Steven PressfieldWhen deliberating, think in campaigns and not battles; in wars and notcampaigns; in ultimate conquest and not wars.
About This Quote
When deliberating, think in campaigns and not battles. In wars and not campaigns. In ultimate conquest and not wars. These are the words of Publius Syrus who was a Roman general.
In his time, Rome was still a distant dream of conquest for many of Rome’s generals. In fact, Rome had never conquered a city of equal size to itself. That changed with the city of Carthage which was the ancient capital of Carthage.
Carthage’s leaders were ready to surrender, but they had a trick up their sleeve that stopped the Romans from reaching their doorsteps. The Romans were used to fighting on battlefields where they would win. They had been doing it for centuries and those battles were won by those who could make use of their superior numbers and resources.
The Romans were outnumbered by the Carthaginians but they made up for this by having more resources at their disposal as no one knew how long they would be able to keep fighting as they were not sure if the war would last long enough for them to prepare for it. The Romans expected to arrive at Carthage’s capital after marching through several towns and villages where they would win every battle without much effort. However, this was not what happened at all.
When the Romans came upon Carthage’s gates, instead of opening them up, the Carthaginians prepared traps that would stop them from conquering their city. The Romans called off their campaign believing that they had lost not only this battle but also all the battles that followed it because nothing was working out as planned. They were devastated by defeat but overcame it quickly because they realized that there was no alternative but to continue fighting on or else be defeated forever.
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More Quotes By Steven Pressfield
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