Tuesday, July 25, 2023
An Army Marches on its Stomach
Procopius, History of the Wars 8.23.15-16 (tr. H.B. Dewing):
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War depends for its decision in large measure upon the commissary, and those in want of supplies are inevitably bound to be defeated by their enemy. For valour cannot dwell together with hunger, since nature will not permit a man to be starving and to be brave at the same time.
πολλή τις ἐπὶ ταῖς δαπάναις ἀπόκειται τοῦ πολέμου ῥοπή, τούς τε τῶν ἐπιτηδείων σπανίζοντας ἡττᾶσθαι τῶν πολεμίων ἐπάναγκες. λιμῷ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ἡ ἀρετὴ ξυνοικίξεσθαι, πεινῆν τε καὶ ἀνδραγαθίζεσθαι οὐκ ἀνεχομένης τῆς φύσεως.
