The Boeotians, relaxed by leisure, he was always desirous of keeping continually under arms, and whenever he was chosen Governor of Boeotia he used to urge his advice upon the people, saying, ‘Bethink yourselves once more, men, for, if I am general, you will have to serve in my army.’ And he used to call their country, which was flat and exposed, ' the dancing-floor of War,' 1 intimating that they could not hold their power over it if they did not keep a grip on the handles of their shields.
1 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Marcellus, chap. xxi. (310 B), where two other picturesque expressions of similar meaning are quoted.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.
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