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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: is no alternative--either men must till their fields or live on the
tillage of others, otherwise how will they find the means either of
living or of obtaining peace?[11]
[11] Cf. "Econ." v. 7.
Here, too, is a maxim to engrave upon the memory: in charging a
superior force, never to leave a difficult tract of ground in the rear
of your attack, since there is all the difference in the world between
a stumble in flight and a stumble in pursuit.
There is another precaution which I feel called upon to note. Some
generals,[12] in attacking a force which they imagine to be inferior
to their own, will advance with a ridiculously insufficient force,[13]
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