§5.1στρατηγίαι δὲ αἱ μὲν Κάτωνος οὐδὲν ὡς μεγάλοις πράγμασι μέγα προσέθηκαν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἀριστείδου τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ λαμπρότατα καὶ πρῶτα τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἔργων ἐστίν, ὁ Μαραθών, ἡ Σαλαμίς, αἱ Πλαταιαί.
As for their generalships, those of Cato added nothing great, considering the greatness of the affairs, whereas in those of Aristides are the finest, most brilliant, and foremost of Greek achievements: Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.
καὶ οὐκ ἄξιον δήπου παραβαλεῖν τῷ Ξέρξῃ τὸν Ἀντίοχον καὶ τὰ περιαιρεθέντα τῶν Ἰβηρικῶν πόλεων τείχη ταῖς τοσαύταις μὲν ἐν γῇ, τοσαύταις δʼ ἐν θαλάσσῃ πεσούσαις μυριάσιν·
And it is surely not fitting to compare Antiochus to Xerxes, and the demolished walls of Spanish towns to so many tens of thousands fallen on land and so many on sea.
§5.2ἐν οἷς Ἀριστείδης ἔργῳ μὲν οὐδενὸς ἐλείπετο, δόξης δὲ καὶ στεφάνων, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει πλούτου καὶ χρημάτων, ὑφήκατο τοῖς μᾶλλον δεομένοις, ὅτι καὶ πάντων τούτων διέφερεν·
In these, Aristides was second to none in action, but in glory and crowns, just as of course in wealth and money, he yielded to those who needed them more, because he was superior to all these things.
ἐγὼ δʼ οὐ μέμφομαι μὲν Κάτωνος τὸ μεγαλύνειν ἀεί καὶ πρῶτον ἑαυτὸν ἁπάντων τίθεσθαι· καίτοι φησὶν ἔν τινι λόγῳ τὸ ἐπαινεῖν αὑτὸν ὥσπερ τὸ λοιδορεῖν ἄτοπον εἶναι· τελειότερος δέ μοι δοκεῖ πρὸς ἀρετὴν τοῦ πολλάκις ἑαυτὸν ἐγκωμιάζοντος ὁ μηδʼ ἑτέρων τοῦτο ποιούντων δεόμενος.
For my part, I do not blame Cato for always magnifying himself and putting himself first of all—although he himself says in one of his speeches that praising oneself is just as absurd as abusing oneself—but more perfect in virtue than the man who often praises himself seems to me to be the one who does not even need others to do this.
§5.3τὸ γὰρ ἀφιλότιμον οὐ μικρὸν εἰς πρᾳότητα πολιτικὴν ἐφόδιον, καὶ τοὐναντίον ἡ φιλοτιμία χαλεπὸν καὶ φθόνου γονιμώτατον, ἧς ὁ μὲν ἀπήλλακτο παντάπασιν, ὁ δὲ καὶ πάνυ πολλῆς μετεῖχεν.
For freedom from ambition is no small resource for political moderation, and on the contrary, ambition is a troublesome thing and most fertile of envy; from which the one was entirely free, while the other shared in it to a very great degree.
Ἀριστείδης μέν γε Θεμιστοκλεῖ τὰ μέγιστα συμπράττων καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τὴν στρατηγίαν αὐτοῦ δορυφορῶν ὤρθωσε τὰς Ἀθήνας, §5.4Κάτων δʼ ἀντιπράττων Σκηπίωνι μικροῦ μὲν ἀνέτρεψε καὶ διελυμήνατο τὴν ἐπὶ Καρχηδονίους αὐτοῦ στρατηγίαν, ἐν ᾗ τὸν ἀήττητον Ἀννίβαν καθεῖλε, τέλος δὲ μηχανώμενος ἀεί τινας ὑποψίας καὶ διαβολάς αὐτὸν μὲν ἐξήλασε τῆς πόλεως, τὸν δʼ ἀδελφὸν αἰσχίστῃ κλοπῆς καταδίκῃ περιέβαλεν.
Aristides, at least, by cooperating in the greatest matters with Themistocles, and in a way acting as a bodyguard to his generalship, raised Athens up, whereas Cato, by opposing Scipio, almost overthrew and ruined his campaign against the Carthaginians, in which he overthrew the unconquered Hannibal, and finally, by constantly devising certain suspicions and slanders, drove Scipio himself out of the city, and enveloped his brother in a most shameful conviction for theft.