🟡 THE HIGHEST PRIEST The Pontifex Maximus was the highest-ranking religious official in ancient Rome, leading the College of Pontiffs, a body of priests responsible for interpreting and upholding Roman religious law. As head of this institution, they were guardians of religious traditions, ensuring the proper performance of rites and ceremonies. Beyond religious duties, the Pontifex Maximus held significant legal authority, serving as an expert advisor on matters of religious law and interpreting religious rules. They also maintained the Annales Maximi, the official records of Roman religious and political events, making them custodians of history and tradition. Initially, this position was exclusively held by patricians, members of the Roman aristocracy. Over time, it became highly sought after by prominent political figures. This culminated during the Imperial period when Augustus Caesar assumed the title, effectively merging the highest religious and political offices. Subsequent emperors continued to hold the title of Pontifex Maximus, solidifying the connection between religious authority and imperial power.

🟤 PLINY ON THE NILE RIVER “The country has reason to make careful note of either extreme. When the water rises to only twelve cubits, it experiences the horrors of famine; when it attains thirteen, hunger is still the result; a rise of fourteen cubits is productive of gladness; a rise of fifteen sets all anxieties at rest; while an increase of sixteen is productive of unbounded transports of joy. The greatest increase known, up to the present time, is that of eighteen cubits, which took place in the time of the Emperor Claudius; the smallest rise was that of five, in the year of the battle of Pharsalia, the river by this prodigy testifying its horror, as it were, at the murder of Pompeius Magnus. When the waters have reached their greatest height, the people open the embankments and admit them to the lands. As each district is left by the waters, the business of sowing commences. This is the only river in existence that emits no vapours.” Pliny the Elder

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🔶 THE MEETING PLACE OF THE ROMAN ARMADA “A thousand vessels were considered enough, and these were built at speed. Some were short craft with very little poop or prow, and broad-bellied, the more easily to withstand a heavy sea: others had flat bottoms, enabling them to run aground without damage; while still more were fitted with rudders at each end, so as to head either way the moment the oarsmen reversed their stroke. Many had a deck-flooring to carry the military engines, though they were equally useful for transporting horses or supplies. The whole armada, equipped at once for sailing or propulsion by the oar, was a striking and formidable spectacle, rendered still more so by the enthusiasm of the soldiers. The Isle of Batavia⁠ was fixed for the meeting-place, since it afforded an easy landing and was convenient both as a rendezvous for the troops and as the base for a campaign across the water. For the Rhine, which so far has flowed in a single channel, save only where it circles some unimportant islet, branches at the Batavian frontier into what may be regarded as two rivers. On the German side, it runs unchanged in name and vehemence till its juncture with the North Sea:⁠ the Gallic bank it washes with a wider, gentler stream, known locally as the Waal, though before long it changes its style once more and becomes the river Meuse, through whose immense estuary it discharges, also into the North Sea.” Tacitus

🔺PICKING A SPOT FOR AMBUSH “Between the two armies there was a stream with very high banks which were overgrown with marshy grass and the brambles and brushwood which are generally found on waste ground. After riding round the place and satisfying himself from personal observation that it was capable of concealing even cavalry, Hannibal, turning to his brother Mago, said, "This will be the place for you to occupy. Pick out of our whole force of cavalry and infantry a hundred men from each arm, and bring them to me at the first watch, now it is time for food and rest." He then dismissed his staff. Presently Mago appeared with his 200 picked men. "I see here," said Hannibal, "the very flower of my army, but you must be strong in numbers as well as in courage. Each of you therefore go and choose nine others like himself, from the squadrons and the maniples. Mago will show you the place where you are to lie in ambuscade, you have an enemy who are blindly ignorant of these practices in war." After sending Mago with his 1000 infantry and 1000 cavalry to take up his position, Hannibal gave orders for the Numidian cavalry to cross the Trebia in the early dawn and ride up to the gates of the Roman camp; then they were to discharge their missiles on the outposts and so goad the enemy on to battle. When the fighting had once started they were gradually to give ground and draw their pursuers to their own side of the river.” Livy

🔘 CROSSING TO BRITAIN “He (Claudius) made but one campaign and that of little importance. When the senate voted him the triumphal regalia, thinking the honour beneath the imperial dignity and desiring the glory of a legitimate triumph, he chose Britain as the best place for gaining it, a land that had been attempted by no one since the Deified Julius and was just at that time in a state of rebellion because of the refusal to return certain deserters. On the voyage thither from Ostia he was nearly cast away twice in furious north-westers, off Liguria and near the Stoechades islands. Therefore he made the journey from Massilia all the way to Gesoriacum by land, crossed from there, and without any battle or bloodshed received the submission of a part of the island, returned to Rome within six months after leaving the city, and celebrated a triumph of great splendour. To witness the sight he allowed not only the governors of the provinces to come to Rome, but even some of the exiles; and among the tokens of his victory he set a naval crown on the gable of the Palace beside the civic crown, as a sign that he had crossed and, as it were, subdued the Ocean. His wife Messalina followed his chariot in a carriage, as did also those who had won the triumphal regalia in the same war; the rest marched on foot in purple-bordered togas, except Marcus Crassus Frugi, who rode a caparisoned horse and wore a tunic embroidered with palms, because he was receiving the honour for the second time.” Suetonius

🔵 PUBLIC SALE TO FINANCE THE MARCOMANNIC WAR “Toward the provinces from then on he (Marcus Aurelius) acted with extreme restraint and consideration. He carried on a successful campaign against the Germans. He himself singled out the Marcomannic war — a war which surpassed any in the memory of man — and waged it with both valour and success, and that at a time when a grievous pestilence had carried away thousands of civilians and soldiers. And so, by crushing the Marcomanni, the Sarmatians, the Vandals, and even the Quadi, he freed the Pannonias from bondage, and with Commodus his son, whom he had previously named Caesar, triumphed at Rome, as we told above. When he had drained the treasury for this war, moreover, and could not bring himself to impose any extraordinary tax on the provincials, he held a public sale in the Forum of the Deified Trajan of the imperial furnishings, and sold goblets of gold and crystal and murra, even flagons made for kings, his wife's silken gold-embroidered robes, and, indeed, even certain jewels which he had found in considerable numbers in a particularly holy cabinet of Hadrian's. This sale lasted for two months, and such a store of gold was realised thereby, that after he had conducted the remainder of the Marcomannic war in full accordance with his plans, he gave the buyers to understand that if any of them wished to return his purchases and recover his money, he could do so. Nor did he make it unpleasant for anyone who did or did not return what he had bought.” Historia Augusta

🟣 MALLORCA RABBIT PLAGUE “In addition to the fruitfulness of the soil, there is also the fact that no injurious animal can easily be found in the Gymnesiae. For even the rabbits there, it is said, are not native, but the stock sprang from a male and female brought over by some person from the opposite mainlind; and this stock was, for a fact, so numerous at first, that they even overturned houses and trees by burrowing beneath them, and that, as I have said, the people were forced to have recourse to the Romans. At present, however, the ease with which the rabbits are caught prevents the pest from prevailing; indeed, the landholders reap profitable crops from the soil.” Strabo

⚪️ LENIENCY “Mithridates having conquered the Roman generals in Asia, and taken many prisoners, sent them all home with clothing and provisions for the journey. This mild treatment was reported everywhere, and the cities generally came flocking over to him; so that envoys came to him from all cities, inviting him by their public decrees to enter their territory, calling him their god and deliverer. Upon notice of the king's approach, the people came in crowds out of the several cities, wearing bright garments to greet him, and received him with great joy and acclamation.” Diodorus Siculus

🟢 SULLA’S LEADERSHIP “When a lieutenant of Lucius Sulla had gone over to the enemy at the beginning on an engagement, accompanied by a considerable force of cavalry, Sulla announced that this had been done by his own instructions. He thereby not merely saved his men from panic, but encouraged them by a certain expectation of advantage to result from this plan. The same Sulla, when certain auxiliary troops dispatched by him had been surrounded and cut to pieces by the enemy, fearing that his entire army would be in a panic on account of this disaster, announced that he had purposely placed the auxiliaries in a place of danger, since they had plotted to desert. In this way he veiled a very palpable reverse under the guise of discipline, and encouraged his soldiers by convincing them that he had done this.” Frontinus: The Strategemata

⚫️ THE SIEGE OF HATRA LIFTED “Next he came into Arabia and began operations against the people of Hatra, since they, too, had revolted. This city is neither large nor prosperous, and the surrounding country is mostly desert and has neither water (save a small amount and that poor in quality) nor timber nor fodder. These very disadvantages, however, afford it protection, making impossible a siege by a large multitude, as does also the Sun-god, to whom it is consecrated; for it was taken neither at this time by Trajan nor later by Severus, although they both overthrew parts of its wall. Trajan sent the cavalry forward against the wall, but failed in his attempt, and the attackers were hurled back into the camp. Indeed, the emperor himself barely missed being wounded as he was riding past, in spite of the fact that he had laid aside his imperial attire to avoid being recognized; but the enemy, seeing his majestic gray head and his august countenance, suspected his identity, shot at him and killed a cavalry­man in his escort. There were peals of thunder, rainbow tints showed, and lightnings, rain-storms, hail and thunderbolts descended upon the Romans as often as they made assaults. And whenever they ate, flies settled on their food and drink, causing discomfort everywhere. Trajan therefore departed thence, and a little later began to fail in health.” Cassius Dio

🟡 PONT DU GARD The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge located in southern France, specifically near the city of Nîmes, and was built in the 1st century AD. This impressive structure, reaching a height of 49 meters (161 feet) at its highest point, was designed to transport water over a distance of about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from a spring near Uzès. The water flowed through a channel running along the top of the aqueduct, supplying the Roman city of Nîmes. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

🟤 EUPHORBIA “It is a well-known fact, that adjoining to these localities is a nation of Aethiopions which bears the name of Perorsi. Juba the father of Ptolemy, who was the first king who reigned over both the Mauritanias, and who has been rendered even more famous by the brilliancy of his learning than by his kingly rank, has given us similar information relative to Mount Atlas, and states that a certain herb grows there, which has received the name of 'euphorbia' from that of his physician, who was the first to discover it. Juba extols with wondrous praises the milky juice of this plant as tending to improve the sight, and acting as a specific against the bites of serpents and all kinds of poison; and to this subject alone he has devoted an entire book. Thus much, if indeed not more than enough, about Mount Atlas.” Pliny the Elder

🔶 CONTEMPT FOR THE PARTHIAN HOSTAGE “After domestic murders had made an end of Phraates and his successors, a deputation from the Parthian nobility arrived in Rome, to summon Vonones,⁠ as the eldest of his children, to the throne. The Caesar took this as an honour to himself and presented the youth with a considerable sum. The barbarians, too, accepted him with the pleasure they usually evince at a change of sovereigns. It quickly gave place to shame:— "The Parthians had degenerated: they had gone to another continent for a king tainted with the enemy's arts, and now the throne of the Arsacidae was held, or given away, as one of the provinces of Rome. Where was the glory of the men who slew Crassus⁠ and ejected Antony, if a chattel of the Caesar, who had brooked his bondage through all these years, was to govern Parthians?" Their contempt was heightened by the man himself, with his remoteness from ancestral traditions, his rare appearances in the hunting-field, his languid interest in horseflesh,⁠ his use of a litter when passing through the towns, and his disdain of the national banquets.⁠ Other subjects for mirth were his Greek retinue and his habit of keeping even the humblest household necessaries under seal. His easy accessibility, on the other hand, and his unreserved courtesy — virtues unknown to Parthia — were construed as exotic vices; and the good and ill in him, as they were equally strange to the national character, were impartially abhorred.” Tacitus

🔺 THE COLD OF TREBIA “It happened to be the season of winter, a snowstorm was raging, and the district, situated between the Alps and the Apennines, was rendered especially cold by the vicinity of rivers and marshes.” “They now stood fighting in a square, and about 10,000 of them, unable to escape in any other direction, forced their way through the centre of the African troops and the auxiliary Gauls who supported them and inflicted an immense loss on the enemy. They were prevented by the river from returning to their camp, and the rain made it impossible for them to judge where they could best go to the assistance of their comrades, so they marched away straight to Placentia. Then desperate attempts to escape were made on all sides; some who made for the river were swept away by the current or caught by the enemy while hesitating to cross; others, scattered over the fields in flight, followed the track of the main retreat and sought Placentia; others, fearing the enemy more than the river, crossed it and reached their camp. The driving sleet and the intolerable cold caused the death of many men and baggage animals, and nearly all the elephants perished. The Carthaginians stopped their pursuit at the banks of the Trebia and returned to their camp so benumbed with cold that they hardly felt any joy in their victory.” Livy

🔘 THE BELOVED CLAUDIUS “But in adding to his own dignity he was modest and unassuming, refraining from taking the forename Imperator, refusing excessive honours, and passing over the betrothal of his daughter and the birthday of a grandson in silence and with merely private ceremonies. He recalled no one from exile except with the approval of the senate. He obtained from the members as a favour the privilege of bringing into the House with him the prefect of the praetorian guard and the tribunes of the soldiers, and the ratification of the judicial acts of his agents in the provinces. He asked the consuls for permission to hold fairs on his private estates. He often appeared as one of the advisers at cases tried before the magistrates; and when they gave games, he also arose with the rest of the audience and showed his respect by acclamations and applause. When the tribunes of the commons appeared before him as he sat upon the tribunal, he apologised to them because for lack of room he could not hear them unless they stood up.” “By such conduct he won so much love and devotion in a short time, that when it was reported that he had been waylaid and killed on a journey to Ostia, the people were horror stricken and with dreadful execrations continued to assail the soldiers as traitors, and the senate as murderers, until finally one or two men, and later several, were brought forward upon the rostra by the magistrates and assured the people that Claudius was safe and on his way to the city.” Suetonius

🔵 TWIN RULE “And now, after they had assumed the imperial power, the two emperors acted in so democratic a manner that no one missed the lenient ways of Pius; for though Marullus, a writer of farces of the time, irritated them by his jests, he yet went unpunished. They gave funeral games for their father. And Marcus abandoned himself to philosophy, at the same time cultivating the good-will of the citizens. But now to interrupt the emperor's happiness and repose, there came the first flood of the Tiber — the severest one of their time — which ruined many houses in the city, drowned a great number of animals, and caused a most severe famine; all these disasters Marcus and Verus relieved by their own personal care and aid. At this time, moreover, came the Parthian war, which Vologaesus planned under Pius and declared under Marcus and Verus, after the rout of Attidius Cornelianus, than governor of Syria. And besides this, war was threatening in Britain, and the Chatti had burst into Germany and Raetia. Against the Britons Calpurnius Agricola was sent; against the Chatti, Aufidius Victorinus. But to the Parthian war, with the consent of the senate, Marcus despatched his brother Verus, while he himself remained at Rome, where conditions demanded the presence of an emperor. Nevertheless, he accompanied Verus as far as Capua, honouring him with a retinue of friends from the senate and appointing also all his chiefs-of‑staff.” Historia Augusta

🟣 SLINGERS OF IBIZA “And it is on account of the fertility of these regions that the inhabitants are peaceable, as is also the case with the people on the island of Ebusus. But merely because a few criminals among them had formed partner­ships with the pirates of the high seas, they were all cast into disrepute, and an over-seaexpedition was made against them by Metellus, surnamed Balearicus, who is the man that founded their cities. On account of the same fertility of their islands, however, the inhabitants are ever the object of plots, albeit they are peaceable; still they are spoken of as the best of slingers.” “And their training in the use of slings used to be such, from childhood up, that they would not so much as give bread to their children unless they first hit it with the sling. This is why Metellus, when he was approaching the islands from the sea, stretched hides above the decks as a protection against the slings. And he brought thither as colonists three thousand of the Romans who were in Iberia.” Strabo

⚪️ HORRIBLE VIEW “The soul of man partakes of the divine nature; sometimes it can predict the future, and by using natural images it can foresee what is going to occur. This is what happened to women of Pinna, who lamented their misfortune before it happened to them. The Italians led the children of the people of Pinna to the foot of the walls of the city, and threatened to kill them if they did not abandon their alliance with Rome. But the people of Pinna were prepared to suffer terribly, and replied : "If you deprive us of our children, we will produce some more easily, as long as we remain faithful to the Romans." These Italians, despairing of taking the city by persuasion, performed an act of great cruelty. They brought the children up to the walls, and ordered those who were about to die to implore the mercy of their fathers, and to raise their hands to heaven, begging the sun, which oversees the life of all men, to save their innocent lives. The inhabitants of the city of Pinna fell into most dreadful calamities on account of their constant fidelity to the Romans; for, being obstinately resolved not to desert the Romans, they were forced to put aside any sense of natural affection, and watch their children being slaughtered before their eyes.” Diodorus Siculus

🟢 INCENTIVES “The same Pyrrhus, among many other precepts on the art of war, recommended never to press relentlessly on the heels of an enemy in flight — not merely in order to prevent the enemy from resisting too furiously in consequence of necessity, but also to make him more inclined to withdraw another time, knowing that the victor would not strive to destroy him when in flight.” Frontinus: The Strategemata