indeed, owing
to these very causes they had armies more subordinate and courageous.
In my eyes, Marcus Scaurus (who flourished when I was but a boy) was
not inferior to Caius Marius;[25] nor, after I came to have a concern
in the government, Quintus Catulus[26] to Cneius Pompey. An army
abroad is but of small service, unless there be a wise administration
at home. Nor did that good man and great general Africanus perform a
more important service to his country when he razed Numantia than did
that private citizen P. Nasica[27] when at the same period he killed
Tiberius Gracchus. An action which it is true was not merely of a
civil nature; for it approaches to a military character, as being the
result of force and courage; but it was an action performed without an
army, and from political considerations....

Now all that excellence which springs from a lofty and noble nature is
altogether produced by the mental and not by the corporeal powers.
Meanwhile, the body ought to be kept in such action and order as that
it may be always ready to obey the dictates of reason and wisdom, in
carrying them into execution, and in persevering under hardships. But
with regard to that _honestas_ we are treating of, it consists wholly
in the thoughtful application of the mind, by which the civilians who
preside over public affairs are equally serviceable to their country
as they who wage wars. For it often happens that by such counsels wars
are either not entered into or they are brought to a termination;
sometimes they are even undertaken, as the third Punic war was by the
advice of Marcus Cato, whose authority was powerful, even after he was
dead.

Wisdom in determining is therefore preferable to courage in fighting;
but in this we are to take care that we are not swayed by an aversion
to fighting rather than by a consideration of expediency. Now in
engaging in war we ought to make it appear that we have no other view
than peace. But the character of a brave and resolute man is not to be
ruffled with adversity, and not to be in such confusion as to quit his
post, as we say, but to preserve a presence of mind, and the exercise
of reason, without departing from his purpose. And while this is the
characteristic of a lofty spirit, so this also is that of a powerful
intellect; namely, to anticipate futurity in thought, and to conclude
beforehand what may happen on either side, and, upon that, what
measures to pursue, and never be surprized