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strength of a kingdom." - He then called together the principal officers of his army, and made them a speech suitable to the occasion. He represented to them that the event which they and he had long wished for, was approaching. The whole fortune of the war now depended on their swords, and would be decided in a single action ; that never army had greater motives for exerting a vigorous courage, whether they considered the prize which would attend their victory, or the inevitable destruction that must ensue upon their defeat ; that if their martial and veteran bands could once break those raw soldiers who had dared to approach them, they conquered a kingdom at one blow, and were justly entitled to all its possessions as the reward of their prosperous valour ; that on the contrary, if they remitted, in the least, their wonted prowess, an enraged enemy hung upon their rear, the sea met them in their retreat, and an ignominious death was the certain punishment of their imprudent cowardice.