§2.1ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀστυγείτονες ὄντες Ὀρχομένιοι καὶ διάφοροι τοῖς Χαιρωνεῦσιν ἐμισθώσαντο Ῥωμαϊκὸν συκοφάντην, ὁ δʼ ὥσπερ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου τὸ τῆς πόλεως ὄνομα κατενεγκὼν ἐδίωκε φόνου τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Δάμωνος ἀνῃρημένων, ἡ δὲ κρίσις ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῆς Μακεδονίας (οὔπω γὰρ εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα Ῥωμαῖοι στρατηγοὺς διεπέμποντο), §2.2οἱ λέγοντες ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεκαλοῦντο τὴν Λουκούλλου μαρτυρίαν, γράψαντος δὲ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ πρὸς Λούκουλλον ἐκεῖνος ἐμαρτύρησε τἀληθῆ, καὶ τὴν δίκην οὕτως ἀπέφυγεν ἡ πόλις κινδυνεύουσα περὶ τῶν μεγίστων.
But when the Orchomenians, who were neighbors and hostile to the Chaeroneans, hired a Roman informer, and he, bringing a charge against the name of the city as if it were a single individual, prosecuted it for the murder of those slain by Damon, and the trial was before the praetor of Macedonia (for the Romans did not yet send praetors into Greece), those who spoke in defense of the city called for the testimony of Lucullus. And when the praetor wrote to Lucullus, the latter testified to the truth, and thus the city escaped the lawsuit, when it had been in danger of the greatest perils.
ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν οἱ τότε σωθέντες εἰκόνα τοῦ Λουκούλλου λιθίνην ἐν ἀγορᾷ παρὰ τὸν Διόνυσον ἀνέστησαν, ἡμεῖς δʼ, εἰ καὶ πολλαῖς ἡλικίαις λειπόμεθα, τὴν μὲν χάριν οἰόμεθα διατείνειν καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς νῦν ὄντας, §2.3εἰκόνα δὲ πολὺ καλλίονα νομίζοντες εἶναι τῆς τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀπομιμουμένης τὴν τὸ ἦθος καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἐμφανίζουσαν, ἀναληψόμεθα τῇ γραφῇ τῶν παραλλήλων βίων τὰς πράξεις τοῦ ἀνδρός, τἀληθῆ διεξιόντες.
Therefore, those who were saved at that time set up a stone statue of Lucullus in the market-place beside that of Dionysus; and we, although we are separated by many generations, believe that the gratitude extends also to us who live now, and since we consider a portrait that reveals character and disposition to be far more beautiful than one that mimics the body and face, we shall incorporate the deeds of this man in our writing of the parallel lives, recounting the truth.
ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡ τῆς μνήμης χάρις· ἀληθοῦς δὲ μαρτυρίας οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ἠξίωσε μισθὸν λαβεῖν ψευδῆ καὶ πεπλασμένην ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ διήγησιν.
For the gratitude of memory is sufficient; and in return for his true testimony, even he himself would not have thought it fit to receive as a reward a false and fabricated narrative about himself.
§2.4ὥσπερ γὰρ τοὺς τὰ καλὰ καὶ πολλὴν ἔχοντα χάριν εἴδη ζῳγραφοῦντας, ἂν προσῇ τι μικρὸν αὐτοῖς δυσχερές, ἀξιοῦμεν μήτε παραλιπεῖν τοῦτο τελέως μήτε ἐξακριβοῦν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ αἰσχράν, τὸ δʼ ἀνομοίαν παρέχεται τὴν ὄψιν· οὕτως, ἐπεὶ χαλεπόν ἐστι, μᾶλλον δʼ ἴσως ἀμήχανον, ἀμεμφῆ καὶ καθαρὸν ἀνδρὸς ἐπιδεῖξαι βίον, ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἀναπληρωτέον ὥσπερ ὁμοιότητα τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
For just as in the case of painters of beautiful and highly graceful forms, if there is some slight blemish in them, we demand that they neither omit this entirely nor express it with perfect accuracy; for the one makes the portrait ugly, and the other makes it unlike the original; so, since it is difficult, or rather perhaps impossible, to exhibit a man's life as blameless and pure, we must fill out the truth, as we would a likeness, in its noble features.
§2.5τὰς δʼ ἐκ πάθους τινὸς ἢ πολιτικῆς ἀνάγκης ἐπιτρεχούσας ταῖς πράξεσιν ἁμαρτίας καὶ κῆρας ἐλλείμματα μᾶλλον ἀρετῆς τινος ἢ κακίας πονηρεύματα νομίζοντας οὐ δεῖ πάνυ προθύμως ἐναποσημαίνειν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ καὶ περιττῶς, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ αἰδουμένους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, εἰ καλὸν οὐδὲν εἰλικρινὲς οὐδʼ ἀναμφισβήτητον εἰς ἀρετὴν ἦθος γεγονὸς ἀποδίδωσιν.
Regarding the errors and blemishes that run over actions because of some passion or political necessity as deficiencies in some virtue rather than as wickednesses of vice, we must not represent them in history with too much eagerness and superfluity, but rather as if we were ashamed on behalf of human nature, since it produces no character that is absolutely pure and indisputably oriented toward virtue.