lieve it will be ours, we must make it
ours--the prizes of victory will be nothing short of the enemy himself
and all that he possesses. And if the victory should be his, then, in
like manner, all the goods of the vanquished must lie at the victor's
feet. [3] Therefore I would have you take this to your hearts: wherever
those who have joined together for war remember that unless each and
every one of them play his part with zeal nothing good can follow; there
we may look for glorious success. For there nothing that ought to be
done will be left undone. But if each man thinks 'My neighbour will
toil and fight, even though my own heart should fail and my own arm
fall slack,' then, believe me, disaster is at the door for each and all
alike, and no man shall escape. [4] Such is the ordinance of God: those
who will not work out their own salvation he gives into the hands of
other men to bear rule over them. And now I call on any man here," he
added, "to stand up and say whether he believes that virtue will best
be nourished among us if he who bears the greatest toil and takes the
heaviest risk shall receive the highest honours. Or whether we should
hold that cowardice makes no difference in the end, seeing that we all
must share alike?"

[5] Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up. He was a man of
understanding, but his bodily presence was weak. And now he spoke thus:

"I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief
that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave. No,
you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to
claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness,
though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself. [6] I myself,"
he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for aught
I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial neither the
first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the hundredth, nor
even, it may be, the thousandth. But this I know right well, that if
our mighty men put forth all their strength, I too shall receive such
portion of our blessings as I may deserve. But if the cowards sit at
ease and the good and brave are out of heart, then I fear that I shall
get a portion, a larger than I care to think, of something that is no
blessing but a curse."

[7] And so spoke Chrysantas, and then Pheraulas stood up. He was a
man of the people, but well known to Cyrus in the old days at home and