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I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent examples, but

I am unwilling to leave out Hiero, the Syracusan, he being one of

those I have named above. This man, as I have said, made head of

the army by the Syracusans, soon found out that a mercenary

soldiery, constituted like our Italian condottieri, was of no

use; and it appearing to him that he could neither keep them nor

let them go, he had them all cut to pieces, and afterwards made

war with his own forces and not with aliens.

I wish also to recall to memory an instance from the Old

Testament applicable to this subject. David offered himself to

Saul to fight with Goliath, the Philistine champion, and, to give

him courage, Saul armed him with his own weapons; which David

rejected as soon as he had them on his back, saying he could make

no use of them, and that he wished to meet the enemy with his

sling and his knife. In conclusion, the arms of others either

fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you

fast.