[18]
“Methinks you mean, father,” said he, “that just as a lazy farmer is of no account, so also a lazy general is of no account at all.”“But at any rate, as regards the energetic general,” said his father, “I can vouch for it that, unless some god do cross him, he will keep his soldiers abundantly supplied with provisions and at the same time in the best physical condition.”“Yes,” said Cyrus; “but at all events, as to1 practice in the various warlike exercises, it seems to me, father, that by announcing contests in each one and offering prizes you would best secure practice in them, so that you would have everything prepared for use, whenever you might need it.”“Quite right, my son,” said he; “for if you do that you may be sure that you will see your companies performing their proper parts like trained sets of dancers.”
1 Incentives to physical training and to moral enthusiasm
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 5 and 6. Walter Miller. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1914.
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