![]() The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before king Boiorix. The initial contact between the two forces occurred when a detached picketing group under the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus met an advance party of the Cimbri. However, because Maximus was a novus homo and therefore lacked the noble background of the Roman aristocracy – in addition to his military inexperience – Caepio refused to serve under him and made camp on the opposite side of the river. As the consul of the year, Maximus out-ranked Caepio and therefore should by law have been the senior commander of the combined armies. Two of the major Roman forces available were camped out on the Rhone River, near Arausio: one led by Mallius Maximus, and the other by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio. The reasons for Rutilius not taking charge himself do not seem to be known: perhaps he faced political opposition because of his friendship with Gaius Marius, or perhaps he believed Mallius Maximus deserved the chance to earn himself a share of glory, or perhaps he was simply temporarily ill. The senior of the year's two consuls, Publius Rutilius Rufus, was an experienced and highly decorated soldier, veteran of the recent war in Numidia, but for some reason did not take charge of the military campaign himself but remained in Rome while his inexperienced, untried colleague Gnaeus Mallius Maximus led the legions north. The Battle Įven before the battle had erupted, the Romans were in trouble. Having regained Tolosa, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio adopted a defensive strategy, waiting to see if the Cimbri would move toward Roman territories again. An ambush of Roman troops and the temporary rebellion of the town of Tolosa (modern Toulouse) caused Roman troops to mobilize in the area, with eighty strong forces. When the Teuton matrons heard of this stipulation they first begged the consul that they might be set apart to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus and then when they failed to obtain their request and were removed by the lictors, they slew their little children and next morning were all found dead in each other's arms having strangled themselves in the night.The migrations of the Cimbri tribe through Gaul and adjacent territories had disturbed the balance of power and incited or provoked other tribes, such as the Helvetii, into conflict with the Romans. Roman historians recorded that 300 of the captured women committed mass suicide, which passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism (cf Jerome, letter cxxiii.8, 409 AD ):īy the conditions of the surrender three hundred of their married women were to be handed over to the Romans. Plutarch mentions ( Marius 10, 5-6) that during the battle, the Ambrones began to shout "Ambrones!" as their battle-cry the Ligurian troops fighting for the Romans, on hearing this cry, found that it was identical to an ancient name in their country which the Ligurians often used when speaking of their descent ( "οὕτως κατὰ ὀνομάζουσι Λίγυες"), so they returned the shout, "Ambrones!". ![]() The Roman accounts claim that in the ensuing massacre 90,000 Teutones were slain and 20,000 including their King Teutobod, were captured. At the battle's height this force launched an ambush, attacking the Teutones from behind, and throwing them into confusion and rout. This force was commanded by Marius's second-in-command, Claudius Marcelus. Meanwhile, Marius had hidden a small Roman force of 4,000 nearby. They were soon followed by the rest of the Teutones' force. The leading elements, the Ambrones, took the bait and attacked. Marius took up a strong position on a carefully selected hill and enticed the Teutones to attack him there using his cavalry and light infantry skirmishers (most of whom were allied Ligurians).
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