🔶 DEMETRIUS CLAIMS THE SELEUCID THRONE

“Antiochus, on returning to his kingdom, died, leaving a son quite a boy. Guardians being assigned him by the people, his uncle Demetrius, who was a hostage at Rome, and who had heard of the death of his brother, went to the senate, and said that "he had come to Rome as a hostage while his brother was alive, but that now he was dead, he did not know for whom he was a hostage. It was therefore reasonable," he added, "that he should be released to claim the throne, which, as he had conceded it to his elder brother by the law of nations, now of right belonged to himself, as he was superior to the orphan in age." But finding that he was not released by the senate (their private opinion being that the throne would be better in the hands of the young prince than in his), he left the city on pretence of going to hunt, and secretly took ship at Ostia, with such as attended him in his flight. On arriving in Syria, he was favourably received by the whole people, and the orphan being put to death, the throne was resigned to him by the guardians.”

Justinus

🔶 THE END OF THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE

“The commissioners, in consequence, having summoned the chief men of the cities to meet them at Corinth, read to them the decree of the senate, and signified what their intentions were; declaring it "expedient for all, that each city should have its own independent laws and government." When this communication was known throughout the city, the people being thrown as it were into a fury, massacred all the foreigners that were there, and would have laid violent hands on the Roman commissioners themselves, had they not fled away in haste as soon as they found a disturbance rising. When the news of these occurrences reached Rome, the senate at once decreed war against the Achaeans, giving the conduct of it to the consul Mummius, who, conveying over his army with the utmost expedition, and actively providing himself with all necessaries, proceeded to offer the enemy battle. As for the Achaeans, as if they had undertaken a matter of no difficulty in going to war with the Romans, every thing was neglected and out of order amongst them. Thinking of plunder, too, and not of fighting, they brought vehicles to carry away the spoils of the enemy, and stationed their wives and children on the hills to view the engagement. But when the battle commenced, they were cut to pieces before the eyes of their kindred, and afforded them only a dismal spectacle and sad remembrances of grief. Their wives and children, also, were changed from spectators into prisoners, and became the prey of the enemy. The city of Corinth itself was razed to the ground, and the inhabitants sold for slaves, that, by such an example, a dread of insurrection might be thrown on other cities.”

Justinus

If you are so smart, why are you not happy?

🔶 THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR BEGINS

“The Romans carried on the Macedonian war (around 171 BC) with less disturbance to their country than the Punic war, but with more renown, as the Macedonians surpassed the Carthaginians in honour, and were animated, moreover, by their glory in having conquered the east, and supported also by the auxiliary forces of all the neighbouring princes. The Romans, accordingly, both raised a greater number of legions, and called for assistance from Masinissa, king of Numidia, and all the rest of their allies; while notice was also given to Eumenes, king of Bithynia, to aid them in the war with his whole force. Perseus, besides his Macedonian army, which had had the reputation of being invincible, had supplies for a ten years' war, collected by his father, in his treasures and magazines. Elevated by these resources, and forgetful of his father's fortune, he bade his soldiers think of the past glory of Alexander.”

Justinus

🔶 DOUBLE PERIL

“Hannibal, when the Romans, among other articles of peace, demanded from Antiochus that he should be surrendered to them, received notice of this demand from the king, and, taking to flight, went off to Crete. Here, when he had long led a quiet life, but found himself envied for his great wealth, he deposited some urns, filled with lead, in the temple of Diana, as if thus to secure his treasure. The city, in consequence, being no longer concerned about him, as they supposed that they had his wealth in pledge, he betook himself to Prusias, putting his gold into some statues which he carried with him, lest his riches, if seen, should endanger his life. Prusias being subsequently defeated in a battle by land, and transferring the war to the sea, Hannibal, by a new stratagem, was the cause of procuring him a victory; for he ordered serpents of every kind to be enclosed in earthen pots, and to be thrown, in the hottest of the engagement, into the enemy's ships. This seemed at first ridiculous to the Pontic soldiers, that the enemy should fight with earthen pots, as if they could not fight with the sword. But when the ships began to be filled with serpents, and they were thus involved in double peril, they yielded the victory to the enemy.”

Justinus

🔶 THE ROMANS IN ASIA MINOR

“As the Romans were coming from Troy, king Eumenes met them with some auxiliary troops; and soon after a battle was fought with Antiochus; in which one of the Roman legions, on the right wing, being beaten back, and fleeing to their camp with more disgrace than danger, Marcus Aemilius, a military tribune, who had been left to defend the camp, ordered his men to arm themselves, and advance without the rampart, and to threaten the fugitives with their swords drawn, saying that "they should be put to death unless they returned to the field, and should find their own camp more hostile to them than that of the enemy." The legion, alarmed at such peril on both sides, returned to the battle, their fellow soldiers, who had stopped their flight, accompanying them, and, making great havoc among the enemy, were the first cause of the victory. Fifty thousand of the enemy were slain, and eleven thousand taken prisoners. Antiochus suing for peace, nothing was added to the former articles, Africanus observing that "the spirit of the Romans was never broken if they were defeated, and, if they were victorious, they were not rendered tyrannical by success." The cities that were taken they divided among their allies, deeming that glory was more desirable for the Romans than dominions merely for pleasure; and that the honour of victory was worthy of being attached to the Roman name, but that the luxuries of wealth might be left to their adherents.”

Justinus

🔶 NOSTALGIA

“Preparations for a contest were in consequence made on both sides; and when the Romans, having entered Asia, had reached Troy, mutual gratulations took place between the Trojans and the Romans; the Trojans observing that "Aeneias, and the other leaders that accompanied him, had gone forth from them;" the Romans telling them that "they were their children;" and such joy was among them all as is wont to be between parents and children met after a long separation. The Trojans were delighted that their descendants, after having conquered the west and Africa, were now laying claim to Asia as their hereditary domain, remarking that "the ruin of Troy had been an event to be desired, since it was so happily to revive again." On the other hand, an insatiable longing to gaze on their ancient home, the birth-place of their ancestors, and the temples and images of the gods, had taken possession of the Romans.”

Justinus

🟣 ALARIC THE FIRST

Alaric the First was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395-410.

He was a member of the Balti dynasty, and he is most famous for sacking the city of Rome in 410. This was the first time that Rome had been sacked in over 800 years.

Alaric was born on an island in the Danube Delta, in modern-day Romania. He grew up in a time of great upheaval, as the Roman Empire was beginning to decline and the Goths were migrating into the empire in large numbers.

Alaric joined the Roman army at a young age, and he quickly rose through the ranks. He eventually became the leader of the Visigoths, and he led them on a number of campaigns against the Romans.

In 410, Alaric led the Visigoths in a sack of the city of Rome. This was a major blow to the Roman Empire.

Alaric died shortly after the sack of Rome.

The Visigoths went on to establish a kingdom in Gaul, which eventually became the country of France.

Proof of walk

⚪️ BLOND, BUT ALSO ARTIFICIAL

“The Gauls are tall of body, with rippling muscles, and white of skin, and their hair is blond, and not only naturally so, but they also make it their practice by artificial means to increase the distinguishing colour which nature has given it. For they are always washing their hair in lime-water, and they pull it back from the forehead to the top of the head and back to the nape of the neck, with the result that their appearance is like that of Satyrs and Pans, since the treatment of their hair makes it so heavy and coarse that it differs in no respect from the mane of horses. Some of them shave the beard, but others let it grow a little; and the nobles shave their cheeks, but they let the moustache grow until it covers the mouth. Consequently, when they are eating, their moustaches become entangled in the food, and when they are drinking, the beverage passes, as it were, through a kind of a strainer. When they dine they all sit, not upon chairs, but upon the ground, using for cushions the skins of wolves or of dogs. The service at the meals is performed by the youngest children, both male and female, who are of suitable age; and near at hand are their fireplaces heaped with coals, and on them are caldrons and spits holding whole pieces of meat. Brave warriors they reward with the choicest portions of the meat, in the same manner as the poet introduces Ajax as honoured by the chiefs after he returned victorious from his single combat with Hector.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 ASTROLOGY

“The rest which relates to astrology, and the effects produced upon human life by the twelve signs, the five planets, the sun and the moon, must be left to the discussions of the Chaldeans, whose profession it is to cast nativities, and by means of the configurations of the stars to explain the past and the future. The talent, the ingenuity, and reputation of those who come from the country of the Chaldeans, is manifest from the discoveries they have left us in writing. Berosus was the first of them. He settled in the island and state of Cos, and there established a school. Afterwards came Antipater and Achinapolus, which latter not only gave rules for predicting a man's fate by a knowledge of the time of his birth, but even by that of the moment wherein he was conceived.”

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura

⚫️ HUMOUR AND LAUGHTER

“Now, though laughter may be regarded as a trivial matter, and an emotion frequently awakened by buffoons, actors or fools, it has a certain imperious force of its own which it is very hard to resist. It often breaks out against our will and extorts confession of its power, not merely from our face and voice, but convulses the whole body as well. Again, it frequently turns the scale in matters of great importance, as I have already observed: for instance, it often dispels hatred or anger. A proof of this is given by the story of the young men of Tarentum, who had made a number of scurrilous criticisms of Pyrrhus over the dinner table: they were called upon to answer for their statements, and, since the charge was one that admitted neither of denial nor of excuse, they succeeded in escaping, thanks to a happy jest which made the king laugh; for one of the accused said, "Yes, and if the bottle hadn't been empty, we should have killed you!" a jest which succeeded in dissipating the animosity which the charge had aroused.”

Quintilian, The Orator’s Education

You probably like this one:

“Hannibal, even at the time when Italy trembled at him, thundering in the war with Rome, and when, after his return to Carthage, he held the chief command there, never reclined at his meals, or indulged himself with more than one pint of wine at a time; and that he preserved such continence among so many female captives, that one would be disposed to deny that he was born in Africa.”

Justinus

The romans already knew😂

Beneficial adversary

🟡 KINGMAKER

“Pompey pardoned him for the past, reconciled him with his son, and decided that the latter should rule Sophene and Gordyene (which are now called Lesser Armenia), and the father the rest of Armenia, and that at his death the son should succeed him in that also. He required that Tigranes should at once give up the territory that he had gained by war. Accordingly he gave up the whole of Syria from the Euphrates to the sea; for he held that and a part of Cilicia, which he had taken from Antiochus, surnamed Pius.

Those Armenians who deserted Tigranes on the road, when he was going to Pompey, because they were afraid, persuaded his son, who was still with Pompey, to make an attempt upon his father. Pompey seized him and put him in chains. As he still tried to stir up the Parthians against Pompey, he was led in the latter's triumph and afterward put to death. And now Pompey, thinking that the whole war was at an end, founded a city on the place where he had overcome Mithridates in battle, which is called Nicopolis (the city of victory) from that affair, and is situated in Lesser Armenia.

To Ariobarzanes he gave back the kingdom of Cappadocia and added to it Sophene and Gordyene, which he had partitioned to the son of Tigranes, and which are now administered as parts of Cappadocia. He gave him also the city of Castabala and some others in Cilicia. Ariobarzanes intrusted his whole kingdom to his son while he was still living. Many changes took place until the time of Cæsar Augustus, under whom this kingdom, like many others, became a Roman province.”

Appian, the foreign wars

🟤 HANNIBAL’S BATTLE TACTICS AT CANNAE

At the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, Hannibal employed a brilliant strategy that led to a devastating Roman defeat. He deliberately presented a weaker center to the Romans, positioning his less reliable Gallic and Spanish infantry there, flanked by his more disciplined African troops. This deception lured the Romans into advancing, believing they had a numerical advantage.

As the Romans pressed forward, Hannibal's center began to give ground, drawing the enemy deeper into the battlefield. Simultaneously, his African infantry on the flanks curved inwards, enveloping the Roman legions in a pincer movement.

Hannibal's Numidian cavalry overwhelmed the Roman cavalry on both wings. This isolated the Roman infantry, preventing them from receiving support or escaping the encirclement. The encircled Roman legions were then systematically slaughtered.

Good YouTube video

https://youtu.be/xjnck2XvuPQ?si=c8MgMVw70VZDRfGy

🟠 LIKE THE SPARTANS DO

“He (Agathocles of Syracuse) proceeded, after the example of Dionysius, who had subdued many cities of Italy, to cross over into that country. His first enemies there were the Bruttii, who, at that period (around 300 BC), seem to have been the bravest and most powerful people of the country, and to have been extremely ready to attack their neighbours; for they had driven the inhabitants of many of the Greek cities from Italy, and had conquered in war the Lucanians their founders, and made peace with them on equal terms; such being the fierceness of their nature, that they had no respect even for those to whom they owed their origin. The Lucanians were accustomed to breed up their children with the same kind of education as the Spartans; for, from their earliest boyhood, they were kept in the wilds among the shepherds, without any slaves to attend them, and even without clothes to wear or to sleep upon, that, from their first years, they might be accustomed to hardiness and spare diet; having no intercourse with the city. Their food was what they took in hunting, and their drink milk or water. Thus were they prepared for the toils of war.”

Justin

🔴 AGATHOCLES OF SYRACUSE INVADES NORTH AFRICA, YEARS BEFORE THE ROMANS

“In the seventh year (310BC) of his reign, therefore, accompanied by his two grown-up sons, Archagathus and Heracleides, he directed his course towards Africa, not one of his men knowing whither he was sailing; but while they all supposed that they were going to Italy or Sardinia for plunder, he landed his army on the coast of Africa, and then for the first time made known his intentions to them all. He reminded them in what condition Syracuse was, " for which there was no other remedy but that they should inflict on the enemy the distresses that they themselves were suffering. Wars," he said, " were conducted in one way at home and in another abroad; at home, a people's only support was what the resources of their country supplied; but abroad, the enemy might be beaten by their own strength, while their allies fell off, and from hatred of their long tyranny, looked about for foreign aid. To this was added, that the cities and fortresses of Africa were not secured with walls, or situated on eminences, but lay in level plains without any fortifications, and might all be induced, by the fear of destruction, to join in the war against Carthage. A greater war, in consequence, would blaze forth against the Carthaginians from Africa itself than from Sicily, as the forces of the whole region would combine against a city greater in name than in power, and he himself would thus gain from the country the strength which he had not brought into it.”

Justin

🔴 THE ETRUSCAN MIGRATION

“The causes of the Gauls' coming into Italy, in quest of new settlements, were civil discords and perpetual contentions at home; and when, from impatience of those feuds, they had sought refuge in Italy, they expelled the Etruscans from their country, and founded Mediolanum, Comum, Brixia, Verona, Bergamum, Tridentum, and Vicentia. The Etruscans, too, when they were driven from their old settlements, betook themselves, under a captain named Rhaetus, towards the Alps, where they founded the nation of Rhaetia, so named from their leader.”

Justinus

🔺 WINGS TO IRON

“The most useful and the most fatal instrument in the hand of mankind. For by the aid of iron we lay open the ground, we plant trees, we prepare our vineyard-trees, and we force our vines each year to resume their youthful state, by cutting away their decayed branches. It is by the aid of iron that we construct houses, cleave rocks, and perform so many other useful offices of life. But it is with iron also that wars, murders, and robberies are effected, and this, not only hand to hand, but from a distance even, by the aid of missiles and winged weapons, now launched from engines, now hurled by the human arm, and now furnished with feathery wings. This last I regard as the most criminal artifice that has been devised by the human mind; for, as if to bring death upon man with still greater rapidity, we have given wings to iron and taught it to fly. Let us there- fore acquit Nature of a charge that here belongs to man himself.”

“In the treaty which Porsena granted to the Roman people, after the expulsion of the kings, we find it expressly stipulated, that iron shall be only employed for the cultivation of the fields.”

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder

🔘 ONE MORE VIGOUR, ONE MORE VIRTUE

“This was the end reserved by fortune for the party of Marcus Brutus. He was in his thirty-seventhyear, and had kept his soul free from corruption until this day, which, through the rashness of a single act, bereft him, together with his life, of all his virtuous qualities. Cassius was as much the better general as Brutus was the better man. Of the two, one would rather have Brutus as a friend, but would stand more in fear of Cassius as an enemy. The one had more vigour, the other more virtue. As it was better for the state to have Caesar rather than Antony as emperor, so, had Brutus and Cassius been the conquerors, it would have been better for is to be ruled by Brutus rather than by Cassius.”

Velleius Paterculus, Roman History