The Battle of Cures was a battle fought between the Roman Republic and the Sabines in 392 BC. The Roman Army captured the town of Cures from the Sabines and proceeded to defeat the Sabine king Appius Catulus' army in a pitched battle.
Background[]
Following the Roman capture of Antium (Anzio) from the Volsci in 395 BC and the Hernici's conquest of southern Latium, the Roman Republic, now at peace, enjoyed a southern buffer against the Samnites; Rome also established friendly relations with the Etruscan city-state of Tarquinii to the north, and it enjoyed a natural border, the Apennines, to the east.
However, the Roman statesman Marcus Furius Camillus sought to secure a lasting peace with its neighbors through non-aggression pacts and trade agreements. The Sabines to the east held a longstanding enmity towards the Romans ever since the Rape of the Sabine Women in 753 BC, and their king Appius Catulus refused to guarantee peaceful relations with his Roman neighbors.
As a result, Legio III Martia was raised in Rome in 393 BC in preparation for a preemptive military campaign against the Sabines, whose borders appeared to be insecure. In the winter of 393 BC, Marcus Furius Camillus' Legio I Alaudae and Publius Aemilius Catulus' Legio III Martia launched a surprise cross-border invasion of Sabinum while Appius Catulus' army was absent from Cures, declaring war on the Sabines with the intention of conquering the mountainous region of Sabinum; the Picentes, allies of the Sabines, joined the war against Rome.
Camillus' Roman legion quickly captured Cures from its Sabine garrison, and, with the onset of spring, Camillus' legion set out from Cures to further invade Sabinum; Aemilius Catulus' legion then marched from Veii (where it had temporarily replaced Camillus' legion as an occupation force) to defend Cures. Appius Catulus marched on Cures with two other Sabine armies, but his armies withdrew after the Romans refused to give battle. This left Appius Catulus' army alone outside the walls of Cures, and, once the Romans received word that the Sabines' reinforcement armies had withdrawn to defend the rest of Sabinum, the Roman legions attacked the Sabines to the east of the town.
Battle[]
The Roman Legio I Alaudae marched towards the Sabine army from the front as Legio III Martia arrived on the battlefield near the Sabine left flank. The two Roman legions attacked the Sabine army from both sides after a tense standoff, resulting in a one-sided battle. The Sabines fought hard, but they were ultimately overwhelmed and massacred. The Romans' lack of cavalry enabled a significant number of Sabines to escape and retain their military cohesion, but King Appius Catulus was slain and the vast majority of his army destroyed beyond repair.
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