11-11-2014, 07:12 PM
To augment what Nathan said, the Romans were to the best of my knowledge the only people of antiquity who were not demoralized by defeat. They did not consider defeat a sign o the gods' displeasure. They knew that defeat came about because men made mistakes - tactical, strategic, political or other. After a defeat, they analyzed what had happened and tried not to make the same mistake again.
Unlike the Spartans, they did not cultivate a myth of absolute invincibility. The Spartans actually seemed invincible until Leuctra, where their myth was shattered. After that they suffered defeats regularly. The Greeks no longer deemed them invincible and neither did the Spartans themselves. The romans always came back from defeat, even multiple, successive shattering defeats in the 2nd Punic War, and plodded on to win the war. That is what kept them the dominant power for so long.
Unlike the Spartans, they did not cultivate a myth of absolute invincibility. The Spartans actually seemed invincible until Leuctra, where their myth was shattered. After that they suffered defeats regularly. The Greeks no longer deemed them invincible and neither did the Spartans themselves. The romans always came back from defeat, even multiple, successive shattering defeats in the 2nd Punic War, and plodded on to win the war. That is what kept them the dominant power for so long.
Pecunia non olet
