Tab. IIo. Leo Gérôme, Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant (MDCCCLIX).Jean-Léon Gérôme, Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (1859).
Commentarii · De Arabia et IemeniaDispatches · On Arabia and Yemen
De scutis missis neque gladio stricto
On Shields Sent and No Sword Drawn
Ut UPI et Fox News nuntiant, Britannia aëroplana Typhoon in Arabiam Saudianam mittit contra Houthi missilia et fucos, dum Donaldus Trump deliberat num Houthi in ipsa Iemenia feriat. Caesar iudicat defensionem quae ad hostium machinas non perveniat lentam esse obsidionem sui; si feriendum est, celeriter feriendum et redeundum.
As UPI and Fox News report, Britain is sending Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia against Houthi missiles and drones, while Donald Trump weighs whether to strike the Houthis in Yemen itself. Caesar judges that a defence which never reaches the enemy's launchers is a slow siege of oneself; if a blow must be struck, it must be struck fast, and the army brought home.
Cur hoc legimusWhy we read this Quia imperator Americanus deliberat num legiones suas ad reges clientes defendendos in deserta mittat.Because the American commander is weighing whether to send his legions into the deserts to defend client kings.
Arabia Saudiana ab occidente Sinu Arabico, ab oriente sinu Persico continetur; ad meridiem Iemenia iacet, cuius magnam partem cum urbe Sanaa factio Houthi, quam Irania alit, ex anno MMXIV tenet et cum imperio Iemeniae bellum civile gerit. Duo freta totius regionis commeatum continent: Hormuzianum, quod Americanos et Iranios clausisse UPI nuntiat, et Bab al-Mandab, quod Houthi praecludere conantur. Arabia Saudiana cum multis aliis civitatibus imperium Iemeniae sustinet. Ita fit ut bellum in ipsis eius urbibus geratur.
Saudi Arabia is bounded on the west by the Red Sea and on the east by the Persian Gulf; to the south lies Yemen, a great part of which, with the city of Sanaa, the Houthi faction, supported by Iran, has held since 2014, waging civil war against the government of Yemen. Two straits hold the supply of the whole region: Hormuz, which UPI reports the Americans and the Iranians have closed, and Bab al-Mandab, which the Houthis are trying to shut. Saudi Arabia, with many other states, backs the government of Yemen. So it comes about that the war is fought in the kingdom's own cities.
Ut acta Fox News ex commentariis collegii ACLED referunt, Houthi impetus in regnum una huius mensis hebdomade plus quam duplicati sunt; post quintum diem Octobris aëroportus Riadi, Iizani, Nagrani, Dammami, Abhae petiti sunt. Gravissimus in aëroportum Regis Khalid Riadi factus est: tredecim saltem homines occisi, plus trecenti vulnerati. Alia missilia in fontes et officinas olei directa sunt; pretium olei crudi ad centum decem dollaria in singula dolia ascendisse utraque acta tradunt. Yahya Saree, qui pro factione de rebus militaribus loquitur, se suos impetus in interiore Arabia crescentes continuaturos esse dixit.
As Fox News reports from the records of ACLED, Houthi attacks on the kingdom more than doubled in a single week this month; since 5 October the airports of Riyadh, Jizan, Najran, Dammam and Abha have been targeted. The heaviest fell on King Khalid Airport in Riyadh: at least thirteen killed, more than three hundred wounded. Other missiles were aimed at oil fields and works; both reports state that the price of crude has risen to 110 dollars a barrel. Yahya Saree, who speaks for the faction on military matters, said that his men would continue their escalating attacks deep inside Arabia.
Interea auxilia conveniunt. Die Martis, ante diem XIII Kalendas Novembres, ministerium defensionis Britannicum se aëroplana Typhoon, consiliarios militares, aëronavem onerariam A400M in Arabiam missurum esse edixit, et alimentum aëroplanis in ipso volatu praebendum in dies nonaginta prorogatum iri, ut BBC nuntiat. Wes Streeting, defensionis secretarius, Houthi impetus in socium foedissimos esse dixit, aëroplana Britannica ad aërem tantum tuendum volatura. Nullos impetus in hostem fore ministerium adfirmat. Die Solis consilium defensionis Aegyptium omnia necessaria auxilia quae dari possent ad Riadum defendendum se daturum esse pronuntiavit; Civitas Israelis opem obtulit. Riadum a Washingtonia plura missilia intercipientia petit. Marcus Rubio, rerum externarum secretarius, Saudianos, Israelianos, ipsos Americanos, omnes denique civitates haec tela cupere dixit, neque omnibus postulatis satisfieri posse confessus est. Donaldus Trump, ut Fox News refert, deliberat num Houthi in ipsa Iemenia aggrediatur.
Meanwhile the auxiliaries assemble. On Tuesday, 20 October, the British Ministry of Defence announced that it would send Typhoon jets, military advisers and an A400M transport aircraft to Arabia, and that air-to-air refuelling would be extended by ninety days, as the BBC reports. Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary, said the Houthi attacks on an ally were despicable, and that the British aircraft would fly to defend the airspace only. The ministry affirms there will be no offensive attacks. On Sunday Egypt's National Defence Council declared that it would give all necessary and possible support to defend Riyadh; Israel has offered help. Riyadh is asking Washington for more interceptors. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said that the Saudis, the Israelis, the Americans themselves, in short every country, want these weapons, and admitted that not every request can be met. Donald Trump, as Fox News reports, is weighing whether to attack the Houthis in Yemen itself.
Neque tamen ab una parte tela volant. Ministerium valetudinis quod Houthi regunt Saudianos aëroplanis et tormentis post tertium diem Septembris centum quadraginta unum homines occidisse, trecentos nonaginta quinque vulneravisse dicit; ministerium valetudinis Iemeniae superiore hebdomade mille ducentos octoginta duos post sextum diem Augusti in Iemenia periisse nuntiavit. Die Lunae missilia Houthi castra in Shabwa percusserunt, septuaginta tribus saltem occisis, ut Al Jazeera tradit. Houthi, si civitates sinus Persici bello Americanorum et Israelianorum contra Iraniam se adiunxerint, fretum Bab al-Mandab se clausuros esse minantur. Acta Fox News caedes Iemeniae omittunt; UPI partes inter se ictus permutare scribit. Caesar non quaerit uter iustius pugnet; animadvertit utrumque ferire, neutrum vincere.
Yet the missiles do not fly from one side only. The health ministry run by the Houthis says that Saudi air and artillery strikes have killed 141 people and wounded 395 since 3 September; the Yemeni health ministry announced last week that 1,282 have died in Yemen since 6 August. On Monday Houthi missiles struck a base in Shabwa, killing at least seventy-three, as Al Jazeera reports. The Houthis threaten to close the Bab al-Mandab strait if the Gulf states join the American and Israeli war against Iran. Fox News omits the dead of Yemen; UPI writes that the two sides are trading strikes. Caesar does not ask which side fights more justly; he observes that both strike, and neither wins.
Res ipsa vires Saudianas aperit. Regnum anno superiore, ut collegium Stockholmiense SIPRI aestimat, plus quam octoginta tria miliarda dollariorum in rem militarem impendit, octavum inter omnes gentes locum obtinens; habet aëroplana F-15, missilia Patriot, speculas radiorum subtilissimas. Iason Campbell, Instituti Orientis Medii socius, Americanos sociosque contra graviora Iraniae tela satis paratos fuisse dicit, contra viliora minus; multa missilia intercipientia iam contra ballistica consumpta esse; tela humi propinqua speculas fallere, quae ad ea deprehendenda non sint constitutae. Caesar haec ita fieri non miratur. Nam fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt, et qui pecuniam in arma magnifica contulerunt se eo ipso tutos esse credunt.
The facts lay the Saudi forces bare. Last year, as SIPRI of Stockholm estimates, the kingdom spent more than 83 billion dollars on its military, eighth among all nations; it has F-15 fighters, Patriot missiles and the most refined radar. Jason Campbell, a fellow of the Middle East Institute, says that the Americans and their partners were well enough prepared against the heavier weapons of Iran, less so against the cheaper; that many interceptors have already been spent against ballistic missiles; and that low-flying weapons elude radars never built to detect them. Caesar is not surprised. Men generally believe what they wish to believe, and those who have poured money into splendid arms believe that this alone has made them safe.
Aëroplana Britannica, ut Fox News adnotat, urbes tegere possunt; machinas missilium in Iemenia non delent. Qui tantum excipit ictus, hosti diem, locum, modum pugnae concedit. Missilia intercipientia huius belli frumentum sunt; horrea autem, Rubione ipso teste, angusta, et socii de reliquiis inter se certant. Exercitus qui commeatum suum ab hoste metiri patitur non obsidet, sed obsidetur.
The British aircraft, as Fox News notes, can shield the cities; they do not destroy the launchers in Yemen. He who only receives blows grants the enemy the day, the place and the manner of battle. Interceptors are the grain of this war; and the granaries, on Rubio's own testimony, are narrow, and the allies quarrel over what remains. An army that lets the enemy measure out its supply is not besieging; it is besieged.
Exercitus qui commeatum suum ab hoste metiri patitur non obsidet, sed obsidetur.
An army that lets the enemy measure out its supply is not besieging; it is besieged.
Caesar, cum Germani Rhenum transirent Galliamque vexarent, non per totam ripam stationes disposuit: pontem decem diebus effecit, flumen transiit, agros Sugambrorum vastavit, decem et octo diebus trans Rhenum consumptis in Galliam se recepit pontemque rescidit. Satis enim effectum existimavit ut Germani intellegerent exercitum populi Romani et posse et audere Rhenum transire. Ita et vindicta et modus servatus est. Contrarium est Crassi consilium, qui spe praedae in Parthiam progressus, nullo belli fine constituto, signa apud Carrhas amisit.
When the Germans crossed the Rhine and harried Gaul, Caesar did not post pickets along the whole bank: he built a bridge in ten days, crossed the river, laid waste the lands of the Sugambri, and after eighteen days beyond the Rhine withdrew into Gaul and broke down the bridge. He judged it enough that the Germans should understand that the army of the Roman people could, and dared, cross the Rhine. Thus both vengeance and measure were kept. The opposite was the plan of Crassus, who advanced into Parthia in hope of plunder, with no end of the war fixed, and lost the standards at Carrhae.
Quam ob rem Caesar de consilio Donaldi Trump haec existimat: aut nihil aggrediendum, aut celeriter et ad ipsas missilium machinas, fine prius constituto quam pons fiat; castra in montibus Iemeniae ponenda non esse, neque pretii olei causa classes et legiones in perpetuas velitationes obligandas. A rege autem Saudiano, qui tantam pecuniam in arma contulit, obsides exigendos esse, non verba: ut suis armis, sua disciplina urbes suas tueatur. Socius qui se ipse defendere non potest onus est. Scuta mittere cuivis facile est; pontem facere et rescindere imperatoris.
Caesar's judgment on Donald Trump's counsel, therefore, is this: either attempt nothing, or strike fast and at the launchers themselves, with the end fixed before the bridge is built; no camp should be pitched in the mountains of Yemen, nor should fleets and legions be bound to endless skirmishing for the price of oil. From the Saudi king, who has spent so much on arms, guarantees should be demanded, not words: that he defend his own cities with his own arms and his own discipline. An ally who cannot defend himself is a burden. Anyone can send shields; to build the bridge and break it down again is the work of a commander.
FONTES ANTIQVIANCIENT SOURCES
- Caes. BG 3.18.6fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt
FONTES HODIERNITODAY’S SOURCES
- Fox News PoliticsHow Saudi Arabia's defense vulnerabilities could become Trump's problem amid Houthi onslaught
- UPIBritain to send planes to help defend Saudi Arabia from Houthis
Res ex fontibus; sententia Romani.Facts from the sources; the opinion is the Roman’s.
C. Iulius Caesar
Galliam subegit, Rubiconem transiit, rem publicam vicit. De se ipso in tertia persona scribit, breviter, celeriter, sine ornatu. Primus omnium instituit ut acta senatus et populi publicarentur.He conquered Gaul, crossed the Rubicon, and defeated the Republic. He writes about himself in the third person — briefly, swiftly, without ornament. He was the first to order that the daily acts of Senate and people be published.
Haec vox restituta est ex his libris:This voice is reconstructed from:
Scribe ad Caesar: tabellarius epistulam tuam per vias Romanas feret, et responsum post dies aliquot redibit.Write to Caesar: the courier carries your letter along the Roman roads, and a reply comes back after a few days.
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