should often result in the same incidents; for, if
the number of elemental things is not limited, fortune has in the
abundance of material a bountiful supply of sameness of results; and,
if things are implicated in a dependence upon definite numbers, it is
of necessity that the same things must often happen, being effected by
the same means. Now, as some are pleased to collect, by inquiry and
hearsay, from among the things which accidentally happen, such as
bear some likeness to the works of calculation and forethought: such,
for instance, as that there were two celebrated Atteis,[102] the one a
Syrian and the other an Arcadian, and that both were killed by a wild
boar; that there were two Actaeons, one of whom was torn in pieces by
his dogs and the other by his lovers; that there were two
Scipios,[103] by one of whom the Carthaginians were first conquered,
and by the other were cut up root and branch; that Troy was taken by
Hercules, on account of the horses of Laomedon, and by Agamemnon by
means of the wooden horse, as it is called, and was taken a third time
by Charidemus, by reason of the Ilians not being able to close the
gates quick enough, owing to a horse having got between them; that
there are two cities which have the same name with the most fragrant
of plants, Ios[104] and Smyrna, and that Homer was born in one of them
and died in the other: I may be allowed to add to these instances,
that the most warlike of commanders and those who have accomplished
most by a union of daring and cunning, have been one-eyed men,
Philippus,[105] Antigonus, Annibal, and the subject of this
Life--Sertorius; he whom one may affirm to have been more continent as
to women than Philip, more true to his friends than Antigonus, more
merciful to his enemies than Annibal,[106] inferior in understanding
to none of them, but in fortune inferior to all; and, though he always
found Fortune more hard to deal with than his open enemies, yet he
proved himself her equal by opposing the experience of Metellus, the
daring of Pompeius, the fortune of Sulla, and the power of the whole
Roman state; a fugitive and a stranger putting himself at the head of
barbarians. Of all the Greeks, Eumenes[107] of Kardia presents the
nearest resemblance to him. Both of them were men qualified to
command; both were warlike, and yet full of stratagem; both became
exiles from their native land and the commanders of foreign troops;
and both had the same violent and