Letters From An Enthusiast

Republican Generals

    I am proud to present our first Feature Article!  Enthusiast Jeff Luebcke wrote a great article about the exploits of generals under Republican Governments.  Here it is:

                             A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
                           Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
                                        -Cato by Joseph Addison

    Scipio Africanus was born in the year 236 BC as the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio the Elder. He was a minor character in Roman history until the middle of the 2nd Punic War. In fact the fame of that era for the Scipio family was borne by his uncle (Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio) and father who were generals in the Roman army campaigning against Carthaginian and Numidian armies in Spain. His heroism was first shown when in 218 BC, he risked his life to save his father during the battle of Placentia. Sadly this effort was in vein, for he lost both his father and his uncle 6 years later (212 BC) when their forces were all but annihilated by the combined forces of two armies under the command of the Carthaginians. One year later Scipio managed to convince the senate to appoint him to the command of Roman forces in Spain.

    One year later the course of the war shifted dramatically. Scipio led a new Roman army across the Ebro comprised of 25,000 foot and 2,500 horse and set out for victory in Spain. This is were the true brilliance of Scipio shows. With adequate information on the locations of the two enemy armies, he was able to maneuver his army as to avoid confronting them, and go straight to the heart of Carthaginian power in Spain: New Carthage. When he arrived at the city walls he went about developing a strategy to take the city. His first effort was a frontal assault on the walls. His first assault was all but repulsed when he learned that at that point in the day where the water had receded enough that there was now a navigable marsh leading to a part of the city that insufficiently protected He led a force of 500 men into the city while he continued with initial assault on the opposite side of the city.  Scipio came up behind him and with pressure from both sides consumed the enemy. He soon followed this successful campaign up with several more victories at Baecula (209 BC), Illipa (206BC ), and Locri (205 BC).

    In 203BC, Scipio leveled the greatest blow to the armies of Syphax and Hasdrubal of the war. In the dead of night he led a force to the Numidian camp and burnt it to the ground, and soon followed this up by burning down the Carthaginian camp. This caused the largest one day loss for Carthaginian forces at a staggering 40,000 dead. After Scipio's stunning victories, the Carthaginians wanted to regain the initiative and engaged the Romans in a Naval Battle, they were quickly defeated. After this defeat the Carthaginians sent out peace envoys to Rome and an armistice was signed. The Carthaginians soon violated the peace terms and the final battle that would determine the fate of the western world would soon be fought on the aired plains of Zama between Hannibal Barca of Carthage and Publius Cornelius Scipio the Younger of Rome.

    When the two forces aligned themselves for battle Hannibal asked for a conference with Scipio and said the the following (again according to Livy), “It is for him who grants peace, not for him who seeks it, to name the terms, but perhaps it may not be presumptuous in us to assess our own penalty. We consent to everything remaining yours for which we went to war-Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and all the islands that lie between Africa and Italy... As I was responsible for beginning the war and as I conducted it in a way which no one found fault with until the gods were jealous of my success, so I shall do my utmost to prevent any one from being discontented with the peace which I shall have been the means of procuring."

    Upon hearing Hannibal he responded by saying, "...I should have acted in a high-handed and arbitrary spirit if I had rejected them. But now that I have dragged you to Africa like a reluctant and tricky defendant I am not bound to show you the slightest consideration. So then, if in addition to the terms on which peace might have been concluded previously, there is the further condition of an indemnity for the attack on our transports and the ill-treatment of our envoys during the armistice, I shall have something to lay before the councils. If you consider this unacceptable. then prepare for war as you have been unable to endure peace."

    They both departed, and prepared for a battle that would echo through history. The forces arrayed on the Carthaginian side included 5,000 cavalry, 36,000 infantry, and 80 elephants. On the roman side there were 6,600 cavalry and 29,000 infantry.  First the Carthaginians sent their elephants at the Roman lines. The Roman general was prepared for this: he had his men form gaps in the Roman lines for the elephants to charge through. His strategy worked and the elephants were completely ineffective. The two forces soon collided and the battle was on. Scipio realizing his lines could hold, moved his first line of Hasitati to the flanks to overlap the flanks of the enemy. He began to completely envelope the Carthaginian forces. If this was not bad enough for Hannibal, the Roman cavalry had defeated the Carthaginian cavalry and there was no force between his rear and the Roman cavalry. As he feared the Roman cavalry slammed into the rear of the Carthaginian forces. It soon turned into a massacre. The Romans in this battle lost 1,500 men, while the Carthaginians lost over 40,000 men (killed, wounded, and captured). Hannibal was forced to flee in disgrace. Scipio soon returned to Rome under the new title of Imperator (the first man to gain this title).

    The second character I will discuss is George Washington who was born in 1732 AD to a fairly well off father by the name of Augustus Washington. He first came into the lime light in American affairs during the French Revolution, when he tried to hold out against the French and Indians at Fort Necessity, but eventually had to surrender. Later in 1758 he led a 700 man force along side General John Forbes and finally captured Fort Duquesne. The height of his fame was reached during the American revolution when he commanded Colonial forces to victory against the overwhelming numbers and power of the British war machine.

    George Washington scored his first decisive victory against the British on December 1776 at the Battle of Trenton, when he crossed the Delaware to attack a Hessian camp. The casualties were more of less one sided, with Washington losing a few to the cold. Over 700 enemy soldiers were killed and captured. He followed this up in early 1777 with a swift victory against the British at Princeton in New Jersey. These two battles combined resulted in over 8,000 new recruits for the Continental Army in the spring of 1777.   

    Washington realized that he could not fight the war in the manner of the British, so he had to resort to out maneuvering the enemy, engaging the enemy only when the conditions were overwhelmingly in his favor, and consequently extend the war for as long as he can. The way to victory was to make it so costly to the British that they would no longer deem it in their interest to continue the war. By doing this he was buying time for the French army and navy to arrive.

    Washington's true genius was shown in the last great battle of the American Revolution: the battle of Yorktown. In order to distract other British forces, his force along with the French (Rochambeau) left around 2,500 troops in a fort on the outskirts of New York, to make the British believe the entirety of their force was stationed there. At the same time they took their remaining force of some 17,000 men and moved down to Virginia and surrounded Cornwallis' camp. At the same time the French concentrated a large amount of their ships in the area so as to overwhelm the British navy which was spread out all over the colonies. After receiving heavy fire Cornwallis realized he had no option but to surrender, and in October 17th he offered his surrender. Although not a climatic battle like that of Zama, it accomplished just as much.

    These men stood against an overwhelming enemy and not only came out victorious but changed the shape of the world forever. Scipio Africanus and George Washington are two of the most important men in Republican history. The formers actions during the 2nd Punic War spread the power of Rome's republic all over the Mediterranean world. The later created and nurtured a young republic which would soon spread across the New World. These two men are the highest standards of republican virtue who recognized the gravity of the situation, that there were two options: liberty or slavery, as Washington clearly understood, “The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.“

    That is the lesson from all of this. We must display the same virtues that these great mean displayed; when Scipio charged against the enemy to save his father and when Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of night to destroy the enemy. It is by great mens virtue (or vice) that we live or die. What makes these men great is not that they were brilliant at killing, but because they fought for liberty. A man gifted in the art of war, without the moral courage of a free man is impotent against a man that does. They echoed the same spirit of two captured Spartans who, when asked  why they would not submit to the king of Persia, responded, “The advice you give us does not spring from a full knowledge of the situation. You know one half of what is involved, but not the other half. You understand well enough what slavery is, but freedom you have never experienced, so you do not know if it tastes sweet or bitter. If you ever did come to experience it, you would advise us to fight for it not with spears only, but with axes too.”

It is the ax which free men hold- the ax of liberty.

-Jeff Luebcke (Crossposted to the Egosphere)

Life's Lessons

    Aesop is a particular treasure of mine.  His short but to-the-point fables have always struck me as important yet practical lessons to be learned.  Far from the theoretical, Aesop deals with the everyday issues in life.  Thus I came up with the idea of presenting different fables from Aesop and discussing them.  All stories from Aesop will come from "Aesop-The Complete Fables", translated by Olivia and Robert Temple.

    I wish one of the fables I ran across was plastered on the wall of every school in the world.  It relates the story of a Fox and a Billy-Goat:

    "A fox, having fallen into a well, was faced with the prospect of being stuck there.  But then a billy-goat came along to that same well because he was thirsty and saw the fox.  He asked him if the water was good.
    The fox decided to put a brave face on it and gave a tremendous speech about how wonderful the water was down there, so very excellent.  So the billy-goat climbed down the well, thinking only of his thirst.  When he had had a good drink, he asked the fox what he thought was the best way to get back up again.
    The fox said:
    'Well, I have a very good way to do that.  Of course, it will mean our working together.  If you just push your front feet up against the wall and hold your horns up in the air as high as you can, I will climb up on to them, get out, and then I can pull you up behind me.'
    The billy-goat willingly consented to this idea, and the fox briskly clambered up the legs, the shoulders, and finally the horns of his companion.  He found himself at the mouth of the well, pulled himself out, and immediately scampered off.  The billy-goat shouted after him, reproaching him for breaking their agreement of mutual assistance.  The fox came back to the top of the well and shouted down to the billy-goat:
    'Hah!  If you had as many brains as you have hair on your chin, you would't have got down there in the first place without thinking of how you were going to get out again.' "

   A wealth of lessons can be learned from this fable.  My favorite lesson, however, is this: always think ahead.  Or as my parents constantly reminded me: think before you do.  Often, we are led by our passions, desires, emotions, etc. and end up finding ourselves wrapped up in a problem.  This problem could have simply been avoided had we taken just a few seconds to think things through.

    That point brings up another lesson: do not let yourself be guided by the 'whim of the moment'.  One of the reasons that the Billy-goat got himself stuck in the well was because he was, "thinking only of his thirst."  When we fail to use reason as a guiding force in life, we begin to find ourselves trapped by whatever "pleasure" we run to or "pain" we run from.

What do you think?

-Jason Roberts

What Is Needed?

    During times of great crises, the morale of the people tends to falter.  The leader of the people usually responds with words to help rebuild the people's confidence.  By examining the words of these leaders, we can directly observe the dominant values of that culture.  A good parallel can be drawn between the values of the Greek culture and the values of the current American culture by examining the contents of speeches made by George Bush right after September 11th and Pericles during the Peloponnesian War.

    No one can forget the tragedy that was September 11th.  In their grief, the American people sought consolation in the words of their leader, who promised to heal their wounds by reminding them what was required to bring justice to the situation.  President Bush, the night of September 11th, stated the values of America when he said, "...we responded with the best of America-with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way that they could."  Thus, President Bush is stating that the greatest American Value is compassion, a value that he himself affirms (Compassionate Conservatism).  Compassion can be defined as: "Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it,"(Webster.com).  It has been the compass of the war on terror, and the value for which President Bush states America is fighting.

    The Athenians also found themselves in a desperate situation in 430 bce.  In 431 bce, war broke out between the two most powerful Greek city-states: Athens and Sparta.  Akin to the American Civil War, this war was the greatest known to the Greeks.  The horror of a grand-scale war and the sheer volume of death and destruction was felt throughout Athens.  Pericles was both a General and a man loved by Athens.  Thus, to commemorate those who died during the first of the war, Pericles was asked to speak to the Athenian people in order to comfort their wounds and help instill strength in them in the times to come.  Pericles states, "It is for you [the Athenian People] to be like them [the heroic soldiers of Athens who had died].  Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.  Let there be no relaxation in face of the perils of war,"(Thucydides, 150).  Thus, Pericles proclaimed that the dominant value of the Athenians was courage.  Courage can be defined as: "Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty,"(Webster.com). The Athenians believed that happiness was the greatest and most desirable state on earth.  Pericles linked happiness with another Athenian virtue; liberty.  He then stated that the only way to keep these two values was to show courage throughout the war.

    One can thus make a comparison between compassion and courage.  Observing the lessons learned in my post "Inch by Inch", we can see that compromising with the enemy is a path to defeat.   By sympathizing with the distress of our enemies and seeking to alleviate it, the United States is helping to undermine its own war effort.  Compassion to the enemy is indeed a form of compromising.  Instead of holding true to the needs of our own people, those with compassion to their enemies instead end up helping them.  Thus we can see that the value of compassion is indeed a road to destruction.  Contrary to this, Pericles properly identified the true nature of war and what was needed to win it: Courage.  By having the strength to persevere through any difficulty, the Athenians were able to achieve countless victories, never once compromising with their enemies.  It is courage that helps us win a war; courage that the American people need to affirm during this war on terror.  Only by being courageous may we be free, and only be being free may we be happy.

-Jason Roberts

-----UPDATE-----

    I want to make clear a point that I assumed was obvious in the above post.  When I was speaking of compassion, I meant compassion in relation to one's enemies.  Thus I was examining two different ways of dealing with an enemy.  Compassion towards those a person values is a different issue entirely.

-Jason Roberts

Admiration Unburied

    An epitaph stands as a final thought on the person buried.  The epitaph on President Abraham Lincoln's monument in Springfield, Illinois, reads (as translated from Latin): " To Abraham Lincoln, President for the second time of the American Republic, citizens of Rome present this stone from the wall of Servius Tullius by which the memory of each of those brave advocates of liberty may be associated".  Surely the fame of an American President, especially one who accomplished as much as President Lincoln, would warrant final words understandable by the general populace.  And yet I would wager that most Americans today would not even recognize the name Servius Tullius, much less understand why he was an advocate of liberty.

    Servius Tullius was the second to the last Roman King before the Republic.  He came to power after his father-in-law, Tarquinius, was murdered.  Upon becoming king, Servius tried and exiled or sentenced to death those responsible for the assassination.  He then sought to restore peace and unity to Rome.  After bringing peace to Rome, Servius began to take power away from the Aristocratic Senate and give it to the people.  Dionysius of Halicarnassus quotes him as saying, "But, above all these things, I have determined to make the government fair and impartial and justice the same for all and towards all."  Servius then allowed the people to vote for king; they overwhelmingly voted for him.  Yet it was not only towards the common people that Servius extended liberty, but to slaves as well.  From Dionysius again, "...but Tullius even manumitted slaves to enjoy these same rights, unless they chose to return to their own countries...he permitted them to share in all the privileges which were open to the rest of the plebeians."

    During the middle of Servius's reign, disunity threatened to destroy Rome.  Several states sovereign to Rome seceded from and declared war on Rome.  With the belief that, "...concord [is] a fine thing...when a number of states agree together and [is] a disgraceful sight when kinsmen are at variance...concord is a source of strength to the weak states, while mutual slaughter reduces and weakens even the strongest," Servius made war and eventually triumphed.  Then, realizing as Lincoln did that a leader must, "...do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves..."(Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address), Servius practiced clemency and moderation by allowing the conquered states to maintain their governments and possessions.

    This advocate of "...a government of the people, by the people, for the people..." could not withstand the enemies of liberty and was assassinated by his son-in-law, Tarquinius The Proud, who then became king.  Tarquinius was the last King of Rome.  He was deposed of by the people for his dark reign, and in his place was established the Roman Republic.  Certainly the impact of Servius Tullius can be seen in this action.

    The history of Servius Tullius was common knowledge in the days of Abraham Lincoln and the comparison between the two is indeed an honor.   It might come as a surprise to some that a figure comparable in many ways to Abraham Lincoln could be found in the 7th century bce.  And yet if one took the time to read the Classics, they would find an abundance of heroes.  If anyone claims to be an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, why would they not then claim to be an admirer of Servius Tullius?  This feeling felt by people during Abraham Lincoln's days can and should be felt by people today, and it is only be rediscovering the Classics that we may begin to rediscover the heroes of our forefathers.

-Jason Roberts

Inch by Inch

    During my reading of Thucydides, I came across this line, “When one makes concessions to one’s enemies, one regrets it afterwards, and the fewer concessions one makes the safer one is likely to be”(56). The year was 433 bce. The democratic town of Corcyra chose to help her colony-city, Epidamnus, who had just overthrown their aristocratic government and themselves established a democracy. These two cities, however, found themselves opposed by Corinth.  Corinth was an aristocracy who supported the aristocratic government deposed in Epidamnus. Both Corinth and Corcyra (who happened to be a colony herself of Corinth) sent emissaries to Athens to seek aid and win over their support. Athens requested that both sides make a speech, detailing why Athens should help that side. It was Corcyra that made the statement, “When one makes concessions to one’s enemies, one regrets it afterwards, and the fewer concessions one makes the safer one is likely to be”. Corcyra considered Corinth an enemy of Athens because Corinth was an aggressive aristocracy who had given Athens trouble in the past.

    One can only imagine what would have happened had Neville Chamberlain brushed up on his Thucydides! On March 9, 1935, a weak but ambitious Nazi Germany created a new air force and introduced a military draft, increasing the armed forces of Germany from 100,000 to 550,000-a direct violation of the Versailles treaty. Three months later, on June 18, 1935, Britain signed a treaty with Germany allowing Germany to create a navy 35% the size of Britain. Slowly, inch by inch, appeasement from the European powers allowed Germany to reoccupy the Rhineland in March 1936, annex Austria in March 1938, annex the Sudetenland in October of 1938, and allowed Germany to invade Poland on September 1^st, 1939. By June 22^nd, 1940, all of France was under Nazi control and the world entered into the bloodiest war in human history. Europe certainly saw the devastation of appeasement and concession to the enemy.

    The reality of Nazi Germany makes one realize that history is not useless; that Thucydides lessons could have helped the world (and the lives of 56,000,000 soldiers and civilians and 6,000,000 Jews who were viciously slaughtered) stop a monstrous atrocity before it even began. Thus Thucydides’ statement that, “My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever,” is not an arrogant bromide but a tried and true statement that man does not have to reinvent the wheel. He can and should learn from the lessons of the past and create a better future.

-Jason Roberts