Future Generations Will Destroy This World
One thing we can do to preserve the future and our civilization
I believe the entire Western world is going downhill.
Not because of politicians, stupid laws or lack of spirituality, but because modern men don’t want to fight for it.
They don’t understand what it took to build these great European and American nations. What it cost to have these great monuments, cities, freedom and prosperity. Now they are quick to abandon their nations, choosing their own comfort instead of patiently defending a place that gave them home.
Romans too once suffered from the same naive young people. But they found a secret to make them believe in hard-won victory.
How Rome almost fell in 3rd century BC
In 280 BC Rome was suffering defeats from Pyrrhus of Epirus, cousin of Alexander the Great.
But Pyrrhus’s victories came at a cost. He suffered heavy casualties and knew that in the long run he couldn’t win the Samnite War. Pyrrhus sent an envoy to the Roman Senate, offering peace and only demanding an alliance with Rome.
The Senate, now full of young nobles, was eager to accept the deal. Until Appius Claudius Caecus showed up.
Caecus was a consul during the previous Samnite War. Now he was an old, blind man, carried on a litter to the Senate, then carried inside by his sons.
Blinded and barely standing, he gave a speech that changed Roman history forever:
“Up to this time, O Romans, I have regarded the misfortune to my eyes as an affliction, but it now distresses me that I am not deaf as well as blind, that I might not hear the shameful resolutions and decrees of yours which bring low the glory of Rome. For what becomes of the words that ye are ever reiterating to all the world, namely, that if the great Alexander of renown had come to Italy and had come into conflict with us, when we were young men, and with our fathers, when they were in their prime, he would not now be celebrated as invincible, but would either have fled, or, perhaps, have fallen there, and so have left Rome more glorious still?
Surely ye are proving that this was boasting and empty bluster, since ye are afraid of Chaonians and Molossians, who were ever the prey of the Macedonians, and ye tremble before Pyrrhus, who has ever been a minister and servitor to one at least of Alexander’s bodyguards, and now comes wandering over Italy, not so much to help the Greeks who dwell here, as to escape his enemies at home, promising to win for us the supremacy here with that army which could not avail to preserve for him a small portion of Macedonia.
Do not suppose that ye will rid yourself of this fellow by making him your friend; nay, ye will bring against you others, and they will despise you as men whom anybody can easily subdue, if Pyrrhus goes away without having been punished for his insults, but actually rewarded for them in having enabled Tarentines and Samnites to mock at Romans.”
— Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus
Caecus spoke of Roman victories and their dominance in Italy. He insisted that Roman power depended on the fear of betraying Rome. If they stopped fighting, their entire empire would crumble.
Reminded of what was at stake, the Roman Senate declined the treaty. They reorganised and pressed on. Rome ended up winning the war and became the dominant force in the Italian peninsula.
One decision allowed Rome to become the great power of the region.
This speech made young Senators forget their fears. But how did it manage that? And how can we use the same ideas to save our world?
Societies that remember their past build Empires
Caecus’s speech was effective because it restored Roman pride.
And there is no better way to restore self-confidence than to remind people of their great past, and their upcoming terrible future.
Caecus highlighted that Romans had won the previous Samnite War and could be victorious again. That Romans once believed they would have defeated Alexander himself, now wanted to surrender to a mere relative of his.
He ended by calling the treaty a disgrace. Not peace, but servitude. And once their allies see Roman weakness, they would lose their grip on Italy entirely.
Inspired by the past and seeing a terrible future, Romans went with the Roman way: total victory or death.
If you want to lose fear, read history. If you want to believe in victory, read history. If you want to win, read history.
Always remind yourself of your past. Of the high standards your ancestors had to build something great.
For this same reason Augustus installed 100 statues in his forum, statues of the greatest men in Roman history, so people would be reminded of their great past and demand more from their leaders and themselves.
Caecus and Augustus both knew that the past can inspire the present. And if we forget the past, we will abandon our future.
What can you do now?
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People today don't place nearly enough emphasis on learning our history, and the results are clear to see. We definitely need a change in mentality as a society.
Great article.