The Youth. It is these, at any rate, who will face danger for the sake of praise and glory. (13) Fortunately such people are not hid away in a corner; they shine forth conspicuous everywhere, and are easy to be discovered. (13) Cf. Shakesp. "seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth." Soc. But tell me, did he teach you how to draw up troops in general, or specifically where and how to apply each particular kind of tactical arrangement? The Youth. Nothing of the sort. Soc. And yet there are and must be innumerable circumstances in which the same ordering of march or battle will be out of place. The Youth. I assure you he did not draw any of these fine distinctions. He did not, did not he? (he answered). Bless me! Go back to him again, then, and ply him with questions; if he really has the science, and is not lost to all sense of shame, he will blush to have taken your money and then to have sent you away empty. II At another time he fell in with a man who had been chosen general and minister of war, and thus accosted him. Soc. Why did Homer, think you, designate Agamemnon "shepherd of the peoples"? (1) Was it possibly to show that, even as a shepherd must care for his sheep and see that they are safe and have all things needful, and that the objects of their rearing be secured, so also must a general take care that his soldiers are safe and have their supplies, and attain the objects of their soldiering? Which last is that they may get the mastery of their enemies, and so add to their own good fortune and happiness; or tell me, what made him praise Agamemnon, saying-- He is both a good king and a warrior bold? (2) Did he mean, perhaps, to imply that he would be a 'warrior bold,' not merely in standing alone and bravely battling against the foe, but as inspiring the whole of his host with like prowess; and by a 'good king,' not merely one who should stand forth gallantly to protect his own life, but who should be the source of happiness to all over whom he reigns? Since a man is not chosen king in order to take heed to himself, albeit nobly, but that those who chose him may attain to happiness through him. And why do men go soldiering except to ameliorate existence? (3) and to this end they choose their generals that they may find in them guides to the goal in question. He, then, who undertakes that office is bound to procure for those who choose him the thing they seek for. And indeed it were not easy to find any nobler ambition than this, or aught ignobler than its opposite. (1) "Il." ii. 243. "The People's Paster," Chapman. (2) "Il." iii. 179; cf. "Symp." iv. 6. A favourite line of Alexander the Great's, it is said. (3) Of, "that life may reach some flower of happiness."