Levi writes about an attack by the Gauls on Rome. The city was caught unawares. The healthy Roman citizens went to the high ground and temple in the middle to mount a defense while the elderly and infirm sat quietly in their homes to be killed by the Gauls. After an extended siege, the Romans agreed to pay a ransom to the Gauls for their freedom.
They built a great balancing scale and filled it with the agreed amount of gold. Once full, the Gaul leader said to the Romans: "That's not enough. We need more. Our weights differ from yours." When the Romans protested, the Gaul took off his sword and threw it on his end of the scale, saying: "Vae Victus!" Meaning "Woe to the conquered!"
After this humiliation the Romans made sure not to end up in such a situation a second time....
Levi writes about an attack by the Gauls on Rome. The city was caught unawares. The healthy Roman citizens went to the high ground and temple in the middle to mount a defense while the elderly and infirm sat quietly in their homes to be killed by the Gauls. After an extended siege, the Romans agreed to pay a ransom to the Gauls for their freedom.
They built a great balancing scale and filled it with the agreed amount of gold. Once full, the Gaul leader said to the Romans: "That's not enough. We need more. Our weights differ from yours." When the Romans protested, the Gaul took off his sword and threw it on his end of the scale, saying: "Vae Victus!" Meaning "Woe to the conquered!"
After this humiliation the Romans made sure not to end up in such a situation a second time....
(Falls entirely out of chair thinking about the CHAZ bunch and 'Roman Boot Camp' in the same decade.)