There was a noble family of Marcius in Rome. It was famous for many of its representatives who committed great deeds in both war and peace. Brothers appeared in this family. One day they were overcome by divine inspiration, and Jupiter ordered them to pronounce a series of prophecies. One of them sounded like this: “From the Cannae River, descendant of the Trojans, flee, so that the strangers do not force you to fight them on the Diomedean Plain. But you will not believe me until you flood the plain with blood and the river carries away many thousands of those killed from the fertile land into the great sea; the fish, birds and beasts that inhabit the earth will have your flesh for food.”
The Romans knew nothing about this prediction for a long time. But in 212 BC. e. these predictions fell into the hands of one of the officials of Rome. And he guessed what the brothers were talking about at the time. After all, once upon a time the Greek hero Diomedes, after the Trojan War, came to Italy and dominated the region of Apulia, where the Canna River flowed and the city of Canna was located. And the descendants of the Trojans, of course, are the Romans, for their ancestor was Aeneas, who arrived from Troy. It was then that everyone remembered how quite recently, just four years ago, at the Battle of Cannae, almost the entire Roman army was destroyed by the Carthaginians. Thus the terrible prophecy was fulfilled.
The war with Carthage was still ongoing and the enemy was still on Italian soil. Therefore, with alarm and hope, the Romans read the second prediction of the Marcius: “If you want, Romans, to drive out the enemy, this plague that came from afar, you must, I think, devote games to Apollo; May they be repeated annually, pleasing to Apollo. When the people deduct a portion from the treasury for these games, let everyone contribute for themselves and their relatives. If you do everything correctly, you will always be in joy, and your affairs will improve, for the god who maintains your fields in the world will scatter your enemies.” The Romans thought about these words for a long time and decided to establish games in honor of Apollo, as the Marcius brothers once called for. And indeed, even if not immediately, the war with Carthage ended with the great victory of Rome.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru