Caesar had a curious way of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

24 points · 3 comments · view on lemmy.world

3 Comments

PugJesus@piefed.social · 7 pts · 182d (2 replies)

Explanation: I can't actually give much of an explanation for this... because it would effectively just be listing all the battles of of the Roman conqueror Julius Caesar.

I'd say he was lucky, but considering how many near-run battles he gets out of and gets the better of, I must assume that he is chosen by the gods Fortuna Herself watches over him he really is a descendent of Lucky Venus just as his family claims he actually did have the strategic and tactical acumen he portrayed himself as having, and immense charisma to boot.

Soldiers do like a general who's willing to share their hardships with them and say a few rousing words!

sockinggood@piefed.social · 3 pts · 182d (1 reply)

Are you basing that fact on his own propaganda book though?

PugJesus@piefed.social · 4 pts · 182d

While many of the battles are recounted in his Commentarii, for various reasons, the Commentarii are generally considered reliable, and later accounts (which had access to sources no longer extant) largely back up the information presented in the Commentarii about Caesar's victories.

He may have exaggerated the details, but it would be hard to argue that the general circumstances of bad odds and overwhelming success was faked.