Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/353

 posed to send them back their wives and children, preferred to witness the execution of their loved ones rather than to fail the Romans.$1$

The inhabitants of Niimantia preferred to lock the doors of their houses and die of hunger rather than surrender.$2$

,$3$ upon being urged by his son to seize an advantageous position at the expense of losing a few men, asked : " Do you want to be one of those few ? "

When Xenophon on one occasion happened to be on horseback and had just ordered the infantry to take possession of a certain eminence, he heard one of the soldiers muttering that it was an easy matter for a mounted man to order such difficult enterprises. At this Xenophon leaped down and set the man from the ranks on his horse, while he himself hurried on foot with all speed to the eminence he had indicated. The soldier, unable to endure the shame of this performance, voluntarily dismounted amid the jeers of his comrades. It was with difficulty, however, that the united efforts of the troops induced Xenophon to mount his horse and to restrict his energies to the duties which devolved upon a commander.$4$

When Alexander was marching at the head of his troops one winter's day, he sat down by a fire and began to review the troops as they passed by. Noticing a certain soldier who was almost dead with the cold, he bade him sit in his place, adding : " If