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Guest Commentary: October 16, 2001
What the Romans Did About Terrorists The Honorable Jeff Sessions
What the Romans did about terrorists...
This is the situation they faced: Pirates were developing throughout the Mediterranean. It became unsafe for Roman ships to sail. According to Appian, in a very short time these pirates increased in number to tens of thousands. They dominated now not only the eastern waters but the whole Mediterranean to the Pillars of Hercules. They now even vanquished some of the Roman generals in naval engagements, and among others the praetor of Sicily on the Sicilian coast itself.
No sea could be navigated in safety, and land remained untilled for want of commercial intercourse. The city of Rome felt this evil most keenly, her subjects being distressed and herself suffering grievously from hunger by reason of her own populousness. But it appeared to her to be a great and difficult task to destroy so large a force of seafaring men scattered everywither on land and sea, with no fixed possession to encumber their flight, sallying out from no particular country or any known places, having no property or anything to call their own, but only what they might chance to light upon. Thus, the unexampled nature of this war, which was subject to no laws and had nothing tangible or visible about it, caused perplexity and fear.
When the Romans could no longer endure the damage or the disgrace they made Gnaeus Pompey, who was then their man of greatest reputation, commander by law for 3 years, with absolute power over the whole sea within the Pillars of Hercules, and of the land of a distance of 400 stades from the coast to coast. They sent letters to all kings, rulers, peoples and cities, they should aid Pompey in all ways. They gave him the power to raise troops and to collect money from the provinces, and they furnished a large Army from their own muster-roll, and all the ships they had, and money to the amount of 6,000 Attic talents...
So great and difficult did they consider the task of overcoming such great forces, dispersed over so wide a sea, hiding easily in so many nooks, retreating quickly and darting out again unexpectedly. Never did any man before Pompey set forth with so great authority conferred upon him by the Romans. He had an Army of 120,000 foot and 4,000 horse, and 270 ships.
Pompey, like a king of kings, should move to and fro and stationed his people where he thought best.
He developed a brilliant scheme to deploy his forces. And he astonished all by the rapidity of his movement, the magnitude of his preparations, and his formidable reputation, so that the pirates, who had expected to attack him first, or at least to show that the task he had undertaken against him was no easy one, became straightway alarmed, abandoned their assaults upon the towns they were besieging, and fled to their accustomed peaks and inlets. Thus the sea was cleared by Pompey forthwith without a fight, and the pirates were everywhere subdued at their several locations.
According to Appian's history, whereas it was expected to take 3 years to win this war because they were so united, so determined, and so committed, within a matter of days the war was won, 10,000 of the pirates were killed and the rest surrendered.
I don't know and don't expect we can accomplish this much in dealing with our modern-day terrorist pirates, but I like the way they set about to do it. They recognized their nation was threatened and jeopardized, and when the disgrace could be stood no more, they took action to defend their just interest, and did so with a commitment that was total and complete, and they set about it and were successful far more quickly than people thought possible.
I don't know if this will occur more quickly than we think possible, but I know one thing: If we commit ourselves to it, just as the Romans, we can succeed. And even though these people move about and seem to have no place they call their own, and are difficult to locate, they can be located, they can be pressured, they can be attacked, and can be defeated. I hope and pray we will succeed in that.
I am honored to be a Member of this Senate -- not the Roman Senate but this Senate. It is a great Senate... the greatest since the Roman Senate. I believe, united as we are today, we can succeed in eliminating these modern-day terrorists who threaten our world, our prosperity, and our liberty.
Note: The above commentary has been adapted from a speech Sen. Sessions delivered on the floor of the Senate, September 4, 2001.
