re: Who would win between Rome and Ancient China?

quote:

---

God damn mercenaries. A shifty bunch for sure.

---

On a related note - Alexander himself said, "An army of lambs, led by a lion, is better than an army of lions, led by a lamb."

Rome had consistently better leadership, particularly in the Republic, and even through the 5 "good" emperors.

However, Rome declined when they began to rely on German "mercenaries" - so that, there was a period of time at the end of pacification of the German tribes that you had whole armies of Germans - on both sides - some in skins, others in the lorica segmentata, with the Romans represented by the leadership in the legions, but not in the ranks.