{"id":17451,"date":"2025-03-08T11:58:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T11:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=17451"},"modified":"2025-03-08T11:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T11:58:26","slug":"poem-a-chapter-in-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2025\/03\/08\/poem-a-chapter-in-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem: ‘A Chapter in the War’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Chapter in the War
<\/b>Appian, 95-165 CE
<\/i><\/span>
Under orders from Octavian, the hardened captains \u2013 Pansa, <\/span>
Carfulenus \u2013 patrolled the narrow pass they had determined to defend, <\/span>
with the Martian legion and half a dozen cohorts in their train.<\/span>

Surrounded all about by mulling marshland, heavy bogs, <\/span>
eight miles south-east of Mutina, their suspicions <\/span>
as they carried on were roused on either side <\/span>

by movement from the rushes; softly here and there a shield <\/span>
or helmet seemed to glint, a fog of shining apparitions. <\/span>
Suddenly the Antonian praetorians appeared, in grim array. \u00a0<\/span>

Having nothing in the way of tactical advantages<\/span>
or spaces to maneuver, the men instructed new recruits <\/span>
to linger at the rear, lest they lose or hamper the attack. <\/span>

Then spreading through the swamp, the veterans <\/span>
unsheathed their blades and readied for the fray. <\/span>
The massacre was brutal \u2013 for these were brotherly <\/span>

antagonists, Roman known to Roman, lethally opposed. <\/span>
Worse by far than war itself, a savagery incarnate, <\/span>
is the rending of a nation from within, neighbour <\/span>

killing neighbour \u2013 the enmity unending. On this occasion, <\/span>
the Antonians resolved on rooting out the ones <\/span>
they called defectors, in the name of the republic;<\/span>

the Octavians believed themselves entitled to revenge<\/span>
for the calamities inflicted at Brundisium. Thus <\/span>
the armies clashed ferociously, in silence: because <\/span>

of their experience, the soldiers never raised a cry, <\/span>
knowing their assailants to be seasoned, unafraid. <\/span>
No sound was heard but metal in the mist, the guttural <\/span>

alacrities of flesh. Since the sodden ditches offered little hope <\/span>
of charging or retreat, the soldiery were locked as in a pit <\/span>
together, limb to limb, dealing death between them.<\/span>

When one fell downwards, blacking out, another instantly <\/span>
stepped up into the gap. None had any need of bidding <\/span>
or encouragement, for all became their own commanding <\/span>

officers in battle. They fought with the intensity <\/span>
and muscled grace of dancers, in a muggy April sun <\/span>
that never broke. The novices, obeying their instructions <\/span>

from the start, watched in wonder as the butchery continued, <\/span>
with everywhere an eerie quiet hovering, a shroud. <\/span>
Having gained the upper hand at last, the Antonians caroused <\/span>

along the avenue, relieved. But history is fickle as a breeze.<\/span>
When Hirtius had word of the catastrophe, from Mutina <\/span>
he led a squad of legionnaires in haste, and tracked <\/span>

the weary victors down the road. He killed them all, <\/span>
methodically reversing the result. Octavian was cheered <\/span>
by the intelligence. He slept, that night, as gently as a babe.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Feature Image: Augustus of Prima Porta<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, 1st century<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Chapter in the WarAppian, 95-165 CEUnder orders from Octavian, the hardened captains \u2013 Pansa, Carfulenus \u2013 patrolled the narrow pass they had determined to defend, with the Martian legion and half a dozen cohorts in their train.Surrounded all about by mulling marshland, heavy bogs, eight miles south-east of Mutina, their suspicions as they carried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":17473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[93,228,1449,1545,1688,1690,1695,7299,7320,7341,8922,9954],"class_list":["post-17451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-a","tag-a-chapter-in-the-war","tag-cassandra-voices-poetry","tag-chapter","tag-ciaran-orourke-cassandra-voices","tag-ciaran-orourke-poet","tag-ciaran-orourke","tag-poem-a-chapter-in-the-war","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-the","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}