Who was the best Roman general?

[Macilrille]

First you have to define what a good general is; is it the German WWII general-type who wins all battles but looses the war? The Ones who never let their army go without supply because they are logistical geniuses? The ones who wins batles but throw lives away? The ones with political ambition?

I would say Sertorius, Marius, Pompey, Caesar and Scipio Afr, but it is a too subjective matter to arrive at a conclusion, I might throw Sulla in as well if I did not dislike his proscriptions..

BTW, P. Crassus was never really a general as such, his campaigns and resources as well as areas of operations were always limited. So though he performed stellarly in those, we can hardly say much about his ability as a general. Much the same goes for the brilliant Publius Ventidius Bassus, who did show some political acumen though and who worked his way up from the absolute bottom.

Anyway, too diffuse and subjective subject for me to actually say much on without using hours of RL time that I sadly do not have right now.

Edited to add, Imperial ones? Good question, I have forgotten all but Agrippa, Flavius Aëtius and Flavius Belisarius, but there were doubtless some. Were Julian not said to be quite competent?