The Battle of Patavium

Against accepted military protocol Scipio moved his army from Bononia in midwinter so he could reach Patavium in the spring. As it happened the Aedui siege had been broken that same month, when Scipio sent the message to the senate they simply stated that he must take Mediolanum regardless, this was no longer about mere territory – Roman honour was at stake.
An account of the siege of Patavium survives in the words of General Scipio himself.

I despise the tedium of the siege. Give me open fields and sweeping plains so that I can move my men where I need them, but I go where the senate tells me and the senate tells me to capture Patavium for the glory of the republic. During the Bononia campaign I came to realise the value of mercenaries so I have enlisted the help of a company of swordsmen and a company of axmen in the hope that they will leave more of my boys alive for the coming battles in Insurbramrog. I have been told to take the city as quickly as I can, it will be bloody but I shall yield to the senate’s demands.

I finally ordered the assault in November of 492 AUC. The rams, of which there were two, breached the wall and the western gate of the city and the Hastati, Rorarii and our barbarian auxiliaries led the attack.




I was proud of my men that day. Particularly the younger and less experienced troops who acquitted themselves admirably in the face of far more experienced enemies.
The mêlée at the gate continued for some time, with minor routs plaguing the enemy.
I have a new found respect for our barbarian cousins. In the face of overwhelming numbers they did not run as quickly as I expected, but rather they fought like cornered wolves sensing the end. And as any old warrior will tell, a cornered enemy is the most deadly.
A breakthrough in the maelstrom came when the Patavoae King, Caratawc was dragged from his horse and the enemy cavalry squadrons fled.




With that the enemy began to flee and I pulled the Hastati back to allow the Princepes and Trarii, who had been kept fresh for this purpose, to finish the job and carry the day.



However it pays to never underestimate an enemy, especially one whose doom is assured. They surprised us by rallying quickly and coming back at the mustering Princepes, giving my men barely enough time to loose off their javelins.
A series of running battles were fought in the city streets as the beleaguered defenders attempted to stop us reaching the centre. In truth their cause was lost and, soon enough we stormed the centre.




What followed cannot really be described as a mêlée. The enemy were exhausted and my men were fresh, they fought to the last rather than surrender, like true men.



It was a victory in the name of Rome but my men will scarcely have time to enjoy it. I am ordered to Mediolanum in order to restore the senate’s honour. I daresay it will not be as easy as this was today.

With the completion of the first part of his objective Scipio prepared to march on Mediolanum with his army. The city was the capital of the Gallic possessions on the Roman side of the Alps and as a result the city and the land around it was thick with Aedui soldiers, and with only a single army under his command the Isurbramrog campaign would be one of the most intense of Scipio’s life.

Scipio’s requests that a new army be raised to aid in the conquest were denied by the senate on financial grounds. However it was fairly common knowledge at this time that in Scipio’s absence that Blaiso had gained effective control over the senate.
Unbeknownst to Scipio however was as his battered, blooded but unbowed army marched into the heavily defended Gallic province of Insurbramrog a new army was being raised by the senate. This army was to be sent south to capture the Greek cities in Sicily and the Carthaginian holdings in Elimya and on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.
The senate’s plan was thus; the distaste for Carthage in Rome was well known and many of the more violent senators wanted to send an armed expedition to North Africa to capture the Carthaginian homelands of Atiqa, Adrumento, and Carthage herself. The more moderate, and thankfully more numerous, senators rejected this idea out of hand, declaring it detrimental to the state of the republic. Instead a plan for a long war was drawn up. Spreading across fifteen or twenty years the plan was to take first the Carthaginian island holdings; from there the roman army was to deprive Carthage of her bases in Iberia, severely stunting her mineral wealth. Finally, once Iberia was subdued the army would land upon the coasts of North Africa and face a Carthage significantly poorer and greatly demoralised by a string of defeats.
The plan was agreed upon and would be put into action following the completion of the Insurbramrog campaign.