First, a note on Tacitus Septimus & Calgacus.

How could you criticize your government or ruler when you could get killed for doing so? Satire and fable would be methods that come first to mind and authors from Aesop to Jonathan Swift would represent those storytellers who wanted to instruct their power elites and to reveal to the population what transparent garments of power they wore.

When Caesar took his Roman legions into Britain in 44 BCE he subjugated the neolithic inhabitants. A later functionary in the Roman administration was the historian, Tacitus Septimus, brought along to record the continuing conquest. Tacitus had a larger purpose in making his records. He wanted to state his position on the colonial greed of the empire.

According to Tacitus, Calgacus was a chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy. He was the first Caledonian to be recorded in history, but the only historical source that features him is Tacitus' Agricola. This speech was supposedly made by that Briton war chief in 98 CE before a battle but was actually entirely the work of that historian, Tacitus, as a criticism of his own empire's colonialism. Tacitus attributed the speech to Calgacus, saying that the Caledonian chief gave it in advance of the Battle of Mons Graupius, but it must be taken into consideration that it is widely regarded as completely fabricated by Tacitus. It may stand today as a condemnation of all colonial powers. 

Here's the original; well, not the latin but a translation: It falls nicely into stanzas as a "found" poem and I offer my rendition of it it below.

Romans! Pillagers of the world, they have exhausted the land by their indiscriminate plunder, and now they ransack the sea. A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their lust for power. East and west alike have failed to satisfy them. They are the only people on earth to whose covetousness both riches and poverty are equally tempting. To robbery, butchery and rapine they give the lying name of government; they create a desolation and call it peace.

Romans!

Pillagers of the world,
they have exhausted the land

by their indiscriminate plunder,

and now they ransack the sea. 

A rich enemy
excites their cupidity; 

a poor one,
their lust for power. 

East and west alike
have failed to satisfy them. 

They are the only people on earth

to whose covetousness
both riches and poverty
are equally tempting.

To robbery, butchery and rapine 

they give the lying name

of government;
they create a desolation 

and call it

peace. 

If you find yourself thinking of the present war zones in Sudan or Gaza or Ukraine, that is of course, topical. If you find yourself considering our New World history from 1492 (or thereabouts), that is your awakened conscience, and even if we're not all going to pack up and go back to whatever continent our ancestors came from, we will hear the "land acknowledgement" statement at the commencement of many events with greater patience at least.

And here's your bright spot, even if the subject of the item continues to live in darkness. It comes from a substack post of Mehdi Hasan that I got here:

zeteo+mehdi-unfiltered@substack.com

All of which reminds me: I try to check my sources (snopes, wikipedia, reuters fact check, truth or fiction) but if you know of corrections I should make, please tell me. And Dylan, help an old and forgetful brain to recall the news site you recommended last night. (That'll tell me if he reads my rants). Here's Mehdi Hasan's opening.

Among the thousands of Israelis of age to be drafted into the military, teenager Tal Mitnick stands out. Although military service for most Israeli Jews is mandatory, Tal picked a second, much less popular, option: go to prison.

Last December, 18-year-old Tal went to prison for the first time after refusing a mandatory draft. “I felt like I needed to take the stance,” Tal tells Mehdi in this wide-ranging interview, and he has… five times. Tal has been sent to prison on five separate occasions since Oct 7th, for his ongoing refusal to serve - and spent more than 180 days behind bars. 

“It was a sacrifice that I was willing to take, to show this voice inside Israeli society,” said Tal.

You can look at Wikipedia's article on Israeli military personnel who have refused service which targets civilian populations by browsing this item: Refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

Finally, smell the flowers. Yes, write that letter and donate to good causes and smile at someone on your walk today, but look after yourself. You're the only one of you we've got