I do not imagine,
however, that Fabius Maximus would have yielded anything to the
Carthaginians, but would have bravely risked any danger in defence of
the Roman Empire. The kind treatment of Minucius by Fabius and his
mildness of character contrast very favourably with the bitter party
feud of Perikles with Kimon and Thucydides, who were men of good birth,
and belonging to the conservative party, and whom Perikles drove into
exile by the ostracism. Then, too, the power of Perikles was much
greater than that of Fabius. Perikles would not permit the State to
suffer disaster because of the bad management of her generals. One of
them alone, Tolmides, succeeded in having his own way, against the
wishes of Perikles, and perished in an attack on the Boeotians, while
all the rest, because of his immense influence and power, submitted
themselves to his authority and regulated their proceedings by his
ideas. Whereas Fabius, although he could avoid any error in managing his
own army, was thwarted by his being powerless to control the movements
of other generals.
For the Romans would not have suffered so many defeats if Fabius had
enjoyed the same power that Perikles did in Athens. As to their
generosity with regard to money, the one was remarkable for never
receiving bribes, while the other spent much on ransoming prisoners at
his own expense; although this was not much above six talents, while it
is hard for any one to tell the amount of money which Perikles might
have taken from foreign princes and Greek allied states, all of which he
refused and kept his hands clean.
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