Cost of Glory – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Caesar fights through enemy tribes and orders a Purge in his manhunt for Ambiorix, in part 6 of our series on Caesar’s masterwork of psychology, strategy, and propaganda: On the Gallic War (De Bello Gallico).
 
This is a world-history making story (the conquest of what’s now modern France), told by a world-history making storyteller. 

Caesar entered Gaul as a mere politician. He returned 9 years later as a conqueror - and an enemy of the state. He tells how it all happened with his own pen.

In this episode:

• The hunt for the crafty Ambiorix and his renegade tribe
• The exploits of Titus Labienus and of Publius Sextius Baculus
• Hints of Civil War…
• (and Druids and ancient cows)

Thanks to Ancient Language Institute and long time CoG fan Dr. Richard Johnson for sponsoring this episode!

P.S.—If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode, feel free to get in touch, any support is highly appreciated as it helps me create more high quality work.

The mighty Caesar returns to Britain, and faces uprisings and deadly skirmishes in Gaul, in part 5 of our series on Caesar’s masterwork of psychology, strategy, and propaganda: On the Gallic War (De Bello Gallico).
 
This is a world-history making story (the conquest of what’s now modern France), told by a world-history making storyteller. 

Caesar entered Gaul as a mere politician. He returned 9 years later as a conqueror - and an enemy of the state. He tells how it all happened with his own pen.

In this episode:

• Caesar’s return to Britain
• A deep personal loss
• The worst disaster of the entire Gallic Campaign

Subscribe to the CoG Substack to get high quality transcripts w/ MAPS AND IMAGES. Here's the transcript for this episode.

P.S.—If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode, feel free to get in touch, any support is highly appreciated as it helps me create more high quality work.

In which we follow the lead of Plutarch and study Pompey's character and analyze what we can learn from the life of Pompey the Great, by comparing him to King Agesilaus of Sparta, whom Plutarch paired him with. 

Sources and Further Reading for the Life of Pompey:  

John Leach, Pompey the Great: https://amzn.to/3UxOsW8 

Robin Seager, Pompey: a Political Biography: https://amzn.to/3UPpeUg 

Gareth Sampson: Rome's Great Eastern War, Lucullus, Pompey and the Conquest of the East: https://amzn.to/3wrVGD1 

-The Battle of Dyrrhachium: https://amzn.to/3wp4Wro 

-The Battle of Pharsalus: https://amzn.to/3ULWJHk 

-"Rome in Crisis" Penguin edition of Plutarch: 

https://amzn.to/4b2WgGv  (feat. Lives of Sertorius, Lucullus, and Cato the Younger) 

 -"Fall of the Roman Republic" Penguin Plutarch Volume: https://amzn.to/4a7vpYw  (feat. Lives of Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero) 

Life of Pompey Part 3 of 3: Pompey's final rise to the heights of Roman power, his war with his friend Julius Caesar, and his final downfall.  

People:

(M. Tullius) Cicero 

(Titus Pomponius) Atticus 

C. Julius Caesar 

Cn. Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) 

Julia, Caesar's Daughter 

(M. Licinius) Crassus 

(L. Domitius) Ahenobarbus - Optimate Stalwart (Cos. 54) 

(M. Porcius) Cato "The Younger" - the Stoic 

(M. Calpurnius) Bibulus - Cos. 59 

P. Clodius Pulcher - Populist Thug lord 

(T. Annius) Milo - Pompey's Thug lord 

M. Caelius (Rufus) - Cicero's young political analyst friend 

Publius Licinius Crassus - The Richest Man's Son 

Cornelia - Pompey's final wife 

(Q. Caecilius) Metellus (Pius) Scipio - Pompey's new Father in Law 

Aulus Gabinius - Pompey's friend, exiled after Egyptian expedition 

Ptolemy XII Auletes ("The Piper") - exiled king of Egypt 

(C. Scribonius) Curio - Optimate turncoat, Caesar's tribune 

M. Antonius (Mark Antony) 

M. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos 51) 

C. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos. 50, cousin of Cos. 51) 

M. Favonius - "Stamp, Pompey!" Senator 

Themistocles - Athenian statesman 

Camillus - 4th c. BC Roman statesman 

T. Labienus - Caesar's general, deserted to Pompey 

(M. Junius) Brutus - Future Conspirator 

Theophanes of Mytilene - the Historian 

Crassianus - Caesar's centurion at Pharsalus 

Cratippus of Pergamon - Philosopher at Mytilene 

Ptolemy XIII - Boy king of Egypt 

Potheinus - Ptolemy XIII's Eunuch 

Achillas - Ptolemy XIII's General 

Theodotus - Ptolemy XIII's Rhetoric Teacher 

Philippus - Pompey's freedman   

Places: 

The Roman Forum 

The Tiber River 

Parthia 

Carrhae (Battle of) - in Mesopotamia (Parthian Empire) 

Gaul (Mod. France) 

Pompey's Theater ("Temple of Venus") 

Alesia (Battle of) - in Gaul 

Naples (Neapolis) 

Ravenna (N. Italy, "Cisalpine Gaul" then) 

Rubicon River 

Ariminum (Rimini) 

Corfinium - Italian town in the Apennines 

Brundisium - Eastern Port in Italy 

Dyrrhachium (Mod. Durrës) - in Epirus (Rom. province of Macedonia) 

Thessaly - large plain in central Greece 

Pharsalus - town in Thessaly 

Tempē - Valley in Thessaly 

Mytilene - City on island of Lesbos 

Pompey becomes Rome’s greatest conqueror, and empire builder, but faces even greater trials back home in Rome. 

People 

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, "Pompey the Great"
Sulla Felix, the Dictator 

Pompey 

The Pirates 

Posidonius the Stoic 

Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus 

Lucius Licinius Lucullus 

Cicero, the Orator 

Manilius, the Tribune 

Julius Caesar 

Theophanes of Mytilene 

Queen Monime 

Tigranes the Great of Armenia 

Tigranes the Younger, Prince 

Albani(ans) of Caucasus 

Iberians of Caucasus 

King Phraates of Parthia 

The Parthians 

Antiochus XIII, Seleucid King 

Aretas, King of the Nabatean Arabs 

Aristobulus of Judea 

Hyrcanus of Judea 

Aulus Gabinius 

Josephus (Jewish Historian) 

Marcus Licinius Crassus, Richest Man in Rome 

Marcus Porcius Cato (the Younger) 

Metellus Celer 

Metellus Nepos 

M. Calpurnius Bibulus 

Publius Clodius Pulcher, Slum Lord 

Milo 

Julia 

Domitius Ahenobarbus 

Places 

Sicily 

Sardinia 

Corsica 

North Africa 

Rhodes 

Cilicia 

Cappadocia 

Galatia 

Armenia 

Artaxata  

Mt Ararat 

Sophene 

Syria 

Bithynia 

Pontus 

Caucasus 

Colchis 

Albania (Caucasus) 

Iberia (Caucasus) 

Bosphoran Kingdom (Crimea / Azov) 

Damascus 

Petra (Arabia) 

Judea 

Jordan River Valley 

Jericho 

Jerusalem 

Campus Martius 

Alban Hills / Lake / Villa 

Luca 

Image: The Triumph of Pompey, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1765. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pompey, the Great.  Part 1 of 3.  Pompey's rise to become one of Rome's greatest generals - before he's even old enough to hold office.  How he got the nickname of "Kid Butcher" or "The Butcher Boy".

Thanks to our Sponsor, Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org

Key Names: 
Agesilaus of Sparta 
Julius Caesar 
Alexander the Great 
Pompeius STRABO (father) 
Social War 
Gaius MARIUS (populist consul) 
Lucius Cornelius CINNA (populist consul) 
Lucius Cornelius SULLA (optimate consul & dictator) 
MITHRIDATES - King of Pontus 
Gnaeus Papirius CARBO (populist consul)  
Antistia (first wife) 
Marcus Licinius CRASSUS 
Marcus Aemilus LEPIDUS (rebel consul) 
Marcus Junius BRUTUS (Father of the conspirator) 
Quintus Lutatius CATULUS (optimate stalwart) 
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Caecilus METELLUS PIUS (P's fellow general in Spain)
Marcus PERPERNA (populist ally of Sertorius)
Spartacus
Marcus Terentius VARRO (the scholar)
Lucius Licinius LUCULLUS (rival general)
Quintus HORTENSIUS Hortalus (optimate stalwart) 
Aulus GABINIUS (P's tribune buddy)
The Pirates
"Quirites" (the Roman citizenry) 

Key Places: 
Rome 
Picenum 
Asculum 
North Africa
Mutina
Spain 
Lauron
Sucro River
Ostia (Rome's port)

[Jeremy Giffon on Invest like the Best Podcast, ep. 336: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Vdv5i250hF6EfzOTML9RE?si=98bacff34a7244e9]

Check out Ralston College's FUNDED MA program: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma !

...Plutarch offers some advice on how to choose your friends, and how to be a good one.  Examples include Alexander the Great, Cato, Carneades, Plato, Dionysius the Tyrant, and more.

(Here depicted: the monument of Philopappus in Athens, to whom Plutarch's essay is dedicated)

An interview with Barry Strauss, Spartacus expert, and author of The Spartacus War

In this episode: 

-How Spartacus' Slave revolt almost failed in its early stages
-Overcoming short term thinking as a leader
-Spartacus' influence on modern leaders

A method for reading that can transform your life.

W/ help from Dana Gioia, California Poet Laureate, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts 2003-2009.

Get his new book Sentences from Seneca, here!

Some Sources:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_108
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/main.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/Agesilaus.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Agesilaus*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sertorius*.html

Why does Achilles, slaughterer of men, play the lyre? A conversation with Spencer Klavan of the Young Heretics podcast.

Check out the Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat: costofglory.com/retreat !

Spencer on Twitter: @spencerklavan
In this conversation, we discuss:
-Spencer & Alex's common ground training as classicists
-How one gets into these ancient books in the first place
-The theory of "Art for Art's Sake": Why it's interesting, plausible, and wrong.
-Epic heroes singing Epic Poetry
-Great books for busy dads

And much, much more...