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4Late in the day, however, toward nightfall, Caesar’s forces were at last victorious, but they did not give chase. The reason, as it appears to me and as may with probability be conjectured, was that they could not overtake the fleeing ships and were afraid of running ashore, since the coast abounded in shoals with which they were unacquainted; but some assert that Agrippa thought it sufficient merely to rout his adversaries, since he was fighting for Caesar and not for himself. 2For he was wont to say to his intimate friends that most men in positions of power wish no one to be superior to themselves, but attend personally without the use of agents to most matters—to all, in fact, that afford them an easy victory—and assign the more difficult and extraordinary tasks to others. 3And if they ever do find themselves obliged to entrust an enterprise of the better sort to their assistants, they are irritated and displeased at the fame these subordinates win, and although they do not pray that they may be defeated and fare badly, yet they do not choose to have them win a complete success and secure glory from it. 4His advice, therefore, was that the man who expected to come out alive should relieve his masters of undertakings which involve great difficulty and reserve for them the successes. As for me, I know that all this is naturally so and that Agrippa paid heed to these principles, but I am not saying that on that particular occasion this was the reason for his failure to pursue; for he would not have been able to catch up with the foe no matter how much he might have desired it.
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