Posted by
Boris Tiraspolsky on Sunday, June 14, 2009 1:19:40 AM
"How does our country compare to the Romans of 216 B.C.? Take a look around. Observe what is said and done today. Then draw your own conclusions."
The Carthaginian commander Hannibal
A Great Nation?
by J. R. Nyquist
To understand who we are, historical references are useful. To know how a people will come through a crisis, look to those traits of character possessed by nations that have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. How did they survive their ordeal? What lessons can we draw from their story? In August of 216 B.C. a catastrophe occurred in Italy. The Carthaginian commander Hannibal destroyed two Roman armies near a town called Cannae, in Apulia. The historian Polybius recorded that 70,000 Roman and allied infantry were killed in a single day, with 10,000 captured and “perhaps” 3,000 escaping alive.
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