Or whether we should hold that cowardice makes no difference in the end, seeing that we all must share alike ?" [5] Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up.

He was a man of understanding, but his bodily presence was weak.

And now he spoke thus: "I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave.

No, you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness, though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself.

[6] I myself," he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for aught I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial neither the first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the hundredth, nor even, it may be, the thousandth.