The Greeks held out against Persia
Who was a thousand times stronger than them
But who won the battle of Marathon and Thermopylae
We don’t remember much about it
We only honor the common soldier
Who ran heroically from Marathon to Athens to announce victory
And of course we know Leonidas
Belgian chocolate covered
On the other hand, the triumphant Roman generals are remembered
Some of them staged themselves with a pen soaked in ink
But the ink was dry
Not all of them ended well
I was the slave of one of them
He treated me well
I liked him
My triumphant general was parading on his chariot
Under the triumphal arch
Acclaimed by all peoples
I would then repeat it to him by ear
“Memento mori”
But my voice carried little
Under the volume of the crowd
I saw him as a kid.
I saw him grow up.
I saw him grow old.
But not too old though
He treated me well
I liked him
But he ended up listening
All those people who wore him as a hero
As if he had fought the war alone
He ended up overestimating his strengths
He died of a fall
He wanted to catch honey
He himself believed in his perfection
He forgot all the faithful soldiers
All the people
Who had made his glory
He forgot that he was a mere mortal
He forgot to listen to me.
He forgot to remain humble
He forgot that he needed the others
But it’s not completely his fault.
They all needed a hero.
They had to choose a prince
When they just needed gods
They all kept him above the clouds
They built his wings out of wax
He flew too high
Forgetting that they were imaginary
And the wax from his ears melted away
Under the sunlight
Aurianne Or
Roman triumph – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_triumph
In Ancient Rome, a slave would continuously whisper ‘Remember you are mortal’ in the ears of victorious generals as they were paraded through the streets after coming home, triumphant, from battle: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/23/in-ancient-rome-a-slave-would-continuously-whisper-remember-you-are-mortal-in-the-ears-of-victorious-generals-as-they-were-paraded-through-the-streets-after-coming-home-triumphant-from-battle/
