A Very Roman Lesson For Today

Another great article from the UK Guardian:

When Agricola’s legions stormed to the north of Britain to face the tribes of Caledonia nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman governor of Britain used exactly the same strategy as the Pentagon in Iraq. He sent his fleet ahead to spread uncertainty and terror – for which read the aerial bombardment of Baghdad – and then marched north with a highly mobile and lightly equipped army.

His son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, recorded that the Scottish tribes greatly outnumbered the Romans yet when they saw Agricola’s ability to regroup his army in battle they turned and ran. By the end of the engagement Agricola had lost just 360 men, against the enemy’s 10,000 casualties.

Despite the immediate parallels one might draw between the Roman Empire’s fall and the current war in Iraq aside, the article really wasn’t about that at all. By and large, its focus was on the use of military strength without reveling in its superpower status, regardless of the parallels one might draw between Iraq and the barbarians of the time. The very last sentence captures it all:

When Agricola returned to Rome after his successful campaign in the Britain, he stole into the city by night to avoid his friends and supporters.

Strength through humility? What a great lesson!