But dude, all the wars are fough for financial gain, not some poetry. They might be painted as a poetic stories, but they are wars to gain more power and wealth.
No. you are mistaken...i am in no way attempting to stand upon a higher moral ground. Not in the slightest. Its a personal stance. And mine finds some value in Dionysius following his bloodfury to savage the carthagians. Little, but something, to do with thirst for
more power. Everything to do with a passion towards a savagely lost and brutalized loved one...as I say, its merely a different stance. The body count remains the same. but there IS a difference, at least to me...And I recognize, easily, how reasonable it is to suggest that such a 'tyrant' was more eager for the power and financial gain you suggest, but...i take a position of believing, that bloodhate fuelled revenge, was his major driving force...and in his era, without any doubt, much was different, preferable to what i understand, in terms of what society revered, .we have today... 'superstars' earning millions per year, and all they do is kick a football around a grass of green...I prefer some, and i say 'some' because darkly beastly men were often heroes in the ancient realms...some of the ancient heroes, are simply, more a hero to me than anyone of modern day.
Richard Branson or geroge bush...vs...Dionysius or Hannibal...
the ancient strongmen i mentioned, anyone can say that, at best, they only fought for power...but at the same time, anyone who has studied the two, can say, at least, that the sicilian found his wife murdered and raped, and once regained of vitality, hunted everyone down, not just who had taken part in the crime, but even those who sought to gain popularity through boasting of their part in the crime, and from several accounts I have read...he cut off their genitals, and left them in a cellar to bleed to death, en route to becoming the man who rid his country of a truly massive and hellbent on slaughter, invading force. I commend such actions...
Many would say that any man who abducts, imprisons, mutuiliates in the most brutal way, then leaves to bleed to death...is in some way bad. whereas I like that kinda brutal righteousness. Perhaps because i wish i could do it, but cant or dont...perhaps because the men i am close to, who have huge natural capital in bravery and valour, in the modern western society srtuggle to mke ends meet...either way, the kinda man, i respect and revere. righteous brutality, in a world of dishounrable megalomania...in a world so painfully devoid of Meaning, one of the areas I find Meaning is in the actions and lives and times of a man like Dionysius...