Montesquieu, Considerations Concerning the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (XIII):
I believe that Octavian is alone among Roman leaders who gained the affection of the soldiers in giving them, without interruption, tokens of natural cowardice. In those times, the soldiers made more of a case of the liberality of their general than of his courage. Perhaps even it was a good thing that he did not have that valor which could give him the empire, and maybe that very fact brought him power, because people were less afraid of him. It is not impossible that the things which dishonored him the most were those which served him the best. If he had shown, from the beginning, a great spirit, the whole world would have distrusted him, and if he had had any audacity, he would not have given Antony the time to engage in all the extravagances which ruined him.
Je crois qu’Octave est le seul de tous les capitaines romains qui ait gagné l’affection des soldats en leur donnant sans cesse des marques d’une lâcheté naturelle. Dans ces temps-là, les soldats faisaient plus de cas de la libéralité de leur général que de son courage. Peut-être même que ce fut un bonheur pour lui de n’avoir point eu cette valeur qui peut donner l’empire, et que cela même l’y porta: on le craignit moins. Il n’est pas impossible que les choses qui le déshonorèrent le plus aient été celles qui le servirent le mieux: s’il avait d’abord montré une grande âme, tout le monde se serait méfié de lui, et, s’il eût eu de la hardiesse, il n’aurait pas donné à Antoine le temps de faire toutes les extravagances qui le perdirent.
