Page "Aequi" Paragraph 10

In 390 a Gaulish warband first defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Allia and then sacked Rome.

The ancient writers report that in 389 the Etruscans, the Volsci and the Aequi all raised armies in hope of exploiting this blow to Roman power.

According to Livy and Plutarch, the Aequi gathered their army at Bolae.

However Marcus Furius Camillus the Roman dictator, who had just inflicted a severe defeat on the Volsci, surprised the Aequan army and captured both their camp and the town.

According to Diodorus Siculus the Aequi were actually besieging Bolae when they were attacked by Camillus.

According to Livy a Roman army ravaged Aequan territory again in 388, this time meeting no resistance.

Oakley ( 1997 ) considers these notices of Roman victories against Aequi in 389 and 388 to be historical, confirmed by the disappearance of the Aequi from the sources until 304.

Owing to the dispute in the sources however, the precise nature of the fighting around Bolae cannot be determined.

Bolae was a Latin town, but the scene of much fighting between Romans and Aequi, and changed hands several times.

Both an ( unreported ) Aequan capture followed by Roman recapture, or a failed Aequan siege are therefore possible.