In the second siege Commander Decimus Vitruvius in desperation hired mercenaries out of his own pocket and the promise of more to come. To be honest sirs, he knew that we were dead; his only hope was to buy enough time for someone such as myself to get away and inform his brother. Even with the mercenaries we were grossly outnumbered, 2500 Greeks to our 1200 men.
It was a cold snowy day… the men knew that this here would be their last stand, Decimus knowing this, gave the following short speech.
‘Look over there, men! 2500 Greeks await battle… they bring 2500 because their commanders know that for every one of us they need three! I choose to fight today, not for money… not for praise… not for glory… not even for Rome! I choose to fight… so that our people, in ALL of Italy… can live in freedom! Freedom from the tyranny and oppression of the Hellenic Empire! We will die today, men. The only question is how? I choose to leave this world… with a roar so loud that Pluto himself shivers in fear! And we are gonna take so many of these boy loving bastards with us that the Greek Gods will weep with sorrow!!!’
The cheers of the Legio I Germanica, could most likely be heard even in the Greek camp.
The Greeks marched on, they reached the gate and they reached our walls. We weakened them as much as we could with our pila, but their numbers were staggering. Finally they broke through and the fighting began.
The cohorts on our left flank disobeyed orders and charged the enemy rather than defending the break… they were slaughtered. Decimus Vitruvius was horrified.
Pretty soon, their sheer numbers started to overwhelm our flanks, though our Center was holding, it was only a matter of time before they would break too.
In a desperate move to hold off the Greeks at his left flank for just a short while longer he ordered his mercenary cavalry to charge them… they were slaughtered, but gave him the time he needed to help me escape.
Knowing full well he was going to die, Decimus Vitruvius Calidus charged the Greeks, killing as many of them as he could.
I was quite a distance away, but I’ll say this… it took many a Greek to bring him down…
What follows is my estimate of the lives lost that day…
After the battle, the Greeks took the fort for a short time, then left… another full stack marched into Italy and is now in the countryside.
Upon hearing this, Senators, Spurius Vitruvius made a decision, he brought his reinforcements to the unoccupied eastern fort; and is currently there… searching for his brother’s body. Words cannot express the grief and burden that filled our Consul’s being. I saw a good man die for his country and another good man’s spirit break… there is no joy in this report. What Vitruvius the elder decides to do next is anyone’s guess at present, I am sure you will hear a report soon.