'Mercenaries... are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious, and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, they avoid defeat just so long as they avoid battle; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy. The reason for all this is that there is no loyalty or inducement to keep them on the field apart from the little they are paid, and this is not enough to make them willing to die for you.'- The Prince
(Time for some of our players to consult their consciences).[Detail from Gozzoli's The Journey of the Magi courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons]
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