Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War Read Online Free PDF Page A

became.  His hands trembled and a line of sweat formed on his upper lip.  He could see that he was dressed differently than most others and he knew his Latin was extremely poor.  He feared he would be dragged off and thrown in a Roman prison before he even had a chance to say why he was there.  The guards were scrutinizing everyone entering the city.  There was real concern that Hannibal’s agents would try to infiltrate the city and secretly let his army in at night while the city slept. The guards at the gate motioned to Pontius to step out of the stream of people lined up facing the massive wooden gate.  He had, indeed, aroused their suspicion.
    Two burly men in full battle dress looked him dead in the eye, “What brings you to Rome Samnite ,” spit out one.
    Pontius suddenly felt nauseous, but replied in common street Latin, “I have a message from Tribune Manius Tullus to Quaestor Levi.”
    “What is the message,” demanded the other before Pontius could continue and grabbed Pontius roughly by his cloak.
    Pontius shot back without hesitation, “The message is, I survived the battle at Cannae .  Please reward these kind people for rescuing me and nursing me back to health.”
    The guards looked at each other.  One said, “We need to check this out.”
    The guards walked Pontius back to their Centurion who made Pontius repeat the message.  He knew Manius well; they had served together in the Gallic Wars.  He questioned Pontius intently about all that had happened.  Satisfied he was telling the truth, the Centurion brought Pontius to his Tribune where Pontius again repeated the story.  This time his voice did not quiver quite as much.  The Tribune took him to the Tribune who worked for the Garrison Commander and on it went.  By the end of the day, Pontius had told his story to eight different people.  He was physically and mentally drained and still frightened that he would be killed or imprisoned.  After all, the Romans had earned their reputation for cruelty.
    Finally, the Garrison Commander heard Pontius tell the story and said, “We need to see Levi about this” and left the room with Pontius and three guards in tow.
    Levi was surprised when the Garrison Commander, a rather gruff hubristic man, walked into his office and said brusquely, “ Quaestor , you need to hear this man’s story.”  Levi could have jumped for joy when Pontius said Manius was alive and well, but kept himself in check.  He listened to the story of his survival and all that the village had done to keep him alive.  Levi had long assumed that Manius died in the battle along with the rest of the army.  None of the survivors with whom he had spoken knew of Manius’ fate.
    When Pontius finished his detailed account of keeping Manius alive and before he could ask for a reward, Levi asked, “And what do you think would be an adequate reward for such a good deed?”  Levi had already calculated that if the Army were to raid the village to rescue Manius, he might die in the attempt; the raid would also have a chilling effect on future Samnite efforts to rescue other Romans; and Roman- Samnite relations would be set back 200 years.  Levi knew that so far, the Samnites had not joined Hannibal in revolt against Rome as so many other former allies of Rome had done.  Rome needed all the friends she could get.  “No,” he thought to himself, “I will gladly pay the ransom.  These people have done me and Rome a great service.  Now is the time for a light handed approach and not the Roman sword
    Pontius replied with some trepidation, “The equivalent of five years of the Tribunes yearly salary paid in Denarii .  That is 1190 Denarii .”  (All of Italy knew that the Denarius was worth 10 As and had replaced the As as the new Roman coinage the previous year.)
    “Agreed,” stated Levi, “What are the arrangements?”
    When he heard the plan to exchange the money for Manius at Lake Fucino, Levi knew he himself could not