"Mine, O Romans, Is This Sorrow - The Roman Legions and Defeat

The Roman Legions conquered their first territories under their third king, Tullus Hostilius, who destroyed the rival city of Alba Longa and moved their population to Rome. As the years passed and the Roman legions spread out through Italy and around the Mediterranean, an aura of invincibility spread with them. Yes there were stumbling blocks, the Second Punic War certainly put a momentary hold on Rome's expansion, but by the first century BC, Rome was the big kid on the block.

However the Roman Legions were not infallible. There are two examples that illustrate not only crushing defeats for Rome, but also changing attitudes in how Rome responded to them; Carrhae in 53 BC and the Tuetoburg Forest in AD 9.

In 53 BC Marcus Licinius Crassus, member of the first Triumvirate and wealthiest man in Rome, led his army of Roman legions east in an invasion of Parthia. Marching directly into Parthian territory, Crassus's army was outmanoeuvred by the Parthians cavalry who then promptly killed or captured most of the Romans superior numbers.

The Returning of Crassus' Legionary Standards
 on the Prima Porta Statue 

Crassus himself was also captured and in the famous tale,

"the Parthians, as some say, poured mothen gold into his mouth in mockery"

Cassius Dio Book 40 Chapter 27

The eagle legionary standards were eventually returned to Rome, through a highly lauded diplomatic mission instigated by Augustus in 20BC, and placed in the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus.

 In AD 9 a German leader named Arminius, pulling together a confederacy of German tribes, ambushed three Roman legions and auxiliary units making their way back through the territory, to their winter quarters and completely destroyed them.

Publius Quinctillius Varus, the Roman general either fell under a Roman sword or committed suicide for the shame of this crushing defeat. The eagles were lost to the Germans who melted away into the forest and the Legionary numbers XVII, XVIII and XIX were never again used for a Roman legion, although Tacitus writes that Germanicus while avenging the disaster

"Discovered the eagle of the nineteenth legion, which had been lost with Varus"

Tacitus Annals Book 1 Chapter 60

It was this defeat that saw the invasion of Germania, and equally the general expansion of the Roman Empire, put on hold. After AD 9 Terminus the god of the limes (boundaries) of the Empire, decided he wasn't going to be moving around too much anymore.

While these two major defeats only took place fifty years apart, the response from Rome was very different, highlighting the psychological difference that the rise of Augustus had upon the Roman psyche.

Marcus Licinius Crassus

The defeat at Carrhae happened during the dying moments of the republic. Conflicting generals were spread out over the Empire, conquering and expanding. Caesar was in Gaul, Pompey had been in the East and defeated the pirate menace to the Mediterranean and Crassus headed East also to wage war on Parthia. Fifty years later the Empire was settled under the rule of Augustus and after years of civil war, peace had finally fallen around the Roman world.

The key difference between how the two defeats affected the Romans was the rise of Augustus and the peace he brought. Before then, the ebb and flow of legionary victories was part of the Senatorial system. To be a great general was to be a great Roman. It was a way to add to the glory of Rome, your family name and yourself. If you failed and lost, then your name would be remembered forever as one of a coward and loser.

Think of Crassus, what are the two most known features of Crassus? One he was incredibly wealthy, a wealth that he achieved through avarice. Second, he was humiliatingly defeated in the East by an enemy of Rome, losing his son in the process,

"Mine, O Romans, is this sorrow, and mine alone"

Plutarch Life of Crassus Chapter 26

But the Republic continued after Carrhae and other men stepped up to take Crassus's and his legions place.

However, by the time of the Varian Disaster, Augustus has been the undisputed ruler of Rome for over forty years. The defeat of the Varian legions was a sign that perhaps the Augustus position, based upon his ability to bring peace and military victory to the empire, wasn't as strong as he had portrayed. A defeat of Augustus' legions was a defeat of Augustus, and Augustus embodied Rome.

This is why the defeat of Crassus at Carrhae is only part of a larger process of expansion. Yes the defeat pretty much cemented the eastern boundary of the empire, however until the Varian disaster, provinces continued to be added to Rome. Spain, Egypt, the Alps, Gaul and Pannonia were all added or absorbed into the empire by Augustus. But the Varian disaster pretty much sealed the boundaries of the empire for the next 400 years, with a few exceptions here and there, most notably Britannia and Dacia.

The Roman Empire in AD 14

Arguably the losses at Carrhae were the larger, it was a staggering defeat for the seven Roman legions plus auxiliaries that Plutarch tells us Crassus commanded. But it is the loss in the Teutoburg Forest that haunted the Romans, three legions destroyed and the god Terminus firmly entrenched on the Rhine until the end of the Empire. Augustus famously grew his hair and beard in a sign of mourning after the disaster and was heard to yell

"Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!"

Suetonius Life of Augustus Chapter 23

It is remarkable that in such a short amount of time the psychology of a whole empire could of changed so dramatically. The two defeats the Roman legions suffered show how the rise of the Princeps affected not only the social and economical areas of the empire, but also the martial psychology of the Romans.


Thanks for Reading
James