01-20-2013, 08:16 AM
What was it Sun Tzu said?
Paraphrasing, "the greatest success is not to win a hundred battles, the greatest success is to win without one battle." I'm wondering if we would even think of the greatest general by this standard.
Pompeius and Caesar were certainly able generals, but they sought out wars for their own ends, and destroyed the Republic and devastated both the Romans and those they warred against. Cincinnatus, Camillus, Scipio, and Marius didn't do that, even if Marius came close to that. It's harder to draw that line for the emperors than for the generals of the Republic or of the Empire.
Paraphrasing, "the greatest success is not to win a hundred battles, the greatest success is to win without one battle." I'm wondering if we would even think of the greatest general by this standard.
Pompeius and Caesar were certainly able generals, but they sought out wars for their own ends, and destroyed the Republic and devastated both the Romans and those they warred against. Cincinnatus, Camillus, Scipio, and Marius didn't do that, even if Marius came close to that. It's harder to draw that line for the emperors than for the generals of the Republic or of the Empire.
