I don't know how to find what you need on google but I could recommend some books on Roman philosophy if you'd like. Expediency as virtue has it's origins in Cicero's De Officiis but was warped to justify terrible behavior.
I'm not confusing means and ends. If you quote the specific sections of my post that lead you to this belief I can clear up your confusion. I'm sure if you just read it again yourself you'll see that you are wrong though.
Saying that Rome only prospered "temporarily" is, again, meaningless. Are you really arguing that Rome failing was a result of, for example, the destruction of Carthage? Fuck Carthage, but what was done to them was also evil. Historians have called it the first genocide. This resulted in a huge amount of power and wealth shifting to Rome, as Carthage was by far their closest competitor in the region. They took tens of thousands of slaves, massive amounts of treasure, and with Carthage out of the way Rome was able to expand their influence significantly. The destruction of Carthage led to the greatest era of Roman dominance, which lasted for over 600 years...
If that's the timescale you want to use to measure morality based on results then you can't make any moral judgements whatsoever... "If I do this will it make my society prosper for a billion years or only 600?" Lol your arguments keep getting worse, you don't seem to even understand what you're saying.
Well I cant find this expedience as virtue and don't have the time to read an entire book on what might be a footnote that means nothing to this discussion.
To say that genocide was Rome's end goal or the driving factor you are dead wrong. Rome waged war on Carthage not for the sake of killing lol.
Here let me pull up the
actual reasons:
"The Third Punic War was waged primarily due to a combination of security fears, political propaganda, and greed for resources and breaking a treaty.
Perceived Threat: Romans feared Carthage's economic resurgence would allow it to rebuild military power and threaten Rome again, a sentiment rooted in the trauma of Hannibal's invasion.
Political Expediency: Destroying a common external enemy helped unite the Roman populace and provided a path to triumph for ambitious politicians.
Resource Acquisition: The destruction of Carthage allowed Rome to seize its rich farming lands and eliminate its rival for control of the Mediterranean trade.
The immediate pretext for the invasion in 149 BCE was Carthage's defense of its borders against Numidia, a Roman ally. Under the treaty ending the Second Punic War, Carthage was forbidden from waging war without Roman permission; when Carthage marched to repel Numidian encroachments, Rome declared this an act of war. The conflict escalated into a total war because the Roman commander, Consul Censorinus, demanded the city's complete disarmament and evacuation to an inland location, terms the Carthaginians refused, leading to a three-year siege that ended with the city's total destruction in 146 BCE"
So your examples are completely unfounded and you are definitely confusing the two.
It doesn't matter how long Rome existed the morals it had were dysfunctional you even said it yourself.
Lastly you werent able to disprove anything regarding the original meme of sin being a made up disease since this conversation started. Only drift away from the main point and end up talking about battle of Carthage.
You are just fishing to get me on some technicality at this point.
Why don't you stop taking me on this massive tangent and get back to the main point or admit you were mistaken.
This post was edited by addone on Apr 4 2026 02:45am