Eighth installment of “Archienemies de Roma “. Collaboration of Gabriel Castelló.
Viriato, the Portuguese terrorist . Myth, legend, hero and scourge of the Republic for seven years, Viriato he is one of the most renowned “Archienemies of Rome” of all time. The exact date of his birth, as well as the place, are unknown. While Portugal wants to claim his Portuguese origin, arguing that he came from Mons Herminius (Serra da Estrela ) while other theories make him sayagués, exactly from Torrefrades. The most widespread hypothesis is the one that places his birth near the vaccea Ocalam (Zamora), more specifically in Ocelum Duri , a future mansio of what would be years later Via de la Plata a few kilometers from the indigenous settlement that occupied the current Zamora. The first classical source that gives any reference to his person is Diodorus Siculus , cataloging him as a Lusitanian warrior. Livy Titus commented that he was a shepherd soldier and Appiano , perhaps the most affable of all, he praised the seven years of campaign in which he did not have to intervene for cases of indiscipline, offering an image of Viriato as a man of his word, a brave and just indigenous leader.
The Lusitania (which included the current south of Portugal and a good part of Extremadura and south of Castilla-León) was a rebellious region. In the year 150 B.C. was being appeased by the praetor of Hispania Ulterior , Servio Sulpicio Galva. This greedy aristocrat received a Lusitanian embassy wishing to establish a lasting truce that would serve to confirm the indigenous claims against the provincial government. The Lusitanians had verified the lack of scruples of such Galva and they preferred an agreed peace to a war of destruction conscientiously orchestrated by that cruel Roman. Galva he summoned the Lusitanian tribes to a meeting in which he offered them land in exchange for peace. The Lusitanians responded to the praetor's call, unaware that they were walking into a trap. When he had about 30,000 people gathered in three camps – including men, women and children – he asked the warriors to hand over their weapons as a sign of friendship. It was then that an unparalleled massacre was unleashed in ancient Hispania. 9,000 people died there stabbed by the legions of Galva and another 20,000 were sold into slavery in Gaul. Only a few lucky ones were able to escape from that hell, among them the young Viriato . His deep hatred of Rome's envoys germinated and curdled in his soul after contemplating that sad day.
To this ignominious act, for which the praetor Galva was prosecuted Upon his return to Rome and from which he was acquitted only thanks to bribes and his good oratory, three years of irregular war followed between the Lusitanian rebels and the consular legions. In 147 BC, during one of these operations, a Lusitanian contingent was trapped by the legions of Caius Vetilio . It was at that moment when Viriato took the reins of the Lusitanian resistance. It seems that, meeting the Council before the seriousness of the situation, he promised the tribes to remove them from the Roman siege if they accepted him as leader; they accepted his order and Viriato he achieved his purpose by breaking the Roman siege by simultaneously attacking Vetilio 's legions from several points. . The Lusitanian leader, well versed in the complicated Hispanic orography, understood that it was not possible to defeat the legions in an open field by establishing a frontal battle as was the custom of the time. The terrain and the precariousness of his men's equipment led him to masterfully carry out his own style of warfare:guerrilla warfare. The system worked. Vetilio himself he was killed in one of his skirmishes when, in the din of the riot, he was mistaken for a common legionnaire.
During the following years men of the stature of Plaucio, Unimano andNigidio they were defeated by the Lusitanian coalition, attacking small groups by surprise and withdrawing before the Roman troops could react. His tactics of harassment and escape served as a lesson years later to soldiers of the caliber of Quintus Sertorius . Of the innate qualities of him as a strategist the historian Apiano gives good faith:
He arranged his troops in battle line as if he intended to fight, but gave them orders to scatter as soon as he mounted his horse away from the city of Tribola by different routes, and wait for him there. (…) He chose a thousand men he trusted and fought the Romans all day, attacking and retreating thanks to his fast horses. As soon as he surmised that his army was far enough away and safe, he fled, thus saving his men from dire straits
Foreign Wars «Wars in Hispania»
Only Fifth Fabio Máximo Emiliano got that Viriato he retreated into the mountains and was able to temporarily regain control of some rebel cities. But what Emiliano achieved with the force of arms, Viriato he neutralized it with his tactical alliances. His emissaries toured half of Hispania inciting rebellion against Rome, a flame that lit effortlessly in many Celtiberian tribes that also suffered from the excessive greed of the Roman rulers.
The situation of permanent instability began to bother the Senate. To definitively solve the Lusitanian problem, they decided to send Q to Hispania. Fabio Máximo Serviliano with more troops and even elephants. The Roman numerical and tactical superiority did not intimidate the Lusitanian leader. In a clear challenge to Serviliano, Viriato he came to trap him between his men and several Celtiberian tribes who changed sides at the appropriate time. Servilian , cornered between two important indigenous forces - and seeing his own life and that of his men in danger - agreed to the peace agreement proposed by Viriato . After freeing Serviliano , the Senate ratified the armistice, recognized him as Dux Lusitanorum, he allowed them to keep his arms and privileges and gave him the title of “Friend of Rome ”. This happened in 140 BC
This precarious balance lasted a short time. Rome had been offended and humiliated by the Lusitanian victory. In addition, the success of the coalition of tribes commanded by Viriato it could encourage new attempts at sedition among the warlike Celtiberian clans. Therefore, the following year the praetor of the Ulterior concocted a wicked plan with which to settle the matter. An embassy was summoned into Roman territory on a vain pretext; The real reason for that meeting was to offer Audax, Ditalco and Minuro, the three ambassadors and lieutenants of the Lusitanian caudillo, a succulent reward in exchange for the head of his chief. The three conspirators accepted the generous proposal and, on their return, assassinated Viriato while he slept. Days later they returned toCorduba , where the Praetorium of Quintus Servilio Cepio was located – successor and brother of Serviliano -, to claim payment of the reward from him. Cepio he didn't hesitate for a moment. He ordered the immediate execution of the three ambassadors, hurling the immortal phrase “Rome does not pay traitors in their faces. ”
Legend has it that the ashes of Viriato They ended up together with those of his wife and were scattered in the area of the Enchanted City of Cuenca. The betrayed leader's successor was a certain Tautalo . This new leader did not have the military and mental qualities of his predecessor but, instead, he was a good diplomat. In fact, it was he who made a definitive peace with the consul Marco Popilo in which Rome, after so many hostilities, granted the lands of discord to the Lusitanian tribes.
The Roman, Latin and auxiliary veterans of these Lusitanian wars who were discharged the year after the death of Viriatus obtained from the consul on duty, Décimo Junio Bruto , lands in Edetania to found a new colony on a river island near the mouth of the river Turius . They called her Valentia . It was 138 BC, for them 616 Ab Urbe Condita . This is how Tito Livio explained it:
IVNIVS BRVTVS COS. IN HISPANIA IIS QVI SVB VIRIATHO MILITAVERANT AGROS ET OPPIDVM DEDIT, QVOD VOCATVM EST VALENTIA