Imperium Romanum
War
War never changes
Men do
In the roads they travel
And this road has reached its end

When I was a young man I joined the legion as was expected of all male citizens of Rome
I fought valiantly
I rose through the ranks quicker than most
But I only fought because I was told to fight

We fought for conquest
When the only purpose of conquest was conquest
We expanded for the sake of expansion
We already have so much
We did not need more.

When would enough be enough?
What happens when we had it all?
What happens when, on the other side of that mountain is a force as large as us
What happens if they are better than us?

What good have we done?
We have killed thousands,
Enslaved just as much.
But we brought order and peace to heathens.
At least that is what they tell us.
And I believed them just so I could sleep at night.

The vigilant wolf remains in power
We have lost our vigilance
We have become gluttonous
We have become weak, when we were so strong that gods bent their knee to us.

They always told us
Pax per bella
(peace through war)
But there will be a time when even the young men become weary of war
The young men will become old men
And the old men will die continuing the cycle
And right now we are the old man

In my travels in the north I heard tales of Jormungander
The world serpent
He coiled himself around the world,
Feeding on everything he could find,
Eventually he found his tale, thinking it was food he at himself
Killing himself to feed his hunger

That is what we have become,
What Rome has become,
We were once proud.
Now even atlas,
Once our steadfast holder,
Is now being crushed by our weight.

Our road is at an end
Rome will fall
Diocletian believes splitting the empire will save it
It will not, only prolong it.
The walls of Constantinople will fall, in time as well
The Anglos to the north or possible an unforeseen force will take our place.

dolor est brevis, Gloria est aeterna
(pain is temporary victory is forever,)
Is it worth fighting for something that will surely die?
Victory is the only thing that is worth pain.
I will fight on,
For it is my duty.

I fight for my county
For its honor and for its success
Even though we will die,
I continue the fight,
For honor, for glory, for victory.