He thought nothing more derogatory to the character of an accomplished general than precipitancy and rashness; on which account he had frequently in his mouth those proverbs:
Speude bradeos,
> Hasten slowly,And
‘Asphalaes gar est’ ameinon, hae erasus strataelataes.
> The cautious captain’s better than the bold.And “That is done fast enough, which is done well enough.”
He was wont to say also, that
“a battle or a war ought never to be undertaken, unless the prospect of gain overbalanced the fear of loss. For,” said he, “men who pursue small advantages with no small hazard, resemble those who fish with a golden hook, the loss of which, if the line should happen to break, could never be compensated by all the fish they might take.”
XXVI. He was advanced to public offices before the age at which he was legally qualified for them; and to some, also, of a new kind, and for life. He seized