A Roman father

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Dear son,
I write today, to you, not only as a father, but also as a patrician and a senator. I write to you with love and concern, hope and fear. And I hope you will forgive an old man for the terrors that seem to grip my heart at the thought of what you have proposed.
That is not to say that your plan falls squarely into the parameters of Roman romanticism. You wish to be Horatius on the bridge, defending the Empire against the encroachment of the barbarians. And I am proud of you, and your men, to embrace such idealism. But this is the father speaking. A man who is proud to have sired such a patriot.
But the senator and patrician in me screams at such idealism. Now is not the time to throw away Roman lives for a sand not given to us by Terminus. We have shifted the borders that he protects and Terminus is, as always, a stolid God.
I have had nightmares of a battlefield strewn with good soldiers, Roman swords firmly held in foreign hands and rebellion fermenting in the hearts of all our provincials.
Rome does not need another hero. Our pantheon is full and our streets strewn with temples. Rome does not ask for more sacrifice.
What Rome demands and needs now is for it's soldiers to consolidate what is ours by right of conquest. To fall back and build walls and fortresses and grow back.
If Varus and his lost Eagles drove Augustus mad, then the loss of your legion and you, my beautiful son, will drive me to death.
Therefore, as a father, I implore you. And as a patrician, I order you. Fall back to the defensive lines that your fellow Legates are constructing, even as this letter reaches you. Throw no Roman lives away needlessly, in search of eternal glory. Your love for Rome will be better served as a stalwart defender, not as a martyr. Your journey up the Cursus Honorum has just begun, young man, and you have many years ahead of you, serving the Republic.
Therefore I beg of you, in the name of Jupiter, fall back. There will be no stigma or calls of cowardice from the Senate, I have ensured that. Fall back, so that both you and Rome may live.
In the duty of Rome,
Your father.

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