1No one's stream of genius is so great, no power of speaking or writing so great and so abundant, that it could, I will not say adorn, but even recount your achievements, Gaius Caesar. 1Yet this I affirm, and I will say it with your leave, that among them there is no praise greater than that which you have won on this day. 5I often set it before my eyes and gladly repeat it in frequent conversation, that all the achievements of our generals, all those of foreign nations and most powerful peoples, all those of the most famous kings, cannot be compared with yours, neither in the magnitude of the struggles nor in the number of battles nor in the variety of regions nor in the speed of accomplishment nor in the diversity of the wars, and that indeed the most widely separated lands could not have been traversed more quickly by anyone's steps than they have been traversed, I will not say by your marches, but by your victories.
6And unless I were to confess that these things are so great that scarcely anyone's mind or thought can grasp them, I should be out of my mind; 6but still there are other things greater. 6For some are accustomed to belittle military glories in words and to take them away from the leaders and share them with many, so that they may not belong to the commanders alone. 6And certainly in war the courage of the soldiers, the advantage of position, the help of allies, fleets and supplies help greatly, but the greatest part Fortune claims for herself, as if by her own right, and whatever has been done successfully she counts almost wholly her own.
7But in this glory, Gaius Caesar, which you won a little while ago, you have no partner: the whole of it, however great it is — and it is certainly very great — the whole, I say, is yours. 7No centurion, no prefect, no cohort, no squadron plucks any part of this praise for itself; 7indeed, even that very mistress of human affairs, Fortune, does not offer herself as a partner in this glory: she yields to you, and confesses that it is wholly and properly yours. 7For rashness is never mingled with wisdom, nor is chance admitted to counsel.