ὁ μὲν Ἀθηναῖος Ἰφικράτης τὸν μισθοφόρον ἠξίου στρατιώτην καὶ φιλόπλουτον εἶναι καὶ φιλήδονον, ὅπως ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις χορηγίαν ἐπιζητῶν ἀγωνίζηται παραβολώτερον, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι, καθάπερ ἐρρωμένον σῶμα, τὸ στρατιωτικὸν ἀξιοῦσιν ἰδίᾳ μηδέποτε χρώμενον ὁρμῇ συγκινεῖσθαι τῇ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ.
Iphicrates the Athenian used to think that the mercenary soldier might well be fond of wealth and fond of pleasure, in order that his quest for the means to gratify his desires might lead him to fight with greater recklessness; but most people think that a body of soldiers, just like a natural body in full vigour, ought to have no initiative of its own, but should follow that of its commander.
διὸ καὶ Παῦλον Αἰμίλιον λέγουσι τὴν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ δύναμιν παραλαβόντα λαλιᾶς καὶ περιεργίας, οἷον διαστρατηγοῦσαν, ἀνάπλεων, παρεγγυῆσαι τὴν χεῖρα ποιεῖν ἑτοίμην καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν ὀξεῖαν ἕκαστον, αὐτῷ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων μελήσειν.
Wherefore Paulus Aemilius, as we are told, finding that the army which he had taken over in Macedonia was infected with loquacity and meddlesomeness, as though they were all generals, gave out word that each man was to have his hand ready and his sword sharp, but that he himself would look out for the rest.
ὁ δὲ Πλάτων οὐδὲν ἔργον ὁρῶν ἄρχοντος ἀγαθοῦ καὶ στρατηγοῦ στρατιᾶς μὴ σωφρονούσης μηδὲ ὁμοπαθούσης, ἀλλὰ τὴν πειθαρχικὴν ἀρετὴν ὁμοίως τῇ βασιλικῇ νομίζων φύσεως γενναίας καὶ τροφῆς φιλοσόφου δεῖσθαι, μάλιστα τῷ πρᾴῳ καὶ φιλανθρώπῳ τὸ θυμοειδὲς καὶ δραστήριον ἐμμελῶς ἀνακεραννυμένης, ἄλλα τε πάθη πολλὰ καὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίοις συμπεσόντα μετὰ τὴν Νέρωνος τελευτὴν ἔχει μαρτύρια καὶ παραδείγματα τοῦ μηδὲν εἶναι φοβερώτερον ἀπαιδεύτοις χρωμένης καὶ ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς ἐν ἡγεμονίᾳ στρατιωτικῆς δυνάμεως.
Moreover, Plato sees that a good commander or general can do nothing unless his army is amenable and loyal; and he thinks that the quality of obedience, like the quality characteristic of a king, requires a noble nature and a philosophic training, which, above all things, blends harmoniously the qualities of gentleness and humanity with those of high courage and aggressiveness. Many dire events, and particularly those which befell the Romans after the death of Nero, bear witness to this, and show plainly that an empire has nothing more fearful to show than a military force given over to untrained and unreasoning impulses.
Δημάδης μὲν γὰρ Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήσαντος εἴκαζε τὴν Μακεδόνων στρατιὰν ἐκτετυφλωμένῳ τῷ Κύκλωπι, πολλὰς κινουμένην ὁρῶν κινήσεις ἀτάκτους καὶ παραφόρους· τὴν δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν ὅμοια τοῖς λεγομένοις Τιτανικοῖς πάθεσι καὶ κινήμασι κατελάμβανεν, εἰς πολλὰ διασπωμένην ἅμα καὶ πολλαχόθεν αὖθις ἑαυτῇ συμπίπτουσαν, οὐχ οὕτως ὑπὸ φιλαρχίας τῶν ἀναγορευομένων αὐτοκρατόρων, ὡς φιλοπλουτίας καὶ ἀκολασίας τὸν στρατιωτικοῦ διʼ ἀλλήλων ὥσπερ ἥλους τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐκκρούοντος.
Demades, indeed, after Alexander had died, likened the Macedonian army to the blinded Cyclops, observing the many random and disorderly movements that it made; but the Roman Empire was a prey to convulsions and disasters like those caused by the Titans of mythology, being torn into many fragments, and again in many places collapsing upon itself, not so much through the ambition of those who were proclaimed emperors, as through the greed and licence of the soldiery, which drove out one commander with another as nail drives out nail.
καίτοι Διονύσιος Φεραῖον ἄρξαντα Θετταλῶν δέκα μῆνας, εἶτα εὐθὺς ἀναιρεθέντα, τὸν τραγικὸν ἀνεκάλει τύραννον, ἐπισκώπτων τὸ τάχος τῆς μεταβολῆς, ἡ δὲ τῶν Καισάρων ἑστία, τὸ Παλάτιον, ἐν ἐλάσσονι χρόνῳ τέσσαρας αὐτοκράτορας ὑπεδέξατο, τὸν μὲν εἰσαγόντων ὥσπερ διὰ σκηνῆς, τὸν δʼ ἐξαγόντων. ἀλλʼ ἦν γε παραμυθία τοῖς κακῶς πάσχουσι μία τὸ μὴ δεηθῆναι δίκης ἑτέρας ἐπὶ τοὺς αἰτίους, ἀλλʼ ὁρᾶν αὐτοὺς ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν φονευομένους, πρῶτον δε καὶ δικαιότατα πάντων τὸν δελεάσαντα καὶ διδάξαντα τοσοῦτον ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ μεταβολῇ Καίσαρος ὅσον αὐτὸς ὑπέσχετο, κάλλιστον ἔργον διαβαλὼν τῷ μισθῷ, τὴν ἀπὸ Νέρωνος ἀποστασίαν προδοσίαν γενομένην.
And yet the Pheraean who ruled Thessaly for ten months and was then promptly killed, was called the tragedy-tyrant by Dionysius, with scornful reference to the quickness of the change. But the house of the Caesars, the Palatium, in a shorter time than this received four emperors, the soldiery ushering one in and another out, as in play. But the suffering people had one consolation at least in the fact that they needed no other punishment of the authors of their sufferings, but saw them slain by one another’s hands, and first and most righteously of all, the man who ensnared the soldiery and taught them to expect from the deposition of a Caesar all the good things which he promised them, thus defiling a most noble deed by the pay he offered for it, and turning the revolt from Nero into treachery.
Νυμφίδιος γὰρ Σαβῖνος ὢν ἔπαρχος, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, μετὰ Τιγελλίνου τῆς αὐλῆς, ἐπεὶ τὰ Νέρωνος ἀπέγνωστο παντάπασι καὶ δῆλος ἦν ἀποδρασόμενος εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἔπεισε τὸ στρατιωτικόν, ὡς μηκέτι παρόντος, ἀλλʼ ἤδη πεφευγότος, αὐτοκράτορα Γάλβαν ἀναγορεῦσαι,
It was Nymphidius Sabinus, prefect of the court guard along with Tigellinus, as I have already stated, who, when Nero’s case was altogether desperate, and it was clear that he was going to run away to Egypt, persuaded the soldiery, as though Nero were no longer there but had already fled, to proclaim Galba emperor,
καὶ δωρεὰν ὑπέσχετο κατʼ ἄνδρα τοῖς αὐλικοῖς καὶ στρατηγικοῖς προσαγορευομένοις δραχμὰς ἑπτακισχιλίας πεντακοσίας, τοῖς δὲ ἐκτὸς στρατευομένοις πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίας ἐπὶ χιλίαις, ὅσον ἀμήχανον ἦν συναγαγεῖν μὴ πλείονα μυριάκις κακὰ παρασχόντα πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὧν Νέρων παρέσχε.
and promised as largess seventy-five hundred drachmas apiece for the court, or praetorian, guards, as they were called, and twelve hundred and fifty drachmas for those in service outside of Rome, a sum which it was impossible to raise without inflicting ten thousand times more evils upon the world than those inflicted by Nero.
τοῦτο γὰρ εὐθὺς μὲν ἀπώλεσε Νέρωνα, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ Γάλβαν τὸν μὲν γὰρ ὡς ληψόμενοι προήκαντο, τὸν δὲ μὴ λαμβάνοντες ἀπέκτειναν. εἶτα τὸν τοσοῦτον δώσοντα ζητοῦντες ἔφθησαν ἐν ταῖς ἀποστάσεσι καὶ προδοσίαις ἀναλώσαντες αὑτοὺς ἢ τυχόντες ὧν ἤλπισαν. τὰ μὲν οὖν καθʼ ἕκαστα τῶν γενομένων ἀπαγγέλλειν ἀκριβῶς τῆς πραγματικῆς ἱστορίας ἐστίν, ὅσα δὲ ἄξια λόγου τοῖς τῶν Καισάρων ἔργοις καὶ πάθεσι συμπέπτωκεν, οὐδὲ ἐμοὶ προσήκει παρελθεῖν.
This promise was at once the death of Nero, and soon afterwards of Galba: the one the soldiers abandoned to his fate in order to get their reward, the other they killed because they did not get it. Then, in trying to find someone who would give them as high a price, they destroyed themselves in a succession of revolts and treacheries before their expectations were satisfied. Now, the accurate and circumstantial narration of these events belongs to formal history; but it is my duty also not to omit such incidents as are worthy of mention in the deeds and fates of the Caesars.
Γάλβας Σουλπίκιος ὅτι μὲν ἰδιώτης πλουσιώτατος ἁπάντων εἰς τὸν Καισάρων παρῆλθεν οἶκον, ὁμολογεῖται μέγα δὲ ἔχων εὐγενείας ἀξίωμα τὸν Σερουΐων οἶκον, αὐτὸς ἐφρόνει μεῖζον ἐπὶ τῇ Κάτλου συγγενείᾳ, πρωτεύσαντος ἀνδρὸς ἀρετῇ καὶ δόξῃ τῶν καθʼ ἑαυτόν, εἰ καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι μᾶλλον ἑκὼν ἑτέροις παρῆκεν.
That Sulpicius Galba was the richest private person who ever came to the imperial throne, is generally admitted; moreover, his connection with the noble house of the Servii gave him great prestige, although he prided himself more on his relationship to Catulus, who was the foremost man in his time in virtue and reputation, even if he gladly left to others the exercise of greater power.
ἦν δέ τι καὶ Λιβίᾳ τῇ Καίσαρος γυναικὶ κατὰ γένος προσήκων ὁ Γάλβας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Λιβίας παρασχούσης ὕπατος ἐκ Παλατίου προῆλθε. λέγεται δὲ καὶ στρατεύματος ἐν Γερμανίᾳ καλῶς ἄρξαι καὶ Λιβύης ἀνθύπατος γενόμενος σὺν ὀλίγοις ἐπαινεθῆναι. τὸ δὲ εὔκολον αὐτοῦ τῆς διαίτης καὶ φειδωλὸν ἐν δαπάναις καὶ ἀπέριττον αἰτίαν ἔσχεν αὐτοκράτορος γενομένου μικρολογίας, ἣν ἕωλόν τινα δόξαν εὐταξίας ἔφερε καὶ σωφροσύνης.
Galba was also somehow related to Livia, the wife of Augustus Caesar, and therefore, at the instance of Livia, he was made consul by the emperor. We are told also that he commanded an army in Germany with distinction, and that when he was pro-consul of Africa, he won such praise as few have done. But his simple and contented way of living, the sparing hand with which he dealt out money, always avoiding excess, were counted unto him, when he became emperor, as parsimony, so that the reputation which he bore for moderation and self-restraint was an insipid sort of thing.
ἐπέμφθη δὲ ὑπὸ Νέρωνος Ἰβηρίας ἄρχων, οὔπω δεδιδαγμένου φοβεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐν ἀξιώμασι μεγάλους τῶν πολιτῶν. ἐκείνῳ δὲ καὶ φύσει δοκοῦντι πρᾴῳ γεγονέναι προσετίθει πίστιν εὐλαβείας τὸ γῆρας.
By Nero he was sent out as governor of Spain, before Nero had yet learned to be afraid of citizens who were held in high esteem. Galba, however, was thought to be of a gentle nature, and his great age gave an added confidence that he would always act with caution.
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