Read Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War for Free Online

attract robbers.  The next day, they heard the sounds of horses and someone calling Manius by name.  The villagers told Manius to wait and be quiet while they cautiously peered through the brush.  They saw two men on horseback with boxes strapped to the horses’ sides and leading three more horses.  Seeing no Roman military escort and not sensing danger, they stood and hailed them.
    Both sides were relieved to have linked up successfully.  The two Roman riders dismounted.  Manius recognized the one from Levi’s office, but not the other who introduced himself as a representative of the Garrison Commander.  They helped Manius mount a horse.
    The four villagers mounted two of the horses, split the boxes of coins between them, and took two separate routes back to the village.  This guaranteed one would make it.  Three days later the first horse and riders arrived safely at Agnone.  The next day, the other horse arrived with its two riders and money.  With money and riders intact, the village celebrated.  They swore each other to silence promising not to discuss the money outside the village.  Everyone observed the counting and distribution of the coins.
    Their plan now was to dispatch teams of men in different directions to purchase farming tools, animals, food stuff, wagons, building materials, and servants.  If any money remained, they planned to erect a memorial to the gods for their good fortune.
    After riding with the two men for 30 minutes, Manius spotted the cavalry escort.  He was relieved to be on his way back to Rome, but he was in a great deal of pain from all the jostling.  His leg was not used to the bouncing of a moving horse.  But he would endure it in silence as each painful jolt brought him that much closer to home and Lucia.  It had been six months since he left Rome, but it felt much longer and he felt much older.
    In 215 BC, the Comitia Centuriata appointed Manius as the new Commandant of the Recruit Training Camp with orders to quickly produce trained and equipped Legionaries.  The Army told Manius to recuperate for two months, longer if he needed it, but then to report to Campus Martius , the Legionaries’ training base.  Rome needed trained men and quickly.
    While resting at home, Manius was briefed on Hannibal’s movements and activities during his absence and Rome’s response. Immediately after the defeat at Cannae , the Senate boldly ordered the Army to be rebuilt, reequipped, trained, and deployed to contain Hannibal by cutting off his access to Carthage and Hannibal’s new ally, Philip V of Macedonia.  Such was the determination of Rome.  She was not quitting the fight or seeking a peace treaty.  The population not under direct Carthaginian control, which had suffered so much from Hannibal’s invasion, readily responded to this new call to arms.  The Legions’ new training camp on the outskirts of Rome was largely untouched by the Carthaginians as they maneuvered freely throughout Italy and was soon busier than it had ever been in its entire history.  The wealth, talent, and energy of Rome were now poured into this urgent effort to rebuild its military capability.  Nothing was spared; it was a total effort.  Every artisan, foundry, horse, and piece of metal was joined in the single purpose to field an army to contain or defeat Hannibal.
    Manius was told that the Army had gathered a partial list of survivors from Cannae and wanted him to complete it and interview them when he came back to work.  He would be provided funding and a staff to help.  It was important to get to the bottom of the Roman defeat, to identify lessons learned, and to brief the result of his investigation to the Senate and Army.
    Barely 6000 of the 86,000 survived Cannae to tell the story.  Most of those who managed to survive were not actually on the battlefield itself, but rather were in the two Roman camps behind the killing field.  After the defeat, the two camps united and fled back to