Fortune Favors the Brave By John Deforest Newell
Chapter 1- The Camp
It was the year of the consuls, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura and Gnaeus Aufidius Orestes; at Acquae Sextiae, a Roman City in the Province, Gaul, 71 B.C.
The Roman camp looked across the river and to the mountains. The soldiers marched down the road to the camp, and the dust they raised settled in place because there was no wind. The road, forming a scar on the landscape, twisted its way through the bare brown earth. The trees were bare and brown also. They had lost their leaves, and mimicked the earth. The road was clear except for the leaves.
The camp lay next to the city. One street called the Principal Street divided it in two with an entrance gate at each end. It was divided by another street, at right angles to the first, also with a gate at the ends. The camp was surrounded by a rampart, or high earthwork, and parapet, or wooden stockade topping the rampart.
Just beyond the earthwork was a dry moat, the earth from which was used to form the rampart. These barriers protected the camp from attack. The experience of hundreds of years of warfare had taught the Romans how to set up their camp. The fact that they learned from experience better than their enemies caused them to be the invincible fighting force that they were.
Over 150 years previous, Hannibal of Carthage, leader of the other superpower at that time, ravaged Italy for more than fifteen years. Some areas of the country never recovered from his attacks. In 216 B.C. at Cannae, he and his soldiers surrounded an entire Roman army of over 50,000 men, and annihilated them. For comparison's sake, the number of Americans who died in the entire Vietnam War was around 58,000.
Hannibal was the epitome of the ideal Hellenistic general, (Hellenistic meaning the period in history during which Greek culture dominated the entire eastern Mediterranean and Middle East). Despite his brilliance, and the fact that he won many battles against the Romans for an extended period of time, in the end Hannibal's victories made no difference. The Romans defeated him decisively at Zama in North Africa in 202 B.C. under the general Scipio Africanus. Although the Romans had a professional army well before Hannibal, his long campaign in Italy taught them well. It helped teach them how to make their army into the supreme fighting force in the world that it was-the hard way.
Inside the camp were the tents of the soldiers, in numerical order. The camp was the home of the Tenth legion. The commander�s tent was positioned next to the intersection of the two streets, with the forum or marketplace close by. Select people who were not Roman were allowed to sell their wares in the marketplace.
The little boy, Jute (short for Juteberix), and his mother, Eva, were among those who were permitted in the marketplace. Eva sold fresh vegetables, wine, honey, cheese, and yogurt to the soldiers. Jute�s father, a Roman soldier, had been killed in a previous battle. Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, so they found women as best they could. Eva was a Gaul and Jute's father had slept with her in the city. (Gaul in Roman times was an area that covered north Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of Germany, and the Netherlands.) Jute hardly remembered his father because he was always away at war and he died when the little boy was only four years old.
Now Eva slept with another Roman soldier, Lucius. She was getting along in years, and was too old to have more children. Lucius was childless, so he treated Jute like his own son. Jute was popular with the other soldiers in the camp and one of the cohorts even regarded him as a mascot.
One thing the soldiers had that was very scarce at the time was money. They got paid every month, and a portion of their pay was set aside, a requirement of each legion. The remainder the soldiers spent with people like Eva and the whores in the city. The money Eva earned made her a real economic force, because money was worth a lot more than goods for barter. The whores were even more of an economic success. Because they were so popular with the men, some of them even became rich. They were the area's first bankers, lending the soldiers small amounts when they needed it.
During this time Jute, like most little boys his age, was curious about his life and surroundings in the camp, and would have a whole host of questions to ask his mother. No matter how many times he asked, she would always patiently answer him. His questions would typically go like this: "Are we Roman mama?"
"No, Jute, we're Gauls."
"And who are the Gauls, mama?"
"They're the people who lived here before the Romans came, son."
"And mama, why are the Romans here?"
"They came to fight the Germans, Jute."
"And who are the Germans?"
"They came from a distant land to the north to take land away from the Gauls."
"And why didn't the Gauls fight the Germans themselves, mama?"
"They were too weak, son. And the different tribes are always fighting each other."
"Why don't the Romans fight among themselves?"
"They do, son, but they're so strong it doesn't hurt them."
"And tell me again, how did papa die?"
"Papa fought for the general Pompey. He died during the slave rebellion."
"Do the Romans win every time, mama?"
"No son, they don't. But they always win the last battle. Spartacus was the leader of the slaves, and he defeated many Roman armies. But the Romans kept sending more and more armies to fight him. Their numbers finally defeated him."
"The Romans are strong, aren't they, mama?"
"Yes, son, they are."
Jute was a very strong boy and a natural athlete, just like his father. He would get into wrestling matches with the other boys in the camp and would always win. The only way he could be beaten was against another boy much older and bigger than he was. And although he had no rival, Jute never played a bully.
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