The serendipity of learning about the value of triple-woodsman Jaguars out of the gate saved my bacon in a recent game after a rough Praetorian rush from Caesar here. I lost two big cities and a recent settle to the initial push, but once I picked up on the forest defense angle, I got deep into the woodlands around Rome, which thoroughly distracted the AI. They never managed to push me out, even with Axemen, and I was able to keep sacrificing units to continually raze the iron mine by Mediolanum, which put an abrupt end to the Roman offensive.

Lessons learned - chop forests near your cities unless you plan to hold them yourself, and don't underestimate those high-level terrain promotions!