this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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Saltier than Carthage (if it had been salted)
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Memes about history
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Explanation: The survivors of the Roman defeat at Cannae were shamed by having been crushed by a numerically inferior force and bringing the outcome of the entire Second Punic War in question in one disgraceful stroke. It wasn't really their fault, but the shaken Roman Republic desired some scapegoats, and "These guys who survived because they were in the camp didn't fight hard, like REAL Rough Romans!" was an easy one. As such, the survivors of Cannae were sent to garrison duty in Sicily - tedious and hardly glorious! They were forbidden from returning to Italy until the war was over - the great Roman general Scipio Africanus took these defeated men with him on his expeditions against Carthage, and returned them their honor by decisively ending the war on Carthaginian soil.