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[11] One should even make use of common and frequently quoted maxims, if they are useful; for because they are common, they seem to be true, since all as it were acknowledge them as such; for instance, one who is exhorting his soldiers to brave danger before having sacrificed may say, “ The best of omens is to defend one's country,1

” and if they are inferior in numbers, “ The chances of war are the same for both,2

” and if advising them to destroy the children of the enemy even though they are innocent of wrong, “ Foolish is he who, having slain the father, suffers the children to live.3

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