Monday, March 30, 2009

A Single Soldier

“The slaughter that followed was made particularly memorable through the murder of a father by his son. I will record the incident with the names, on the authority of Vipstanus Messalla. Julius Mansuetus, a Spaniard, enlisting in the legion Rapax, had left at home a son of tender age. The lad grew up to manhood, and was enrolled by Galba in the 7th legion. Now chancing to meet his father, he brought him to the ground with a wound, and, as he rifled his dying foe, recognized him, and was himself recognized. Clasping the expiring man in his arms, in piteous accents he implored the spirit of his father to be propitious to him, and not to turn from him with loathing as from a parricide. ‘This guilt,’ he said, ‘is shared by all; how small a part of a civil war is a single soldier!’ With these words he raised the body, opened a grave, and discharged the last duties for his father.”

Tacitus, Histories (100 AD).

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