⚪️ THE RISE OF SULLA “Cinna and Marius were soon punished by divine vengeance, after their massacre of citizens and their outrages against other men. Sulla, who was the only one remaining out of their enemies, destroyed the army of Mithridates in Boeotia, took Athens by storm, and made a treaty with Mithridates; then he took over the fleet of Mithridates and returned to Italy. In a very short time, he destroyed the armies of Cinna and Marius, and made himself master of Rome and all Italy. He slew all the bloodthirsty supporters of Cinna, and exterminated the family of Marius. Many reasonable men considered that the punishment of the perpetrators of so many murders was imposed by divine providence. Such a punishment ought to be a valuable lesson for those who follow the path of impiety, prompting them to turn away from their wickedness.” Diodorus Siculus

GN and Gods blessings to you.

🟢 ESCAPE “Publius Claudius, defeated by the Carthaginians in a naval engagement and thinking it necessary to break through the forces of the enemy, ordered his twenty remaining vessels to be dressed out as though victorious. The Carthaginians, therefore, thought our men had proved themselves superior in the encounter, so that Claudius became an object of fear to the enemy and thus made his escape. The Carthaginians, on one occasion, when defeated in a naval battle, desiring to shake off the Romans who were close upon them, pretended that their vessels had caught on shoals and imitated the movement of stranded galleys. In this way they caused the victors, in fear of meeting a like disaster, to afford them an opportunity of escape. Commius, the Atrebatian, when defeated by the deified Julius, fled from Gaul to Britain, and happened to reach the Channel at a time when the wind was fair, but the tide was out. Although the vessels were stranded on the flats, he nevertheless ordered the sails to be spread. Caesar, who was following them from a distance, seeing the sails swelling with the full breeze, and imagining Commius to be escaping from his hands and to be proceeding on a prosperous voyage, abandoned the pursuit.” Frontinus: The Strategemata

⚫️ AVOIDING PLANTING COLONIES “In the legislation of Gracchus I should regard as the most pernicious his planting of colonies outside of Italy. This policy the Romans of the older time had carefully avoided; for they saw how much more powerful Carthage had been than Tyre, Massilia than Phocaea, Syracuse than Corinth, Cyzicus and Byzantium than Miletus, — all these colonies, in short, than their mother cities — and had summoned all Roman citizens from the provinces back to Italy that they might be enrolled upon the census lists.” Velleius Paterculus, Roman History

🟡 THE SPARTAN CONSULTANT “Now it happened that just about this time one of their recruiting agents, who had some time before been despatched to Greece, arrived home. brought a large number of men with him, and among them a certain Lacedaemonian named Xanthippus, a man trained in the Spartan discipline, and of large experience in war. When this man was informed of their defeat, and of how it had taken place, and when he had reviewed the military resources still left to the Carthaginians, and the number of their cavalry and elephants, he did not take long to come to a decided conclusion. He expressed his opinion to his friends that the Carthaginians had owed their defeat, not to the superiority of the Romans, but to the unskilfulness of their own commanders. The dangerous state of their affairs caused the words of Xanthippus to get abroad quickly among the people and to reach the ears of the generals; and the men in authority determined to summon and question him. He appeared, and laid his views before the magistrates; in which he showed to what they owed their present disasters, and that if they would take his advice and keep to the flat parts of the country alike in marching, encamping, and giving battle, they would be able with perfect ease to secure safety for themselves and to defeat their opponents in the field.” Polybius, histories

🟤 ANTONINUS PIUS Antoninus Pius was widely praised by his contemporaries and later historians for his just and benevolent rule. His adopted son and successor, Marcus Aurelius, held him in the highest regard, viewing him as an ideal ruler and a model of Stoic virtue. Roman historians like Cassius Dio and Aurelius Victor also painted a positive picture of him, describing him as a wise and moderate emperor. Even the general public seemed to have a favorable view of Antoninus. Born in Lanuvium, Italy, in 86 AD, Antoninus came from a wealthy and influential family. He held various political offices, including consul, before being adopted by Emperor Hadrian in 138 AD. This adoption made him Hadrian's heir and successor. In 161 AD, he adopted Marcus Aurelius as his co-emperor, ensuring a smooth transition of power. Antoninus died in Lorium, Italy, in 161 AD, at the age of 75. He is remembered as one of the most successful and beloved Roman emperors.

Germania inferior

🔶 THE FREEZING WINTER IN ARMENIA “A legion from Germany was added with its complement of auxiliary horse and foot. The entire army was kept under canvas,⁠. notwithstanding a winter of such severity that the ice-covered ground had to be dug up before it would receive tents. As a result of the bitter cold, many of the men had frost-bitten limbs, and a few died on sentinel-duty. The case was observed of a soldier, carrying a bundle of firewood, whose hands had frozen till they adhered to his load and dropped off from the stumps. Corbulo himself, lightly dressed and bare-headed, was continually among his troops, on the march or at their toils, offering his praise to the stalwart, his comfort his weak, his example to all. Then, owing to the rigours of the climate and the service, recalcitrancy and desertion grew common, and the cure was sought in severity. For, contrary to the rule in other armies, mercy did not attend first and second offences, but the man who had left the standards made immediate atonement with his life. That the treatment was salutary and an improvement on pity was proved by experience, the camp showing fewer cases of desertion than those in which pardons were the rule.” Tacitus

🔺 DECEIVING THE GAULS “The Dictator was going into action feeling more assured as to the courage than as to the strength of his troops. He began to turn over in his mind every possible device by which he could inspire fear into the enemy. At last he thought out an ingenious and original plan, one, too, which has since been adopted by many of our own generals as well as those of other countries and which is even practiced to-day. He ordered the packsaddles to be taken off the mules and two pieces of coloured cloth placed on their backs. The muleteers were then furnished with arms, some taken from the prisoners and others belonging to the invalided soldiers, and after thus equipping about a thousand of them and distributing a hundred of the cavalry amongst them he ordered them to ascend the mountains which overlooked the camp and conceal themselves in the woods, and remain there motionless till they received the signal from him As soon as it grew light the Dictator extended his lines along the lower slopes of the mountain in order that the enemy might have to form their front facing the mountain.”

🔘 ACCURACY “He (Emperor Domitian) took no interest in arms, but was particularly devoted to archery. There are many who have more than once seen him slay a hundred wild beasts of different kinds on his Alban estate, and purposely kill some of them with two successive shots in such a way that the arrows gave the effect of horns. Sometimes he would have a slave stand at a distance and hold out the palm of his right hand for a mark, with the fingers spread; then he directed his arrows with such accuracy that they passed harmlessly between the fingers.” Suetonius

🔵 IT’S HONEST WORK “Disappointed in this hope, the Nervii surround the winter-quarters with a rampart eleven feet high, and a ditch thirteen feet in depth. These military works they had learned from our men in the intercourse of former years, and, having taken some of our army prisoners, were instructed by them: but, as they had no supply of iron tools which are requisite for this service, they were forced to cut the turf with their swords, and to empty out the earth with their hands and cloaks, from which circumstance, the vast number of the men could be inferred; for in less than three hours they completed a fortification of ten miles in circumference; and during the rest of the days they began to prepare and construct towers of the height of the ramparts, and grappling irons, and mantelets, which the same prisoners had taught them.” Julius Caesar, the gallic war

🟣 PTOLEMAIC EGYPT DISSOLVED “Having passed through the Hippodrome, one comes to Nicopolis, which has a settlement on the sea no smaller than a city. It is thirty stadia distant from Alexandria. Augustus Caesar honoured this place because it was here that he conquered in battle those who came out against him with Antony; and when he had taken the city at the first onset, he forced Antony to put himself to death and Cleopatra to come into his power alive; but a little later she too put herself to death secretly, while in prison, by the bite of an asp or (for two accounts are given) by applying a poisonous ointment; and the result was that the empire of the sons of Lagus, which had endured for many years, was dissolved.” Strabo

Self sacrifice “A ballista of enormous size belonging to the Fifteenth legion began to do great harm to the Flavians' line with the huge stones that it hurled; and it would have caused wide destruction if it had not been for the splendid bravery of two soldiers, who, taking some shields from the dead and so disguising themselves, cut the ropes and springs of the machine. They were at once run through and thus their names were lost; but there is no doubt about their deed.”

⚪️ THE ETRUSCAN SOOTHSAYERS “The civil war that broke out in Rome in the consulship of Sulla was (according to Livy and Diodorus) heralded by many omens. When the sky was cloudless and perfectly clear, a trumpet was heard making a sharp and plaintive sound, and all who heard it were struck with fear. The Etruscan soothsayers declared that this portent heralded a revolution in human affairs; they added that there are eight different races of men, each differing in their character and manner of life. The deity has assigned to each of them a certain period of time, which is the length of a great year. At the end of this period and the beginning of the following one, there appears some miraculous sign, either on earth or in heaven, from which the sages immediately know that a race of men has arisen with a different character and manner of life, and that the gods have less care for them than for previous men. Whether this is true or not, is something that I will not discuss here.” Diodorus Siculus

🟢 GIVE ME MY HOSTAGES “When Publius Valerius had an insufficient garrison at Epidaurus and therefore feared perfidy on the part of the townspeople, he prepared to celebrate athletic contests at some distance from the city. When nearly all the population had gone there to see the show, he closed the gates and refused to admit the Epidaurians until he had taken hostages from their chief men.” Frontinus: The Strategemata

⚫️ GAIUS GRACCHUS “After an interval of ten years the same madness which had possessed Tiberius Gracchus now seized upon his brother Gaius, who resembled him in his general virtues as well as in his mistaken ambition, but far surpassed him in ability and eloquence. Gaius might have been the first man in the state had he held his spirit in repose; but, whether it was with the object of avenging his brother's death or of paving the way for kingly power, he followed the precedent which Tiberius had set and entered upon the career of a tribune. His aims, however, were far more ambitious and drastic. He was for giving the citizen­ship to all Italians, extending it almost to the Alps, distributing the public domain, limiting the holdings of each citizen to five hundred acres as had once been provided by the Licinian law, establishing new customs duties, filling the provinces with new colonies, transferring the judicial powers from the senate to the equites, and began the practice of distributing grain to the people. He left nothing undisturbed, nothing untouched, nothing unmolested, nothing, in short, as it had been. Furthermore he continued the exercise of his office for a second term.” Velleius Paterculus, Roman History