[20]
I do not mean by that that we should never go off, if circumstances require it, with a still smaller detachment than that with which the Cadusian prince went. But if an officer, when he starts on an expedition, communicates his intention to one that is able to bring help, he may possibly fall into a trap, but then it is equally possible for the one who remains behind to entrap the enemy and turn them away from the detached corps; or he may annoy the enemy in some other way and so secure safety for his friends; and thus even those who are at a distance will not be out of reach but will keep in touch with the main body. But the man who goes off without communicating his purpose is in the same situation, no matter where he is, as if he were carrying on a campaign alone.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 5 and 6. Walter Miller. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1914.
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