Cluilian trench
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cluilian trench was a huge military trench that surrounded ancient Rome about four to five miles outside the city made by the Alban army in the middle of the seventh century B.C. It was named after their famous general, Gaius Cluilius. He was the king of Alba Longa during the reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius.
[edit] Overview
In book one of his history of Rome, Livy says that King Tullus Hostilius became king after the death of Numa. He was even more warlike than Romulus and looked for opportunities for war. One such opportunity was when some Roman and Alban peasants had mutually plundered each other's lands. Cluilius and Tullus both sent ambassadors at the same time to demand satisfaction on what had illegally been taken from them.
Tullus wanted war so demanded through his representatives that his instructions be attended to first. He knew that Cluilius and the Alban people would refuse these outrageous demands. This way he could stir up war with a clear conscience since they had refused to negotiate in good faith. Sending back the representative from the Albans, Tullus declared,
Go tell your king, that the king of the Romans takes the gods to witness, that, whichever of the two nations shall have first dismissed with contempt the ambassadors demanding satisfaction, from it the gods may exact atonement for the disasters of this war.
The Albans invaded first the Roman territories with a large army going straight for Rome. They then pitched their camp about four miles from the city and surrounded it with a trench. This trench was named in honor of their general, since king Cluilius died at the time when they had this camp. The Albans then made Mettius Fufetius their new leader.
Tullus was exultant at the death of Cluilius. He said that the supreme power of the gods would take vengeance on the whole Alban nation for this preemptive strike. He passed the enemy's camp at night and marched in with a hostile army into Alban territory. Mettius came out from his camp. He sent a representative to Tullus saying that a conference would be expedient before they came to an engagement. Tullus accepted the offer, however both sides stood ready in these trenches for battle in case these negotiations were not fruitful.
Mettius began the negotiations with,
That injuries and the non-restitution of property claimed according to treaty is the cause of this war, we think we have both heard our king Cluilius assert, and I doubt not, Tullus, but that you allege the same. But if the truth must be told, rather than what is plausible, it is thirst for rule that provokes two kindred and neighbouring states to arms. Whether rightly or wrongly, I do not take upon myself to determine: let the consideration of that rest with him who has begun the war. As for myself, the Albans have only made me their leader for carrying on that war. Of this, Tullus, I would have you advised: how powerful the Etruscan state is around us, and around you particularly, you know better than we, inasmuch as you are nearer to them. They are very powerful by land, far more so by sea. Recollect that, directly you shall give the signal for battle, these two armies will be the object of their attention, that they may fall on us when wearied and exhausted, victor and vanquished together. Therefore, for the love of heaven, since, not content with a sure independence, we are running the doubtful hazard of sovereignty and slavery, let us adopt some method, whereby, without great loss, without much bloodshed of either nation, it may be decided which is to rule the other.
The proposal was appealing to Tullus. A plan was adopted that destiny took care of. The two sides agreed that the dispute would be resolved by combat between two sets of triplet brothers. The losing side was to submit to the rule of the victorious. The Roman Horatii brothers defeated the Alban Curiatii in a battle fought with sword and shield. The Albans thus became subjects of the Roman state and the trenches not used in this dispute. They were used in trench warfare later however.
[edit] Later uses
In Book 2 Livy speaks of the "Cluilian Trenches" again in a battle that took place in the middle of the fourth century B.C. Here he records general Caius Marcius making use of the Cluilian trenches. He writes that Marcius marched to Circeii and expelled from there the Roman colonists, delivering that city to the Volscians. From there he deprived the Romans of their recently acquired towns of Satricum, Longula, Polusca, Corioli, and Lavinium. Marcius then took Corbio, Vitellia, Trebia, Lavici, and Pedum. Lastly he marched from Pedum to Rome and pitched his camp five miles outside the city at the Cluilian trenches.
Plutarch in his Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans also speaks of these as the "Cluilian ditches" and describes the same battles of Caius Marcius taking these towns and the siege of Lavinium. He records Marcius marching furiously towards Rome and encamped at a place five miles outside the city called the Cluilian ditches.
