Legate Augustus Verginius gazed at the city that lay before him. Its architecture was heavily influenced by the Greek style and, from a distance, it appeared to be a civilized and peaceful place.

"Civilized..." Verginius sneered, "there is no civilization here."

He looked back at his men. All of Legio II was forming up for battle behind him.

"Nor shall there be peace."



The Illyrian people had been shattered by decades of war. First with the Macedonians, then with the Greeks, then with the Romans. They had stubbornly refused to allow any encroachment upon their homelands. They had won great victories against the mightiest armies that civilization could throw against them, but those victories had cost many lives and Illryria's veterans watered the fields with their blood. Now, in the end, there were only untrained warbands and slaves left to oppose Rome.

Still, these men fought with passion and rage. As Legio II approached the city, a great mass of men poured from the streets to engage in one final gesture of defiance.



They were met in the streets by the Roman infantry, whose skill and discipline held the enemy charge almost effortlessly.



The last Illyrian king, Temeia, joined in the melee with the last handful of trained Illyrian warriors. The Roman Equites could not be restrained at the sight of him. There had been rumors circulating amongst the Legion that the loss of the Eagle of Legio III had been partially due to a mistake made by the Equites of that Legion. Whether true or not, their counterparts in Legio II felt they had to prove their worth. The Illyrian king's men were the veterans of countless battles. Tough, battle-hardened warriors who had faced the best armies that the Greeks and Macedonians could field. Yet the Equites, in their determination to wipe clean any doubts about their abilities, cut through them with ease. Soon Temeia was surrounded by Roman horsemen and cut down.



The remaining men of the Illyrian battleline attempted to flee after this loss, but there was no where to go. They were cut down in the streets and the occupation of the city began. Yet, in the town square a mass of Illyrian slaves had gathered, rallied to the cause by the whips of their masters. Yet, even with the Illyrian nation broken and their overseers dead, they fulfilled their vow and fought. It was a glorious charge, the last of an entire nation.



Their ferocity inflicted a few casualties on the Hastati who received them, but they were only slaves. Soon the entire Illyrian nation was reduced to a few poorly armed slaves encircled by an entire Legion of Roman soldiers.



And so ended the independant Illyrian nation. For the first time in history, a non-Italian people had been completely and totally conquered and subjugated by the might of Rome. It would be the first of many.