t the Orphic school for promising to
their disciples as their reward hereafter.

A peaceful retirement, and a life of literary leisure, is no doubt a
great comfort to a man who has withdrawn himself from taking any
active part in politics; but to perform notable exploits with no
object in view except to obtain the means of enjoyment, and to pass
from the command of armies and the conduct of great wars to a life of
voluptuous indolence and luxury seems unworthy of a philosopher of the
Academy, or of any who profess to follow the doctrine of Xenokrates,
and to be rather fit for a disciple of Epikurus. It is a remarkable
circumstance that the youth of Kimon seems to have been licentious and
extravagant, while that of Lucullus was spent in a sober and virtuous
fashion. Clearly he is the better man that changes for the better; for
that nature must be the more excellent in which vice decays, and
virtue gains strength. Moreover, both Kimon and Lucullus were wealthy;
but they made a very different use of their wealth. We cannot compare
the building of the south wall of the Acropolis of Athens, which was
completed with the money won by Kimon in the wars, with the luxurious
pavilions and villas washed by the sea which Lucullus erected in
Neapolis with the spoils he had taken from the barbarian enemies of
Rome. Still less can we compare the generous and popular hospitality
of Kimon with the Eastern profusion and extravagance of Lucullus's
table; for Kimon, at a small expense, fed many of his countrymen
daily, while the other spent enormous sums to provide luxuries for a
small circle of friends. Yet this difference in their habits may have
been caused by the times in which they lived; and no one can tell
whether Kimon, if he had returned home and spent an old age of
indolence and unwarlike repose, might not have even exceeded Lucullus
in riotous luxury; for he was fond of wine and of society, and, as has
been told in his life, was greatly addicted to women. But success in
war or in politics so delights ambitious natures that they have no
time for pursuing minor pleasures. Had Lucullus died at the head of
his army, I suppose that the most captious critic could scarcely have
found anything to blame in his life. So much, then, for their mode of
living.

II. Now with regard to their warlike operations, there can be no doubt
that both proved themselves to be consummate commanders, both by land
and by sea; yet, as we are accustomed to