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"O king!" said Artabanus, "it is not possible that a man of
understanding should find fault with the size of thy army or the number
of thy ships. The more thou addest to these, the more hostile will
those two things, whereof I spake, become. Those two things are the
land and the sea. In all the wide sea there is not, I imagine,
anywhere a harbour large enough to receive thy vessels, in case a storm
arise, and afford them a sure protection. And yet thou wilt want,
not one such harbour only, but many in succession, along the entire
coast by which thou art about to make thy advance. In default then of
such harbours, it is well to bear in mind that chances rule men, and
not men chances. Such is the first of the two dangers; and now I
will speak to thee of the second. The land will also be thine enemy;
for if no one resists thy advance, as thou proceedest farther and
farther, insensibly allured onwards (for who is ever sated with
success?), thou wilt find it more and more hostile. I mean this,
that, should nothing else withstand thee, yet the mere distance,
becoming greater as time goes on, will at last produce a famine.
Methinks it is best for men, when they take counsel, to be timorous,
and imagine all possible calamities, but when the time for action
comes, then to deal boldly."
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