Numerius relaxed at his desk in the governor’s palace at Maronia. He had given orders for Legio V to prepare for the coming winter and, with word of Praetor Coruncanius’s victory over the Seleucids, it seemed that operations this season were over. There was still a substantial cavalry-heavy Seleucid army this side of the straits, but that, Numerius assumed, was next season’s problem.

“A message from the Consul! A message from the Consul!” Isidor ran in the room excitedly. “He asks if you can strike at the last Seleucid army this side of the straits!”

Numerius jumped up at this unexpected call to action. He scanned the message. Praetor Coruncanius had failed to snare the second Seleucid army south of Tylis. It had fled in tact across the straits to Abydos, to rendezvous with the hated Molon. Well, it was fortunate we took Maronia before Praetor Coruncanius made his move, Numerius thought. Two Seleucid armies here would have been the devil’s own job to shift. OK, we can’t do anything about Molon right now - first we have to deal with that cavalry-heavy army that stands between us. Can we take it? Numerius already was developing a phobia of fighting cavalry, based on the rough handling Legio V had repeatedly received from the mounted escorts of enemy generals. Those escorts had typically numbered only a score or more. Now he would have to fight hundreds of cavalry.

“My only cavalry is 28 Sarmatians,” Numerius thought ruefully, “Plus the six survivors of my escort. And the Seleucids have, what, 288 cavalry. Well this should be interesting. What about missiles? Maybe I can shoot them down from afar? I have only my funditores. But there are a company of Rhodian slingers and Cretan archers seeking employment around Maronia. Isidor - ask the First Consul if we are authorised to hire them. And get the army moving - we march now.”

So a tired Legio V set off to confront the last remaining Seleucid army this side of the straits. Word came back from the First Consul - no mercenaries could be afforded; the money was needed for an offensive that the Consul had decided at the last moment to launch from Lepcis Magna. Worse still, the Consul reminded Numerius that the Thracian cavalry in the Seleucid force were famed for fighting with missiles. This is going to be messy, thought Numerius.



Once last push and the Seleucids are repelled from Europe.

Numerius’s mood was not improved when he found the Seleucid army had deployed in a heavily wooded area. It was possible that woods provided some advantage against cavalry, although Numerius was not sure if that was true. However, if there was one thing messier than fighting missile cavalry, Numerius thought, it was fighting in woods. Numerius had a traditional Roman’s view of battle - it was to be fought in close order, out in the open, with heavy infantry. Scurrying around woods in hit and run encounters was not the Roman way.


Numerius deploys aiming to seize some high ground and fight the Seleucids in the open valley below. However, the Seleucids deploy far away in the woods and cannot be enticed out.

Gingerly, Numerius advanced his army towards the woods where the Seleucids were deployed. He could make out two phalanxes in the centre, backed by another slightly to the west. The enemy cavalry were largely hidden, to the rear. Numerius ordered his veteran principes to face off with the phalanxes but not to engage. He ordered his two Thracian infantry and his Italian spearman to move around to the west; while to the east, he sent his hoplite company, his full strength cohort of principes and his few hastati.

The Thracians were the first to make contact with the hidden Seleucid cavalry. They stumbled upon a company of heavy Thracian cavalry but the enemy did not charge. Instead both sides exchange a volley of javelins before the infantry assaulted the cavalry.



An encounter typical of the battle - Roman infantry stumble on Seleucid cavalry and engage in a confusing melee.

The second Thracian infantry unit then moved up and charged the Seleucid phalanx line from the flank.



The Thracians will win the battle honours this day. Note the presence of the Roman principes pinning the phalanx to face forward.

On the western flank, the Roman mercenary hoplites pressed blindly into the woods, eventually encountering light Thracian cavalry. For some inexplicable reason, the Thracian cavalry did not attempt to skirmish but got caught up in an uneven melee.



The battle is now in full sway - notice how almost every Roman unit is engaged in combat.

Numerius’s escort only numbered six men and he resolved not to engage the superior numbers of enemy cavalry. However, once virtually all his army was committed to battle, his enforced idleness became unbearable. The Thracians were hacking away at the enemy phalanxes, but it was slow work and a unit of Seleucid peltasts was preparing to fire into the backs of the Romans' brave allies. Numerius ordered his escort in to distract the peltasts.



Numerius risks disaster fighting peltasts in the woods.

The fight was bitter and Numerius felt a rising wave of panic within him as the eighty peltasts slowly moved in to envelope his six horsemen. Marcus, the captain of his Praetoria called out:

“They are not going to break! We must pull back!”

Numerius nodded. “Fall back! Fall back!”

At that moment, outside the wood, Isidor - Numerius’s Greek advisor - was peering anxiously into gloom. He heard a loud shout of dismay and faintly caught the words:

”He has fallen! The general has fallen!”

Curses, thought Isidor, the young fool has finally gotten himself killed! Then Isidor realised the cry had been in his own mother tongue, not Latin!



The Italian spearmen were given a specific task: kill the Seleucid general. Job done.

With the death of their general, the three beleaguered phalanxes finally broke. Numerius rallied his praetorian and, backed by his few velites, resumed his contest with the peltasts. This time, they would not hold.



The last significant action of the day.

Soon all that remained of the Seleucid army was a company of light Thracian horse. They skirmished briefly but their heart was not in the fight anymore. They soon broke, their swift horses allowing them to make good their escape. However, the mercenaries then disbanded - the risks of employment in the Seleucid army evidently exceeded the benefits.

After the battle, Numerius was happy with the result. It had cost him about a hundred men - mainly drawn from the recently recruited mercenaries: Thracians and hoplites. But these men had died well, proving their worth in this battle. There were now no Seleucid forces on the European side of the straits.



Numerius had been ordered to return Legio V to Maronia, but he was briefly tempted to disobey orders and strike out for Abydos, to make his rendezvous with Molon. But Isidor calculated the army could not make it to Abydos this season. Better to wait, and hope the First Consul would sanction such a move this winter. Yes, better to wait and learn news of the Consul’s own campaign far away in Afrika.