Cataclysm 90 BC: The Forgotten War that Almost Destroyed Rome

by Philip Matyszak

Naturally one of those commanders was the leader and instigator of the entire rebellion, Pompaedius Silo. The other consul, Papius Mutilus, represented the Samnites, who along with Silo’s Marsi made up the two most important rebel groups. Silo commanded the ‘northern’ group – that is, the least southerly group of rebels that operated close to Rome – and Mutilus took the southern group of tribes. This was a very rough and ready division, but it is probable that each group focussed on one siege, with a general from the ‘southern’ group taking command of the siege of Aesernia in the south, and one of Silo’s commanders doing the same for Alba.3 The division of command also reflected the linguistic division of the two groups. As their coinage shows, the northern group used Latin as their lingua franca while the southerners spoke Oscan, and they called Mutilus, their commander, embratur – a word that may well be the original of the Latin ‘imperator’ from which we today get ‘emperor’. The Romans meanwhile chose their generals with particular care. As consul for the coming year they elected one of the Julii Caesares, an ancient family newly come again into political prominence. Lucius Julius Caesar was to take command of the war