[221] Battle is a labour in which men must be kept up to the mark; for there is plenty of hard work and little reward — as with a farmer who should reap abundant haulm, and find but little grain to harvest. The toil of slaughter is compared to the cutting of the straw with the sickle, but there the likeness ends; ‘pro frugibus sunt funera’ (Valeton in Mnemos. 23. 389 ff.: Lendrum in C. R. iv. 46). Soldiers require strengthening with food for such thankless work. Possibly there may be a thought also of the spoil which is not to be had after a battle as after a siege; but this is not essential. There is another comparison of battle to reaping in 11.67 ff. αἶψά τε, the “τε” is clearly gnomic or generalising; H. G. § 332, and see Od. 1.392 “αἶψά τέ οἱ δῶ ἀφνειὸν πέλεται”.
