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For, where all other things are equal, great success must be owing to superior excellence. He had to do with two of the most warlike nations among the Greeks; the Cretans, who were the most artful; and the Lacedæmonians, who were the most valiant and yet he mastered the former by policy, and the latter by courage. Add to this, that Flaminius had his men ready armed and disciplined to his hand; whereas Philopœmen had the armour of his to alter, and to new-model their discipline. So that the things which contribute most to victory were the invention of the one, while the other only practised what was already in use. Accordingly Philopomen's personal exploits were many and great; but we find nothing of that kind remarkable in Flaminius. On the contrary, a certain Ætolian, said, by way of raillery, "Whilst I ran, with my drawn sword, to charge the Macedonians, who stood firm and continued fighting, Titus was standing still, with his hands lifted up towards heaven, and praying."

It is true, all the acts of Flaminius were glorious, while he was general, and during his lieutenancy too but Philopomen showed himself no less serviceable and active among the Achæans, when in a private capacity, than when he had the command. For, when commander in chief, he drove Nabis out of the city of Messene, and restored the inhabitants to their liberty; but he was only in a private station when he shut the gates of Sparta against the general Diophanes, and against Flaminius, and by that means saved the Lacedæmonians. Indeed, nature had given him such talents for command, that he knew not only how to govern according to the laws, but how to govern the laws themselves, when the public good required it; not waiting for the formality of the people's appointing him, but rather employing them, when the occasion demanded it. For he was persuaded, that not

he whom the people elect, but he who thinks best for the people, is the true general.

and generous

There was undoubtedly something great and in the clemency and humanity of Flaminius towards the Grecians; but there was something still greater and more generous in the resolution which Philopomen showed in maintaining the liberties of Greece against the Romans. For it is a much easier matter to be liberal to the weak, than to oppose and to support a dispute with the strong. Since, therefore, after all our inquiry into the characters of these two great men, the superiority is not obvious, perhaps we shall not greatly err, if we give the Grecian the palm of generalship and military skill, and the Roman that of justice and humanity..

LESSON LXXX.

Cimon and Lucullus compared.

WE cannot but think the exit of Lucullus happy, as he did not live to see that change in the constitution which fate was preparing for his country in the civil wars. Though the commonwealth was in a sickly state, yet he left it free. In this respect the case of Cimon was particularly similar. For he died while Greece was at the height of her prosperity, and before she was involved in those troubles which proved so fatal to her. It is true there is this difference, Cimon died in his camp, in the office of general; not like a man, who, fatigued with war, and avoiding its conflicts, sought the reward of his military labours and of the laurels he had won, in the delicacies of the table, and the joys of wine. In this view Plato was right in the censure of the followers of Orpheus, who had

placed the rewards of futurity provided for the good, in everlasting intoxication. No doubt, ease, tranquillity, literary researches, and the pleasures of contemplation, furnish the most suitable retreat for a man in years, who has bid adieu to military and political pursuits. But to propose pleasure as the end of great achievements, and, after long expeditions and commands, to lead up the dance of Venus, and riot in her smiles, was so far from being worthy of the famed academy, and a follower of the sage Xenocrates, that it rather became a disciple of Epicurus. This is the more surprising, because Cimon seems to have spent his youth in luxury and dissipation, and Lucullus. in letters and sobriety. It is certainly another thing notwithstanding to change for the better, and happier is the nature in which vices gradually die, and virtue flourishes.

They were equally wealthy, but did not apply their riches to the same purposes. For we cannot compare the palace at Naples and the Belvideres amidst the water, which Lucullus erected with the barbarian spoils, to the south wall of the citadel which Cimon built with the treasure he brought from the wars. Nor can the sumptuous table of Lucullus, which favoured too much of eastern magnificence, be put in competition with the open and benevolent table of Cimon. The one, at a moderate charge, daily nourished great numbers of poor ; the other, at a vast expense, pleased the appetites of a few of the rich and the voluptuous. Perhaps, indeed, some allowance must be made for the difference of the time. We know not, whether Cimon, if he had lived to be old, and retired from the concerns of war and of the state, might not have given into a more pompous and luxurious way of living for he naturally loved wine and company, was a promoter of public feasts and games, and remarkable, as we have observed, for his inclination for the sex.

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But glorious enterprises and great actions, being attended with pleasures of another kind, leave no leisure for inferior gratifications; nay; they banish them from the thoughts of persons of great abilities for the field and the cabinet. And if Lucullus had finished his days in high commands and amidst the conflicts of war, I am persuaded the most envious caviller could have found nothing to reproach him with. So much with respect to their way of living.

As to their military character, it is certain they were able commanders both at sea and land. But as the champions, who in one day gained the garland not only in wrestling but in the Pancration, are not simply called victors, but by the custom of the games, the flowers of the victory; so Cimon, having crowned Greece with two victories gained in one day, the one at land, the other a naval one, deserves some preference in the list of generals.

Lucullus was indebted to his country for his power, and Cimon promoted the power of his country. The one found Rome commanding the allies, and under her auspices extended her conquests; the other found Athens obeying instead of commanding, and yet gained her the chief authority among her allies, as well as conquered her enemies. The Persians he defeated, and drove them out of the sea, and he persuaded the Lacedæmonians voluntarily to surrender the command.

If it be the greatest work of a general to bring his men to obey him from a principle of affection, we shall find Lucullus greatly deficient in this respect. He was despised by his own troops, whereas Cimon commanded the veneration, not only of his own soldiers, but of all the allies. The former was deserted by his own, and the latter was courted by strangers. The one set out with a fine army, and returned alone, abandoned by that army;

the other went out with troops subject to the orders they should receive from another general, and at his return they were at the head of the whole league. Thus he gained three of the most difficult points imaginable, peace with the enemy, the lead among the allies, and a good understanding with Sparta.

They both atempted to conquer great kingdoms, and to subdue all Asia, but their purposes were unsuccessful. Cimon's course was stopped by fortune; he died with his commission in his hand, and in the height of his prosperity. Lucullus, on the other hand, cannot possibly be excused, as to the loss of his authority, since he must either have been ignorant of the grievances of his army, which ended in so incurable an aversion, or unwilling to redress them.

This he has in common with Cimon, that he was impeached by his countrymen. The Athenians, it is true, went farther; they banished Cimon by the ostracism, that they might not, as Plato expresses it, hear his voice for ten years. Indeed, the proceedings of the aristocratical party are seldom acceptable to the people; for while they are obliged to use some violence for the correction of what is amiss, their measures resemble the bandages of surgeons, which are uneasy at the same time that they reduce the dislocation. But in this respect perhaps we may exculpate both the one and the other. Lucullus carried his arms much the farthest. He was the first who led a Roman army over Mount Taurus, and passed the Tigris. He took and burned the royal cities of Asia, Tigranocerta, Cabira, Sinope, Nisibis, in the sight of their respective kings. On the north he penetrated as far as the Phasis, on the east to Media, and on the south to the Red Sea, by the favour and assistance of the princes of Arabia. He overthrew the armies of the two great kings, and would certainly have taken them, had they not fled,

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