Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus (19 page)
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Authors: Lindsay Powell
Tags: #Bisac Code 1: HIS002000, #HISTORY / Ancient / General / BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military, #Bisac Code 2: BIO008000 Bisac Code 3: HIS027000
Hardly had Caesar and Agrippa rested in Rome when they turned their attention to the Western Balkans and the inland region of Pannonia. Dio explains that:
He had no complaint to bring against them, not having been wronged by them in any way, but he wanted both to give his soldiers practice and to support them at the expense of an alien people, for he regarded every demonstration against a weaker party as just, when it pleased the man who was their superior in arms.
128
Appian points to a longer term strategic goal, which was ‘Augustus greatly desired to possess it as a magazine convenient for a war against the Dacii and the Bastarnae on the other side of the Ister, which is there called the Danuvius’.
129
The Romans made ‘first contact’ with the region in 229 BCE after crossing the Adriatic Sea, but it only came under the direct rule of Rome after it had been subjugated by military means in 167 BCE. The following year it became a protectorate. The 41-year-old Iulius Caesar was appointed to govern it in 59 BCE prior to his campaigns in Gaul. It was an important corridor between Italy, Macedonia, Greece and Asia. The short crossing by sea from Brundisium to Apollonia or Dyrrhacium saved time and expense compared to going overland via Aquileia and down the western Balkan peninsula.
130
It was along the craggy Dalmatian coast and islands with its abundant sheltered natural harbours that pirates had launched their attacks on Roman shipping. Rome had long since dealt with them, but some Liburni still engaged in piracy, providing a
casus belli
for Caesar to lead an expedition (
expeditio
) against the Illyrians in person.
131
The Romans called the western Balkans by the name Illyricum.
132
Only later would they distinguish between Dalmatia and Pannonia. Dalmatian Illyricum ran along the Adriatic coast, stretching from the Drilon River in the south (in modern Albania) to Istria in the west (in modern Croatia) and to the Sava River in the north (in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina).
133
Pannonian Illyricum was land-locked and bounded by the Sava River to the south, and stretched to Alps in the kingdom of Noricum (in modern Austria) in the west, the province of Moesia (in modern Hungary) in the east, and as far north as the banks of the Danube River.
134
There were no people who called themselves Illyrici: the region was a patchwork of independent native and immigrant communities living side by side, with different cultures, languages and politico-economic systems.
135
In the north-west, in the foothills of the eastern Alps, near the Isonzo and the source of the Sava rivers, the tribes spoke a language called Venetic. Tribes speaking Celtic tongues occupied a broad sweep of the Balkans along the Sava and Drava rivers and their tributaries as far as the Morava. Illyrian peoples in the hills and valleys down towards the Adriatic coast lived alongside communities which had been heavily influenced by colonies of Greek settlers since the fourth century.
The details of the two-year long Illyrian War (
Bellum Illyricum
) are preserved by Appian and Dio.
136
The expeditionary army began operations in the north (
map 6
). Dio states that Caesar personally led the campaign against the Iapodes, a nation of people who lived on the far south-eastern end of the Alps.
137
They are described by Appian as a strong and savage tribe and by Strabo as a war-mad people, who adds that their armour was Celtic in style and that they were tattooed like the rest of the Illyrians and the Thracians.
138
Caesar is reported as having delegated the task of subduing the rest of the tribes to others, among them C. Fufius Geminus, M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus and T. Statilius Taurus.
139
Along the coastal inlets and islands a fleet of warships located and utterly destroyed the vessels used by the Liburni to harm Roman trade crossing the Adriatic.
140
The lowland settlements fell quickly, but as the Romans advanced through their country and up into the hills they were met with stiff resistance.
141
The Iapodes felled trees to block the trackways and launched ambushes from the cover of forest vegetation, but while they inflicted casualties against the invaders, their own losses were heavier.
142
They abandoned their hamlets and towns in the lowlands, among which was Terponus. The Iapodes retreated up the mountain passes and made their last stand at their largest hilltop stronghold of Metulus, where Agrippa’s presence is recorded with certainty.
143
Map 6. The Illyrian War, 35–34 BCE.
Located atop two ridges with a narrow valley between them and surrounded by a thick forest, the Romans erected a circumvallation around Metulus and settled in for a long siege. The resourceful defenders – some 3,000 in number – were prepared, even armed with Roman artillery they had captured from earlier encounters with D. Iunius Brutus.
144
As the Romans raised an earthen mound the Metulians launched raids by day and night to interrupt the work of the engineers. When the they finally broke through their circuit wall, the Romans found that the Metulians had responded by erecting a secondary wall inside. Caesar’s men now erected two mounds of earth and stones and from these constructed four gangways or bridges leading to the top of this second wall. Caesar himself ascended a siege tower from where he observed the unfolding battle. To create a diversion, he sent units to attack the town from the rear while the main force moved over the bridges. The Metulians along the top of the wall rebuffed the assault with missiles and then raced on to the gangway to engage in close hand-to-hand combat, while others unseen by the Romans worked below to undermine the footings of the bridges.
145
The defenders were greatly encouraged when one of the bridges fell and the adjacent structure collapsed on top of it.
146
When the third bridge fell, the Romans began to panic. The men hesitated to step foot on the fourth bridge anticipating that it too would collapse. Enraged by what he saw, Caesar himself jumped down from the tower and remonstrated with the legionaries; but his strong words did not stir them to action (
plate 7
). Grabbing a shield he jogged on to the bridge, exposing himself to great danger. His deputies quickly followed:
Agrippa and Hiero, two of the generals, and one of his bodyguard, Lucius, and Volas ran with him, only these four with a few armour-bearers. He had almost crossed the bridge when the soldiers, overcome by shame, rushed after him in crowds. Then this bridge, being overweighted, fell also, and the men on it went down in a heap. Some were killed and others were carried away with broken bones. Caesar was injured in the right leg and in both arms.
147
Caesar was pulled back to the safety of his tower and stood up to show himself to the troops. His men were heartened by the sight, but the Metulians were astonished to see him still alive and were now consumed with terror. The next day defenders parleyed and offered hostages.
148
Rather than face capture, however, the town’s inhabitants burned down Metulus and many took their own lives, including women and children.
149
Geminus, meantime, took Siscia.
150
Caesar then turned his attention against the Pannonii. He marched through the territory of the Segestani to reach them. Appian notes that:
Pannonia is a wooded country extending from the Iapodes to the Dardani. The inhabitants do not live in cities, but are scattered through the country or
in villages according to relationship. They have no common council and no rulers over the whole nation.
151
If Appian’s estimate is to be believed they numbered some 100,000 fighting men.
152
There the local people evacuated their towns and villages. To induce them to surrender rather than resist, at first Caesar did not plunder and burn their property.
153
However, when he approached Siscia and his army was subjected to constant harassment, Caesar decided a tougher response was needed. Scorched earth became the new tactic. Outlaying settlements and fields were plundered and razed. The Illyrians sought terms and handed over hostages, but quickly broke their word and slammed shut the city gates of their stronghold.
154
They gambled on the defense offered by the nearby Colops (Kulpa) and Sava rivers which they had fortified with palisades and ditches; Caesar had no choice now but to besiege Siscia and take it by force.
155
The Romans assembled river craft from their allies on the Danube and towed them down the Sava to the Colops and used them to engage the Illyrians directly from the water.
156
The defenders lost heart and surrendered. The campaign moved on to capture other key strongholds. As winter approached operations were wound up. On his way back Agrippa may have investigated the potential for commercial production of lead south of Sirmium.
157
The Senate granted Imperator Caesar
Divi filius
a triumph for his victories in Illyricum, which he deferred to be celebrated another time.
158
Instead, buoyed by his success in the Balkans, Caesar set off for Gaul with a notional plan for an invasion of the island of the Britons, intending to emulate his adoptive father, but that had to be abandoned when the Balkans erupted once again in revolt.
159
His field commanders quickly responded to the uprising. Fufius Geminus, who had since been ousted from Siscia, managed to retake it and Pannonia too after several battles; Statilius Taurus waged war against the remaining nations in the Balkans; and Valerius Messalla took on and defeated the Salassi on the southwestern side of the Alps.
160
Satisfied that the territories were firmly under Roman control and putting Geminus in charge with a small force, Caesar and Agrippa left the region at end of the year.
161
In the spring of 34 BCE, Agrippa returned to the western Balkans and took the lead role against the Delmatae in the south sector of the combat zone, with Caesar joining him later.
162
This may have been an entirely land-based operation, or it may have been combined with naval patrols – the sources omit the details. Ten years earlier the Delmatae had annihilated five cohorts under A. Gabinius and taken their
signa
.
163
Recapturing those lost standards was a strong motivator to Roman commanders. Appian records that the Delmatae:
had upwards of 12,000 fighting men under a general named Versus. He occupied Promona, the city of the Liburni, and fortified it, although it was very strong by nature. It is a mountain stronghold surrounded on all sides by sharp-pointed hills like saw-teeth. The greater part of his forces were stationed in the town, but he placed guards on the hills and all of them looked down upon the Romans from elevated positions. Caesar in plain sight began to draw a wall around the whole, but secretly he sent his bravest men
to seek a path to the highest of the hills. These, concealing themselves in the woods, fell upon the guards by night while they were asleep, slew them, and signalled to Caesar in the twilight. He led the bulk of the army to make an attempt upon the city, and sent another force to hold the height that had been taken, while the captors of it should get possession of the lower hills. Terror and confusion fell upon the barbarians everywhere, for they believed themselves to be attacked on all sides. Especially were those on the hills alarmed lest they should be cut off from their supply of water, for which reason they all fled to Promona.
164
A siege similar to that at Metulus followed.
165
However, unlike the Metulians, the defenders at Promona received help from outside. The Dalmatian war chief Testimus arrived with troops. While some Roman troops were diverted to repel them, others finished the circumvallation. An attempt by the defenders to break through the circuit wall and ditch failed, enabling the Romans to enter the city and inflict terrible casualties on a third of the inhabitants. The rest retreated to the citadel. Caesar placed a cohort by the gateway to control it, but when the defenders sallied out, rather than holding their position, the Romans guarding the entrance fled. For abandoning their posts, Caesar ordered the unit be decimated: every tenth man chosen by lot was summarily executed. Among them were two centurions. The surviving troops were placed on barley rations instead of wheat.
166
Promona finally fell, and soon the surrounding towns, including Sunodium and Setovia, were taken.
167
The war had severely tried Imperator Caesar’s patience and to reduce the remaining tribes he delegated the mission to Statilius Taurus.
168
Towards the end of 34 BCE he returned to Rome in readiness to take up the consulship for the new year. Once sworn in, he immediately resigned, appointing L. Autronius Paetus as his suffect before returning again to Illyricum. Having lost the previous summer to war fighting and faced with the almost certain fate of starvation, the Daelmatae finally offered their surrender. At Caesar’s insistence 700 children were handed over as hostages, the military
signa
taken from Gabinius were returned and the Delmatae promised to pay in full the tribute owing since the time of his adoptive father.
169
One after the other nations soon followed in supplication and surrendered to the Romans. With hyperbole Appian sums up the achievement ‘thus Caesar subdued the whole Illyrian country, not only the parts that had revolted from the Romans, but those that had never before been under their rule’.
170
In 33 BCE the region officially became province Illyricum administered by a senatorial
proconsul
.
171
It had taken two years of unrelenting struggle, and Agrippa had successfully played his part. It would be a while before he took up arms again. He would stay in Rome for the remainder of 34 BCE and turn his attention to other pressing matters, which would test his talents in civilian organization and project management.
