I

Ilerda`s

Battle

II

INTRODUCTION:

To get the victory in Hispania, Caesar had to

win Pompeius`s army placed near the walled

Ilerda. He placed his camp near Pompeius’s

army camp, led by Alfanius and Petrell.

After a Sicoris’s flood almost at the end of

June, only the Ilerda’s bridge was standing.

Ilerda and the two armies were placed on the

right side, where Caesar isolated Pompeius’

army, the bridge and the city. But he was

defeated in Puig Bordell and Pompeius’s

army entered the city and they sheltered

behind Ilerda’s wall.

At the end of June, Caesar was the one who

was isolated, so he decided to go back to the

river and cross. He allied with Iberian towns

to get a bigger army and he also got men from

troops from Gaul.

Afanius, frightened by the imminent siege of

Ilerda decided to

go to Octogesa, to

the South,

probably where

nowadays the

villages of

Mequinensa or

Riba-Roja stand.

But he was

followed by

Cesar’s cavalry

who stopped him

facing him near a

spot where

nowadays we find

the village of

Maials at the end

of June.

Caesar was

attacked by

Pompeius’s army

demoralizing it,

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causing desertions and leaving it without

stock.

Afanius tried

to return to

Ilerda but he

was

surrounded

and without

any food left.

So, on the

second oa

August, he

decided to

surrender

almost without

fighting.

IV

CHAPTER I:

We were having lunch. I wasn’t hungry and I

was restless. I had to tell my family that I had

enrolled the army but I didn’t know how to

start.

Caesar had announced that he wanted to

conquer Ilerda and he needed men to fight

there. Because of an unknown reason I felt

compelled to participate in the war and I

volunteered.

-I have applied as a volunteer to fight in

Ilerda’s.

-What? Are you crazy? Do you know that you

can die? –Said Aria, angry and crying.

-It’s a madness but if Caesar conquers Ilerda…

We all die, and you my son, you have to fight to

stop this. – Said Domitus excited.

-What do you say father? They will kill him,

it’s better to escape and start a new life in

another place. –Said Daesha.

-Adrianus is an adult and he can take his own

decisions. If he wants to fight, let him fight.-

said Aria taking off his tears.

-OK. – Said Daesha and Domitus disappointed.

When lunch finished, Daesha, Domitus and

Aria took all their belongings while Adrianus

was getting ready for the battle.

Our house wasn’t very big, we were a common

family but this didn’t mean that we were poor.

Near our house there was a grapevine field.

My parents grew the grapes and they sold

them to a trader. The grapes where

transported to Rome through a maritime

route.

V

We lived in a small two-floor-house. Upstairs

there were two bedrooms with two beds each.

On the first floor there was the kitchen and the

eating table.

VI

CHAPTER II

It was night, everything was dark, it was

colder than ever, Daesha hugged me, her tears

fell on her face.

- Are you sure of what you are doing?

- Yes, I fight for my land-. I told her without

hesitation.

- Please my son! In this world there are many

people who are mad, and I would feel really

sorry if something happened to you- Aria said

with tears of madness.

- Do not worry Mom, I just wanted the best for

everybody ... And you, do not worry father,

that is crazy but I'm sure everything will end

well, I said, although I was about to cry.

- Ok, son, if you need to contact someone send

us a letter, we are happy to receive it and help

The Sun needed a few minutes to go down and

the captain of the ship didn’t let a single

second to say goodbye, he made my family

climb aboard the Trireme to take them away

with other families to Sicily.

While my family were climbing the stairs of

the Trireme, I noticed there was a boat with a

sail.

The ship began to move, and I saw it going

away. At that moment I felt a knot in my

throat, I started to cry. I did not want to

separat from my family because maybe I

would not see them anymore.

VII

CHAPTER III

A hand grabbed my back, I turned round and

was very surprised. I wiped my tears.

- Hello Adrianus.

- Fabius!!

He took me forceful, I was very happy to

return an saw my childhood best friend .

- What happens ?

- My family have returned to Sicily, they were

exiled .

- Why are you here?

- Because I enrolled the army

Really ? So did I!

- Why don’t we go to a tavern and forget our

sorrow ?

We walked without talking , although our

meeting had been a shock, we had not seen

esach other for a very long time and didn’t

know how to start. He pointed to a tavern door

near the river. We went there and sat down.I

decided to say something.

- And you, do you have a family?

- The truth is that I don’t

We drank beer . During all the night they were

drinking and talking about everything that

had happened in the last years. They went

back home very happy and drunk. When we

arrived we sat at the dining room table, we

were in silence, Fabius gave me a kiss. I

moved away from him:

- This was wrong, it was an error

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- But… I know what you want

- You are confused

- I saw the way you looked at me in the tavern

… - I turned round.

IX

CHAPTER IV

I woke up with a pain in my neck, I turned

round and I saw Fabius. I didn’t remember

anything from the previous night, What was

Fabius doing in the linen closet? What had

happened? Fabius awake . He saw me:

- Adrianus...

There was a silence , nobody moved or said

anything. I got up and dressed . I went in the

dining room and I prepared more food. Fabius

entered the room, I didn’t look at him.

- Do you want to talk? – He said.

- I don’t want to know what happened, forget it

- I’d better go away

- Yes! Fabius left and closed the door violently.

I was alone in the house. Suddenly I felt really

lonely and empty. My head was full of

questions without an answer and everything

was a mess. I would like to be able to travel in

time so that I could get answers for

everything.

X

Chapter V

After four months

training, they summoned

us at the headquarters our

battle camp, in a few

hours the war would

begin.

Our luggage was heavy, we

brought a very heavy

armor composed of: helmet

(classic), doublet, grebes

(ocrea), shields (scutum),

large swords and

sometimes small swords.

A lot of men were rejected

by centurion because they

couldn’t stand the training.

Our army was made up by

three coorts each one of

480 men, in total there

were 1440 of us.

We were terrified, but we pretended not to be.

We all wanted to seem strong.

As soon as Fàbius entered the square, we

could see fury and sadness in his face, and I

felt guilty for his mood.

I approached him buthe skipped me, I was

frustrated because Fàbius didn’t want to see

me. I had to solve this conflict.

All of a sudden the sound of a tuba meant that

we had to get to our

positions. We

formed six rows of

men, I was in the

third row, I tried to

find Fàbius but it

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was useless, because among one thousand

men it was impossible to find anyone. In the

end, there were men on horseback.

Cesar’s army was getting closer, there were

about two thousand men, I felt more and more

panic, I was paralyzed.

Surprisingly the fight was better than we had

expected, our army suffered 237 deaths, but

in Cesar’s army there were more deaths, but

he still had a larger army.

We all got together in the bedroom for

Contuberium. I looked for Fabius and I sat

beside him:

-Hello ... I’m sorry about the other day, forgive

me.

-You're forgiven, Carpe diem! 'He told me

happily.

-Carpe Diem! -I said, offering him beer.

Fabius and I went to our bedroom. I realized

Fabius felt uneasy, it seemed that he wanted to

say something.

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- Fabius, do you want to tell me something ? 'I

said.

- Well ... I say... this is a little difficult but ….I

am gay. Do not tell anyone or they will kill me!

I was a bit surprised face though in a certain

way I had expected it.

- Don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret!

XIII

CHAPTER VI:

Somebody shouting woke me; Cesar’s army

was coming in our camp.

I looke at the bed next to mine and Fabius

wasn’t there. I got up and I trod on a liquid

substance on the floor, I didn’t know what it

was until I looked at the floor. Fabius was

lying on the floor with a knife in his chest,

when I saw that scene, I understood

eberything. The liquid on the floor was his

blood.

I was paralyzed, I didn’t’ know what to do, in

that moment someone entered the room, I

didn’t care if it was one of Caesar’s soldiers. I

didn’t care about anything.

- Come on!! What are you doing here? They are

attacking us!

When I heard him, it

was obvious that he

wasn’t one of

Caesar’s soldiers. I

turned round and I

saw a twenty-seven-

year-old man, he was

wearing a leather

chest armour under

his lorica segmentata,

the lorica hamata, sandals and a leather belt

with hanging pieces of leather to protect his

legs.

- Th….. they….. killed my….. my partner. We

can’t leave him here. - I said between tears.

- If you don’t put your armour on and we leave,

you will be the next corpse-. He said although

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he put his helmet on and he took his wood and

leather shield.

I followed him, I was sad but I had to leave

that place immediately.

When I left the room, the first thing I saw

were some corpses of men that had been taken

by surprise and killed by Cesar’s soldiers.

The only possibility to save our lives was to go

to the gorges, in the mountains, but if we went

there, we would leave the camp abandoned

before Caesar. A lot of Pompeiians were dead,

so, the only solution that we had was to

surrender, which Caesar accepted.

XV

CHAPTER VII:

Two months later, we were a Roman Ilerda,

because Caesar had conquered us. With

Cornelis, the man who had saved me , I had a

good relationship. He told me that his brother

had enlisted the army, too, and he had died in

the attack, killed by Caesar’s soldiers sobhis

family situation was similar to mine.

I thought about Fabius every day, what would

have happened if I had woken up some

minutes earlier?, would I have been able to

save him? , if I was really lucky to be sleeping

because maybe Caesar’s soldiers thought I

was dead. I couldn’t stop thinking how I left

him on the floor, unable to check if his injuries

were very serious. The only thing that I

wanted was take those thoughts off my head,

and there was only one way.

At night, I

dreamed that

they killed me, I

was in Fabius’

place, dead.

I did not want to

continue, I

wanted all this

to finish, but it

could not finish

yet, I had my family that cared about me and I

had to tell them that I was ok, meet them and

see them.

All the little desire to continue was thanks to

my family.

XVI

CHAPTER VIII:

When I said that, I felt relieved and I felt I

could cry and forget everything. I spent some

days at home. Cornelius tried to cheer me up

but all his efforts were useless.

I tried to commit suicide but Cornelius was

always there to prevent it.

We were seating on the bed and suddenly a

door opened , two men appeared and told us

that the centurion wanted to speak with

Cornelis privately, so he left with them.

It was alone in the room, there was a rope

beside the bed, many ideas came me to my

mind: it was the timely moment to commit

suicide and end my suffering, but Cornelis

had also been through this some years before

and he had overcome it. But I did not want to

live, not without Fabius neither Daesha.

Cornelis entered the room

together with the two men

that accompanied him and

saw that the body of

Adrianus was hanging

from the ceiling with a

thick rope.