[9,31] Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τῆς γνώμης κατηγοροῦσί μου προδοσίαν μὲν οὐ τολμῶντες ἐπικαλεῖν οὐδ´ ἀνανδρίαν, ἐφ´ οἷς αἱ κατὰ τῶν ἄλλων στρατηγῶν γίνονται κρίσεις, ἀπειρίαν δὲ τοῦ στρατηγεῖν καὶ ἀφροσύνην, ὅτι κίνδυνον ὑπέμεινα οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἐπὶ τὸν χάρακα τῶν πολεμίων ὠσάμενος, βούλομαι καὶ περὶ τούτου λόγον ὑποσχεῖν ὑμῖν, προχειρότατον μὲν τοῦτ´ ἔχων εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἐπιτιμᾶν τοῖς γενομένοις πάνυ ῥᾴδιον καὶ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου, τὸ δὲ παραβάλλεσθαι πράγμασι καλοῖς χαλεπὸν καὶ ὀλίγων· καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ὥσπερ τὰ γεγονότα φαίνεται, ὁποῖά ἐστιν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα, ὁποῖα ἔσται· ἀλλ´ ἐκεῖνα μὲν αἰσθήσει καὶ πάθεσι καταλαμβανόμεθα, ταῦτα δὲ μαντείαις καὶ δόξαις εἰκάζομεν, ἐν αἷς πολὺ τὸ ἀπατηλόν· καὶ ὅτι ῥᾷστον ἁπάντων ἐστὶ λόγῳ στρατηγεῖν πολέμους ἔξω τοῦ δεινοῦ βεβηκότας, ὃ ποιοῦσιν οἱ κατηγοροῦντες ἐμοῦ. ἀλλ´ ἵνα ταῦτ´ ἀφῶ, φέρε πρὸς θεῶν εἴπατέ μοι, μόνος ἢ πρῶτος ὑμῖν ἐγὼ φαίνομαι βιάσασθαι φρούριον ἐπιβαλόμενος καὶ πρὸς ὑψηλὰ χωρία τὰς δυνάμεις ἀγαγών; ἢ πολλῶν μετ´ ἄλλων ὑμετέρων στρατηγῶν, ἐξ ὧν οἱ μὲν κατώρθωσαν, τοῖς δ´ οὐκ ἐχώρησεν ἡ πεῖρα κατὰ νοῦν; τί δήποτ´ οὖν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀφέντες ἐμὲ κρίνετε, εἰ ταῦτ´ ἀστρατηγησίας καὶ ἀφροσύνης ἔργα νομίζετε; πόσα δ´ ἄλλα τούτου τολμηρότερα τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν ἔπεισι πράττειν, ὅταν τὸ ἀσφαλὲς καὶ λελογισμένον ἥκιστα οἱ καιροὶ δέχωνται; οἱ μέν γε τὰς σημαίας ἁρπάσαντες τῶν σφετέρων ἔρριψαν εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους, ἵνα τοῖς βλακεύουσι καὶ ἀποδειλιῶσιν ἐκ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου παραστῇ τὸ εὔψυχον ἐπισταμένοις, ὅτι τοὺς μὴ ἀνασώσαντας τὰ σημεῖα ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν δεῖ σὺν αἰσχύνῃ ἀποθανεῖν· οἱ δ´ εἰς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων χώραν ἐμβαλόντες ἔλυσαν τὰ ζεύγματα τῶν ποταμῶν, οὓς διέβησαν, ἵνα τοῖς φεύγειν διανοουμένοις ἄπορος ἡ τοῦ σωθῆναι ἐλπὶς φανεῖσα θάρσος παραστήσῃ καὶ μένος ἐν ταῖς μάχαις· οἱ δὲ τὰς σκηνὰς καὶ τὰ σκευοφόρα κατακαύσαντες ἀνάγκην ἐπέθηκαν τοῖς σφετέροις ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας, ὅσων δέονται, λαμβάνειν. ἐῶ τἆλλα μυρία ὄντα λέγειν, καὶ ὅσα τολμηρὰ ἔργα καὶ ἐνθυμήματα ἕτερα στρατηγῶν ἱστορίᾳ τε καὶ πείρᾳ παραλαβόντες ἔχομεν, ἐφ´ οἷς οὐδεὶς πώποτε τῶν ψευσθέντων τῆς ἐλπίδος ὑπέσχε δίκας. εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἔχει τις ὑμῶν αἰτιάσασθαί με, ὅτι προβαλὼν τοὺς ἄλλους εἰς προὖπτον ὄλεθρον, αὐτὸς ἔξω τοῦ κινδύνου τὸ σῶμα εἶχον. εἰ δὲ μετὰ πάντων τ´ ἐξηταζόμην καὶ τελευταῖος ἀπηλλαττόμην καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς ἄλλοις μετεῖχον τύχης, τί ἀδικῶ; καὶ περὶ μὲν ἐμοῦ ταῦθ´ ἱκανὰ εἰρήσθω.

[9,31] "But since they censure my judgement also, not daring, indeed, to accuse me of treachery or cowardice, the charges on which other generals are tried, but accuse me of inexperience in the duties of a general and imprudence, in that I undertook an unnecessary risk in pressing forward to the enemy's camp, I wish to render you an accounting on that point, too, since I can make the very obvious retort that it is very easy and lies within the power of any man to censure past actions, whereas to venture upon glorious exploits is difficult and within the power of but few; also that it is not so apparent what future events will be as what past events are, but, on the contrary, we apprehend the latter by perception and our experiences, while we conjecture the others by divination and opinions, in which there is much that is deceptive; and again, that it is the easiest thing in the world for people to conduct wars by talk when they stand far from the danger, which is what my accusers do.But, to waive all this, tell me, in the name of the gods, do you regard me as the first or the only man who ever attempted to capture a stronghold by force and led his men against lofty positions? Or have not many (p27) others of your generals done the sam, some of whom have succeeded, while the attempt of others has not turned out as they wished? Why in the world, then, did you let the others off but now try me, if you consider these actions to be marks of incapacity and imprudence in a general? How many other undertakings more daring than this does it occur to your generals to attempt when times of crisis will by no means admit of the safe and well-considered course? Some indeed have snatched the standards from their own men and hurled them among the enemy, in order that the indolent and cowardly might perforce gain courage, since they knew that those who failed to recover those standards must be put to death ignominiously by their generals. Others, after invading the enemy's country, have destroyed the bridges over the rivers what they had crossed, in order that any who entertained thoughts of saving themselves by flight might find their hope vain and so be inspired with boldness and resolution in the battles. Still others by burning their tents and baggage38 have imposed on their men the necessity of supplying themselves out of the enemy's country with everything they needed. I omit mentioning all the other instances of the kind, which are countless, and the many other daring actions and expedients of generals that we know of from both history and our own experience, for which no general was ever punished when disappointed in his helps. Unless, indeed, someone among you can bring the charge against me that when I exposed the others to manifest destruction I kept myself out of danger. But if I took my place in the line with all the rest, was last to withdraw and shared the same fortune with the (p29) others, of what crime am I guilty? Concerning myself, then, let this suffice.