Turn 25
"At this point one may unquestionably call Agesilaus courageous; at least he certainly did not choose the safest course. For while he might have let the men pass by who were trying to break through and then have followed them and overcome those in the rear, he did not do this, but crashed against the Thebans front to front; and
setting shields against shields they shoved, fought, killed, and were killed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 4.
Nothing remains of Vitellius. There was nowhere to retreat, he was slain in the field of battle. His dreams lie scattered outside the walls of Rome. Against impossible odds, he pressed forward; Otho will honour him and his followers, despite their treachery. "The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men". Thucydides, Book 2.
Vespasian the Vulture. The man who waited in the shadows while Romans killed Romans. Now that he is finally here, Otho has a message for him: "I will take and cast you into dusky Tartaros and awful hopeless darkness, and neither your mother nor your father shall free you or bring you up again to the light, but you will wander under the earth and be the leader amongst little folk." Homeric Hymn to Hermes.
All ends next turn.
"It is noble for the brave man to die, falling among
The soldiers in the front, fighting for his country.
But it is most wretched of all if he leaves behind
His city and rich fields and goes begging,
Wandering with his mother and old father, with
His small children and his wedded wife.
He will be hated by all those whomever he meets,
Yielding to poverty and hateful need;
He brings shame on his family, disgrace to his noble shape;
Complete dishonour and wretchedness follow him.
If then no one respects nor cares for the mane who flees
Or for his descendants after him,
Let us fight with spirit for this land, and let us die
For our children, not sparing even our lives.
But you, young men, stand next to each and fight;
Don't be the first to turn to shameful flight or fear,
But make great and strong the spirit in your breast,
And fight among men as if you cared not for life.
Don't flee and abandon the older men, whose legs are
No longer swift, the revered elders.
For this is indeed shameful: an old man lying fallen
Among the soldiers in front, ahead of the young,
With his white head and his grey beard, breathing
Out his valiant spirit in the dust,
Holding his bloody groin in his hands -
A sight that inspires shame and rage -
His flesh stripped bare. All is seemly for young men,
When they have the splendid bloom of lovely youth:
While alive, he looks handsome to men, lovely to women,
And beautiful as he falls among the soldiers in front.
But let each man go forward and stand firm, planting both feet
On the ground and biting his lip with his teeth."
Tyrtaios, preserved in Lykourgos, Against Leokrates.
There can only be one.
