§1.1Thrasybulus, Lyci filius, Atheniensis.
Thrasybulus, the son of Lycus, the Athenian.
si per se virtus sine fortuna ponderanda est, dubito an hunc primum omnium ponam.
If virtue is to be weighed by itself without fortune, I doubt whether I should not place him first of all.
illud sine dubio: neminem huic praefero fide, constantia, magnitudine animi, in patriam amore.
This is beyond doubt: I prefer no one to him in loyalty, constancy, greatness of soul, and love for his country.
§1.2nam quod multi voluerunt paucique potuerunt, ab uno tyranno patriam liberare, huic contigit ut a triginta oppressam tyrannis e servitute in libertatem vindicaret.
For what many desired and few were able to accomplish—to free their country from a single tyrant—it fell to his lot to rescue his country, oppressed by thirty tyrants, from slavery into liberty.
§1.3sed nescio quo modo, cum eum nemo anteiret his virtutibus, multi nobilitate praecucurrerunt.
But somehow or other, although no one surpassed him in these virtues, many outrun him in reputation.
primum Peloponnesio bello multa hic sine Alcibiade gessit, ille nullam rem sine hoc: quae ille universa naturali quodam bono fecit lucri.
First, in the Peloponnesian War, this man accomplished many things without Alcibiades, while the latter did nothing without him; yet the latter, by a certain natural gift, turned all these achievements into his own profit.
§1.4sed illa tamen omnia communia imperatoribus cum militibus et fortuna, quod in proelii concursu abit res a consilio ad vices rerum virtutemque pugnantium.
But yet all those achievements are common to generals with their soldiers and with fortune, because in the clash of battle, control passes from planning to the vicissitudes of circumstances and the courage of the combatants.
itaque iure suo nonnulla ab imperatore miles, plurima vero fortuna vindicat seque his plus valuisse vere potest praedicare.
Therefore, the soldier rightfully claims some share from the general, but fortune indeed claims the most, and they can truly assert that they have had more power in these events than the general.
§1.5verum illud magnificentissimum factum proprium est Thrasybuli.
But that most magnificent deed is Thrasybulus' own.
nam cum triginta tyranni praepositi a Lacedaemoniis servitute oppressas tenerent Athenas, plurimos cives, quibus in bello parserat fortuna, partim patria expulissent partim interfecissent, plurimorum bona publicata inter se divisissent, non solum princeps, sed etiam solus initio bellum iis indixit.
For when the thirty tyrants, appointed by the Lacedaemonians, held Athens oppressed in slavery, and had partly expelled from their country and partly put to death a great number of citizens whom fortune had spared in the war, and had divided among themselves the confiscated property of very many, he, at the beginning, declared war against them, not only as a leader, but even entirely alone.