be an end for the Vandals of their hopes, and for
you of the battle. Hence there is every reason why you should enter into
this engagement with the greatest eagerness. For ever sweet to men is
toil coming to an end and reaching its close. Now as for the host of the
Vandals, let no one of you consider them. For not by numbers of men nor
by measure of body, but by valour of soul, is war wont to be decided.
And let the strongest motive which actuates men come to your minds,
namely, pride in past achievement. For it is a shame, for those at least
who have reason, to fall short of one's own self and to be found
inferior to one's own standard of valour. For I know well that terror
and the memory of misfortunes have laid hold upon the enemy and compel
them to become less brave, for the one fills them with fear because of
what has already happened, and the other brushes aside their hope of
success. For Fortune, once seen to be bad, straightway enslaves the
spirit of those who have fallen in her way. And I shall explain how the
struggle involves for you at the present time a greater stake than
formerly. For in the former battle the danger was, if things did not go
well for us, that we should not take the land of others; but now, if we
do not win the struggle, we shall lose the land which is our own. In
proportion, then, as it is easier to possess nothing than to be deprived
of what one has, just so now our fear touches our most vital concerns
more than before. And yet formerly we had the fortune to win the victory
with the infantry absent, but now, entering the battle with God
propitious and with our whole army, I have hopes of capturing the camp
of the enemy, men and all. Thus, then, having the end of the war ready
at hand, do not by reason of any negligence put it off to another time,
lest you be compelled to seek for the opportune moment after it has run
past us. For when the fortune of war is postponed, its nature is not to
proceed in the same manner as before, especially if the war be prolonged
by the will of those who are carrying it on. For Heaven is accustomed to
bring retribution always upon those who abandon the good fortune which
is present. But if anyone considers that the enemy, seeing their
children and wives and most precious possessions in our hands, will be
daring beyond reason and will incur risks beyond the strength which they
have, he does not think rightly. For an overpowering passion springing
up in the heart