Episode 47 – The Battle of Sentinum

— And Decius Mus didn’t do that, either.

The biggest battle of Italy, numerically speaking. The most important one, strategically speaking. We are at the gates of a new era for Rome.

Parcial Transcript

Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.

The Tale of Rome, Episode 47 — The Battle of Sentinum.

A long, long, long, time has passed.

When I last published our episode 46, I never thought that because of unforeseen circumstances, I would find myself away from this podcast, for so, so long.

And — oh boy, has the world changed since then!

Nobody could have imagined something called Coronavirus.

Nobody could have imagined a world where people have to stay indoors just to stay alive.

A world were nations try to out-lie each other, as if a war depended on it.

A grave-digger said “they keep bringing me bodies.”

“And they keep telling me they are not victims of COVID-19.”

The economy stalled.

Nobody could imagine a world where supply would come to a standstill.

Only to be followed by demand, coming to a standstill, too.

Nobody could imagine we would forget about climate change.

Instead, we now wish things could get back to how it once was.

Cities like Venice were complaining of over-pollution and over-tourism.

Now, only dolphins and jellyfish visit its canals.

No tourists.

We were peeking in air travel.

Now we have no space to park airplanes.

The US was hitting an all-time low on unemployment.

Now, there is an all-time high, since at least the Great Depression.

In India, skies went from progress-grey, to shutdown-blue in less than a month.

Before, people heaped on railroads.

Now people walk between cities.

No railroads.

Before, schools in China were overcrowded.

Now, the Internet is breaking because schools are empty.

We canceled the Olympics.

For the first time ever, China closed the Forbidden City.

The Vatican and Mekka — both still stay empty.

And so…

…here we are.

Let’s continue.

Let us continue this tale. The Tale of Rome.

We are in the year 295 BC.

The soldiers on both sides couldn’t bear it any longer.

After two days of staring into each others faces, something just HAD TO GIVE!

And then — it happened!

And it happened on the third day, in that area of land, between the two armies. Some people call it the no-man’s-land, or the dead zone.

Someone let a deer loose, right in front of the eyes of both armies. The stag was pro...