This gave the Romans time to re-organise and elect the man who would become known as the savior of Rome. The Cimbri next clashed with the Arverni tribe, and after a hard struggle set out for the Pyrenees instead of immediately marching into Italy. In Rome, it was widely thought that the defeat was due to the arrogance of Caepio rather than to a deficiency in the Roman Army, and popular dissatisfaction with the ruling classes grew. The defeat left them not only with a critical shortage of manpower and lost military equipment, but also with a terrifying enemy camped on the other side of the now-undefended Alpine passes. However, the recent string of defeats ending in the calamity at Arausio was alarming for all the people of Rome. Rome was a warfaring nation and accustomed to military setbacks. Livy, quoting Valerius Antias, states Roman losses as 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 servants and camp followers killed. This includes the servants and camp followers, who usually numbered at least half as many again as the actual troops. The number of Romans who managed to escape were very few. Many tried to escape in that direction, but crossing the river would have been difficult encumbered with armor. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp left them with their backs to the river. Already at a low ebb due to the infighting of the commanders, this Roman force had also witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. With a great boost in confidence from an easy victory, the Cimbri then proceeded to destroy the force commanded by Maximus. Caepio himself escaped from the battle unhurt. The Cimbri were also able to ransack Caepio's camp, which had been left practically undefended. However, Caepio's force was annihilated because of the hasty nature of the assault and the tenacity of Cimbri defence. Īccording to Mommsen, Caepio was presumably motivated into action by the thought that Maximus might be successful in negotiations and claim all the credit for a successful outcome he launched a unilateral attack on the Cimbri camp on 6 October. Ĭaepio, however, only crossed the river after a direct order from the Senate, but even then insisted on having a separate camp and ignored orders from Mallius. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before king Boiorix. The initial contact between the two forces occurred when a detached picketing group under the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus met an advance party of the Cimbri. However, because Maximus was a novus homo and therefore lacked the noble background of the Roman aristocracy – in addition to his military inexperience – Caepio refused to serve under him and made camp on the opposite side of the river. As the consul of the year, Maximus out-ranked Caepio and therefore should by law have been the senior commander of the combined armies. Two of the major Roman forces available were camped out on the Rhone River, near Arausio: one led by Mallius Maximus, and the other by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio. The reasons for Rutilius not taking charge himself do not seem to be known: perhaps he faced political opposition because of his friendship with Gaius Marius, or perhaps he believed Mallius Maximus deserved the chance to earn himself a share of glory, or perhaps he was simply temporarily ill. The senior of the year's two consuls, Publius Rutilius Rufus, was an experienced and highly decorated soldier, veteran of the recent war in Numidia, but for some reason did not take charge of the military campaign himself but remained in Rome while his inexperienced, untried colleague Gnaeus Mallius Maximus led the legions north. The Battle Įven before the battle had erupted, the Romans were in trouble. Having regained Tolosa, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio adopted a defensive strategy, waiting to see if the Cimbri would move toward Roman territories again. An ambush of Roman troops and the temporary rebellion of the town of Tolosa (modern Toulouse) caused Roman troops to mobilize in the area, with eighty strong forces. The migrations of the Cimbri tribe through Gaul and adjacent territories had disturbed the balance of power and incited or provoked other tribes, such as the Helvetii, into conflict with the Romans.
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