size of our vast host. They would be only too willing to talk, submit to our demands, offer hostages and declare their neutrality when we marched into Dacia to end Dacian opposition and impertinence once and for all. If they did not submit then they could be destroyed prior to the campaign against the Dacians.
During the day Arite spent her time with the Emperor and his generals at the head of the army acting as a guide and at night she was often in Domitian’s tent. We were several weeks into the expedition when Arite came to my tent. “He has me by his side all the time,” she moaned. “He is suffocating me.”
“You have managed to escape for now,” I sympathized.
“I should kill you, Parthenian.”
“Please do not do that.”
“You said I was to spend a couple of weeks with Domitian in Singidunum and then I would get my freedom. Here I am several weeks later still at his beck and call and guiding his army.”
“I meant you to have your freedom,” I apologized.
“It is a good job I believe you. Your Emperor is a pig.” She spat out the words with distaste.
“I know but keep your voice down.”
“I heard that the poor little German princess, Ima, became a wreck and now I know why. He is a strange man full of conflicting moods. Shall we kill him and run away together?” she suggested.
“I would love to but we would not get far.”
She shrugged. “I hear that he is not the only man partial to a gladiatrix.”
“What do you mean? What has he said?”
“I know I am a substitute for the famous Corelia but Domitian tells me that you are infatuated with Corelia. He thinks it is very amusing but you should be careful, Parthenian, for he changes like the wind and one day he might not find it amusing. Do you love her?”
“I do,” I admitted.
“Then there is no chance for me?” She put her hand provocatively on my knee but I knew that she was teasing me.
In return I stroked her thigh. “You do have the most magnificent legs that I have ever set eyes on,” I grinned.
“But you are loyal to Corelia and I cannot tempt you otherwise.”
“You could tempt me, Arite, but I would certainly die as a consequence. The canvas is thin and we could be disturbed at any time. The Emperor would not tolerate me lusting after both his gladiatrices.”
She stood up and looked down at me smiling. “You are a coward.”
I leaned across and kissed her thigh. “You are right.”
She laughed and jumped down from the wagon and was gone. I was not particularly brave but in my own way I was loyal to Corelia and I certainly did not want to die on the alien grasslands of Sarmatia by a Roman sword. I surmised that she had not been serious and had just been playing games with a man who had made promises to her he could not fulfil.
We rode throughout the entire spring and into early summer. We came across small settlements but did not destroy them as we had no past history of warring with the Sarmatians and we were initially seeking an agreement with them. We could not find the possible enemy but Arite assured us that this was because they were continually on the move and were avoiding us. They had only recently settled in this land, having migrated from the east, and because they were formerly a nomadic people, moving from one place to another came naturally to them. We were beginning to despair of ever making contact when we received an invitation to parley at a place called the valley of the eagles. It was brought by a Lazyge messenger and invited a party of Romans to meet with a party of Sarmatians to explain why such a large Roman army had entered their territory. We camped at the head of the valley and Domitian set about deciding who would attend this meeting.
He decided to take his generals, Sextus Fronto, Manius Glabrio and Caius Praesens, plus Otho and his entire Praetorian guard amounting to perhaps one hundred men. He was taking no chances in case this was a trap. He also decided to take Arite and much to my surprise also his chamberlain. It was this large party which rode into the valley of the eagles on the allotted early summer morning, and impressive we looked too, with the Praetorians wearing their colourful uniforms. I looked up at the blue sky and saw large numbers of birds eyeing the grasslands below them for any sign of prey. “They are steppe eagles,” said Arite. “They are the reason it is called the valley of the eagles.”
We made good progress into the valley but we could still see our vast army in the distance and that made us feel more secure. Then we saw a party riding towards us and to my relief they were not quite as numerous as we were. They too were equally impressive wearing their tribal attire and mounted on their very mobile and adorned steppe ponies. They stopped some distance away and surveyed us. Then a small group rode towards us and stopped as if waiting for a response. There were six of them and two of the six were women.
“They want us to meet them half way,” advised Fronto.
Domitian addressed his three generals. “Then let us do so and you, Arite, and you, Parthenian, can join us. There are six of th
em and so there will be six of us.” I was not sure this was wise as their warriors looked fierce but this was a meeting under the banner of truce, and even the most savage of peoples honoured such a truce, and so we rode out to meet them.
I was amazed that their men and even the two women were of impressive stature. They all had long hair particularly of a reddish nature and the men wore long beards and looked ferocious, but to our surprise it was one of the women who spoke first. “I am Amage, Queen of Sarmatia.” She indicated the man by her side. “This is King Medosaccus, my husband and King.”
Domitian looked flummoxed. “Madam, you may be Queen but I deal with Kings. Does your husband not have a tongue?”
The insult was obvious and Amage responded in kind. “Medosaccus will speak when it is pertinent. He does not waste his words on Romans.”
Domitian was angry but Arite whispered in his ear. “They have a different society to you Romans. Women are equals.”
“Is that so?” Domitian laughed.
Amage continued. “I should explain that in Sarmatian society and indeed in much of Scythia women can rule equally with men and they also fight alongside men. Women are not slaves as they are in Rome.”
Domitian was amused. “Women are not slaves in Rome unless they actually are slaves.”
Medosaccus joined in the discussion. “Why has a Roman army invaded our lands?”
Now Fronto spoke for the first time. “We have not invaded your lands and we seek only an agreement with you before we leave you in peace and invade the lands of our real enemy, Decabulus and Dacia.”
Medosaccus looked into the distance. “I see a small army of about twenty thousand men in Lazyge territory.” He emphasised the word small.
“We are on our way to Dacia but took a detour through Sarmatia just to be sure of Lazyge neutrality in the coming war. Do we have your word King Medosaccus that you will not aid Decebulus?”
“We will think upon it,” he responded.
“We need to know now, and we need to be sure, which will entail hostages. Perhaps your Queen will accompany us on our campaign in Dacia,” interrupted Domitian.
Amage spoke again. “You have my husband’s reply and I can assure you that I will not be going to Dacia with your army. In fact there will be no hostages.” I was shocked at the firm reply from Amage. Could he not see the vast Roman army? This was a very different response from the one we had received from the Alamanni.
Now Glabrio spoke. “I would advise caution. Our army is numerous, disciplined and always victorious. We can leave you in peace and destroy Decebalus and his Dacians or we can destroy you first before we destroy them.”
“Like you did at Tapae,” said the other woman in their group. She was reminding us of the great Roman defeat at the hands of the Dacians a few years earlier.
Domitian was furious because Tapae was one of the great blemishes of his rule. “Tapae was one defeat against victories as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Who are you woman to dare to speak in such a way to a Roman Emperor?”
“I should introduce my half sister,” said Amage. “This is Andrada, Queen of the Dacians and wife to Decebalus. She has been paying us an interesting visit.”
Domitian was open-mouthed. “Has this woman been feeding you poison?”
Amage smiled. “She has been warning us of the Roman greed for ever more and more territory. She has warned us that Rome seeks only to conquer and subdue. She has warned us that we must fight to remain free and if we do not then we become Roman slaves. I do not see that as poison but as sound advice.”
“Women should not be involved in politics,” stormed Domitian and turned to Medosaccus. “I will expect you to remain neutral in the coming war and offer no support to the Dacians; and you will provide your misguided wife as hostage otherwise we will annihilate the Lazyges.”
“I will expect you to lead your Roman army back to Singidunum immediately. If you do not then it will be destroyed. You will not enter Dacia through Lazyges territory but go back the way you come. Only then will you be allowed to leave in peace. We will consider your words and think upon them and then if you are still bent on attacking Dacia we will decide whether to assist the Dacians or not.”
Domitian was in a rage for he was not used to being spoken to in such a way. “I will set Sarmatia ablaze. I will destroy you and your army and lay waste to your land and that is a promise from the Emperor of Rome.” Sextus Fronto looked unhappy for I was sure that he would rather have concentrated on attacking the Dacians but, like with Caesar at the Rubicon, the die had been cast.
The Lazyges turned and rode away back to their waiting forces and I thought for a moment that Domitian might order an attack on them but I noticed the Lazyges had this covered. The rest of their envoy had many archers and their bows were put on ready. Fronto saw this too and turned his horse. “We have done everything that we can do here, Emperor. It would be wise for us to return to the army.”
To my relief Domitian heeded his advice and turned to Arite. “Are all your people as intransigent?”
“Rulers tend to be,” she agreed, but Domitian in his rage did not see her hidden meaning.
“We will march south through Lazyges territory and enter Dacia through its northern boundary,” said Domitian. “Do you know the quickest route, Arite?”
“I do,” she replied.
“We will destroy all settlements on the way.”
“Perhaps it would be best not to do that,” suggested Fronto. “We do not know for sure that they will join with Decebalus but if we destroy their villages they most certainly will.”
“As you wish; you are the general, Fronto, but I personally hope they try to stop us. It would give me much pleasure to rout their army.”
With that we returned to the Praetorians and then rejoined the rest of the army. Arite whispered in my ear. “I feel a battle coming on.”
“They had already decided on no agreement,” I added.
The army guided by Arite began the long march south. Fronto had his wish and we did not destroy the settlements we came across, though Domitian could not resist ordering some Lazyge blood to be shed and some prisoners to be taken. We did our best to live off the land and conserve our supplies and so we left a trail of waste behind us. One week into the march and we were confronted by the Sarmatian army. It was in the middle of a vast plain and it was obvious even to me that attacking the Lazyges force might almost be impossible. Their army was probably fewer in numbers than ours but they were nearly all on horseback and I could see the Dacian wolf banners in their midst. The Dacians and probably other Sarmatian tribes had sent assistance to the Lazyges. We had four legions composed of about eighteen thousand infantry plus one thousand auxiliaries and another one thousand cavalry. The Lazyge army seemed to be composed entirely of cavalry and so I wondered how we could engage them on this vast plain for they would simply ride away if they did not wish to fight.
Domitian would be enraged if he could not force an engagement and inflict bloody defeat on them. I sought out Arite to allay my fears. “Will the Lazyge fight?” I asked her.
Fronto has asked me the same question. “They will fight but they will not engage. They have no need to engage for they can fire their arrows at will.”
“Are they all on horseback?” I asked.
“Almost all and they are very mobile steppe ponies and the archers are trained to shoot their arrows while riding. The ponies will be spread out on the vast plain and they are so mobile that they will make difficult targets for your archers, whereas the packed Roman infantry will make easy targets.”
“They are protected by shields and armour,” I pointed out.
“Some arrows will get through,” she countered.
“You seem to know a lot about it, Arite.”
“I am a warrior, remember?”
“Why are some horsemen dressed differently to others?”
“About half of them are horse archers and half are cataphracts,” she answered.
“What are cataphracts?”
“A cataphract is a heavily armoured cavalryman who may engage the opposition, but the horse archers are bowmen who wear little armour and shoot arrows continuously and will not engage the enemy forces.”
“Arite, come over here,” Fronto was calling.
“I think he wants to pick my brain,” she said. “Stay in the baggage train, Parthenian, I think a lot of Romans are going to die this day and the baggage train will be the safest place.” She strode off to join Fronto, leaving me feeling sick with worry. I initially took her advice and headed back towards the baggage train but then stopped to watch what was developing on the grasslands that spread out endlessly into the distance as far as the eye could see.
Sextus Fronto was now shouting out orders and the Roman army was setting up in time-honoured fashion. The discipline was impressive as the legions took up their allocated positions. On the extreme right of the Roman line was III Italica commanded by Manius Glabrio plus five hundred cavalry. Inside them on the centre right was II Adiutrix commanded by Sextus Fronto who also had overall command of the entire army. On the centre left was the famous IV Flavia Felix commanded by the charismatic Caius Praesens and on the extreme left, supported by a further hundred cavalry, was the XXI Rapax commanded by Praesens’s legate, Veranius Mattius. The four legions of nearly twenty thousand men formed an arc with the two centre legions spearheading the arc. Within the arc, and shielded by it, were about five hundred archers plus the baggage train protected by the auxiliaries and praetorians. How could Arite be right and the barbarians prevail over twenty thousand disciplined Roman soldiers?
Fronto was determined that the Lazyge should come to him and the barbarians soon obliged. An incredible sight of about fifteen thousand Lazyge cavalry galloped at speed across the plain towards the Roman forces, and I looked in disbelief at the audacity of the attack. As they neared the Roman infantry they wheeled to the left and right and rode parallel to the Roman forces, unleashing a myriad of arrows. They were able to fire at speed and keep up a continuous flow of arrows and the sky almost darkened under the incessant hail of these frightening missiles.