“There is a division of duties between the army and its generals. Eagerness for battle becomes the soldiers, but generals serve the cause by forethought, by counsel, by delay oftener than by temerity. As I promoted your victory to the utmost of my power by my sword and by my personal exertions, so now I must help you by prudence and by counsel, the qualities which belong peculiarly to a general.”

— Tacitus , book Histories

Book III, 20; Church-Brodribb translation
Histories (100-110)

Original

Divisa inter exercitum ducesque munia: militibus cupidinem pugnandi convenire, duces providendo, consultando, cunctatione saepius quam temeritate prodesse. ut pro virili portione armis ac manu victoriam iuverit, ratione et consilio, propriis ducis artibus, profuturum.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Tacitus 42

Roman senator and historian 54–120

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Tacitus 42

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