33.36
Whilst
these events were happening in Greece and Macedonia and Asia, Etruria
very nearly became the scene of war owing to a conspiracy of the slaves. For
the purpose of investigating and crushing this movement, Manius Acilius
Glabrio, to whom as praetor the mixed jurisdiction over citizens and aliens
had been assigned, was sent into Etruria with one of the two legions
stationed in the City. A body of the conspirators was defeated in open battle
and many of them were killed or taken prisoners; the ringleaders were
scourged and crucified; the others sent back to their masters. The consuls
left for their provinces. Marcellus entered the territory of the Boii, and whilst
he was entrenching his camp on some rising ground, his men worn out with
marching all day long, Corolamus, one of the Boian chiefs, attacked him
with a large force and killed as many as 3000. Several men of high rank fell
in this tumultuary battle; amongst them Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and
M. Junius Silanus, prefects of the allies, and two military tribunes in the
second legion -M. Ogulnius and P. Claudius. The Romans, however,
succeeded by great exertions in completing their lines and held the camp
against the attacks of the enemy, which his initial success rendered all the
more fierce. Marcellus remained in his camp for some time, in order that his
wounded might be cured and that his men might have time to recover their
spirits after such heavy losses.
The Boians, quite incapable of supporting the weariness of delay,
dispersed everywhere to their villages and strongholds. Suddenly Marcellus
crossed the Po and invaded the Comum territory, where the Insubres had
induced the natives to take up arms and were now encamped. The Boian
Gauls, full of confidence after the recent fight, joined battle with him while
he was actually on the march, and at first attacked with such violence that
they forced the front ranks to give way. Fearing that if they once began to
give ground it might end in a complete repulse, Marcellus brought up a
cohort of Marsians and launched all the troops of the Latin cavalry against
the enemy. After they had by successive charges held up the determined
onset of the Gauls the rest of the Roman line recovered its steadiness and
resisted all attempts to break it. At last they took the offensive in a furious
charge which the Gauls were unable to stand; they turned and fled in
disorder. According to Valerius Antias over 40,000 men were killed in that
battle, 801 standards captured, together with 732 wagons and a large
number of gold chains. Claudius tells us that one of these, a very heavy one,
was deposited as an offering in the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol. The
Gaulish camp was stormed and plundered on the same day as the battle took
place, and a few days later the town of Comum was captured. Subsequently
twenty-eight fortified places went over to the consul. It is a question
amongst the various historians whether it was against the Boii or the
Insubres that the consul marched in the first place, and whether he wiped out
his unsuccessful action by a successful one afterwards or whether the victory
at Comum was marred by his later disaster amongst the Boii.
