[31] So then he did not think that the military enlistment should include these or others like them, but rather persons into whom no passion has found an entry and there made its home, in order that with free and unfettered alacrity they might gird themselves to face danger without evasion. For just as a body which suffers from sickness or injuries has no use for a full suit of armour and will discard it as beyond its feeble strength, so a robust body will be ruined if the soul is afflicted with a passion which does not accord with the task before it.
[32] With these considerations before him he selects not only his captains and generals, and other officers, but also each soldier, by testing him to see how far his body is in good condition, and his thinking sound. Of the body he inquires if it is without defect, healthy through and through, with all its parts and limbs well adjusted for the postures and movements required of each: of the soul, whether it is charged with valour and enterprise, whether it is proof against panic and full of generous sagacity, whether it cherishes honour and prefers death with renown to inglorious life?
[33] Each of these qualities separately in itself is in very truth a power; if they all meet and combine, those who possess them will display a strength sufficient and more than sufficient to defy all combatants and opponents, and will win a bloodless victory over their enemies.