Ligurian War
Having collected his army at Placentia, Quintus
Opimius orders his soldiers to join at Placentia, and marches into Gaul, |
Opimius marched over the Apennines and
arrived in the territory of the Oxybii; and, pitching his camp on the river Apro, awaited the
enemy, being informed that they were mustering
their forces and were eager to give him battle.
Meanwhile,
he advanced to Aegitna, where the ambassadors
had been outraged, took the city by assault, and
sold its inhabitants as slaves, sending the ringleaders in the
outrage to Rome in chains. Having done this, he went to
meet the enemy. The Oxybii, convinced that their violence
to the ambassadors admitted of no terms being granted them,
with all the courage of desperation, and excited to the highest
pitch of furious enthusiasm, did not wait to be joined
by the Deciatae, but, having collected to the number of about
four thousand, rushed to the attack upon their
enemy.
and defeats the Oxybii and Deciatae. |
Quintus was somewhat dismayed at
the boldness of their attack, and at the
desperate fury of the barbarians; but was encouraged by
observing that the enemy were advancing in complete
disorder, for he was an experienced soldier and a man
of great natural sagacity. He therefore drew out his men,
and, after a suitable harangue, advanced at a slow pace
towards the enemy. His charge was delivered with great
vigour: he quickly repulsed the enemy, killed a great many of
them, and forced the rest into headlong flight. Meanwhile,
the Deciatae had mustered their forces, and appeared on the
ground intending to fight side by side with the Oxybii; but
finding themselves too late for the battle, they received the
fugitives in their ranks, and after a short time charged the
Romans with great fury and enthusiasm; but being worsted in
the engagement, they immediately all surrendered themselves
and their city at discretion to the Romans. Having thus become
masters of these tribes, Opimius delivered over their territory
on the spot to the people of Marseilles, and for the future forced
the Ligurians to give hostages at certain fixed intervals to the
Marsilians. He then deprived the tribes that had fought with
them of their arms, and divided his army among
the cities there for the winter, and himself took
up his winter quarters in the country.
Opimius winters in Gaul, B. C. 154-153. |
Thus
the war had a conclusion as rapid as its commencement. . . .