M. Moravius Piscinus Horatianus, cultoribus Deorum, Quiritibus et
omnibus salutem plurimam dicit: Mars consilia communicet nobiscum.
Hodie est ante diem XIIII Kalendas Novembris; haec dies nefas
piaculum est: Armilustrium
"The Armilustrium, Purification of Arms, from the fact that the men
with arms perform the ceremony of the Armilustrium, unless the place
is rather named from the men; but as I said of them previously, this
word comes from ludere, 'to play,' or from lustrum, 'purification,'
that is, because armed men went around making sport (ludentes) with
the sacred ancillae." ~ Varro Lingua Latinae 6.22
"The Armilustrium was a festival among the Romans where men in armor
performed sacred rites and made sacrifice to the songs of the pipes."
~ Festus 19
At the sound of trumpets, sacrifices were made to Mars at the
Armilustrum, located in the north-west corner of the Aventine Hill
near the tomb of Titus Tatius (Plutarch, Life of Romulus 23.3; Festus
p. 17, 28 ff).
AUC 563 / 190 BCE: The Campaign against Antiochus delayed by the
Armilustrium.
"The Romans had expected this to be the occasion of a severe contest,
and they were in high spirits when they found the way to Asia open to
them. They remained in camp at the Hellespont for some time, as the
holy days during which the Ancilia were borne in procession happened
to fall during their march. These days enjoined special religious
duties on Publius Scipio as one of the Salii, and kept him apart from
the army, consequently their advance was delayed till he rejoined
them." ~ Livy 37.33
This passage from Livy is believed to refer to the Armilustrium of
October. Publius Scipio Africanu departed for Asia in July. He was
on the staff of his brother Lucius who held command in the campaign
and who was to win the decisive Battle of Magnesia in December. As
in March, throughout the beginning of October the Salii priests were
actively performing their rites at various locations throughout the
City. The month of October, like March, was dedicated to Mars, with
its special festival on the Ides being the sacrifice of the October
Horse to Mars. The date of the Armilustrium, on 19 October, has been
recognized as a parallel to the Quinquatrus, or 'fifth day after the
Ides,' on 19 March when the Salii and Tribuni Celerum met in the
Comitium to purify the sacred ancillae at the beginning of the year.
It has been suggested then that the Armilustrium of October was the
last day on which the Salii performed their rites, cleansing,
purifying, and storing away the arma and ancillae for the following
year. Somewhat of a mystery is why the Armilustrium took place on the
Aventine, near the Circus Maximus (Varro L. L. 5.153). There is no
known altar of Mars that was near here. But that may be answered in
what was observed about the Carmen Salii yesterday where Janus
Jupiter and Mars are enjoined; recalling that Janus was related to
Cerus and Consus, whose altar was in the Circus Maximus; and then
noting, too, that all three were enjoined with Ceres on the Tavole
Iguvium and that just as 19 April was the Cerealia, the nineteenth of
each month celebrated Ceres on the Aventine.
Some modern scholars have posed that thetime from the Quinquatrus of
March to the Armilustrium of October represented a military season of
campaigning. Such an interpretation cannot have been correct. The
consules had various religious rites to perform, not least of which
was attendance at the feriae Latinae in April. The time allotted
between the initial assembly of the Comitia Centuriata, the
preparation, equipping and then the actual enlistment of the army
arrived in April or May. The flamen Portunalis anointed the arms of
Quirinus on the Volcanalia of 23 August, which suggests a ritual
purification of the army upon returning from a campaign. Also such a
span of time from March through October would have overlapped the
agricultural cycle at critical times of sowing and harvesting.
Earlier modern scholars pointed instead to how the nature of the
Salii dance, the words of the Carmen Saliorum and those of the Carmen
Fratrum Arvalum all suggest purification rituals made in conjunction
with agriculture rites. It would seem rather significant, too, that
the Armilustrium occurs on the Aventine, outside the pomerium. That
is, that the final annual rite of the Salii took whatever evils may
have accumulated on the ancillae during the rites of purification
inside the City and brought these outside to be dispersed.
AUC 534 / 219 BCE Filial and religious spirit of L. Furius Bibaculus
"As Praetor, at the direction of his father who was Magister
Saliorum, the head of the college of Salii priests, he bore the
sacred shields, preceded by his six lectors, even though by virtue of
his office he was entitled to exemption from this duty. For our
civitas has always held that all things must yield to religion, even
in the case of persons in whom it wished the splendor of most exalted
dignity to be displayed. Thus holders of imperium never hesitated to
minister to holy things in the belief that theirs would be the
governance of human affairs only if they performed good and faithful
service to the power of the Gods." ~ Valerius Maximus 1.1.9
AUC 551 / 202 BCE Battle of Zama
After sixteen years of war, in what proved to be an exhaustive and
fruitless campaign, Hannibal was recalled to Africa to face the Roman
army under Publius Cornelius Scipio. Months passed as Hannibal
prepared his army while Scipio besieged Utica, moved on to Tunis, and
gathered allies in North Africa. A Carthaginian naval victory did
not slow Scipio's advance. The final confrontation came on the plains
near Zama.
Hannibal's front line was composed of mercenaries from Gaul and
Liguria together with light troops from Mauretania and the Baleric
Islands. In his second line he placed his Carthaginian, African and
Macedonian troops. To the rear was a third line composed of veterans
from his campaign in Italy, who were mostly Bruttians. On his right
were the Carthaginian cavalry while on the left Hannibal placed his
Numidian cavalry under Syphax. To his front Hannibal had placed
eighty war elephants.
Scipio formed his Roman infantry into three lines with the hastati in
front, the principes in the second line, and the veteran triarii in
the third line. Their formation was unusual, however, in that they
were formed into maniples rather than cohorts, with gaps left between
each tactical unit to allow the enemy's elephants to pass. Covering
these gaps were velites, mainly provided from Masinissa's light
infantry. Masinissa led four thousand Numidian cavalry on Scipio's
right, to face his rival Syphax. On Scipio's left was then the
Italian cavalry under Quaestor Laelius. The Roman infantry was out
numbered, but composed of volunteer veterans against a diverse and
discordant enemy. Unusual for a Roman battle, Scipio had the
advantage in cavalry both in numbers and experienced troopers, as
well as in their commanders.
At the first blast of the Roman trumpets, the Carthaginian elephants
panicked. On the left they turned into their own lines, disrupting
Hannibal's Numidian cavalry. Masinissa quickly disposed of Syphax and
bared Hannibal's left. On the right, the panicked elephants charged
into the waiting trap. The few that survived ran back into the
Carthaginian line, and Laelius was also able to disperse the enemy
cavalry before him. The disciplined Roman infantry pushed back the
Gallic and Ligurian infantry. Hannibal's second line of Carthaginians
neither supported nor relieved the front line, but instead held the
mercenaries forward to be slaughtered in their stead. In contrast the
triarii pushed their lines forward to break the Carthaginian lines.
The Roman cavalry returned to the field after driving away the
enemy's cavalry. Coordinated attacks then took Hannibal's third line
in the rear. The Bruttians were more intent on escaping the fate of
the Gauls and Ligurians, in the end leaving the Carthaginians to be
engulfed. Hannibal escaped. His army is said to have lost over twenty
thousand men, the Romans only around 1,500, but such figures are
notoriously unreliable.
Zama was not the final engagement of the war, but it was such a
crushing defeat that Hannibal recommended that the Carthaginian
Senate sue for peace. Rome imposed a heavy indemnity on Carthage, as
well as took over Hispania. But Hannibal's management of his city's
affairs proved no less capable than his ability as a general
and he was able to pay off the debt with relative ease, which in its
own way prepared for the Third Punic War.
You may find Livy's account of the battle at Forum Romanum, Book
30.33-35
http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/liviusx.html
Today's thought is from Sextus, Select Sentences 66 and 44:
Think that you suffer a great punishment when you obtain the object
of corporeal desire; for the attainment of such objects never
satisfies desire. Every desire is insatiable, and therefore is always
in want.
