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45“Therefore, that we should go to war with him most justly, no one I think will dispute. And that he is neither invincible nor even a difficult adversary, you can see both from the other members of his race, whom we have often conquered before and have recently conquered very easily, and you can reason further from what we learn about the man himself. 2For he has no force of his own at any time that is united and welded together, and at present, since he is looking for nothing serious, he is utterly unprepared. Hence, no one of his countrymen even would readily aid him, not even if he makes most tempting offers; 3for who would choose to be his ally and fight against us, if he had not received any injury at our hands? Would they not all, rather, coöperate with us, instead of with him, in the desire of overthrowing his despotic rule on their very borders, and of obtaining from us some share of his territory? 4And even if some should band together, they would not prove superior to us in any way. For, to omit other considerations,—our numbers, our age, our experience, our deeds,—who does not know that we have armour over all our body alike, whereas they are for the most part unprotected, and that we employ both reason and organization, whereas they are unorganized and rush at everything impulsively? 5Do not, then, fear their violence nor yet the magnitude either of their bodies or their shouting. For voice never yet killed any man, and their bodies, having the same hands as ours, can accomplish no more, but will be capable of much greater injury through being both large and unprotected. And though their charge is tremendous and headlong at first, it easily exhausts itself and is effective for but a short while.
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