text/Tom Holland
Sybil had foreseen everything long before the murder of the Gragu brothers and their supporters. According to her cold prediction, the Romans will kill each other, and the violence is not limited to the capital.
The future she outlines is extremely bleak and dystopian: "Italy, it is not foreign invaders who will rape you, but your own sons — a cruel and endless collective rape, for Punish you this famous country. You will crawl on the ground and fall into the burning ashes. You are a self-harm! You are no longer the mother of the upright, but the sucker of a group of savage beasts!"
Witch Sybil
This is a prophecy that is difficult to please the Romans who are obsessed with signs. Fortunately, the above prophecy did not disturb their peace of mind, because it did not come from their own prophecy book-it has been tightly stored in the Jupiter Temple , and the content has not been leaked at all. Instead, this bloody prophecy first spread to the kingdoms of the Eastern Mediterranean, far away from Rome.
It seems that the people Sybil has visited are not only the Romans. In Rome, her prophecies were considered confidential, but the prophecies she gave to the Greeks and Jews were publicly known, and many clearly pointed to the Roman Republic: "An empire will rise overseas in the West, it is white, and Many heads. It brings terror and destruction to the kings, looting the gold and silver of one city after another, and its sphere of influence has no end."
Although the Romans were nervous about the omen, but in the eyes of the world, the Romans themselves It was a bad omen, and it was the deadliest—at least Sybil warned.
Because according to her spiritual vision, the rise of the Roman Republic will bring darkness. Old cities, great kingdoms and famous empires will be swept away,Humanity will fall into a single order. A super power will rule everything with the highest power.
But this is not the dawn of world peace, far from it. The Romans were destined to indulge in their great cause. "They will sink into a decadent swamp: men will sleep with men, boys will prostitution in brothels, riots will occur everywhere in the country, and everything will fall into chaos and disorder. The world will be full of evil."
According to scholars' research, these prophecies The poem appeared around 140 BC. At that time, the hegemony of Rome had been fully established, and Sybil was not needed to foretell its existence. Unlike the prophetic poems preserved in Rome, those prophetic poems circulating in Greece and the East never claim that they can be changed in the future.
According to these prophetic poems, the great empire is continuous in history. Although Rome is the largest and most destructive among them, the Romans are after all human beings. As long as they are human, there will be times of decline. No wonder the poets who named Sybil would say that the Roman Republic was the mother of a group of "savage beasts", destined to be torn to pieces by their own sons.
This idea is out of despair and wishful thinking, because people can't think of any way to stop Rome's hegemony. "They bring despair to mankind, and then, once they are overwhelmed by their own barbarism and pride, their ending will be very tragic."
In the 1940s BC, Sybil called Roman No one does not know what "barbarity and pride" refers to. These 10 years have been the time when the Romans unquestionably showed their power to the world, and the entire Mediterranean world was shrouded in the shadow of destruction.
First of all, the Roman Republic decided to complete the unfinished business, leaving Carthage with only half a life left. In this regard, some people in Rome expressed opposition. Many people argue that the Republic should find a qualified opponent. Because if there is no competition, how can Rome maintain its greatness?
This kind of problem is of course only in a place where ruthless competition is regarded as the basis of all virtues.Will be raised. Not surprisingly, most citizens refuse to accept this logic. Because the Carthaginians have been demonized for more than a century and are considered the ultimate representatives of cruelty and unbelief.
Most citizens wonder why the standards of Roman life should be used to protect such an enemy? This question was answered in a vote to push Carthage into war. By aiming for the complete elimination of Carthage, the logical consequences of the Republic’s idea of victory emerged. In such a barbaric act, because there is no bond of friendship and responsibility, the Romans pushed the desire to "be the top" to the extreme.
The epic war between Rome and Carthage
In 149 BC, the Romans issued punitive orders to the Carthaginians to abandon their city. But the Carthaginians did not succumb and were determined to defend their homeland to the death. This was obviously what the Roman hawks wanted to see.
The army pressed the land, and Carthage supported it with outnumbered enemies for three years. In the final stage of the siege, it fought against the best general of Rome, Scipio Aemilianus (Scipio Aemilianus). Finally, in 146 BC, Carthage fell, treasures were looted, the city was burned, and the hellish fire continued for 17 days. Then, the Romans issued a ban on the razed and smoking ruins, stating that no one can rebuild the city afterwards. The 700-year history of Carthage was thus obliterated.
At the same time, to prevent anyone from forgetting the lessons of Carthage, a Roman army marched into Greece in the spring of 146 BC. In the winter before this, a group of city-states in southern Greece united to break the balance of power established by Rome in this area. This kind of disrespect is absolutely unforgivable.
The Roman army in a war that almost ended before it even started, squeezed a wasp and severely wounded a Greek army.Turn the ancient city Corinth (Corinth) into smoking ruins.
Because Corinth has always been famous for its beautiful prostitutes and exquisite works of art, the Roman army plundered both. The wives and daughters of the slaughtered citizens were taken into captivity as slaves, and the soldiers threw dice at the port and wharf to determine the ownership of the priceless paintings. A large number of portrait sculptures are piled around them, and they will be auctioned at the grocery market or shipped back to Rome in boxes.
The destruction of the two greatest cities in the Mediterranean at the same time was a sensational brutality. It is not surprising that Sybil would imagine Rome being cursed, even the Romans themselves felt a little uncomfortable. No wonder they can no longer pretend to conquer the world for self-defense.
When the Romans recalled the looting of Corinth, they always felt embarrassed. However, the guilt they felt about Carthage made them think more. It is said that even Scipio couldn't help crying when he saw the broken walls of Carthage swallowed by the tongue of fire.
Scipio the African conqueror
In the process of destroying Rome's most inconsistent enemy, like Sybil, he saw the irresistible power of fate. Just when the hegemony of the Republic was overwhelmingly established, no enemy was expected to defeat it, and its plunder of the world seemed invincible, Scipio imagined its future destruction. Two lines of Homer’s poem came to his mind:
The day when the holy Troy is destroyed will come, and Priam and his people will be slaughtered.
But unlike Sybil, he did not say what brought the massacre and destruction to the Republic in his imagination.
.
