the care you take yourself for your own health."
[17] "Well," said Cyrus, "my first rule is to avoid over-feeding as most
oppressive to the system, and my next to work off all that enters the
body: that seems the best way to keep health and gain strength." "My
son," Cambyses answered, "these are the principles you must apply to
others." "What!" said Cyrus; "do you think it will be possible for the
soldiers to diet and train themselves?" "Not only possible," said the
father, "but essential. For surely an army, if it is to fulfil its
function at all, must always be engaged in hurting the foe or helping
itself. A single man is hard enough to support in idleness, a household
is harder still, an army hardest of all. There are more mouths to be
filled, less wealth to start with, and greater waste; and therefore
an army should never be unemployed." [18] "If I take your meaning,"
answered Cyrus, "you think an idle general as useless as an idle farmer.
And here and now I answer for the working general, and promise on his
behalf that with God's help he will show you that his troops have all
they need and their bodies are all they ought to be. And I think," he
added, "I know a way by which an officer might do much towards training
his men in the various branches of war. Let him propose competitions
of every kind and offer prizes; the standard of skill will rise, and
he will soon have a body of troops ready to his hand for any service he
requires." "Nothing could be better," answered the father. "Do this, and
you may be sure you will watch your regiments at their manoeuvres with as
much delight as if they were a chorus in the dance."

[19] "And then," continued Cyrus, "to rouse enthusiasm in the men, there
can be nothing, I take it, like the power of kindling hope?" "True,"
answered his father, "but that alone would be as though a huntsman were
for ever rousing his pack with the view-halloo. At first, of course, the
hounds will answer eagerly enough, but after they have been cheated
once or twice they will end by refusing the call even when the quarry
is really in sight. And so it is with hope. Let a man rouse false
expectations often enough, and in the end, even when hope is at the
door, he may cry the good news in vain. Rather ought he to refrain from
speaking positively himself when he cannot know precisely; his agents
may step in and do it in his place; but he should reserve his own appeal
for the supreme crises of supreme dang