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To such an extent do all men seem to prize their own country that lawgivers everywhere, as one may note, have prescribed exile as the severest penalty for the greatest transgressions. And it cannot be said that in this view lawgivers differ from commanders. On the contrary, in battle no other exhortation of the marshalled men is so effective as “You are fighting for your native land!” No man who hears this is willing to be a coward, for the name of native land makes even the dastard brave. This treatise (evidently compiled in haste for a special occasion) cannot fairly be fathered on Lucian. It is valuable, however, as a document, and not uninteresting in spots.
