§4.1ὃ τοίνυν ἔργον ἐστὶν ἀγαθοῦ στρατηγοῦ μάλιστα, κρείττονα μὲν ὄντα βιάσασθαι τοὺς πολεμίους μάχεσθαι, λειπόμενον δὲ δυνάμει μὴ βιασθῆναι, τοῦτο ποιῶν Ἀγησίλαος ἀεὶ διεφύλαξεν ἑαυτὸν ἀνίκητον·
Now, the chief duty of a good general is to force his enemies to battle when he is superior, and when inferior in strength, not to be forced to it; and Agesilaus, by doing this, always kept himself undefeated.
Πομπήϊον δὲ Καῖσαρ, οὗ μὲν ἦν ἐλάττων, διέφυγε μὴ βλαβῆναι, καθὸ δὲ κρείττων ἦν, ἠνάγκασεν ἀγωνισάμενον τῷ πεζῷ περὶ πάντων σφαλῆναι, καὶ κύριος εὐθὺς ἦν χρημάτων καὶ ἀγορᾶς καὶ θαλάττης, ὑφʼ ὧν διεπέπρακτο ἂν ἄνευ μάχης ἐκείνοις προσόντων.
But Caesar, where he was inferior, avoided being harmed by Pompey, and where he was superior, forced him to risk everything in a land battle and defeated him utterly, and immediately became master of money, provisions, and the sea, by which things, had they remained in the possession of his enemies, he could have been subdued without a battle.
§4.2τὸ δʼ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἀπολόγημα μέγιστόν ἐστιν ἔγκλημα στρατηγοῦ τηλικούτου.
But the defense made on Pompey’s behalf is the greatest accusation against a general of his stature.
νέον μὲν γὰρ ἄρχοντα θορύβοις καὶ καταβοήσεσιν εἰς μαλακίαν καὶ δειλίαν ἐπιταραχθέντα τῶν ἀσφαλεστάτων ἐκπεσεῖν λογισμῶν εἰκός ἐστι καὶ συγγνωστόν Πομπήϊον δὲ Μάγνον, οὗ Ῥωμαῖοι τὸ μὲν στρατόπεδον πατρίδα, σύγκλητον δὲ τὴν σκηνήν, ἀποστάτας δὲ καὶ προδότας τοὺς ἐν Ῥώμῃ πολιτευομένους καὶ στρατηγοῦντας καὶ ὑπατεύοντας ἐκάλουν, ἀρχόμενον δὲ ὑπʼ οὐδενὸς ἔγνωσαν, §4.3πάσας δὲ αὐτοκράτορα στρατευσάμενον ἄριστα τὰς στρατείας, τίς ἂν ἀνάσχοιτο τοῖς Φαωνίου σκώμμασι καὶ Δομετίου, καὶ ἵνα μὴ Ἀγαμέμνων λέγηται, παρʼ ἐλάχιστον ἐκβιασθέντα τὸν περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας καὶ ἐλευθερίας ἀναρρῖψαι κίνδυνον;
For that a young commander, disturbed by the clamor and denunciation of others, should slide into softness and cowardice, and abandon his safest plans, is natural and pardonable; but as for Pompey the Great, whose camp the Romans called their country, his tent their senate, while they called those politicians, generals, and consuls in Rome rebels and traitors, and whom they knew to be ruled by no one, but rather to have conducted all his campaigns most excellently as an absolute commander—who could tolerate that he, in response to the jests of Favonius and Domitius, and lest he should be called "Agamemnon," should be virtually forced to risk the whole empire and liberty on a single throw?
ὃς εἰ μόνον ἐσκόπει τὸ παρʼ ἡμέραν ἄδοξον, ὤφειλεν ἀντιστὰς ἐν ἀρχῇ διαγωνίσασθαι περὶ τῆς Ῥώμης, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν φυγὴν ἐκείνην ἀποφαίνων στρατήγημα Θεμιστόκλειον ὕστερον ἐν αἰσχρῷ τίθεσθαι τὴν ἐν Θετταλίᾳ πρὸ μάχης διατριβήν.
If he was looking only to the dishonor of the moment, he ought to have made his stand at the beginning and fought to the death for Rome, rather than call that flight a Themistoclean stratagem and then later count his delay in Thessaly before the battle a matter of shame.
§4.4οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνό γε στάδιον αὐτοῖς καὶ θέατρον ἐναγωνίσασθαι περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ὁ θεὸς ἀπέδειξε τὸ Φαρσάλιον πεδίον, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ κήρυκος ἐκαλεῖτο μάχεσθαι κατιὼν ἢ λιπεῖν ἑτέρῳ τὸν στέφανον, ἀλλὰ πολλὰ μὲν πεδία μυρίας δὲ πόλεις καὶ γῆν ἄπλετον ἢ κατὰ θάλατταν εὐπορία παρέσχε βουλομένῳ μιμεῖσθαι Μάξιμον καὶ Μάριον καὶ Λεύκολλον καὶ αὐτὸν Ἀγησίλαον,
For Heaven did not point out the Pharsalian plain to them as a stadium or theater in which they must contest for the empire, nor was he summoned by a herald to descend and fight or else leave the crown to another; rather, many plains, countless cities, and boundless land, or an abundance of resources by sea, lay open to him if he wished to imitate Maximus, Marius, Lucullus, and Agesilaus himself.
§4.5ὃς οὐκ ἐλάττονας μὲν ἐν Σπάρτῃ θορύβους ὑπέμεινε βουλομένων Θηβαίοις ὑπὲρ τῆς χώρας μάχεσθαι, πολλὰς δʼ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διαβολὰς καὶ κατηγορίας καὶ ὑπονοίας τοῦ βασιλέως ἤνεγκεν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν κελεύων, χρησάμενος δὲ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ὡς ἐβούλετο λογισμοῖς, §4.6οὐ μόνον Αἰγυπτίους ἄκοντας ἔσωσεν, οὐδὲ τὴν Σπάρτην ἐν τοσούτῳ σεισμῷ μόνος ὀρθὴν ἀεὶ διεφύλαξεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρόπαιον ἔστησε κατὰ Θηβαίων ἐν τῇ πόλει, τὸ νικῆσαι παρασχὼν αὖθις ἐκ τοῦ τότε μὴ προαπολέσθαι βιασαμένους.
Agesilaus endured no less clamor in Sparta when his citizens wished to fight the Thebans for their territory, and in Egypt he bore many slanders, accusations, and suspicions from the king when he advised him to remain quiet; yet, by employing the best counsels as he wished, he not only saved the Egyptians against their will, and alone kept Sparta always upright during so great a political earthquake, but also set up a trophy over the Thebans in the city, providing his citizens with the opportunity to conquer later by forcing them not to perish beforehand.
ὅθεν Ἀγησίλαος μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν βιασθέντων ὕστερον ἐπῃνεῖτο σωθέντων, Πομπήϊος δὲ διʼ ἄλλους ἁμαρτών, αὐτοὺς οἷς ἐπείσθη κατηγόρους εἶχε.
Consequently, Agesilaus was afterward praised by those very men whom he had forced and who were thus saved, whereas Pompey, though he erred for the sake of others, had as his accusers the very men whose advice he had followed.
§4.7καίτοι φασί τινες ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ πενθεροῦ Σκηπίωνος ἐξηπατήθη· τὰ γὰρ πλεῖστα τῶν χρημάτων ὧν ἐκόμιζεν ἐξ Ἀσίας βουλόμενον αὐτὸν νοσφίσασθαι καὶ ἀποκρύψαντα κατεπεῖξαι τὴν μάχην, ὡς οὐκέτι χρημάτων ὄντων, ὃ κἂν ἀληθὲς ἦν, παθεῖν οὐκ ὤφειλεν ὁ στρατηγός, οὐδὲ ῥᾳδίως οὕτω παραλογισθεὶς ἀποκινδυνεῦσαι περὶ τῶν μεγίστων, ἐν μὲν οὖν τούτοις οὕτως ἑκάτερον ἀποθεωροῦμεν.
And yet, some say that he was deceived by his father-in-law Scipio, who, wishing to appropriate and conceal most of the money he had brought from Asia, hastened the battle on the pretext that there was no longer any money left. But even if this were true, a general ought not to have suffered this, nor to have been so easily misled as to risk the most important interests. In these matters, then, we thus view each of them.