Battle of the Tolenus River | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Social War | |||||||
View of the Turano River in near Rieti, Italy | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Roman Republic | Italian rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Publius Rutilius Lupus † Gaius Marius | Titus Vettius Scato | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
About 8,000 killed | About 8,000 killed |
The Battle of the Tolenus River was fought on 11 June 90 BC [1] [note 1] between the Roman Republic, led by the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus, and an army of Marsian Rebels commanded by Titus Vettius Scato. The battle was part of the Social War and resulted in a major defeat for the Romans.
Publius Rutilius Lupus and Lucius Julius Caesar were elected as consuls for the year 90 BC and dispatched to command armies in the Social War, which had begun during the prior year with the rebellion of Asculum. While Lucius Caesar marched against the Samnites, Rutilius was sent to face the Marsi, selecting Gaius Marius as his senior legate. [2]
Rutilius and Marius constructed two bridges across the Tolenus River [note 2] in eastern Latium, pitching camps on one side of the river, while the Marsian commander Titus Vettius Scato set up camp on the other side of the river, nearer to Marius's camp. The night before the battle, Scato sent an ambush force to the location of Rutilius's bridge, and when Rutilius attempted to cross with his army in the morning, they were attacked, and Rutilius was killed. [3]
Marius, downstream from the attack, observed bodies floating down the river and therefore decided to advance across the river, taking Scato's undermanned camp by surprise and forcing Scato to retreat with his ambush force in search of provisions. [4]
The Battle of the Tolenus River was the largest engagement of the Social War thus far, with around 8,000 killed on both sides. Despite the equal losses, the battle was unquestionably a Roman defeat with the death of the consul Rutilius. The senate decided against holding elections to replace Rutilius, instead handing control of his army jointly to Marius and Quintus Servilius Caepio. [5]
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Publius Rutilius Lupus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 90 BC. He led a campaign against the Marsi during the Social War, ultimately resulting in his death at the unsuccessful Battle of the Tolenus River.
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Titus Vettius Scato was an Italian rebel commander, a general of the Marsi during the Social War. At the Battle of the Tolenus River, Scato and the Marsi ambushed the Roman consul, Publius Rutilius Lupus after the Romans crossed the River Tolenus. Unfortunately for Scato, Rutilius's senior legate, Gaius Marius, and his division were operating separately from Rutilis and crossed the river downstream of the battle, captured the Marsi camp, and then attacked the Marsi while they were still fighting Rutilius's army, routing them with heavy losses. He defeated Lucius Julius Caesar in battle before marching on and capturing Aesernia. When he encountered an army under Pompey Strabo, instead of fighting, the two met, their armies treating each other without hatred. According to Seneca, he was captured by the Romans but was stabbed to death by his slave rather than face the ignominy of defeat.
The Battle of Aesernia took place in the year 90 BC during the Social War. A force under the consul Lucius Julius Caesar, an uncle of the more famous Julius Caesar, was engaged while moving to relieve the siege of Aesernia and defeated by a rebel force under Titus Vettius Scato. Orosius wrote that Caesar had to entirely rebuild his army with Gallic and African troops after the battle while Appian admits only 2,000 Roman dead. As a result of their victory the rebels had enough spare forces to reinforce the army besieging Aesernia while another army took Venafrum. It is also possible Venafrum joined the rebels.
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