"And yet it has
just eaten from my hands!" he said, in response to being told Rome
had fallen. He had a chicken named Rome,
and was greatly relieved to hear it was the city rather than the fowl that had
fallen.
Leonidas
"Molon
Labe" (Come and take them) said in response to the Persian demand that
he lay down his arms at Thermopylae.
Alexander
"So would I, if
I were Parmenio" said when his general Parmenio said, if he were
Alexander, he would accept Darius' offer of an alliance and half his empire.
Julius Caesar
"Veni,
vidi, vici." (I came, I saw, I conquered). This was not said
in Britain, but in reference
to his rapid defeat of Pharnaces in Asia Minor.
Lycurgus on democracy
"Begin with
your own family" in response to a proposal to make Sparta a democracy.
Sparta's ephors
"If" was their concise
response to Philip II's threat to destroy their farms, slay their people and
raze Sparta if it did not
submit and he defeated them. Subsequently Philip II and Alexander avoided Sparta.
Cicero
"O tempora, o mores!" (O, the times, O, the customs!) Cicero bewails the decline in morality of the youth
of today (in 63BC).
Tacitus
"To
ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where
they make a desert, they call it peace"
is a bleak yet telling
description of Rome's endless appetite for conquest, attributed to a chieftain.
Livy
"He will have true glory who despises it" from Book XXII. A shame modern politicians
seem unfamiliar with it.
Thaddeus
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