It probably was given the way he chose to conduct the war. Hannibal was spectacularly successful during the first two years of the Second Punic War, then he became ineffective. Why? Because the Romans having been burned several times finally got smart, and, under the leadership of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucossus Cunctator, they largely stopped […]
Quora Question: Why Did The Romans Not Destroy Greece the Way Destroyed Carthage?
June 9, 2021 By 2 Comments
The Romans had a lot more respect for the Greeks than they had for the Carthaginians. They had fought two long and bitter wars with Carthage and regarded them as enemies. There was no such animus in the Roman attitude toward the Greeks. The Greek language was prestigious and a Roman was not considered educated […]
Justice in Ancient Rome and Justice in the Modern American Republic
January 27, 2021 By Leave a Comment
The trial of the century took place in Rome in 70 B.C. It featured the two most renowned legal minds of the day, the up and coming thirty-six year old Marcus Tullius Cicero for the prosecution, and the venerable Quintus Hortensius Hortalus for the defense. The defendant was Gaius Verres, formerly governor of the province […]
If a Roman General Ordered Decimation, What Would Have Happened if the Legionaries Refused to Comply?
October 23, 2019 By Leave a Comment
If a legion ordered to perform decimation refused to comply, the other legions under the commander would be brought into action. It is quite possible that the entire mutinous legion would be killed. The Romans took mutiny very seriously. In 206 B.C. Publius Cornelius Scipio faced a mutiny among the soldiers at his base at […]
How Did the Romans Overtake the Greeks
October 22, 2019 By 1 Comment
A good book to read on this subject is Taken at the Flood by Robin Waterfield. At the end of the third century B.C. most of the Greek cities were under the rule of two successor kingdoms to Alexander the Great; the Macedonian Empire, and the Seleucid Empire. Macedonia, under king Philip V, had sided […]
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Destroys Carthage.
September 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
When the Roman Senate made the decision to destroy Carthage in 149 B.C. the elected Consuls were Lucius Marcius Censorius and Marcus Manilius. They brought an army of 80,000 Roman legionaries. They demanded that the Carthaginians abandon their city and move at least ten miles from the coast. The Carthaginians, who had previously given in […]
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