Failure on Heroic Proportions
We’ve all grown up with tales of heroes. From Cincinnatus to Washington, from Achilles to Atlanta, we put them on a pedestal and strive to emulate their putative virtues. Retelling their stories has made these heroes bigger than life. They have become a symbol of the classical virtues- strength, courage, loyalty, and moral fortitude. Everyone wants to be remembered in this way, and none more so than the Ancient Romans.
The Romans worshiped personal glory. Few things were more important to them than honor and accomplishment. Romans were taught from an early age to dream of parading through the streets in triumph. Examples of the Romans’ thirst for glory come up in many books written by Romans- Caesar fills his De Bello Gallico with talk of his greatness and emphasizes the importance of achievement in Roman society, Suetonius portrays the emperors as obsessed with prestige in his work De vita Caesarum, and even Marcus Aurelius, famed for his Stoic beliefs, tells his readers they must pursue greatness and achieve their full potential. To all these men, greatness and military distinction were synonymous. Tacitus has a more sober take in his Historiae: he attributes the decline of the Roman empire to corruption and decadence brought about by obsession with honor and glory.
Whether or not Tacitus was right, there is a downside to boundless desire for glory. It can eclipse all other pursuits, push values to the wayside, and distort common sense. Many Romans risked everything for distinction and failed. Sacrificing respect, dignity, morals, and even their lives, they rushed headlong into battle in a desperate quest for recognition. A few examples make this clear.
The most obvious story is the catastrophic disaster of Publius Claudius Pulcher. Pulcher was a Roman general from the notable patrician Claudian gens. He yearned for the accolades he might receive from winning a sea battle against Carthage so he decided to ask the sacred chickens on board if the auspices were good for a battle. They did not eat the grain, signaling that he should not fight. Enraged, he threw them into the water, crying “If they will not eat, let them drink!” ("Bibant, quoniam edere nollent") (tr. Forrest Zeng).
English Translation
Claudius Pulcher began a sea-fight off Sicily, though the sacred chickens would not eat when he took the auspices, throwing them into the sea in defiance of the omen, and saying that they might drink, since they would not eat. (tr. J.C. Rolfe)
Original Latin
Claudius Pulcher apud Siciliam non pascentibus in auspicando pullis ac per contemptum religionis mari demersis, quasi ut biberent quando esse nollent, proelium navale iniit. (Suet. Tib. 3.2)
Claudius Pulcher’s catastrophic loss was not limited to this one battle. He had squandered the Romans’ hold on Carthage, as well as the great majority of his ships. This battle also put the Romans on the maritime defensive, and they didn’t field another substantial fleet for seven years. Pulcher was fined 120,000 assēs and put on trial for impiety and incompetence. All because he wanted to win an unnecessary sea battle.
Pulcher was not the only one to make this mistake. Lucius Licinius Murena was left in charge of the recently conquered province of Pontus. He attacked the citizens and broke Rome’s treaty with the king, Mithridates. He provoked the Second Mithridatic War against the orders of the Senate to give himself an opportunity to gain renown. There ended up being 4 Mithridatic wars, all of which could have been avoided if not for Murena’s craving for glory.
Lucius Sergius Catilina fought on a different battlefield. He was a very successful general in the War of the Allies, but when he returned to Rome and tried to run for Consul, he lost twice. Because he wanted the prestige of being consul, he hatched a plot to kill the current consuls and allegedly burn Rome to the ground. The conspiracy was discovered by Cicero, who declared a state of emergency, chased Catiline out of the city, and killed him in a pitched battle. Catiline lost all his honor on the political battlefield pining for glory. He is now known as a failed traitor who tried to seize power, and universally despised.
Crassus was in the same position. He was one of the wealthiest men in all of history, part of the first triumvirate of the most powerful men in Rome. He was given Syria as a province and could have made bank, but he wanted military glory and tried to conquer the Sassanid empire. Even then, the Armenian king offered him 40,000 troops if Crassus would invade via Armenia, but Crassus refused. He and his troops were defeated at the battle of Carrhae and Crassus was killed. He lost all his wealth and power chasing after more.
There are countless more examples of Romans who pursued distinction and wasted everything they had. They made choices that cost them not only their own resources and respect but also that of Rome. Thirst for glory was certainly a compelling motivator, but it needed to be tempered with public-mindedness, responsibility, and common sense. As Seneca’s famous quote goes, “Fortune favors the bold, but abandons the reckless”. He suggests that taking bold action can lead to success, but only if one does so with prudence. History will always be relevant because people will always make the same mistakes as they did in the past. Humans are still motivated by all the same things that drove them to desire for personal glory. Ambition is powerful, but taken too far, you can live to see your prestige, honor, and sacred chickens all floundering in the water.