Roman military general, Julius Caesar, didn’t become emperor overnight or by military skills alone. He was also a top-level public relations expert whose skills could turn Madison Avenue advertising execs green with envy. He included hilarious reports of his troops’ victories across Gaul (France) in his rollicking account, The Gallic Wars. Ever since Carthage’s General, Hannibal, terrorized Italy by invading from over the Alps with elephants, Rome’s citizens feared the massive beasts. Caesar wrote a tall tale of outsmarting the elephants who slept standing upright leaning against trees. He said his men simply sawed through the trees the elephants leaned against by pulling crosscut saws back and forth to the rhythm of the elephants’ snores until the beasts fell down to be captured or killed.
Caesar sent generous gifts and cash home to Rome’s citizens for distributed to make his name and exploits great. He also named them in his will to receive pocket cash and have much of his land made into public parks.
My favorite of his public relations schemes involves how he raised the morale of his troops. Before starting each battle, he gathered his men on a high hill or mountain top. His officers delivered well-planned strategy moves, but his crowning touch happened last. Caesar hired master joke writers and personally selected the funniest story. After everything else was done, Caesar had the day’s funniest side-splitting story told just before tipping lances to send his troops hurtling downhill roaring with laughter toward enemies waiting in the valley or on opposite hills. It was just plain demoralizing. History tells us that over half of his enemies fled before ever engaging Rome’s soldiers in battle. They turned tail and ran away, unnerved by military men so confident they ran forward guffawing
Scripture says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Psalm 59 adds, “But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.” Caesar did have the heathen in derision.
Good humor makes any day better. Whether we are telling or hearing a joke, getting its punch line right with perfect time is a valuable skill using the beginning, middle, end formula of any story writing.
What is your favorite joke? Mine starts with the Polish man who sure his wife wanted to kill him because she kept “Polish Remover” in the medicine cabinet—and it gets worse from there. Share your favorite joke and send us rollicking into whatever we face today.
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