Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome (36 page)

190

C A E S A R ’ S

l e g i o n

battle between their armies at Farsala, site of Caesar’s victory over Pompey. Octavian declined this challenge, too.

Antony and Cleopatra established a major naval base at Actium on the Ambracian Gulf in the west of Greece. In the summer, Octavian surprised his adversaries by arriving there out of the blue with a troop convoy and a vast fleet of 400 warships, almost all of them light, fast frigates, dropping anchor just up the coast from Antony’s position.

As Octavian’s admiral, Marcus Agrippa, seized strategic points around the Gulf of Corinth to cut Antony’s supply lines, Octavian himself landed with forty thousand legionaries and set up camp. With Cleopatra’s Egyptian flotilla of 60 battleships, Antony retained a naval force here of 230

warships and 50 transports. Although, overall, Antony’s land forces outnumbered Octavian’s—one hundred thousand men in 19 legions to Octavian’s eighty thousand—Antony’s units were spread throughout the East, from Greece to Egypt, and it seems he had only a third of his legions here at Actium. What was worse, according to Cassius Dio, these men had been camped in an unsuitable location for some time, so that in both winter and summer they were seriously affected by disease, almost certainly dysentery and malaria, reducing their effectiveness.

Outnumbered here on land, and no doubt now regretting that he’d permitted his best troops to go into retirement, Antony allowed Cleopatra to talk him into engaging Octavian in a sea battle, to break out of Agrippa’s blockade and withdraw to Egypt, where Antony had another seven legions encamped.

Antony’s and Cleopatra’s warships were mostly battleships and cruisers. These huge craft could accommodate numerous marines, who would be used to board opposition ships. In addition, says Dio, Antony had high turrets built on the decks of the warships and embarked a large number of men from his legions “who could fight as it were from battlements.”

Plutarch put the number at twenty thousand marines and legionaries and two thousand archers aboard Antony’s and Cleopatra’s ships. This left about twenty thousand of Antony’s legionaries and an unknown number of his total complement of twelve thousand cavalry on shore, cheering on the maritime contestants.

The identities of individual legions involved at Actium haven’t come down to us, so we can only speculate on which units were actually there, and where. It would be surprising if the men of the 10th Legion weren’t present for Antony, with their experience, their fame, and their display of loyalty to him at the Var. They would either have been on his warships or lined up on the shore, where the two land armies faced each other while c18.qxd 12/5/01 5:38 PM Page 191

the sea battle took place, with Antony’s land forces commanded by Lieutenant General Publius Canidius Crassus, and Octavian’s by Lieutenant General Titus Taurus Statilius.

According to Dio, when Antony addressed his troops prior to the battle and informed them of his plans, he told them, “You yourselves are the kind of soldiers who can conquer even without a good leader, and I am the kind of leader who can win even with inferior soldiers.” History shows he was half right.

Plutarch tells of a battle-scarred centurion of one of Antony’s legions, perhaps the 10th, who had fought for Antony for many years. With orders to board a ship for the coming battle, he asked his commander in chief to let his legionaries do service on land, where they knew how to fight. But Anthony waved away all objections; he had made up his mind, or Cleopatra had made it up for him—Actium would be decided on water, not on land.

During the morning of September 2, 31 b.c., the two navies lined up, each in two main lines, with Octavian’s fleet to the west, blocking Antony’s path. Accounts vary as to the identity and location of the commanders. Plutarch doesn’t mention Octavian’s subordinates apart from Agrippa, but from other sources we know they included Admiral Marcus Lollius and General Valerius Messalla. Plutarch puts Octavian on his own right wing, with Agrippa controlling his left, and he says that Antony himself commanded his right, supported by Admiral Publicola. Admiral Marcus Insteius and Admiral Marcus Octavius had command in his center, and Admiral Coelius his left. In the center, Cleopatra formed up her squadron of sixty ships, including vessels carrying their joint treasury, to the rear of Antony’s line. Although some authors, like Plutarch, have charac-terized what followed as flight, it seems that Antony’s intent all along was to break out of the encirclement rather than achieve a decisive victory on the day, and then regroup in Egypt. That was certainly the impression of several classical authors, including Dio.

At about noon, with sails stowed so they couldn’t be set alight by enemy artillery, and relying only on his oarsmen, Antony advanced his left wing, hoping that Admiral Coelius would draw Octavian into action and open a break in his line. But Octavian’s frigates backed water, and drew Antony’s ships out into open water. Antony’s left wing engaged, and soon, all along the line, ships of both sides were locked in battle.

Octavian’s Admiral Agrippa had issued tactical orders to the frigates of his fleet to avoid single close contact with Antony’s much larger vessels, whose marines and legionaries would overwhelm their small crews if they managed to board. Instead, two and three frigates at a time were to surround c18.qxd 12/5/01 5:38 PM Page 192

192

C A E S A R ’ S

l e g i o n

a single battleship or cruiser. These tactics proved highly successful, but even so, a gap opened up in the center of Octavian’s line.

Seizing her opportunity, Cleopatra ordered the ships of her squadron to make for the opening. With Cleopatra’s flagship, the battleship
Antonias,
leading the way, the Egyptian ships powered through the gap with flashing oars and turned south for Egypt. Raising their sails and with a strong northwesterly behind them, they sped away from the scene of the battle.

Transferring from his beleaguered battleship to a fast cruiser in a small boat, Antony hurried after her. As many of his ships as possible tried to break off action and do the same, and up to eighty of them made their escape with Antony. But the rest of his warships, about a hundred of them, were hemmed in.

Now, with three and four frigates surrounding each stranded larger ship, like ants around a crippled beetle, every one of Antony’s remaining craft was either captured or surrendered, although, says Dio, Antony’s marines and legionaries continued fierce hand-to-hand fighting with Octavian’s boarding parties long after their commander’s departure. Plutarch says bitter fighting lasted until about 4:00 p.m., while Suetonius says it was well into the night before the battle was finally terminated—so late, in fact, that Octavian spent the rest of the night at sea.

Many of Antony’s surrendered warships would be burned, but some, those of sound Egyptian construction—the Egyptians were far better ship-builders than the Romans—would still be serving in Rome’s navy fifty years later. Five thousand of Antony’s men died in the battle. The surviving legionaries, marines, and crewmen taken from the ships all swore allegiance to Octavian.

Antony’s legions on shore held out for days, staying in their camp, until, after a week, their general, Canidius Crassus, fled in the night. The disillusioned legionaries he left behind all now went over to Octavian, and he assimilated their units into his army.

Not counting the Battle of Dyrrhachium, which the men of the 10th would have assured you was nothing more than a strategic withdrawal, this was the first defeat that the 10th Legion had ever been involved in.

It was certainly the first time the 10th surrendered. And the last.

At an assembly of his army following the battle, as Octavian stood before his troops to congratulate and reward them, the men of the numerous legions who were well past their discharge date clamored to be released from service, to be paid the bonuses they were owed, and to be given the land grants they’d been promised. Upward of twenty legions in Octavian’s army had been raised or reenlisted in 49 and 48 b.c. and were between one and two years past their due discharge by this time.

c18.qxd 12/5/01 5:38 PM Page 193

Octavian silenced them with a single look, so says Tacitus. He then discharged the men of legions raised in Italy who were due for it, and assured them their bonuses would be paid and their promised land grants handed over in due course. Suetonius says that in abolishing several legions that were demanding their overdue discharges at this time Octavian failed to pay them their promised bounties. Technically this was true—his treasury was almost bare, and he simply didn’t have the capacity to pay his discharged troops at the time.

But Octavian knew that if he didn’t pay them eventually, they could rise up in revolt and march behind anyone who promised them enough to take up arms again. To provide some men with land immediately, he set in motion a series of confiscations, taking over the land of communities in Italy that had previously supported Antony, for redistribution among his retiring troops. As for his legionaries’ bonuses, there was only one way Octavian could find that sort of money: It would have to come from the fabulous horde of gold, silver, and jewels that Cleopatra was reputed to keep in Alexandria.

Octavian gave orders for his remaining legions, now including the 10th and other Antonian units, to prepare to march on Egypt. Octavian’s future now depended on his not only eliminating Antony but also getting his hands on Cleopatra’s treasure, if it did indeed exist. If he failed in either objective, the youthful leader was doomed.

:

Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian rapidly marched across Greece, giving chase to several of Antony’s legions pulling out of the north of the country and trying to reach their commander in Egypt. He overtook them in Macedonia, where they, too, came over to him, without a fight.

Octavian’s army spent the winter in Greece. He himself returned briefly to Italy, landing at Brindisi in January 30 b.c. to personally administer the distribution of confiscated land to retired legion veterans.

Retirees had lost patience with his promises and had been on the verge of an uprising as they agitated for their just rewards. Octavian even offered to sell his own property and that of his friends and put the proceeds toward the veterans’ bounties. The offer placated the former legionaries, especially when he assured them that the treasure of Egypt would soon be in his hands and every legionary would be more than well rewarded if they continued to be patient a little longer.

Come the spring, Octavian rejoined the troops in Greece. Once he’d performed the rituals of the Lustration Exercise, he led his army, consisting c18.qxd 12/5/01 5:38 PM Page 194

194

C A E S A R ’ S

l e g i o n

now mostly of Antony’s former legions such as the 10th, to the Dardanelles, shipped them across to Asia, and marched down into Syria, where local rulers such as King Herod of Judea sent him vows of loyalty, and thousands of their own troops in support of their vows.

With the arrival of summer, Octavian marched into Egypt. Antony was prepared to do battle with his seven legions, outnumbered more than two to one by Octavian. But in the end Antony’s last legions refused to fight their comrades and to a man deserted to Octavian.

In August 30 b.c., as Octavian arrived outside Alexandria, Mark Antony committed suicide. Shortly after, in the best tragic tradition, Cleopatra followed suit. In Cleopatra’s treasury at Alexandria, Octavian found a treasure so vast even he was astonished. From the proceeds, he was able to pay all his troops their outstanding pay and the war bonuses he’d promised them. Tens of thousands of retired troops in Italy ultimately went on such a spending spree that there was a shortage of goods of all kinds, and moneylenders had to reduce their interest rates from 12 percent to 4 percent to attract business. Octavian was also able to personally pay the salaries of the legionaries of his postwar army for the next several decades.

As Cleopatra was laid to rest by Octavian, side-by-side with Antony in the same tomb at the Egyptian capital, the civil war was at last at an end.

It was with the prospects of bulging purses that the men of the 10th Legion now began thinking about their retirement in the new year when their 29 b.c. discharge fell due.

c19.qxd 12/5/01 5:39 PM Page 195

XIX

:

IN THE NAME

OF THE EMPEROR

ctavian was to prove himself the greatest administrator in Rome’s history. Granted the title by the Senate in 27 b.c. by which we
O
know him as Rome’s first and arguably best emperor—Augustus, meaning “revered”—he transformed every aspect of Roman civil and military life. He wasted no time reforming and remodeling the army. At the time of the Battle of Philippi in 42 b.c., he, his ally Antony, and his opponents Brutus and Cassius had a total of fifty-nine legions among them, all of which Octavian was to inherit. This was far too large an army for Rome to support on an ongoing basis, and he’d started the reduction process in 31 b.c. by sending home all the men of the Italian legions who were due for retirement. Most of the units they departed were officially abolished, and on the death of Antony the following year Octavian further reduced his army by amalgamating several legions.

He ended up with twenty-eight legions, numbered 1 through 28, all made up of Roman citizens from areas throughout the empire other than Italy south of the Po. Until the reign of Nero a hundred years later, when he recruited the 1st Italica Legion in Italy proper, the only Roman troops recruited from that region were the men of the Praetorian Guard. All the existing Spanish legions remained—the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th.

And another Spanish legion, the 21st Rapax, was created. This appears to have come about when the Spaniards of Pompey’s former Indigena Legion, renamed the Rapax, or “rapacious,” took the number of the old 21st Legion, whose Italian legionaries had retired.