“Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” Marcus Aurelius (121 CE to 180 CE) Marcus Aurelius, in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, original name (until 161 CE) Marcus Annius Verus, Roman emperor (161–180 CE), best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius has symbolised for many generations… Read More
“Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blow with brave hearts.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC to 43 BC) Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer who vainly tried to uphold republican principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. His writings include books of rhetoric, orations, philosophical and… Read More
“One type of expense incurred in modern wars was not always present in the ancient world: paying the troops. As we have seen, in the classical city state citizenship was bound up with military service. For a long time city states thus had no need to pay their citizen-soldiers. In the Greek world the only… Read More
“Ubi concordia, ibi victoria.” “Where is the unity, there is the victory.” Publilius Syrus (85 to 43 BC) Publilius Syrus was a Latin mime writer contemporary with Cicero, chiefly remembered for a collection of versified aphorisms that were extracted by scholars from his mimes, probably in the 1st century AD.
“No great reliance should be placed on the eagerness of young men for battle because the prospect of fighting is agreeable only to those who are strangers to it.” Vegetius (Flourished 4th century AD) Flavius Vegetius Renatus was a Roman military expert who wrote what was perhaps the single most influential military treatise in the… Read More
“Men willingly believe when they want to.”Julius Caesar (100 BCE to 44 BCE) Gaius Julius Caesar was a celebrated Roman general and statesman, the conqueror of Gaul (58-50 BCE), victor in the civil war of 49-45 BCE, and dictator (46-44 BCE). He was launching a series of political and social reforms when he was assassinated… Read More
“The fear of battle is worse than war itself.” Seneca (Died 65 AD) Seneca the Younger, fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist. He was born in Córdoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy.
