(Night Jun 14 234BC)
Senatus had planned his escape carefully. He had convinced his guards that he needed to visit his lover down by the docks in Rome. They escorted him to a rather ugly, rundown home next to the docks where the passenger ships sat. As Senatus went inside, four armed punks struck the centurions from the shadows. Three of the gang had been injured before they finally gained the upper hand against Senatus’ guards. The centurions were killed and their bodies dropped into the water. As they finished their dirty work, Senatus eased back out of the home. The leader of the thugs approached him, a bloody dagger still in his hands, and he eyed Senatus carefully. Then they smiled and Senatus threw him a bag of 20 gold denari.
“Spend in well Athonis, and tell your men to keep their mouths shut.”
“I’m no fool Senatus. It is a death sentence to kill a centurion. And this money will get us the hell out of this town.”
“Then farewell, and good weather.”
Senatus watched his old friend fade back into the shadow along with his men. Then he headed towards the trieme that he had bribed. He climbed on board and ordered the captain to sail for Athens. He knew that by the time he reached Greece, his father would have most likely taken the city-state.
(Jun 20 234BC)
Farious had discovered that 1000 of his wounded men would survive to serve again. That still left him with 1200 men to defend Segesta from any threat that arrived. The other cities he had conquered only contained 1500 men apiece. Basically, Farious was stuck. He would have to wait at least 2 years to train enough men to start his conquesting again.
Meanwhile, halfway across Europe Flavius was ready to take out the Brutii in Athens. He had brought his onagers within striking distance and opened up with solid stones. For some reason, even though he bashed them with over a dozen rocks, the gates held. At first, Flavius thought that perhaps it was just a thick coating of iron, but then he realized, the gates themselves WERE iron.
Flavius spent the rest of the day bashing the doors with rocks, and still they wouldn’t yield. Finally, after the doors were half buried in rock, Flavius ordered the onagers to stop firing. Flavius just scratched his head. He had fired most of his available ammunition, and had only achieved in smashing the gateway to bits. Flavius considered his options. If he waited to build siege towers, it was possible that Brutii reinforcements could arrive from Corinth, the only other Brutii holding left anywhere. He could leave and go after Corinth first, and then come back for Athens, but Athens guarded the entrance to the lower part of the peninsula, and so he might find himself cut off. Flavius had to gamble.
Flavius ordered 14000 of his men to break off and head for Corinth. He ordered the other 14000 to begin making siege towers.
(Jun 30 234BC)
Tiberus was approached with an interesting offer. The Greek general from Syracuse had come to Messana with an interesting offer. He offered to join his forces with Tiberus’ to push the Carthaginians out of Lilybaeum. Tiberus thought of waiting, but the embarrassment from the ambush pushed him to act. He organized 8000 of his men, and joined with 5000 Greeks and marched on Lilybaeum.
(Jul 17 234BC)
The coalition armies made good time and arrived at Lilybaeum ahead of schedule. The Roman lines formed next to the Greeks and headed towards the city. Too late did Tiberus realize he had been betrayed. As the onagers began to fire, the Greeks turned and hit the Roman lines in the side. Then the gates to the city opened and 1000 cavalrymen rode out and smashed the Romans from the front. Then trumpets sounded from the rear and 200 war elephants, led by Hannibal, charged down on the Romans. (Apparently, his departure had been part of a grand trap.)
In the brutal fighting that followed, Tiberus found himself face to face with the Greek general.
“Why did you do this?” screamed Tiberus, as his gladius swung at the Greeks head.
“Years ago you killed a tall Greek with a shiny black shield. Do you remember?” answered the Greek as the gladius bounced off his shield.
“Yes. But what does that have to do with this?” asked Tiberus as he dodged the Greeks spear thrust.
“He was my brother.” The Greek revealed this news as he reversed the jab of the spear, and brought it deep into Tiberus’ side. Blood ran from the wound and Tiberus feet failed him. He dropped to his knees and the Greek stepped in close. “Now, my brother can rest on Olympus.”
An hour later, the glorious Roman army that had smashed the Scripii, was finally defeated by a joint force of Carthaginians and Greeks.
In the days that followed, this same army took Messana, and began making plans to invade Italy and take Capua.
(Aug 3rd 234 BC)
This started as such a glorious day for Flavius. A messenger arrived and told him that Corinth had been taken. His siege engines were done and he was ready to take Athens.
At 10 in the morning, his siege towers began to approach the northern wall of Athens. Arrows and onager stones rained upon the attackers, but still they came. The towers reached the walls and Greek mercenaries assailed the defenders. While not very effective, they did take down quite a few of the Brutii before the Roman legionary cohorts arrived atop the walls. The fighting was brutal as Senatorial legionnaire slew the Brutii. The Brutii gave as good as they got though and three hours into the battle, the winner was still unknown. Finally some of Flavius’ men got the gates opened and he was able to push into the city. With his cavalry inside the town, the Brutii fell by the dozens. At 7 that night, the last Brutii warrior died.
Flavius realized his total victory and ordered his men to celebrate. Casks of wine were rolled around and mugs of good Roman wine drank til the men couldn’t stand anymore. Just when Flavius realized that his every dream had come true, disaster arrived…in the guise of Senatus.
Senatus told his story over the next several hours and Flavius just sat and stoically stared at the floor. He had been deceived. The Senate had tricked him into destroying the Julii, Brutii, and Scipii armies. Flavius retired to his chambers and fell into a deep sleep.
(Aug 6th 234BC)
Two messengers arrived to see Flavius, and as Senatus was about to tell them they would have to wait, Flavius walked out of his bedroom. He was wearing his battle armor and had a stern look upon his face. “I will take Rome.”
“Uh… father, these men are here to see you. One is from Messana and one is from Farious.”
“Oh very well. What do you have for me?”
The first messenger spoke up. “Noble Flavius, it is with a heavy heart that we tell you General Tiberus is dead. He was betrayed by Greek and Carthaginians and slain. We are about to lose Messana to these same forces and I fear for the safety of Italy. I urge you to return to stop this army before it can deface Italian soil.”
“Very well and what do you have of importance?” Flavius asked the other messenger.
“Greetings Flavius, it is Farious. I have some distressing news. Just this morning I witnessed a vast barbarian horde ride past Segesta. They seemed to be trained on taking Rome! I could make out Britons, Gauls, and Germans by the thousands. My army is decimated or I would have stopped them. My general, you must return to Rome with your forces and protect it.”
Flavius rose to his feet, and walked across the throne room. One of his lieutenants approached him, “My liege, if we force march the whole way to the western coast, board ships, and force march to Rome, we might just get there in time to save them. Shall I order the men to form up?”
“Yes, but we are not going to save Rome. We are going to watch it burn!”
And so it came to pass that in October of 234BC, the city of Rome was pillaged by both a barbarian horde and a Carthaginian army. The only Romans killed in the assault were the entire Senate. The rest of the populace was largely ignored and only treasure that belonged to the Senators was taken. The invaders then turned and marched away. The strangest part of the attack was that a Senatorial army could be seen watching the carnage, and they waited until the invaders left to secure the city. Thus began the reign of Emperor Flavius. Within weeks, trading rights were acquired with all of the barbarians and the Carthaginians. For thirty years thereafter, Rome and her sister cities in northern Italy and Greece enjoyed peace.
Life is full of challenges. You can either step up to them, or step out of the way. The ones who step up, are the ones who will someday rule the world.