> Gets wrecked by horse archers. That ends up being typical for Romans

I don't think the Western Romans ever really learned from it did they? The Huns ended up wreaking them pretty hard.

I know the Eastern Romans did learn at some point out of necessity by creating their own professional units and hiring mercs.

massed horse archers wrecked pretty much everyone constantly until the 1600s

Fighter Jets with missiles are the modern version of the same concept.

Historia Civilis did a great video on this battle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR7VDPUj5AE

so instead of simply financing military operation and staying home, he went in himself?

in some sense I even respect that decision

Not going probably never even crossed his mind. Social status in Roman society was very strongly influenced by military success. He was a previously successful general.

Historically (with all the accuracy you get when you summarize all of history) raising an army and not leading it was effectively telling everyone that you should be replaced by whoever did lead it.

The point was to win military glory since he resented being outdone in that respect by his fellow triumvirs.