🔘 FLAMINIUS RIDICULES THE SYRIANS “When Antiochus the king, with a great force, arrived in Greece, and all were terror-stricken at the great numbers of the men and their armament, Flamininus told a story for the benefit of the Achaeans as follows: He said that he was in Chalcis dining with a friend, and was amazed at the great number of the meats served. But his friend said that these were all pork, differing only in their seasoning and the way they were cooked. "So then," he said, "do not you, either, be amazed at the king's forces when you hear the names: 'pikemen,' 'panoplied,' 'foot-guards,' 'archers with two horses.' For all these are but Syrians differing from one another only in their paraphernalia." Plutarch, Sayings Of The Romans

🔵 CIRCUS AND AMPITHEATRE SPECTACLES “He also gave the Romans their pleasures, and noted ones, too, and he bestowed largesses also. He celebrated a triumph over the Germans and the Blemmyae, and caused companies from all nations, each of them containing up to fifty men, to be led before his triumphal procession. He gave in the Circus a most magnificent wild-beast hunt, at which all things were to be the spoils of the people. Now the manner of this spectacle was as follows: great trees, torn up with the roots by the soldiers, were set up on a platform of beams of wide extent, on which earth was then thrown, and in this way the whole Circus, planted to look like a forest, seemed, thanks to this new verdure, to be putting forth leaves. Then through all the entrances were brought in one thousand ostriches, one thousand stags and one thousand wild-boars, then deer, ibexes, wild sheep, and other grass-eating beasts, as many as could be reared or captured. The populace was then let in, and each man seized what he wished. Another day he brought out in the Amphitheatre at a single performance one hundred maned lions, which woke the thunder with their roaring. All of these were slaughtered as they came out of the doors of their dens, and being killed in this way they afforded no great spectacle. For there was none of that rush on the part of the beasts which takes place when they are let loose from cages. Besides, many, unwilling to charge, were despatched with arrows. Then he brought out one hundred leopards from Libya, then one hundred from Syria, then one hundred lionesses and at the same time three hundred bears; all of which beasts, it is clear, made a spectacle more vast than enjoyable. He presented, besides, three hundred pairs of gladiators, among whom fought many of the Blemmyae, who had been led in his triumph, besides many Germans and Sarmatians also and even some Isaurian brigands” Historia Augusta

🟣 ROMAN VS GREEK CITIES “So much, then, for the blessings with which nature supplies the city; but the Romans have added still others, which are the result of their foresight; for if the Greeks had the repute of aiming most happily in the founding of cities, in that they aimed at beauty, strength of position, harbours, and productive soil, the Romans had the best foresight in those matters which the Greeks made but little account of, such as the construction of roads and aqueducts, and of sewers that could wash out the filth of the city into the Tiber. Moreover, they have so constructed also the roads which run throughout the country, by adding both cuts through hills and embankments across valleys, that their wagons can carry boat-loads; and the sewers, vaulted with close-fitting stones, have in some places left room enough for wagons loaded with hay to pass through them. And water is brought into the city through the aqueducts in such quantities that veritable rivers flow through the city and the sewers; and almost every house has cisterns, and service-pipes, and copious fountains — with which Marcus Agrippa concerned himself most, though he also adorned the city with many other structures. In a word, the early Romans made but little account of the beauty of Rome, because they were occupied with other, greater and more necessary, matters; whereas the later Romans, and particularly those of to‑day and in my time, have not fallen short in this respect either — indeed, they have filled the city with many beautiful structures.” Strabo