Chapter 8 First Battle
Vibias's father thought this was a good opportunity to accumulate political prestige, so he spent a lot of money to campaign for his son. Last year, he finally convinced Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the governor known as "Sulla's Army Inheritor." Lucullus signed an administrative order, making Vibias, who had just turned 30 and had only served for a few years as a legal officer's assistant, the chief administrator of the large city of Capua.
Unlike his father, who was content with being a regular official his entire life, Vibias always kept his eyes on the Roman Senate, even harboring ambitions of becoming a governor to honor his family. Thus, less than a year into his tenure, he seized the opportunity of Capua's city founding day to organize a massive gladiator contest to entertain the Capua citizens and build his own reputation. But who would have thought that just before the celebration, a major mishap occurred—a group of gladiators actually started a rebellion!
In Rome, the Senate would appoint an elder to oversee all gladiator schools, as these activities involved training large numbers of individuals in lethal weaponry, which must be controlled. However, as the system of appointing Roman officials as local town administrators had been implemented for less than ten years, the management system was not yet fully streamlined, leading to unclear responsibilities in this area and resulting in inadequate control over the gladiators in Capua...
In any case, the responsibility would ultimately fall on Vibias. An angry Vibias severely whipped Batiatus, who came to report the news, and decided to swiftly deploy troops to wipe out these audacious lowly slaves to minimize the impact, allowing the city founding day's celebration to proceed smoothly.
However, now the problem was that although Capua had a garrison force, apart from a few dozen city guards, there was no ready army. He could only conduct an emergency military mobilization. By the time the personnel were assembled and the team was organized, it was already late at night. No matter how Vibias urged, the Capua soldiers refused to leave the city at night, forcing Vibias to postpone the deployment until the next day.
The next day, Vibias hurriedly led the troops out of the city, soon receiving an intelligence report that the gladiators were still inside the Flora Temple.
He finally felt somewhat at ease and ordered the troops to slow down their march.
In truth, he was not satisfied with this army composed of Capua people, as they were all panting and their formations were chaotic after only marching for a short distance.
He once served in the military and had some combat experience. Back then, it was when Sulla led his army to land in Italy, and the Civilian Faction hastily assembled an army. Not yet twenty years old, he was forcibly conscripted, and he followed the army for the decisive battle with Sulla outside Rome, resulting in a swift defeat. Vibias fled back home in panic. Due to his family's insignificance in the Roman political arena, he escaped Sulla's purging.