Marcellus at Nola and the employment of the ‘long spears of the naval soldiers’: trying to make sense of Plutarch, Marcellus, 12.2

Abstract

According to Plutarch’s Life of Marcellus, in 215 BC Marcellus won a battle against Hannibal at Nola, by distributing among his soldiers the ‘long spears of the sea-fighters’ (δόρατα τῶν ναυμάχων μεγάλα). This tactical device is otherwise unheard of in Roman history, and it is quite puzzling. This paper attempts to make sense of Plutarch’s text. First, the references to ‘naval spears’ (δόρατα ναύμαχα, or simply ναύμαχα) in the Greek world are considered, to provide some useful context. The next aim is to look at the reality of Roman sea fights, to see whether some instances of naval fighting with long spears can be detected in the Roman middle-republican world as well. Some passages lead to think that this was indeed the case, and that at least some of the Roman fleets might have been equipped with particularly long spears (hastae longae in Livy’s words) to this end. Going back to Marcellus at Nola, this paper argues that these were the weapons he employed, and that his plan was to array his soldiers in a phalanx and to outmatch the Punic phalanx using longer spears. In conclusion, this case study is briefly discussed as a confirmation of Wheeler’s theory according to which the Roman army, throughout its history, could be deployed in a ‘phalangitic’ formation.