THEDAILYEAGLE

⚪️ TIN ROUTES

“Tin also occurs in many regions of Iberia, not found, however, on the surface of the earth, as certain writers continually repeat in their histories, but dug out of the ground and smelted in the same manner as silver and gold. For there are many mines of tin in the country above Lusitania and on the islets which lie off Iberia out in the ocean and are called because of that fact the Cassiterides. And tin is brought in large quantities also from the island of Britain to the opposite Gaul, where it is taken by merchants on horses through the interior of Celtica both to the Massalians and to the city of Narbo, as it is called. This city is a colony of the Romans, and because of its convenient situation it possesses the finest market to be found in those regions.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 EXAMPLE OF AN ORIGINAL SENATORIAL RESOLUTION

“WHEREAS THE CONSULS QUINTUS AELIUS TUBERO AND PAULUS FABIUS MAXIMUS BROUGHT FORTH THE SUBJECT THAT CERTAIN PRIVATE PARTIES DRAW WATER DIRECTLY FROM PUBLIC CHANNELS, AND INQUIRED OF THE SENATE AS TO WHAT ACTION MIGHT BE PLEASING ON THIS SUBJECT, CONCERNING THE SUBJECT THE SENATORS RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS: IT IS NOT TO BE ALLOWED FOR ANY PRIVATE PARTY TO DRAW WATER FROM PUBLIC CHANNELS, AND ALL PERSONS TO WHOM HAS BEEN GRANTED THE RIGHT TO DRAW WATER ARE TO DRAW IT FROM DELIVERY-TANKS; AND THE WATER COMMISSIONERS ARE TO DETERMINE AT WHAT LOCATIONS WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE CITY PRIVATE PARTIES MAY SUITABLY CONSTRUCT SUCH DELIVERY-TANKS, FROM WHICH THEY ARE TO DRAW WATER WHICH, WITH APPROVAL OF THE WATER COMMISSIONERS, THEY, IN COMMON WITH OTHER PARTIES, HAVE RECEIVED FROM A PRIMARY DELIVERY-TANK, AND NO ONE OF THOSE TO WHOM PUBLIC WATER IS GRANTED IS TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO ATTACH A PIPE LARGER THAN FIVE-QUARTER DIGITS IN DIAMETER WITHIN A SPACE OF FIFTY FEET FROM THAT DELIVERY-TANK FROM WHICH THEY ARE TO DRAW THE WATER.”

Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquis

Try it. It is good for you

⚫️ THE LOVE FOR OTHO

“After learning that his friends had gone, he passed a quiet night, and indeed, as is affirmed, he even slept somewhat. At dawn he fell on the steel. At the sound of his dying groans his freedmen and slaves entered, and with them Plotius Firmus, the prefect of the praetorian guard; they found but a single wound. His funeral was hurriedly accomplished. He had earnestly begged that this be done, that his head might not be cut off to be an object of insult. Praetorians bore his body to the pyre, praising him amid their tears and kissing his wound and his hands. Some soldiers slew themselves near his pyre, not because of any fault or from fear, but prompted by a desire to imitate his glorious example and moved by affection for their emperor. Afterwards many of every rank chose this form of death at Bedriacum, Placentia, and in other camps as well. The tomb erected for Otho was modest and therefore likely to endure. So he ended his life in the thirty-seventh year of his age.”

Tacitus, Histories

🟡 ILLYRIAN SPOILS

“The Illyrians were a nation formidable both by land and sea, who felt secure in their strong fortified positions, and Anicius had thoroughly subjugated them in a few days and captured their king and all his family. Many captured standards were carried in the procession, together with other spoils, and the furniture of the palace, 27 pounds of gold, and 19 of silver, besides 13,000 denarii and 120,000 silver pieces of Illyrian coinage. Before his chariot walked Gentius, with his wife and children, Caravantius his brother, and several Illyrian nobles. Out of the booty each legionary received 45 denarii, the centurions twice, and the cavalry three times as much. Anicius gave to the Latin allies as much as to the Romans, and to the seamen of the fleet as much as the soldiers received. The soldiers marched more joyously in this triumph, and the general himself was the subject of many laudatory songs. According to Antias, 200,000 sesterces were realised from the sale of that booty, besides the gold and silver deposited in the treasury, but as it is not clear to me how this sum was realised, I quote his authority instead of stating it as a fact. By resolution of the senate, Gentius, with his wife and children and brother, were interned in Spoletium; the rest of the captives were thrown into prison in Rome. As the Spoletians refused to be responsible for their safe-keeping, the royal family were transferred to Iguvium. The remainder of the Illyrian spoils consisted of 220 swift barques. These Q. Cassius was ordered by the senate to distribute amongst the Corcyraeans, the Apolloniates and the Dyrrhachians.”

Livy, history of Rome

🔶 PAPYRUS LETTER FROM ROMAN EGYPT

“FROM HILARION TO ALIS

Date: 1 B.C.

Hilarion to his sister Alis very many greetings, likewise to my lady Berous and Apollonarion. Know that we are still in Alexandria. Do not be anxious; if they really go home, I will remain in Alexandria. I beg and entreat you, take care of the little one, and as soon as we receive our pay I will send it up to you. If by chance you bear a child, if it is a boy, let it be, if it is a girl, cast it out. You have said to Aphrodisias "Do not forget me." How can I forget you? I beg you then not to be anxious. The 29th year of Caesar, Pauni 23.

{Addressed, Deliver to Alis from Hilarion.”

🔴 THE DEATH OF A GLADIATOR

“Spartacus saw the necessity that was upon him, and drew up his whole army in order of battle. In the first place, when his horse was brought to him, he drew his sword, and saying that if he won the day he would have many fine horses of the enemy's, but if he lost it he did not want any, he slew his horse. Then pushing his way towards Crassus himself through many flying weapons and wounded men, he did not indeed reach him, but slew two centurions who fell upon him together. Finally, after his companions had taken to flight, he stood alone, surrounded by a multitude of foes, and was still defending himself when he was cut down.”

(Spartacus 103-71 BC was a Thracian gladiator who led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic known as the Third Servile War 73-71 BC).

Plutarch

🔘 THE FIRST AND NOT THE LAST

“Constantine was also the first Christian emperor, with the exception of Philippus who seemed to me to have become a Christian merely in order that the one-thousandth year of Rome might be dedicated to Christ rather than to pagan idols. But from Constantine down to the present day all the emperors that have been chosen were Christians, with the exception of Julian, whose disastrous life forsook him in the midst of the impious plans which it was said that he was devising. Moreover, Constantine made the change in a just and humane fashion; for he issued an edict that the temples should be closed without any shedding of pagan blood. Afterwards he destroyed the bravest and most populous of the Gothic tribes in the very heart of the barbarian territory; that is, in the lands of the Sarmatians.”

The Anonymus Valesianus

🔵 PTOLEMAEUS II PHILADELPHUS

“Both Romans and Carthaginians were destitute of money; and the Romans could no longer build ships, being exhausted by taxes, yet they levied foot soldiers and sent them to Africa and Sicily from year to year, while the Carthaginians sent an embassy to Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, king of Egypt, seeking to borrow 2000 talents. He was on terms of friendship with both Romans and Carthaginians, and he sought to bring about peace between them. As he was not able to accomplish this, he said: "It behooves one to assist friends against enemies, but not against friends."

Hello frens.

🟣 PLINY ON THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS

“My uncle was stationed at Misenum, in active command of the fleet. On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance. He had been out in the sun, had taken a cold bath, and lunched while lying down, and was then working at his books. He called for his shoes and climbed up to a place which would give him the best view of the phenomenon. It was not clear at that distance from which mountain the cloud was rising (it was afterwards known to be Vesuvius); its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. In places it looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it.”

“Then the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to stand up. He stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense, fumes choked his breathing by blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often inflamed. When daylight returned on the 26th - two days after the last day he had been seen - his body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death.”

Pliny the younger

⚪️ ORIGINS OF THE CELTIBERIANS

“In ancient times these two peoples, namely, the Iberians and the Celts, kept warring among themselves over the land, but when later they arranged their differences and settled upon the land altogether, and when they went further and agreed to intermarriage with each other, because of such intermixture the two peoples received the appellation given above. And since it was two powerful nations that united and the land of theirs was fertile, it came to pass that the Celtiberians advanced far in fame and were subdued by the Romans with difficulty and only after they had faced them in battle over a long period.”

“And a peculiar and strange custom obtains among them: Careful and cleanly as they are in their ways of living, they nevertheless observe one practice which is low and partakes of great uncleanness; for they consistently use urine to bathe the body and wash their teeth with it, thinking that in this practice is constituted the care and healing of the body.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 AGRIPPA, AUGUSTUS, WATER MANAGEMENT

“Marcus Agrippa, after his aedile­ship (a post he held exceptionally, having already been consul), assumed responsibility for the works and benefactions he had himself provided and became thereby, so to speak, the first permanent water commissioner. Now that there was an adequate supply, Agrippa apportioned this water to public works, to streetside basins, and as grants to private persons. He had also a personal work crew for maintaining the conduits as well as delivery-tanksand basins.

When Augustus inherited this crew from Agrippa, he transferred its owner­ship to the state.

After Agrippa's death [12 B.C.E.], in the consul­ship of Quintus Aelius Tubero and Paulus Fabius Maximus [11 B.C.E.], resolutions were passed in the Senate and a statute was promulgated to deal with the matter of routine administration, for hitherto this had been handled in only a semi-official way and there had been no specific legal basis. Augustus also, by an edict, established what right those persons should enjoy who had water according to Agrippa's records, for the entire scheme of distribution had been left to the emperor's own pleasure. He also established the pipe-sizes of which I have spoken; and to be responsible for a comprehensive and rigorous administration he appointed Messala Corvinus as a chief commissioner, to be assisted by Postumius Sulpicius, an ex-praetor, and Lucius Cominius, a junior senator.”

Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquis

Goodbye frens! Hello frens!

Commando’s Beyond The Call Of Duty 👇🏻

⚫️ THE LAST HOURS OF OTHO

“His face was calm, his words showed no fear; but he checked the unseasonable tears of his friends. He gave orders that boats and carriages should be furnished those who were leaving. Every document or letter which was marked by loyalty towards him or by abuse of Vitellius he destroyed. He distributed money, but sparingly and not as if he were about to die. Then he took pains to console his nephew, Salvius Cocceianus, who was very young, frightened, and sad, praising his duti­ful affection, but reproving his fear. He asked him if he thought Vitellius would prove so cruel as not to grant him even such a return as this for saving the whole house. "By my quick end," said he, "I can earn the clemency of the victor. For it is not in the extremity of despair, but while my army is still demanding battle that I have saved the state this last misfortune. I have won enough fame for myself, enough high rank for my descendants. After the Julii, the Claudii, and the Servii, I have been the first to confer the imperial rank on a new family. Therefore face life with a brave heart; never forget or too constantly remember that Otho was your uncle."

Tacitus, Histories

🟡 THE RISE OF A SLAVE

“Lucius Voltacilius Plotius is said to have been a slave and even to have served as a doorkeeper in chains, according to the ancient custom, until he was set free because of his talent and interest in letters, and helped his patron prepare his accusations. Then becoming a teacher of rhetoric, he had Gnaeus Pompeius the Great for a pupil, and wrote a history of the exploits of Pompey's father, as well as those of the son, in several volumes. In the opinion of Cornelius Nepos, he was the first of all freedmen to take up the writing of history, which up to that time had been confined to men of the highest position.”

Suetonius

🔶 PARTHIAN CULTURE

“Each man has several wives, for the sake of gratifying desire with different objects. They punish no crime more severely than adultery, and accordingly they not only exclude their women from entertainments, but forbid them the very sight of men. They eat no flesh but that which they take in hunting. They ride on horseback on all occasions; on horses they go to war, and to feasts; on horses they discharge public and private duties; on horses they go abroad, meet together, traffic, and converse. Indeed the difference between slaves and freemen is, that slaves go on foot, but freemen only on horseback. They dispose of bodies by leaving them to be torn apart by birds or dogs; the bare bones they at last bury in the ground.”

“In their superstitions and worship of the gods, the principal veneration is paid to rivers. The disposition of the people is proud, quarrelsome, faithless, and insolent; for a certain roughness of behaviour they think becoming to men, and gentleness only to women. They are always restless, and ready for any commotion, at home or abroad; taciturn by nature; more ready to act than speak, and consequently shrouding both their successes and failures in silence. They obey their princes, not from humility, but from fear. They are libidinous, but frugal in diet. To their word or promise they have no regard, except as far as suits their interest.”

Justinus

🔴 HISTORICAL EXAMPLE OF DECIMATION

“On learning of this, the Senate angrily ordered the consuls to keep quiet, and chose Crassus to conduct the war, and many of the nobles were induced by his reputation and their friendship for him to serve under him. Crassus himself, accordingly, took position on the borders of Picenum, expecting to receive the attack of Spartacus, who was hastening thither; and he sent Mummius, his legate, with two legions, by a circuitous route, with orders to follow the enemy, but not to join battle nor even to skirmish with them. Mummius, however, at the first promising opportunity, gave battle and was defeated; many of his men were slain, and many of them threw away their arms and fled for their lives. Crassus gave Mummius himself a rough reception, and when he armed his soldiers anew, made them give pledges that they would keep their arms. Five hundred of them, moreover, who had shown the greatest cowardice and been first to fly, he divided into fifty decades, and put to death one from each decade, on whom the lot fell, thus reviving, after the lapse of many years, an ancient mode of punishing the soldiers. For disgrace also attaches to this manner of death, and many horrible and repulsive features attend the punishment, which the whole army witnesses.”

(Crassus 115-53 BC was a wealthy Roman politician and general. Defeated Spartacus, part of the First Triumvirate, died in a disastrous Parthian campaign).

Plutarch

🔘 THE CONSTANTINOPLE PROJECT

“In commemoration of his splendid victory Constantine called Byzantium Constantinople after his own name; and as if it were his native city, he adorned it with great magnificence and wished to make it equal to Rome. Then he sought out new citizens for it from every quarter, and lavished such wealth on the city, that thereon he all but exhausted the imperial fortunes. There he also established a senate of the second rank, the members of which had the title of clari. Then he began war against the Goths, rendering aid also to the Sarmatians, who had appealed to him for help.”

The Anonymus Valesianus

🔵 KINGDOM TO REPUBLIC

“My first book contains the deeds of Rome's seven kings, viz.: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius (a descendant of Numa), Tarquinius, Servius Tullius, and Lucius Tarquinius, a son of the other Tarquinius. The first of these was the founder and builder of Rome, and although he governed it rather as a father than as an absolute monarch, he was nevertheless slain, or, as some think, translated. The second, not less kingly, but even more so than the first, died at the age of . . . The third was struck by lightning. The fourth died of a disease. The fifth was murdered by some shepherds. The sixth lost his life in a similar manner. The seventh was expelled from the city and kingdom for violating the laws. From that time kingly rule came to an end, and the administration of government was transferred to consuls.”

He attacked me 😂

🟣 TRAJAN’S REPLY

The Emperor's Reply

"You have acted quite properly, Pliny, in examining the cases of those Christians brought before you. Nothing definite can be laid down as a general rule. They should not be hunted out. If accusations are made and they are found guilty, they must be punished. But remember that a man may expect pardon from repentance if he denies that he is a Christian, and proves this to your satisfaction, that is by worshiping our gods, however much you may have suspected him in the past. Anonymous lists should have no part in any charge made. That is thoroughly bad practice and not in accordance with the spirit of the age."

Pliny the younger

⚪️ THE POWER OF THE DRUIDS

“Nor is it only in the exigencies of peace, but in their wars as well, that they (the Gauls) obey, before all others, these men and their chanting poets, and such obedience is observed not only by their friends but also by their enemies; many times, for instance, when two armies approach each other in battle with swords drawn and spears thrust forward, these men step forth between them and cause them to cease, as though having cast a spell over certain kinds of wild beasts.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 THE AQUA APPIA AND HUMAN NATURE

“For 441 years from the founding of the City, the Romans were satisfied with the use of whatever water they drew from the Tiber, from wells, or from springs. To this day springs are revered for their sanctity, and their water is thought to bring health to sick bodies. One thinks of the ancient springs of the Camenae, of the . . ., and of Juturna. There are now, however, nine aqueducts from which water converges into Rome. These are named Appia, Anio Vetus, Marcia, Tepula, Julia, Virgo, Alsietina (which is also called Augusta), Claudia, and Anio Novus.

In the consul­ship of Marcus Valerius Maximus and Publius Decius Mus [312 B.C.E.], thirty years after the beginning of the Samnite War, the Aqua Appia was brought into the City by the censor Appius Claudius (later called "the Blind"). In that year the same man also had charge of constructing the Appian Road from Porta Capena as far as the city of Capua. Appius' colleague in the censor­ship was Gaius Plautius, called Venox for having discovered the veins of this water.

But Plautius resigned from the censor­ship before the eighteen months' term had elapsed, deceived by Appius who pretended he would do likewise, and so the name of the aqueduct fell to the credit of Appius alone. Indeed, Appius is reported to have extended his censor­ship by many subterfuges, until he could complete both the road and the aqueduct.”

Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquis

⚫️ MARCUS CATO. EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR OLIVEYARD

This is the proper equipment for an oliveyard of 240 iugera or 150 acres.

“An overseer, a housekeeper, 5 labourers, 3 teamsters, 1 muleteer, 1 swineherd, 1 shepherd — a total of 13 persons; 3 yoke of oxen, 3 pack-asses to carry manure, 1 ass for the mill, and 100 sheep; 5 complete oil-pressing equipments, 1 copper vessel holding 30 quadrantals, with copper cover, 3 iron hooks, 3 water-pots, 2 funnels, 1 copper vessel holding 5 quadrantals, with copper cover, 3 hooks, 1 small bowl, 2 oil jars, 1 jar holding 50 heminae (?), 1 water bucket, 1 basin, 1 small pot, 1 ewer, 1 platter, 1 chamber-vessel, 1 watering-pot, 1 ladle, 1 candlestick, 1 sextarius measure; 3 large carts, 6 ploughs and ploughshares, 3 yokes fitted with straps, 6 sets of ox harness; 3 1 harrow, 4 manure hampers, 3 manure baskets, 3 pack-saddles, 3 pads for the asses; tools: 8 forks, 8 hoes, 4 spades, 5 shovels, 2 four-toothed rakes, 8 scythes, 5 straw-hooks, 5 pruning-hooks, 3 axes, 3 wedges, 1 hand-mill, 2 tongs, 1 poker, 2 braziers; 4 100 oil-jars, 12 pots, 10 jars for holding grape pulp, 10 for holding amurca, 10 wine jars, 20 grain jars, 1 lupine vat, 10 large jars, 1 wash-tub, 1 bath-tub, 2 water-basins, several covers for jars and pots; 1 donkey-mill, 1 hand-mill, 1 Spanish mill, 3 collars and traces, 1 small table, 2 copper disks, 2 tables, 3 large benches, 1 bedroom stool, 5 3 stools, 4 chairs, 2 arm-chairs, 1 bed in the bedroom, 4 beds on cords, and 3 common beds; 1 wooden mortar, 1 fuller's mortar, 1 loom, 2 mortars, 4 pestles — one for beans, one for grain, one for seed, one for cracking kernels; 1 modius measure, 1 half-modius measure; 8 mattresses, 8 coverlets, 16 cushions, 10 table covers, 3 napkins, 6 servants' hoods.”

Marcus Cato, Agriculture

🟡 ROMAN HASMONEAN ALLIANCE

“Good success be to the Romans, and to the people of the Jews, by sea and by land for ever: the sword also and enemy be far from them.

If there come first any war upon the Romans or any of their confederates throughout all their dominion, the people of the Jews shall help them, as the time shall be appointed, with all their heart:

neither shall they give any thing unto them that make war upon them, or aid them with victuals, weapons, money, or ships, as it hath seemed good unto the Romans; but they shall keep their covenants without taking any thing therefore.

Likewise also, if war come first upon the nation of the Jews, the Romans shall help them earnestly, as the time shall be appointed:

neither shall they give any thing unto them that make war upon them, or aid them with victuals, weapons, money, or ships, as it hath seemed good unto the Jews; but they shall keep their covenants without taking any thing therefore.

And according to these articles have the Romans made a covenant with the people of the Jews.

If hereafter the one party or the other shall think meet to add or diminish any thing, they may do it at their pleasures, and whatsoever they shall add or take away shall be ratified.”

First Maccabees 8:23-30

🔶 ORIGINS OF THE PARTHIANS

“The Parthians, in whose hands the empire of the east now is, having divided the world, as it were, with the Romans, were originally exiles from Scythia. This is apparent from their very name; for in the Scythian language exiles are called Parthi. During the time of the Assyrians and Medes, they were the most obscure of all the people of the east. Subsequently, too, when the empire of the east was transferred from the Medes to the Persians, they were but as a herd without a name, and fell under the power of the stronger. At last they became subject to the Macedonians, when they conquered the east; so that it must seem wonderful to every one, that they should have reached such a height of good fortune as to rule over those nations under whose sway they had been merely slaves. Being assailed by the Romans, also, in three wars, under the conduct of the greatest generals, and at the most flourishing period of the republic, they alone, of all nations, were not only a match for them, but came off victorious; though it may have been a greater glory to them, indeed, to have been able to rise amidst the Assyrian, Median, and Persian empires, so celebrated of old, and the most powerful dominion of Bactria, peopled with a thousand cities, than to have been victorious in war against a people that came from a distance;”

Justinus

🔴 SPARTACUS ESCAPES

“The insurrection of the gladiators and their devastation of Italy, which is generally called the war of Spartacus, had its origin as follows. A certain Lentulus Batiatus had a school of gladiators at Capua, most of whom were Gauls and Thracians. Through no misconduct of theirs, but owing to the injustice of their owner, they were kept in close confinement and reserved for gladiatorial combats. Two hundred of these planned to make their escape, and when information was laid against them, those who got wind of it and succeeded in getting away, seventy-eight in number, seized cleavers and spits from some kitchen and sallied out. On the road they fell in with waggons conveying gladiators' weapons to another city; these they plundered and armed themselves. Then they took up a strong position and elected three leaders. The first of these was Spartacus, a Thracian of Nomadic stock, possessed not only of great courage and strength, but also in sagacity and culture superior to his fortune, and more Hellenic than Thracian. It is said that when he was first brought to Rome to be sold, a serpent was seen coiled about his face as he slept, and his wife, who was of the same tribe as Spartacus, a prophetess, and subject to visitations of the Dionysiac frenzy, declared it the sign of a great and formidable power which would attend him to a fortunate issue. This woman shared in his escape and was then living with him.”

(Spartacus 103-71 BC was a Thracian gladiator who led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic known as the Third Servile War 73-71 BC).

Plutarch

🔘 THE YOUNG CONSTANTINE

“This Constantine, then, born of Helena, a mother of very common origin, and brought up in the town of Naissus, which he afterwards splendidly adorned, had but slight training in letters. He was held as a hostage by Diocletian and Galerius, and did valiant service under those emperors in Asia. After the abdication of Diocletian and Herculius, Constantius asked Galerius to return his son; but Galerius first exposed him to many dangers. For when Constantine, then a young man, was serving in the cavalry against the Sarmatians, he seized by the hair and carried off a fierce savage, and threw him at the feet of the emperor Galerius. Then sent by Galerius through a swamp, he entered it on his horse and made a way for the rest to the Sarmatians, of whom he slew many and won the victory for Galerius. Then at last Galerius sent him back to his father. But in order to avoid meeting Severus as he passed through Italy, Constantine crossed the Alps with the greatest haste, ordering the post-horses to be killed as he went on; and he came up with his father Constantius at Bononia, which the Gauls formerly called Gesoriacum. But his father Constantius, after winning a victory over the Picts, died at York, and Constantine was unanimously hailed as Caesar by all the troops.”

The Anonymus Valesianus

🔵 PATRIOTISM

“The story goes that Horatius Cocles, while fighting with two enemies at the head of the bridge over the Tiber, which is the entrance to the city on the north, seeing a large body of men advancing to support his enemies, and fearing that they would force their way into the city, turned round, and shouted to those behind him to hasten back to the other side and break down the bridge. They obeyed him: and whilst they were breaking the bridge, he remained at his post receiving numerous wounds, and checked the progress of the enemy: his opponents being panic stricken, not so much by his strength as by the audacity with which he held his ground. When the bridge had been broken down, the attack of the enemy was stopped; and Cocles then threw himself into the river with his armour on and deliberately sacrificed his life, because he valued the safety of his country and his own future reputation more highly than his present life, and the years of existence that remained to him. Such is the enthusiasm and emulation for noble deeds that are engendered among the Romans by their customs.”

Polybius, histories

🟣 SANDALS EVEN IN THE COLD?

Roman legionaries typically wore sandals called caligae as their standard footwear. These sandals were well-suited for the Mediterranean climate, which is generally mild. However, the Roman Empire and its legions operated across a vast area, including much colder regions.

While caligae were the norm, it's highly probable that legionaries took measures to keep their feet warm when stationed in colder climates. They likely used some form of socks, perhaps made of wool, and possibly foot wrappings of wool or other materials for added insulation.

There's also some evidence suggesting they may have thickened the soles of their sandals with cork to provide a bit more protection from the cold ground.

Eventually, as the Roman Empire evolved, especially in its colder regions, legionaries transitioned to wearing closed boots, which offered significantly better protection from the elements.

A few years ago i told my psychologist “I’m not into that” when she mentioned the best way forward was CBT.

I was shocked even. 🤯

⚪️ GALLIC BATTLE EQUIPMENT

“Their trumpets are of peculiar nature and such as barbarians use, for when they are blown upon they give forth a harsh sound, appropriate to the tumult of war. Some of them have iron cuirasses, chain-wrought, but others are satisfied with the armour which Nature has given them and go into battle naked. In place of the short sword they carry long broad-swords which are hung on chains of iron or bronze and are worn along the right flank. And some of them gather up their shirts with belts plated with gold or silver. The spears they brandish, which they call lanciae, have iron heads a cubit in length and even more, and a little under two palms in breadth; for their swords are not shorter than the javelins of other peoples, and the heads of their javelins are larger than the swords of others. Some of these javelins come from the forge straight, others twist in and out in spiral shapes for their entire length, the purpose being that the thrust may not only cut the flesh, but mangle it as well, and that the withdrawal of the spear may lacerate the wound.”

Diodorus Siculus

Maybe the so called climate lockdowns is something we do to ourselves if diesel is 25$ a gallon at some piont in the future

Arbeid!

🟢 EVOLUTION OF THE BATTERING RAM

“I have said as much as I could on these matters; it now remains for me to treat of those things relating to attacks, namely, of those machines with which generals take and defend cities. The first engine for attack was the ram, whose origin is said to have been as follows. The Carthaginians encamped in order to besiege Cadiz, and having first got possession of one of the towers, they endeavoured to demolish it, but having no machines fit for the purpose, they took a beam, and suspending it in their hands, repeatedly battered the top of the wall with the end of it, and having first thrown down the upper courses, by degrees they destroyed the whole fortress.

After that, a certain workman of Tyre, of the name of Pephasmenos, turning his attention to the subject, fixed up a pole and suspended a cross piece therefrom after the method of a steelyard, and thus swinging it backwards and forwards, levelled with heavy blows the walls of Cadiz. Cetras the Chalcedonian, was the first who added a base to it of timber moveable on wheels, and covered it with a roof on upright and cross pieces: on this he suspended the ram, covering it with bulls' hides, so that those who were employed therein battering the walls might be secure from danger. And inasmuch as the machine moved but slowly, they called it the tortoise of the ram. Such was the origin of this species of machines.”

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura

I like how in the Middel Ages they did not do chemtrails.

⚫️ A VIRTUOUS PROFESSION

“It is true that to obtain money by trade is sometimes more profitable, were it not so hazardous; and likewise money-lending, if it were as honourable. Our ancestors held this view and embodied it in their laws, which required that the thief be mulcted double and the usurer fourfold; how much less desirable a citizen they considered the usurer than the thief, one may judge from this. And when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: "good husbandman, good farmer"; one so praised was thought to have received the greatest commendation. The trader I consider to be an energetic man, and one bent on making money; but, as I said above, it is a dangerous career and one subject to disaster. On the other hand, it is from the farming class that the bravest men and the sturdiest soldiers come, their calling is most highly respected, their livelihood is most assured and is looked on with the least hostility, and those who are engaged in that pursuit are least inclined to be disaffected.”

Marcus Cato, Agriculture

🟡 KILLER WHALE

“A killer whale was actually seen in the harbour of Ostia in battle with the Emperor Claudius; it had come at the time when he was engaged in completing the structure of the harbour, being tempted by the wreck of a cargo of hides imported from Gaul, and in glutting itself for a number of days had furrowed a hollow in the shallow bottom and had been banked up with sand by the waves so high that it was quite unable to turn round, and while it was pursuing its food which was driven forward to the shore by the waves its back projected far above the water like a capsized boat. Caesar gave orders for a barrier of nets to be stretched between the mouths of the harbour and setting out in person with the praetorian cohorts afforded a show to the Roman public, the soldiery hurling lances from the vessels against the creatures when they leapt up alongside, and we saw one of the boats sunk from being filled with water owing to a beast's snorting.”

🔶 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE ARABIANS

(1st century BC)

“During the course of these proceedings, his natural brother, to whom his father had left the kingdom of Cyrene by will, died, appointing the Roman people his heir; for the fortune of Rome, not content with the limits of Italy, had now begun to extend itself to the kingdoms of the east. Thus that part of Africa became a province of the Roman empire; and soon afterwards Crete and Cilicia, being subdued in the war against the pirates, were likewise made provinces. In consequence, the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, which had been accustomed to aggrandize themselves by wars with their neighbours, being now confined by the vicinity of the Romans, and deprived of all opportunity of extending their frontiers, employed their strength to the injury of one another, so that, being exhausted by continual battles, they fell into contempt with their neighbours, and became a prey to the people of Arabia, a nation previously regarded as unwarlike. Their king Erotimus, relying on his seven hundred sons, whom he had had by his concubines, and dividing his forces, infested at one time Egypt, and another Syria, and procured a great name for the Arabians, by exhausting the strength of their neighbours.”

Justinus

🔴 CRASSUS

“And when all Rome was divided into three power­ful parties, that of Pompey, that of Caesar, and that of Crassus (for Cato's reputation was greater than his power, and men admired him more than they followed him), it was the thoughtful and conservative part of the city which attached itself to Pompey, the violent and volatile part which supported the hopes of Caesar, while Crassus took a middle ground and drew from both. He made very many changes in his political views, and was neither a steadfast friend nor an implacable enemy, but readily abandoned both his favours and his resentments at the dictates of his interests, so that, frequently, within a short space of time, the same men and the same measures found in him both an advocate and an opponent. And he had great influence, both from the favours which he bestowed and the fear which he inspired, but more from the fear. At any rate, Sicinnius, who gave the greatest annoyance to the magistrates and popular leaders of his day, when asked why Crassus was the only one whom he let alone and did not worry, said that the man had hay on his horn. Now the Romans used to coil hay about the horn of an ox that gored, so that those who encountered it might be on their guard.”

Plutarch

🔘 LEPIDUS

“The Scipios and the other Roman generals of the olden time never dared or carried out a braver act than did Caesar (Octavian) at this juncture. For although he was unarmed and dressed in his travelling cloak, carrying nothing except his name, he entered the camp of Lepidus, and, avoiding the weapons which were hurled at him by the orders of that scoundrel, though his cloak was pierced by a lance, he had the courage to carry off the eagle of a legion. Then could one know the difference between the two commanders. Though armed, the soldiers followed Caesar who was unarmed, while Lepidus, in the tenth year after arriving at a position of power which his life had done nothing to deserve, now deserted both by his soldiers and by fortune, wrapping himself in a dark cloak and lurking in the rear of the crowd that thronged to Caesar, thus threw himself at Caesar's feet. He was granted his life and the control of his own property, but was shorn of the high position which he had shown himself unable to maintain.”

Velleius Paterculus, Roman History

🔵 MOVING CAMP

“The following is their manner of moving camp. At the first bugle the men all strike their tents and collect their baggage; but no soldier may strike his tent, or set it up either, till the same is done to that of the Tribuni and the Consul. At the second bugle they load the beasts of burden with their baggage: at the third the first maniples must advance and set the whole camp in motion. Generally speaking, the men appointed to make this start are the extraordinarii: next comes the right wing of the socii; and behind them their beasts of burden. These are followed by the first legion with its own baggage immediately on its rear; then comes the second legion, followed by its own beasts of burden, and the baggage of those socii who have to bring up the rear of the march, that is to say, the left wing of the socii. The cavalry sometimes ride on the rear of their respective divisions, sometimes on either side of the beasts of burden, to keep them together and secure them. If an attack is expected on the rear, the extraordinarii themselves occupy the rear instead of the van. Of the two legions and wings each takes the lead in the march on alternate days, that by this interchange of position all may have an equal share in the advantage of being first at the water and forage. The order of march, however, is different at times of unusual danger, if they have open ground enough. For in that case they advance in three parallel columns, consisting of the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii: the beasts of burden belonging to the maniples in the van are placed in front of all, those belonging to the second behind the leading maniples, and those belonging to the third behind the second maniples, thus having the baggage and the maniples in alternate lines. With this order of march, on an alarm being given, the columns face to the right or left according to the quarter on which the enemy appears, and get clear of the baggage. So that in a short space of time, and by one movement, the whole of the hoplites are in line of battle—except that sometimes it is necessary to half-wheel the Hastati also—and the baggage and the rest of the army are in their proper place for safety, namely, in the rear of the line of combatants.”

Polybius, histories

Greatest thing about the last Apple Event is this woman who knows how to dress for work. Good taste and not revealing. Well done Apple.

🟣 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

Voedertijd.

⚪️ SINGLE COMBAT

“In their journeyings and when they go into battle the Gauls use chariots drawn by two horses, which carry the charioteer and the warrior; and when they encounter cavalry in the fighting they first hurl their javelins at the enemy and then step down from their chariots and join battle with their swords. Certain of them despise death to such a degree that they enter the perils of battle without protective armour and with no more than a girdle about their loins. They bring along to war also their free men to serve them, choosing them out from among the poor, and these attendants they use in battle as charioteers and as shield-bearers. It is also their custom, when they are formed for battle, to step out in front of the line and to challenge the most valiant men from among their opponents to single combat, brandishing their weapons in front of them to terrify their adversaries. And when any man accepts the challenge to battle, they then break forth into a song in praise of the valiant deeds of their ancestors and in boast of their own high achievements, reviling all the while and belittling their opponent, and trying, in a word, by such talk to strip him of his bold spirit before the combat.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 MEASURING TRAVEL DISTANCE BY CHARIOT

“Let us now consider an invention by no means useless, and delivered to us by the antients as of ingenuity, by means of which, when on a journey by land or sea, one may ascertain the distance travelled. It is as follows. The wheels of the chariot must be four feet diameter; so that, marking a certain point thereon, whence it begins its revolution on the ground, when it has completed that revolution, it will have gone on the road over a space equal to twelve feet and a half.

This being adjusted on the inner side of the nave of the wheel, let a drum-wheel be securely fixed, having one small tooth projecting beyond the face of its circumference; and in the body of the chariot let a small box be fastened, with a drum-wheel placed to revolve perpendicularly, and fastened to an axle. The latter wheel is to be equally divided, on its edge, into four hundred teeth, corresponding with the teeth of the lower drum-wheel: besides the above the upper drum-wheel has on its side one tooth projecting out before the others.

Above, in another enclosure, is a third horizontal wheel toothed similarly, and so that the teeth correspond with that tooth which is fixed to the side of the second wheel. In the third wheel just described are as many holes as are equal to the number of miles in an usual day's journey. It does not, however, signify, if they be more or less. In all the holes let small balls be placed, and in the box or lining let a hole be made, having a channel, through which each ball may fall into the box of the chariot, and the brazen vessel placed under it.

Thus, as the wheel proceeds, it acts on the first drum-wheel, the tooth of which, in every revolution, striking the tooth of the upper wheel, causes it to move on; so that when the lower wheel as revolved four hundred times, the upper wheel has revolved only once, and its tooth, which is on the side, will have acted on only one tooth of the horizontal wheel. Now as in four hundred revolutions of the lower wheel, the upper wheel will only have turned round once, the length of the journey will be •five thousand feet, or one thousand paces. Thus, by the dropping of the balls, and of the noise they make, we know every mile passed over; and each day one may ascertain, by the number of balls collected in the bottom, the number of miles in the day's journey.”

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura

⚫️ TRANSLATIO OR METAPHOR

“Let us begin, then, with the commonest and by far the most beautiful of tropes, namely, metaphor, the Greek term for our translatio. It is not merely so natural a turn of speech that it is often employed unconsciously or by uneducated persons, but it is in itself so attractive and elegant that however distinguished the language in which it is embedded it shines forth with a light that is all its own. For if it be correctly and appropriately applied, it is quite impossible for its effect to be commonplace, mean or unpleasing. It adds to the copiousness of language by the interchange of words and by borrowing, and finally succeeds in accomplishing the supremely difficult task of providing a name for everything. A noun or a verb is transferred from the place to which it properly belongs to another where there is either no literalterm or the transferred is better than the literal. We do this either because it is necessary or to make our meaning clearer or, as I have already said, to produce a decorative effect. When it secures none of these results, our metaphor will be out of place.”

Quintilian, The Orator’s Education

🟡 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

🔶 THE KINGDOM OF PONTUS ON HOW ROME VIEWS KINGS.

"That it was not the offences of kings, but their power and majesty, for which they attacked them and that they had not acted thus against himself alone, but against all other princes at all times. That they had treated his grandfather Pharnaces in the same manner, who, by the arbitration of his relatives, was made successor to Eumenes king of Pergamum; that Eumenes himself, again, in whose fleet they had for the first time been transported into Asia, and by whose army ,rather than their own, they had subdued both Antiochus the Great and the Gauls in Asia, and soon after king Perseus in Macedonia, had been treated by them as an enemy, and had been forbidden to come into Italy, though they made war, which they thought it would be disgraceful to make upon himself, upon his son Aristonicus. No king's services were thought more important by them than those of Masinissa, king of Numidia; to him it was ascribed that Hannibal was conquered; to him, that Syphax was made prisoner; to him, that Carthage was destroyed; he was ranked with the two Africani, as a third saviour of the city; yet a war had lately been carried on with his grandson in Africa, so implacably, that they would not save the vanquished prince, for the sake of his grandfather's memory, from being cast into gaol, and led in triumph as a public spectacle. That they had made it a law to themselves to hate all kings, because they themselves had had such kings at whose names they might well blush, being either shepherds of the Aborigines, or soothsayers of the Sabines; or exiles from the Corinthians, or servants and slaves of the Etruscans, or, what was the most honourable name amongst them, the proud; and as their founders, according to their report, were suckled by the teats of a wolf, so the whole race had the disposition of wolves, being insatiable of blood and tyranny, and eager and hungry after riches.”

Mithradates 6, king of Pontus speech.

Justinus

🔴 HARD WORK BEATS TALENT

“As for his literary pursuits, he (Crassus) cultivated chiefly the art of speaking which was of general service, and after making himself one of the most power­ful speakers at Rome, his care and application enabled him to surpass those who were most gifted by nature. For there was no case, they say, however trifling and even contemptible it might be, which he undertook without preparation, but often, when Pompey and Caesar and Cicero were unwilling to plead, he would perform all the duties of an advocate. And on this account he became more popular than they, being esteemed a careful man, and one who was ready with his help. He pleased people also by the kindly and unaffected manner with which he clasped their hands and addressed them. For he never met a Roman so obscure and lowly that he did not return his greeting and call him by name.”

Plutarch

🔘 THE GREATEST

“Marcus Agrippa was charged with constructing the ships, collecting soldiers and rowers, and familiarizing them with naval contests and manoeuvres. He was a man of distinguished character, unconquerable by toil, loss of sleep or danger, well disciplined in obedience, but to one man alone, yet eager to command others; in whatever he did he knew no such thing as delay, but with him action went hand in hand with conception. Building an imposing fleet in lakes Avernus and Lucrinus, by daily drills he brought the soldiers and the oarsmen to a thorough knowledge of fighting on land and at sea.”

Velleius Paterculus, Roman History

🔵 POLYBIUS ON CAMP CONSTRUCTION

“Their method of laying out a camp is as follows. The place for the camp having been selected, the spot in it best calculated to give a view of the whole, and most convenient for issuing orders, is appropriated for the general's tent (Praetorium). Having placed a standard on the spot on which they intend to put the Praetorium, they measure off a square round this standard; in such a way that each of its sides is a hundred feet from the standard, and the area of the square is four plethra. Along one side of this square—whichever aspect appears most convenient for watering and foraging—the legions are stationed as follows. I have said that there were six Tribuni in each legion, and that each Consul had two legions,—it follows that there are twelve Tribuni in a Consular army. Well, they pitch the tents of these Tribuni all in one straight line, parallel to the side of the square selected, at a distance of fifty feet from it (there is a place too selected for the horses, beasts of burden, and other baggage of the Tribuni); these tents face the outer side of the camp and away from the square described above,—a direction which will henceforth be called "the front" by me. The tents of the Tribuni stand at equal distances from each other, so that they extend along the whole breadth of the space occupied by the legions.”

Polybius, histories

Salam alaykum frens

🟣 PLINY THE ELDER ON CHINESE SILK

supplied through the Parthians in the 1st century BC, the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees:

“The Seres (Chinese), are famous for the woolen substance obtained from their forests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves... So manifold is the labor employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman maiden to flaunt transparent clothing in public.”

-(Pliny the Elder (23- 79, The Natural History)

⚪️ REÏNCARNATION

“They (the Gauls) invite strangers to their feasts, and do not inquire until after the meal who they are and of what things they stand in need. And it is their custom, even during the course of the meal, to seize upon any trivial matter as an occasion for keen disputation and then to challenge one another to single combat, without any regard for their lives; for the belief of Pythagoras prevails among them, that the souls of men are immortal and that after a prescribed number of years they commence upon a new life, the soul entering into another body. Consequently, we are told, at the funerals of their dead some cast letters upon the pyre which they have written to their deceased kinsmen, as if the dead would be able to read these letters.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 WATER MILLS

“Wheels on rivers are constructed upon the same principles as those just described. Round their circumference are fixed paddles, which, when acted upon by the force of the current, drive the wheel round, receive the water in the buckets, and carry it to the top with the aid of treading; thus by the mere impulse of the stream supplying what is required.

Water mills are turned on the same principle, and are in all respects similar, except that at one end of the axis they are provided with a drum-wheel, toothed and framed fast to the said axis; this being placed vertically on the edge turns round with the wheel. Corresponding with the drum-wheel a larger horizontal toothed wheel is placed, working on an axis whose upper head is in the form of a dovetail, and is inserted into the mill-stone. Thus the teeth of the drum-wheel which is made fast to the axis acting on the teeth of the horizontal wheel, produce the revolution of the mill-stones, and in the engine a suspended hopper supplying them with grain, in the same revolution the flour is produced.”

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura

⚫️ TREASURE-HOUSE OF ELOQUENCE

“Some regard memory as being no more than one of nature's gifts; and this view is no doubt true to a great extent; but, like everything else, memory may be improved by cultivation. And all the labour of which I have so far spoken will be in vain unless all the other departments be co-ordinated by the animating principle of memory. For our whole education depends upon memory, and we shall receive instruction all in vain if all we hear slips from us, while it is the power of memory alone that brings before us the store of precedents, laws, rulings, sayings and facts which the orator must possess in abundance and which he must always hold ready for immediate use. Indeed it is not without good reason that memory has been called the treasure-house of eloquence.”

Quintilian, The Orator’s Education

Societies where people still get stoned to death should be called stone age societies.

🟡 GIVEN BY MITHRA, TAKEN BY MITHRA

“So died Mithridates, who was the sixteenth in descent from Darius, the son of Hystaspes, king of the Persians, and the eighth from that Mithridates who left the Macedonians and acquired the kingdom of Pontus. He lived sixty-eight or sixty-nine years, and of these he reigned fifty-seven, for the kingdom came to him when he was an orphan.

He subdued the neighboring barbarians and many of the Scythians, and waged a formidable war against the Romans for forty years, during which he frequently conquered Bithynia and Cappadocia, besides making incursions into the Roman province of Asia and into Phrygia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, and Macedonia.

He invaded Greece, where he performed many remarkable exploits, and ruled the sea from Cilicia to the Adriatic until Sulla confined him again to his paternal kingdom after destroying 160,000 of his soldiers. Notwithstanding these great losses he renewed the war without difficulty. He fought with the greatest generals of his time. He was vanquished by Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey, although several times he got the better of them also. Lucius Cassius, Quintus Oppius, and Manius Aquilius he took prisoners and carried them around with him. The last he killed because he was the cause of the war. The others he surrendered to Sulla.

He defeated Fimbria, Murena, the consul Cotta, Fabius, and Triarius. He was always high-spirited and indomitable even in misfortunes. Until finally overthrown he left no avenue of attack against the Romans untried. He made alliances with the Samnites and the Gauls, and he sent legates to Sertorius in Spain.

He was often wounded by enemies and by conspirators, but he never desisted from anything on that account, even when he was an old man. None of the conspiracies ever escaped his detection, not even the last one, but he voluntarily overlooked it and perished in consequence of it -- so ungrateful is the wickedness that has been once pardoned. He was bloodthirsty and cruel to all -- the slayer of his mother, his brother, three sons, and three daughters.

He had a large frame, as his armor, which he sent to Nemea and to Delphi, shows, and was so strong that he rode horseback and hurled the javelin to the last, and could ride 1000 stades in one day, changing horses at intervals. He used to drive a chariot with sixteen horses at once. He cultivated Greek learning, and thus became acquainted with the religious cult of Greece, and was fond of music. He was abstemious and patient of labor for the most part, and yielded only to pleasures with women.”

Appian, the foreign wars

A Roman soldier carrying off booty.

🔶 THE WHOLE EASTERN WORLD UNITES AGAINST ROME

“Mithridates formed an alliance with Tigranes, with a resolution at once to go to war with the Romans; and they agreed that the cities and territory that should be taken from the enemy should be the share of Mithridates, and that the prisoners, and all booty that could be carried off, should belong to Tigranes. In the next place, well understanding what a war be was provoking, he sent ambassadors to the Cimbri, the Gallograecians, the Sarmatians, and the Bastarnians, to request aid; for all the time that he had been meditating war with the Romans, he had been gaining over all these nations by acts of kindness and liberality. He sent also for an army from Scythia, and armed the whole eastern world against the Romans. Accordingly, without much difficulty, he defeated Aquilius and Maltinus, who had an army wholly composed of Asiatic troops, and having put them to flight, as well as Nicomedes, he was received with great joy by the various cities, in which he found a great quantity of gold and silver, and vast warlike stores, laid up by the care of former princes. Taking possession of these, he remitted the cities all sorts of debts, public and private, and granted them an immunity from tribute for five years.”

Justinus

Hello fren

🔴 THE WEALTHIEST MAN IN ROME

“For at the outset he was possessed of not more than three hundred talents; (1 talent being around 30kg), then during his consul­ship he sacrificed the tenth of his goods to Hercules, feasted the people, gave every Roman out of his own means enough to live on for three months, and still, when he made a private inventory of his property before his Parthian expedition, he found that it had a value of seventy-one hundred talents. The greatest part of this, if one must tell the scandalous truth, he got together out of fire and war, making the public calamities his greatest source of revenue.”

(Crassus 115-53 BC was a wealthy Roman politician and general. Defeated Spartacus, part of the First Triumvirate, died in a disastrous Parthian campaign).

Plutarch

🔘 SEXTUS POMPEIUS

“Sextus was a young man without education, barbarous in his speech, vigorous in initiative, energetic and prompt in action as he was swift in expedients, in loyalty a marked contrast to his father, the freedman of his own freedmen and slave of his own slaves, envying those in high places only to obey those in the lowest. The senate, which still consisted almost entirely of Pompeians, in the period which followed the flight of Antony from Mutina, and at the very time at which it had assigned to Brutus and Cassius the provinces across the sea, had recalled Sextus for Spain — where Pollio Asinius the praetorian had distinguished himself in his campaigns against him — restored him to his father's property, and had entrusted to him the guarding of the coast. Seizing Sicily, as we have said, and admitting into his army slaves and runaways, he had raised his legions to their full complement. He supported himself and his army on plunder, and through the agency of Menas and Menecrates, his father's freedmen, who were in charge of his fleet, he infested the seas by predatory and piratical expeditions; nor was he ashamed thus to infest with piracy and its atrocities the sea which had been freed from it by his father's arms and leader­ship.”

Velleius Paterculus, Roman History

🔵 LETTER FROM CONSTANTINE TO SHAPUR

A part:

3.11.10 “You may well see how delighted I am to hear that this company of my fellow servants—I mean Christians (for my whole message is about them)—abundantly adorns even the finest parts of Persia, in accord with my wishes. Now if you do what is proper and allow them to live happily, then may you accrue happiness, for they are your subjects.”

3.11.11 “Then God, the Lord of all, will be gentle, gracious, and kind toward you. Since you are so mighty and distinguished by piety, I commend them to you. I entrust the task of guiding them (I mean the Christians) to the overseers of the pious worship of God among them. Love them as befits your philanthropy. You will do an indescribable favor for yourself and for us through faith.”

3.11.12 “The all-excellent Emperor Constantine cared for those adorned with piety toward Christ so much that he not only looked after his own subjects but also took care for those living under other regimes, if possible. Therefore he enjoyed the care of God from above, and as he held the reins of all the inhabitants of the Roman world, even of the barbarians, his willing officials and subjects joyfully obeyed the bridle of his will.”

I built things today

The higher the IQ, the more intelligent the cope.