[37] Then Cyrus asked, "And are these the only cases where one can
apply the great principle of greed, or are there others?"

"Oh, yes, there are many more; indeed in these simple cases any
general will be sure to keep good watch, knowing how necessary it is.
But your true cheat and prince of swindlers is he who can lure the
enemy on and throw him off his guard, suffer himself to be pursued and
get the pursuers into disorder, lead the foe into difficult ground and
then attack him there. [38] Indeed, as an ardent student, you must not
confine yourself to the lessons you have learnt; you must show
yourself a creator and discoverer, you must invent stratagems against
the foe; just as a real musician is not content with the mere elements
of his art, but sets himself to compose new themes. And if in music it
is the novel melody, the flower-like freshness, that wins popularity,
still more in military matters it is the newest contrivance that
stands the highest, for the simple reason that such will give you the
best chance of outwitting your opponent. [39] And yet, my son, I must
say that if you did no more than apply against human beings the
devices you learnt to use against the smallest game, you would have
made considerable progress in this art of overreaching. Do you not
think so yourself? Why, to snare birds you would get up by night in
the depth of winter and tramp off in the cold; your nets were laid
before the creatures were astir, and your tracks completely covered
and you actually had birds of your own, trained to serve you and decoy
their kith and kin, while you yourself lay in some hiding-place,
seeing yet unseen, and you had learnt by long practice to jerk in the
net before the birds could fly away. [40] Or you might be out after
hares, and for a hare you had two breeds of dogs, one to track her out
by scent, because she feeds in the dusk and takes to her form by day,