Cimon and Lucullus were rich men who spent freely and fought long wars in the east. Cimon drove the Persians back from the Aegean and fed Athens from his own purse. Lucullus beat Mithridates and Tigranes, then lost his soldiers' patience and his command to Pompey.

Plutarch likes the open hand in both. He thinks Cimon the simpler man, and Lucullus the one whose victory turned into villas and banquets. The campaigns look alike. The later years do not.