- Never near Argos -

[Mediolanicus]

Books V and VI.

Here we encounter a slight problem. Unfortunately, we do not have any surviving paragraphs of these two parts of H____’s work. Luckily, we do have some other sources. Those do require some more interpretation and speculation than H____’s work, which I consider to be a correct description of historical events.
Now let us take a closer look at some of these.

Source 1:

This is a letter 265 from a Latin soldier in the Roman auxiliary corps to family in Latium. The letter can be found in the conlectio epistoliorum Latini, which can be found in the library of Roma.

AVE . IVLIE .

INSIDIAS . MAXIMITAS . DEPVGNAVIMVS . PLERVSQVE . MANIPULI . CAESI . SVNT . BONVS . SVM . DEFECTORES . SAMNITOS . IN . FORESTA . VMBRA . ERANT . CENTIES . MILLE . BELLATORES . ESSET . OFFVNDERUNT . ALIQVI . BOVES . PYRRHI . AVDIVERVNT . DICVNT . ACCVREBAM . CELERE . MVLTI . ACCVREBANT . ATROX . ERAT .

VALE . MARCVS .

Greetings Julius,

We have fought hard in a great ambush. A great many of our men were killed. With me, all is well. It were Samnite rebels in the Ghostly Forest. It must have been a hundred thousand warriors who overwhelmed us. Some say they have heard the Pyrrhic oxen. I ran, quickly. Many ran away. It was terrible.

Stay in good health, Marcus.


Notes:

We know that the Romans lost control over Arpi to Italian rebels in 265. T____ A_____ tells us that around 5000 Samnites and Apulians took up arms against the Romans in 266. They were led by a man called Cnaeus, possible a Roman traitor. His camp supposedly was on Mount Garganus, on the small peninsular East of Arpi – the spur of the booth of Italy. This mountain was covered by the so-called Ghostly forest mentioned in the letter.
The greatest mystery the letter offers us, is of course the allusion on the presence of Pyrrhos during the battle. The Senate sent more than 15000 men the quell the revolt. Only 3000 came back. The chances are slim that this defeat was inflicted solely by the Cnaeus’ rabble.
It is possible that Pyrrhos saw an opportunity to take Arpi by supporting the rebel army. However, it is impossible that any elephants were present during the battle, since these beast were all killed the previous year during the battle of Demetrias.
The question why Pyrrhos wanted to attack Arpi now, in 265, and not four years earlier after the Battle of Cannae, probably will remain unanswered.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The location of the Ghostly Forest