The Battle of Narbo Martius was a major battle of the Gallic Wars which was fought in 57 BC between the Roman Republic and the Gallic Volcae tribe of southwestern Gaul. The expansionist Volcae tribe, led by King Acos, surprised Rome with a declaration of war in the winter of late 58 BC, but the Volcae tribe was slow to march against Rome's regional stronghold of Narbo Martius (Narbonne), enabling the Roman general Secundus Julius Regillus to make preparations for a confrontation with the Gauls. Acos soon regretted his decision to make war on Rome and offered Rome a peace treaty, but Rome rejected this peace overture, and Regillus marched out of Narbo Martius with his battle-ready Legio I Gallica in anticipation of a lightning campaign against the Volcae. However, the Volcae's hurried peace overture led to Regillus underestimating the Volcae's resolve. Upon reaching the border with Volcae territory, Regillus discovered that several Volcae armies had assembled near their capital of Tolosa (Toulouse), and King Acos proceeded to spring his trap. Acos and his generals led their armies against the Roman army at its camp at Carcaso (Carcassonne), but Regillus opted to withdraw towards Narbo Martius, where he would be reinforced by Septimus Nigidius Iullus' 560-strong garrison. Acos, in turn, fell for Regillus' trap. While the other Volcae armies remained behind in Volcae territory, Acos led his 3,000-strong army into Gallia Narbonensis and attacked Regillus' army on the outskirts of Narbo Martius. In the ensuing battle, a large and experienced army of Gallic warriors faced a slightly larger, yet inexperienced army consisting mostly of Roman legionaries and vigiles, Celtic light cavalry and skirmisher auxiliaries, and mercenary Numidian cavalrymen. In the ensuing battle, Legio I Gallica and the Volcae army met in bloody combat between battle lines, with Nigidius' Narbo Martius garrison attacking the Volcae left flank and rear after arriving on the battlefield. The Volcae army was caught between the two Roman forces and suffered heavy losses. The Volcae army collapsed, and the Romans slew 1,891 Volcae warriors and captured and enslaved an additional 798; meanwhile, the Romans lost only 203 men (almost entirely from a cohort of their vigiles and their troop of Numidian cavalry - both of which suffered around 50% casualties - plus a few legionaries). The Romans gave chase to the remnants of the Volcae army, commanded by Ouidia, and massacred the remaining 308 Volcae with just 36 losses of their own. Regillus proceeded to hire the spy Hostilia Silana to travel ahead of his army and scout out the lands of the Volcae, assisting him in preparing a retaliatory campaign against Rome's barbaric neighbors.
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