03-24-2005, 03:52 PM
I think Caesar might have pulled it off because he had the greatest gift a general can have: he was incredibly lucky. I suspect that if he had lived to conduct his war, the Parthian general would have been bitten by a snake just before the first battle, or a fortuitous flood would have hampered the Parthians while the Romans were on high ground or something of the sort. Realistic generals know that luck is about 50% of what happens in war, it's how you manage the other 50% that counts. When Napoleon was asked which of his officers he singled out for promotion, he replied, "The lucky ones." Caesar had luck by the bucketful. <p></p><i></i>