Explanation: In the first two Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, Rome took massive losses, repeatedly, and continued to send their generals out - sometimes even the same fucking ones - to fight again.
By contrast, whenever Carthage had significant losses - or just needed a scapegoat, as in the case of Hannibal Gisco (no relation to the more famous Hannibal Barca) - their generals were recalled and executed.
The two most notable Roman incidents which come to mind are in the First and Second Punic War, respectively.
In the First Punic War, a Roman admiral disregarded the sacred omens, tossing the augur’s birds into the fucking ocean for giving an omen not to fight, and then lost the subsequent battle, along with thousands of Roman seamen. When he returned to Rome in shame, he was stripped of his command and basically told not to show his face in polite society again (which supposedly did not stop his wife from publicly making jokes about how she wished he’d drowned more of the filthy Roman plebs).
In the Second Punic War, after quite literally the most devastating loss in Roman history, the Battle of Carrhae, the defeated commander, having fell for the brilliant Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca’s trap and lost tens of thousands of Roman troops in the process, returned to the city of Rome… where he was greeted with acclaim for not killing himself in shame, because every man was needed in the fight against Hannibal.
Even better was the exact manner in which he did it. The sacred birds were chickens - if they ate (and chickens are very often eager to eat, so this is usually an easy omen), it was a good omen for battle. If they refused - unusual - it was a bad omen. On this occasion they refused to eat - when the admiral in question was informed of this, he said, whilst tossing them into the ocean, “If they will not eat, let them drink!”
It’s really a shame he lost the battle, that would’ve been a metal line to defy fate on.
And boomers today complain about participation prizes.
Explanation: In the first two Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, Rome took massive losses, repeatedly, and continued to send their generals out - sometimes even the same fucking ones - to fight again.
By contrast, whenever Carthage had significant losses - or just needed a scapegoat, as in the case of Hannibal Gisco (no relation to the more famous Hannibal Barca) - their generals were recalled and executed.
The two most notable Roman incidents which come to mind are in the First and Second Punic War, respectively.
In the First Punic War, a Roman admiral disregarded the sacred omens, tossing the augur’s birds into the fucking ocean for giving an omen not to fight, and then lost the subsequent battle, along with thousands of Roman seamen. When he returned to Rome in shame, he was stripped of his command and basically told not to show his face in polite society again (which supposedly did not stop his wife from publicly making jokes about how she wished he’d drowned more of the filthy Roman plebs).
In the Second Punic War, after quite literally the most devastating loss in Roman history, the Battle of Carrhae, the defeated commander, having fell for the brilliant Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca’s trap and lost tens of thousands of Roman troops in the process, returned to the city of Rome… where he was greeted with acclaim for not killing himself in shame, because every man was needed in the fight against Hannibal.
glad that Rome had a no-blame culture
Okay he lost but this is metal as fuck.
And boomers today complain about participation prizes.
Even better was the exact manner in which he did it. The sacred birds were chickens - if they ate (and chickens are very often eager to eat, so this is usually an easy omen), it was a good omen for battle. If they refused - unusual - it was a bad omen. On this occasion they refused to eat - when the admiral in question was informed of this, he said, whilst tossing them into the ocean, “If they will not eat, let them drink!”
It’s really a shame he lost the battle, that would’ve been a metal line to defy fate on.
“You lost! Gold star! We’re so proud of you!”