§3.1πολὺ δʼ ὁ Λούκουλλος προῆλθε τῷ πολέμῳ τόν τε Ταῦρον ὑπερβαλὼν στρατοπέδῳ Ῥωμαίων πρῶτος, καὶ τόν Τίγριν διαβάς καὶ τὰ βασίλεια τῆς Ἀσίας ἐν ὄψει τῶν βασιλέων, Τιγρανόκερτα καὶ Κάβειρα καὶ Σινώπην καὶ Νίσιβιν, ἑλὼν καὶ καταφλέξας, §3.2καὶ τὰ μὲν βόρεια μέχρι Φάσιδος, τὰ δʼ ἑῷα μέχρι Μηδίας, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότον καὶ τήν ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν οἰκειωσάμενος διὰ τῶν Ἀραβικῶν βασιλέων, συντρίψας δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν βασιλέων, ἀπολειφθεὶς δὲ μόνου τοῦ τὰ σώματα λαβεῖν, ὥσπερ θηρίων εἰς ἐρημίας καὶ ὕλας ἀστιβεῖς καὶ ἀβάτους ἀποδιδρασκόντων.
But Lucullus advanced far in the war, being the first to cross the Taurus with a Roman army, and having crossed the Tigris and captured and burned the royal palaces of Asia in the sight of the kings—Tigranocerta, Cabeira, Sinope, and Nisibis— and having made friendly to himself the northern regions as far as the Phasis, the eastern as far as Media, and the southern and the Red Sea through the Arabian kings, and having shattered the forces of the kings, but being left short only of capturing their persons, as they fled like wild beasts into wildernesses and trackless and impassable forests.
§3.3τεκμήριον δὲ μέγα· Πέρσαι μὲν γὰρ ὡς οὐδὲν μέγα πεπονθότες ὑπὸ Κίμωνος εὐθὺς ἀντετάττοντο τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ τήν γε πολλὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κρατήσαντες διέφθειραν, Τιγράνου δὲ καὶ Μιθριδάτου μετὰ Λούκουλλον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἔργον ἐγένετο, ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ἀσθενὴς ἤδη καὶ συγκεκομμένος ὑπὸ τῶν πρώτων ἀγώνων οὐδʼ ἅπαξ ἐτόλμησε δεῖξαι Πομπηΐῳ τήν δύναμιν ἔξω τοῦ χάρακος, ἀλλὰ φυγὼν εἰς Βόσπορον κατέβη κἀκεῖ κατέστρεψε, §3.4Τιγράνης δʼ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν γυμνὸν καὶ ἄνοπλον φέρων ὑπέρριψε Πομπηΐῳ, καὶ τὸ διάδημα τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀφελόμενος ἔθηκε πρὸ τῶν ποδῶν, οὐ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ κολακεύων Πομπήϊον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὑπὸ Λουκούλλου τεθριαμβευμένοις.
And this is a great proof: for the Persians, as if they had suffered nothing great at the hands of Cimon, immediately arrayed themselves against the Greeks, and having overpowered them in Egypt, destroyed their great force; but after Lucullus, no other deed was done by Tigranes and Mithridates, but the latter, already weak and shattered by the first contests, did not even once dare to show his army to Pompey outside the rampart, but fled down into the Bosporus and there ended his life, while Tigranes, presenting himself naked and unarmed, threw himself before Pompey, and taking the diadem from his head, placed it before his feet, flattering Pompey not with his own things, but with those which had already been triumphed over by Lucullus.
ἠγάπησε γοῦν ἀπολαμβάνων τὰ σύμβολα τῆς βασιλείας ὡς ἀφῃρημένος πρότερον.
At any rate, he was pleased to receive back the symbols of royalty as though they had been taken away before.
μείζων οὖν στρατηγὸς, ὥσπερ ἀθλητὴς, ὁ τῷ μεθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀσθενέστερον παραδοὺς τόν ἀντίπαλον.
Therefore, he is the greater general, just as an athlete, who hands over the opponent weaker to the one after him.
§3.5ἔτι τοίνυν Κίμων μὲν συντετριμμένην τήν βασιλέως δύναμιν καὶ τὸ Περσῶν φρόνημα συνεσταλμένον ἥτταις μεγάλαις καὶ ἀπαύστοις φυγαῖς ὑπὸ Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ Παυσανίου καὶ Λεωτυχίδου καταλαβὼν ἐπενέβη καὶ ὑποπεπτωκότων καὶ προηττημένων ταῖς ψυχαῖς τὰ σώματα ῥᾳδίως ἐνίκησε, Λουκούλλῳ δὲ Τιγράνης ἀήττητος ἐκ πολλῶν ἀγώνων καὶ μέγα φρονῶν συνέπεσε.
Furthermore, Cimon encountered the power of the King already shattered and the pride of the Persians humbled by great defeats and ceaseless flights under Themistocles, Pausanias, and Leotychides, and stepped in against them, easily defeating the bodies of those who were already submissive and defeated in their souls; whereas Lucullus met with Tigranes undefeated in many contests and high-spirited.
§3.6πλήθει δʼ οὐδʼ ἄξιον παραβαλεῖν τοῖς ἐπὶ Λούκουλλον συνελθοῦσι τοὺς ὑπὸ Κίμωνος κρατηθέντας.
And in numbers, it is not even worth comparing those conquered by Cimon with those who gathered against Lucullus.
ὥστε πάντῃ μεταλαμβάνοντι δυσδιαίτητον εἶναι τήν κρίσιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἀμφοτέροις ἔοικεν εὐμενὲς γενέσθαι, τῷ μὲν ἃ χρὴ κατορθοῦν, τῷ δʼ ἃ φυλάττεσθαι χρὴ προμηνῦον, ὥστε καὶ τὴν παρὰ τῶν θεῶν ψῆφον αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχειν ὡς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ θείοις τήν φύσιν ἀμφοτέροις.
So that, taking it in every way, the decision is difficult to determine, since the divine power also seems to have been favorable to both, achieving for the one what was necessary, and forewarning the other of what must be guarded against, so that they both have the vote of the gods as being good and divine in nature.