Cornelius Nepos

“ Although he burnt with desire for making war, he realised that he must serve peace, because he understood that his fatherland had been exhausted by exactions and could not bear the disasters of war for too long, so he determined that, if things were repaired a little bit, it would be possible to renew the war and persue the Romans with weapons, until either they conquered through manly virtue or were conquered and surrendured. ”

“ I. Eumenes the Cardian. If he had been given fortune equal to his virtue, he would not have been a greater man, although far more illustrious and even more honoured, because we measure men's greatness by their virtue, not their fortune. For in the times when his life began, the Macedonians were prospering, and he was deprived of a lot as a result of living among them, because he was from a foreign community and he lacked nothing other than a noble lineage. ”

“ This most noble action, then, is entirely Thrasybulus's; for when the Thirty Tyrants, appointed by the Lacedaemonians, kept Athens oppressed in a state of slavery, and had partly banished from their country, and partly put to death, a great number of the citizens whom fortune had spared in the war, and had divided their confiscated property among themselves, he was not only the first, but the only man at the commencement, to declare war against them. ”

“ For Aspis, who dwelt in a wooded region, fortified with strongholds, not only ignored the king's commands, but even raided the bordering regions and stole what was being taken to the king. Although Datames was far from these regions and was being pulled away from a greater task by the king, he thought that the will of the king must be done voluntarily. So, he boarded a ship with a few men, but brave ones, thinking (correctly, as it turned out) that he would more easily crush a surprised enemy with a small force than a prepared enemy however large his army might be. ”

“ Again, when somone similar to Laphystius, named Damaenetus, began to disparage his deeds in an assembly of the people and let fly several words against Timoleon himself, he said that now at last he had to fulfill his vow, for he had always prayed to the immortal gods that he might restore such liberty to the Syracusans that anyone might be allowed to say whatever he wanted with impunity. When he had reached his final day, he was buried at public expense by the Syracusans in the gymnasium which is called the Timoleonteum, with all Sicily honouring him. ”

“ But Phocion fell into a massive crime, because when the highest command of the people was invested in him and he was warned by Dercylus that Nicanor, the prefect of Cassander, was planning to attack the Piraeus of the Athenians and Dercylus asked him to ensure that the community was not stripped of its supply route, Phocion denied that there was any danger, in an assembly of the people, and promised that he himself would be a surety of this thing. But not much later, Nicanor made himself master of the Piraeus, without which Athens was utterly unable to exist. ”

“ The force of Thrasybulus, however, was not increased in proportion to his expectations; for even in those times good men spoke for liberty with more spirit than they fought for it.
Hence he went to the Piraeeus, and fortified the Munychia, [2] which the tyrants twice attempted to storm, but being disgracefully repulsed, and having lost their arms and baggage, they immediately fled back to the city. Thrasybulus, on this occasion, exercised not less prudence than valour; for he forbade those that fled to be injured, thinking it just that "countrymen should spare countrymen;" ”

“ He was also commander of the Athenians at Plataeae, in the battle in which Mardonius was routed, and the army of the barbarians was cut off. Nor is there any other celebrated act of his in military affairs recorded, besides the account of this command; but of his justice, equity, and self-control, there are many instances. Above all, it was through his integrity, when he was joined in command of the common fleet of Greece with Pausanias, under whose leadership Mardonius had been put to flight, that the supreme authority at sea was transferred from the Lacedaemonians to the Athenians ”

“ I. Cimon, the son of Miltiades, an Athenian, experienced a very unhappy entrance on manhood; for as his father had been unable to pay to the people the fine imposed upon him, and had consequently died in the public gaol, Cimon was kept in prison, nor could he, by the Athenian laws, [1] be set at liberty, unless he paid the sum of money that his father had been fined. He had married, however, his sister by the father's side, [2] named Elpinice, induced not more by love than by custom; for the Athenians are allowed to marry their sisters by the same father ”

“ Eumenes' forces were neither big nor firm, because they were untrained and had been enlisted only a short time earlier, but it was said that Antipater and Crateros were approaching and had crossed the Hellespont with a large army of Macedonians, men who were foremost with brilliance in the practice of war at that time (In fact Macedonian soldiers were then as famous as Roman ones are now: since those who acquire the greatest power are always held to be the bravest men) . ”

“ Under the influence of these leaders, so great a change in affairs took place, that the Lacedaemonians, who had just before flourished as conquerors, were struck with fear and sued for peace; for they had been defeated in five battles by land, and three by sea, in which they had lost two hundred triremes, that had been captured and had fallen into the possession of their enemies. Alcibiades, with his colleagues, had recovered Ionia, the Hellespont, and many Greek cities besides, situated on the coast of Asia, of which they had taken several by storm, and among them Byzantium. ”

“ The Pergamene king Eumenes, a very good friend of the Romans, [24] opposed him and war was waged between them on land and sea. But on both, Eumenes did better on account of his alliance with the Romans. For this reason, Hannibal wanted to crush him even more, judging that if he removed him, everything else would be easier for him. In order to kill him, he initiated this plan. They were a few days away from having a naval battle. He was at a disadvantage in the number of ships; the battle was to be fought by a trick, since he was not a match for him in forces. ”

“ Not much later, Seleucus was assassinated by Ptolemaeus Ceraunus, [2] whom he had taken in after he was expelled from Alexandrea by his father and was in need of the help of strangers. But Ptolemaeus himself, handed his kingdom over to his son while still living and is said to have been deprived of life by that same son. Since we think that enough has been said about these men, it seems convenient not to pass over Hamilcar and Hannibal who are established to have exceeded all others born in Africa in greatness and shrewdness of mind. ”

“ He restored the old citizens to their property and distributed the property that had been emptied by war to the new ones. He rebuilt the cities' ruined walls and deserted sanctuaries. He restored laws and liberty to the communities. In place of the largest war, he brought about such great peace in the whole island that he was considered the founder of these cities, not the men who originally established them. He razed the citadel in Syracuse, which had been fortified in order to place the city under siege, down to its foundations. ”

“ He was at first, indeed, despised by the tyrants, as well as the small number of his followers; which circumstance proved both the ruin of those that despised him, and the security of him that was despised, for it rendered the one party slow to attack, and the other stronger by giving them time for preparation. The maxim, therefore, that "nothing should be despised in war," ought the more deeply to be fixed in the minds of all ”

“ XI. When Mithridates considered that he had proved himself sufficiently, he made Datames more sure that it was time for greater armies to be prepared and war to be undertaken against the king himself, and said that if it seemed good to him, he would come to discuss this matter, in whatever location he chose. After considering the matter, a time for the discussion was selected and a place where they would meet. Mithridates came there with one man, whom he had the greatest faith in, a few days early and buried swords in a number of different places and carefully noted their locations. ”

“ To rein in Antigonus' attack, then, he employed this plan. He sent some men to low mountains which were along the enemy's route and he instructed them that when night first came (over the widest area they could) they should make fires, as big as they could, and they should reduce these at the second watch, and let them almost go out at the third watch. By simulating the appearance of a camp in this way, he intended that they would create suspicion among the enemies, that there was a camp in this location and that their approach had been revealed in advance. ”

“ Alcibiades, on taking leave of him, said, "As you hinder your country's success, I advise you to keep your sailors' camp near the enemy; for there is danger that, through the insubordination of our men, an opportunity may be afforded to Lysander of cutting off our army." ”

“ Hannibal came into Africa to the Cyrenaican border [with Carthage] , to see if perhaps he could bring the Carthaginians into the war by hope and faith in Antiochus, whom he had now convinced to advance into Italy with an army. He summoned his brother Mago to this place. When the Phoenicians [19] learnt this they inflicted the same punishment on Mago, as they had on his brother, in absentia. They gave up on this venture, untied their ships and opened their sails to the wind, and Hannibal travelled to Antiochus. ”

“ Datames charges the remaining Pisidian resistors. He strikes with the first blow, he chases them down, he kills many, he takes the camp of the enemy. So, through this plan he simultaneously thwarted the traitors and crushed the enemy, and transformed an event that had been thought to be his doom into his salvation. We have read of no act of any other commander that was ever planned more cleverly or executed more quickly than this.
VII. But Sysinas, his oldest son, separated from him, went to the king and accused his father of rebellion. ”

“ I. Character of Thrasybulus; he proceeds to deliver his country from the Thirty Tyrants, — II. His success and conduct in the enterprise, — III. His act of oblivion, III.— IV. He is honoured with an olive crown; is killed on the coast of Sicily. I. Thrasybulus, the son of Lycus, was a native of Athens. If merit is to be valued by itself, without regard to fortune, I doubt whether I ought not to place him first of all the Greek commanders. This I can say without hesitation, that I set no man above him in integrity, firmness, greatness of mind, and love for his country ”

“ Thus there was a risk that they would do what they actually ended up doing, as a result of their intemperence and excessive independence: destroy everything, including those who fought alongside them, rather than those whom they fought against. ”

“ When he reached the enemies' ships, he showed them a letter, claimed that he was seeking the king and was immediately led to the king, because no one suspected that it was anything other than a letter about peace. When the the ship of the commander had been indicated to them, the letter-carrier withdrew to place he had set out from. But when the letter was opened, Eumenes found nothing in it, except things intended to enrage him. And yet he did not wonder about the reason for this or realise what it was; instead he did not hesitate to join battle immediately. ”

“ In fact, whenever he heard praise of himself proclaimed, he never said anything except that he gave the greatest thanks to the gods for this thing and that he held that, when they had decided to restore Sicily, they had considered him the most capable commander to do it. For he thought that no human affairs are done without the approval of the gods. ”