a.d. IV Non. Aug.
August 2 in Ancient Rome
Cannae: Hannibal’s greatest victory
“Lucius Aemilius lived, and now dies”
military216 BC
Pre-reform Roman calendar
ante diem quartum Nonas Sextiles · as written (pre-Julian calendar)
At Cannae in Apulia Hannibal encircled and destroyed a huge Roman army; the consul Aemilius Paullus died, and Livy reports 45,500 foot soldiers killed.
cladem illam pugnae Cannensis vastissimam factam dicit ante diem quartum Nonas Sextiles
He says that the vast slaughter of the battle of Cannae took place on the fourth day before the Nones of Sextilis.
Background
After the disasters at the Trebia and Lake Trasimene, Rome raised its largest army yet. Livy notes that some authorities put the number in the Roman camp at Cannae at 87,200 men per Livy. The consuls for 216 BC were the cautious Lucius Aemilius Paullus and the impetuous Gaius Terentius Varro, who took turns in command.
On the day of the battle, Hannibal let his centre fall back while his African infantry and cavalry closed around the Roman flanks and rear, trapping the legions. Livy describes the end per Livy. A military tribune, Gnaeus Lentulus, found the consul Aemilius sitting on a stone covered in blood and offered him his horse. Aemilius refused, telling him to warn the senate to fortify Rome and to tell Quintus Fabius that he had lived and was dying mindful of his advice. Then the enemy overwhelmed him. Varro escaped to Venusia with about fifty horsemen.
Livy says 45,500 foot and 2,700 horsemen were killed, along with both quaestors, twenty-one military tribunes and many former magistrates. The annalist Claudius dated the slaughter to the fourth day before the Nones of Sextilis per Gellius. Later Romans used Cannae as the measure for any catastrophe.
Before Caesar's reform (45 BC) the calendar had drifted from the seasons, so the real seasonal date was different; we don't give a modern equivalent. Why?
Ancient source: Gellius 5.17.5 (quoting Claudius Quadrigarius); Livy 22.44–50 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 32°/20°C (90°/68°F) · rain 10% of days
Rome in AugustThe hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in…
Fields & crops
Columella marks autumn beginning around 12 August; straw and stubble were gathered, figs and early fruit picked, and vineyards readied for the vintage per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
A quieter legal month; many elite Romans were in the countryside. Under the empire, the imperial household's slaves and freedmen kept administration running.
Senate & politics
Renamed from Sextilis in 8 BC for Augustus, who had won his greatest successes in this month, including the capture of Alexandria in 30 BC per Macrobius 1.12.35.
Military
Armies stayed in the field; disease in hot camps was often as dangerous as battle modern view based on ancient accounts.
Festivals & religion
Portunalia (17 Aug.), Vinalia Rustica (19 Aug.), Consualia (21 Aug.), Vulcanalia (23 Aug.), when small fish were offered to Vulcan to ward off fire, and Opiconsivia (25 Aug.) per Varro and Festus. On the Ides, Diana's day, enslaved people had a holiday per Festus and Plutarch.
Daily life
The hottest weeks raised the risk of fire in the dense city, especially in timber-framed insulae; Augustus set up the vigiles, a fire brigade of freedmen, in AD 6 per Suetonius and Dio. Fevers peaked in late summer and early autumn; the sick poor relied on home remedies and shrines more than on doctors modern view.
Sources: Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Columella 11.2
All days in August →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper.
“You say you'll live tomorrow, Postumus, always tomorrow.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
