Hey guys, my name is Gully, I am french and I have lived in Rome for about 10 years now.
During those years being part of this wonderful city, I ran into different stories, legends and people that I had never heard about while I was in France.

Here is why I write about it because there are some chances you never heard about it too.

Every week, I will post about a Roman Badass of my choice that changed History.

The Romans today stay tough and united to fight against Covid-19.

They learnt from some of of the toughest individuals in history.

Okay, for the first Roman Badass, I decided to choose Publius but before talking about him, let me put some context in.

In the 7th century before Christ, Rome is at the beginning of its history and it is not yet a fighting powerhouse as we know they are used to be known.

The territory is as big as the city itself and the 3rd Roman King Tullus Hostilius wants to expand. But, and this is a big BUT, two other populations don’t agree with it : the city of Alba Longa and the Etruscan.

Since the Roman king really wanted to expand anyway (and it will become a Roman habit), the Alba Longa’s Dictator Mettius Fufetius proposed Tullus a solution to solve the issue.
A war between their armies would probably cost a lot of lives and there is a huge risk that it may leave the door open for an Etruscan invasion (you know, the third part, watching them and hoping they kill themself to conquer both of them). So here is the solution : the conflict should be settled by a fight to the death between 3 of the best soldiers from Rome and 3 from Alba Longa.

So you get on one side the Roman Horatii triplets and on the other side their Alban counterparts, known as the Curiatii.

Our Roman Badass is obviously one of the Horatii triplets.

With so much at stake, both sides fought bravely and were at a point where the Horatii brothers had wounded all three Curiatii, but two Romans were killed in the process.

Publius is obviously the last roman standing, but the situation is not looking good for him.

He knows he stands no chance against all three of his enemies together. So he starts to run across the battlefield instead.

Yeah, I know you might think, what kind of badass is he ? Running away from the battle…

I would like to see you, half naked with your sword, facing three half naked dudes ready to kill you. Since we are not in a Chuck Norris movie, Publius knows he stood no chance fighting at 1 against 3. So what was he thinking ?

Obviously, the Albans pursued him, each as fast as their individual injuries permitted. This was exactly what Publius hoped they would do. After they had gone far enough, he saw that the Curiatii brothers had become staggered and were separated from each other. 1 versus 3 is Chuck Norris stuff but in 1 versus 1 Publius is unbeatable.

At some point, Publius stops running, turns and launches a furious attack on the first, least-injured Curiatius. 1 down.

Here you need to imagine en epic movie soundtrack to feel exactly the way the Roman Spectators felt.

Moments before they felt defeated . Now, they begin cheering wildly as the Albans begin shouting at the Curiatii to regroup to face Publius’ onslaught.

Before the second Curiatius could get back to his brother, Publius finished him while the third brother, helpless, looked on. The final Curiatius felt exhausted from the chase, his hopes crushed by watching both of his brothers die. He faced Publius, who was as pumped as he could be after 3 victories served on a silver plate.

Publius declared that he had killed the first two Curiatii for his fallen brothers. He would kill this last one for the Roman cause and their rule over the Albans. He thrust his sword down Alban’s throat and took the armor of his enemies as the spoils of his victory…

Rome won against Alba Longa and the expansion could begin.

What do you think about this Roman Badass ?