第 1 节
作者:卡车      更新:2021-02-27 01:48      字数:5356
  THE COMPARISON OF PHILOPOEMEN WITH FLAMININUS
  by Plutarch
  translated by John Dryden
  FIRST them; as for the greatness of the benefits which Titus
  conferred on Greece; neither Philopoemen; nor many braver men than he;
  can make good the parallel。 They were Greeks fighting against
  Greeks; but Titus; a stranger to Greece; fought for her。 And at the
  very time when Philopoemen went over into Crete; destitute of means to
  succour his besieged countrymen; Titus; by a defeat given to Philip in
  the heart of Greece; set them and their cities free。 Again; if we
  examine the battles they fought; Philopoemen; whilst he was the
  Achaeans' general; slew more Greeks than Titus; in aiding the
  Greeks; slew Macedonians。 As to their failings; ambition was Titus's
  weak side; and obstinacy Philopoemen's in the former; anger was easily
  kindled; in the latter; it was as hardly quenched。 Titus reserved to
  Philip the royal dignity; he pardoned the Aetolians; and stood their
  friend; but Philopoemen; exasperated against his country; deprived
  it of its supremacy over the adjacent villages。 Titus was ever
  constant to those he had once befriended; the other; upon any offence;
  as prone to cancel kindnesses。 He who had once been a benefactor to
  the Lacedaemonians; afterwards laid their walls level with the ground;
  wasted their country; and in the end changed and destroyed the whole
  frame of their government。 He seems; in truth; to have prodigalled
  away his own life; through passion and perverseness; for he fell
  upon the Messenians; not with that conduct and caution that
  characterized the movements of Titus; but with unnecessary and
  unreasonable haste。
  The many battles he fought; and the many trophies he won; may make
  us ascribe to Philopoemen the more thorough knowledge of war。 Titus
  decided the matter betwixt Philip and himself in two engagements;
  but Philopoemen came off victorious in ten thousand encounters; to all
  which fortune had scarcely any pretence; so much were they owing to
  his skill。 Besides; Titus got his renown; assisted by the power of a
  flourishing Rome; the other flourished under a declined Greece; so
  that his successes may be accounted his own; in Titus's glory Rome
  claims a share。 The one had brave men under him; the other made his
  brave; by being over them。 And though Philopoemen was unfortunate;
  certainly; in always being opposed to his countrymen; yet this
  misfortune is at the same time a proof of his merit。 Where the
  circumstances are the same; superior success can only be ascribed to
  superior merit。 And he had; indeed; to do with the two most warlike
  nations of all Greece; the Cretans on the one hand; and the
  Lacedaemonians on the other; and he mastered the craftiest of them
  by art and the bravest of them by valour。 It may also be said that
  Titus; having his men armed and disciplined to his hand; had in a
  manner his victories made for him; whereas Philopoemen was forced to
  introduce a discipline and tactics of his own; and to new…mould and
  model his soldiers; so that what is of greatest import towards
  insuring a victory was in his case his own creation; while the other
  had it ready provided for his benefit。 Philopoemen effected many
  gallant things with his own hand; but Titus none; so much so that
  one Archedemus; an Aetolian; made it a jest against him that while he;
  the Aetolian; was running with his drawn sword; where he saw the
  Macedonians drawn up closest and fighting hardest; Titus was
  standing still; and with hands stretched out to heaven; praying to the
  gods for aid。
  It is true Titus acquitted himself admirably; both as a governor and
  as an ambassador; but Philopoemen was no less serviceable and useful
  to the Achaeans in the capacity of a private man than in that of a
  commander。 He was a private citizen when he restored the Messenians to
  their liberty; and delivered their city from Nabis; he was also a
  private citizen when he rescued the Lacedaemonians; and shut the gates
  of Sparta against the general Diophanes and Titus。 He had a nature
  so truly formed for command that he could govern even the laws
  themselves for the public good; he did not need to wait for the
  formality of being elected into command by the governed; but
  employed their service; if occasion required; at his own discretion;
  judging that he who understood their real interests was more truly
  their supreme magistrate; than he whom they had elected to the office。
  The equity; clemency; and humanity of Titus towards the Greeks display
  a great and generous nature; but the actions of Philopoemen; full of
  courage; and forward to assert his country's liberty against the
  Romans; have something yet greater and nobler in them。 For it is not
  as hard a task to gratify the indigent and distressed; as to bear up
  against and to dare to incur the anger of the powerful。 To conclude;
  since it does not appear to be easy; by any review or discussion; to
  establish the true difference of their merits and decide to which a
  preference is due; will it be an unfair award in the case; if we let
  the Greek bear away the crown for military conduct and warlike
  skill; and the Roman for justice and clemency?
  THE END