298 BCE - Third Samnite War

by Kathleen Ní Bhriain

Rome goes up against an army composed of Samnite, Etruscan, Umbrian, Lucanians and Celt forces. Rome had planned on a war of attrition, hoping to wear down the Samnites and the Celts (which were the two forces they feared the most) and then going in for the kill on the rest. Publius Decimus Mus, a young Roman commander, got a bit antsy and attacked the Celtic horsemen. The Celts, however, swarmed all over his charioteers, frightening the Roman horses. Decimus' men panicked due to all the noise the Celts were making, as well as the noise the panicked Roman horses were making, and fell back. Decimus had a Roman priest to give him a death blessing, then performed a public incantation/ritual.

"Terror and ruin, murder and blood, the rage of the gods in heaven and below the earth I will carry with me, I will bring the curse of extermination to the standards, weapons and arms of the enemy. May ruin strike the Gauls and Samnites where I reach them." [3]

Decimus then drove his horse into the lines of the Celts, and died on the ends of their weapons. This image of a leader sacrificing himself for his people had a strong impact on the Celts, many of whom fell to the ground without even being wounded. The Romans were effected in the opposite manner, and attacked. The Samnites fled, and the Celts were surrounded and slaughtered.

Sources:

The Celts, People Who Came Out of the Darkness, Gerhard Herm, St. Martin's Press, (c)1977, ISBN 312-1205-7

The Ancient Celts, Barry Cunliffe, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-815010-5

prepared by Kathleen Ní Bhriain

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