. . . and then we handle the war in a different way and endeavour to conquer the enemy without fighting. And the chief virtue of a general is to know how to obtain a victory without danger; for ‘by skill,’ as Homer says, I one charioteer prevails over another.’ For even the proverb derived from Cadmus disparages a victory fraught with danger, to me it has always seemed best to carry out some wily, yet strategic, move even during the battle itself, whenever one’s army is not adequate compared with the strength of one’s opponents.
Anyone who likes can gather from history that a victory is not always achieved in the same way, or by the same means, but that from olden days down to the present it is gained by various efforts, hence we conclude that victory is indeed one and the same, but that the means by which generals obtain it, are diverse and varied in nature. For some of our former celebrated generals seem to have conquered their enemies by sheer strength . . . in this way; whereas others used different means and gained the victory.
Unexpectedly set up trophies
Now my father, the Emperor, sometimes overcame his adversaries by prowess, and at others by his quick wit, for even during a battle he occasionally thought out some clever device and by daringly using it at once carried off the victory. By making use of stratagems on some occasions, and on others by hard fighting he often and unexpectedly set up trophies. If there ever was a man who was fond of danger, it was he, and dangers could be seen continually rising up in his path, and at times he would walk into them bare-headed and come to close quarters with the barbarians, and at others again he would pretend to decline battle, and act the frightened man, if the occasion demanded it and circumstances advised it.
Or to put the whole matter concisely, he prevailed when he fled, and conquered when he pursued, and falling he stood, and dropping down he was erect on the principle of caltrops which always stick upright however you throw them. But here again I must deprecate being censured on the score that I am caught bragging; for in my defence I have several times said that it is not love for my father that suggests these remarks, but the nature of the circumstances. For does anything on the side of truth itself prevent a person being fond of his father and fond of truth also? for I have chosen to write a truthful history and that of a good man ; but if that man happens to be the father of the historian, let the father’s name be added to it as a mere appendage; but the history must be dedicated to natural truth.
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