4/12 Does anyone remember the line that means "a victory won at a great
cost."? I just remember it being something like "A blah victory."
where blah refers to some Roman king or general?
\_ pyrrhic
\_ are you trying to write a motivational speech?
\- king pyrrhus was an enemy of rome in the campaigns to
unify italy in the 3rd cent BC. he defeated the romans but
lost third of his troops to do so and said something along
the lines of not being able to afford another victory like
that. this conflict is of interest because of the different
orgaizational models of the roman and opposing forces.
anyway, from the famous quote came the term "pyrrhic
victory" ... not to be confused with a "parthian shot".
See Pyrrhus, from Plutarch's Lives.
--senate and the partha of rome |