e whole empire was to be kept together, and
possibly another added to it, he felt convinced that his mercenaries did
not make up for the smallness of their numbers by their superiority
to the subject peoples. Therefore he must keep together those brave
warriors, to whom with heaven's help the victory was due, and he must
take all care that they did not lose their valour, hardihood, and skill.
[71] To avoid the appearance of dictating to them and to bring it about
that they should see for themselves it was best to stay with him and
remember their valour and their training, he called a council of the
Peers and of the leading men who seemed to him most worthy of sharing
their dangers and their rewards. [72] And when they were met he began:

"Gentlemen, my friends and allies, we owe the utmost thanks to the gods
because they have given us what we believed that we deserved. We are
masters to-day of a great country and a good; and those who till it will
support us; we have houses of our own, and all the furniture that is in
them is ours. [73] For you need not think that what you hold belongs to
others. It is an eternal law the wide world over, that when a city is
taken in war, the citizens, their persons, and all their property fall
into the hands of the conquerors. It is not by injustice, therefore,
that you hold what you have taken, rather it is through your own human
kindness that the citizens are allowed to keep whatever they do retain.

[74] "Yet I foresee that if we betake ourselves to the life of indolence
and luxury, the life of the degenerate who think that labour is the
worst of evils and freedom from toil the height of happiness, the day
will come, and speedily, when we shall be unworthy of ourselves, and
with the loss of honour will come the loss of wealth. [75] Once to have
been valiant is not enough; no man can keep his valour unless he watch
over it to the end. As the arts decay through neglect, as the body, once
healthy and alert, will grow weak through sloth and indolence, even so
the powers of the spirit, temperance, self-control, and courage, if we
grow slack in training, fall back once more to rottenness and death.
[76] We must watch ourselves; we must not surrender to the sweetness
of the day. It is a great work, methinks, to found an empire, but a
far greater to keep it safe. To seize it may be the fruit of daring and
daring only, but to hold it is impossible without self-restraint and
self-command and e