Story 14

One of the earlier kings grew slack in caring for his realm and kept his army poorly supplied. Inevitably, when a fierce enemy attacked, everyone turned their backs and abandoned him. When a king withholds his treasure from his soldiers, they too withhold their hands from the sword. I reproached one of those who had betrayed the king, a man who had once claimed his friendship, and said: 'You are base, ungrateful, and low; a man with no sense of honor, who turns from his old master at the slightest change of fortune and casts aside the debt of many years of favor.' He answered: 'If you would forgive me out of kindness, you might understand: in this battle my horse had no barley, and my saddle-cloth was in pawn. A king who is stingy with gold toward his soldier cannot expect that soldier to be generous with his life.' Give the soldier his gold and he will lay down his life; withhold it, and he will lay his path across the world in flight. When the warrior is well fed, he strikes and charges with force; but with an empty belly, all his fighting turns to running away.