Halfway through Homer's Iliad

Whiny bunch of venal Greeks.

It would seem, to beat either the Trojans or the Acheans, all you'd need to do is wait until they kill one guy. Then, while their best fighters tussle over who collects the fallen's armor, you fill the sky with arrows and slaughter them all.

Somebody, somewhere - Nestor maybe? I'd've thought Odysseus - but no - would say, "Hey, guys, why don't we wait until *all* the Trojans are dead - THEN go steal their armor."

On the other hand, Cambyses, the Persian King, beat the Egyptians by driving cats, dogs, sheep and other animals the Egyptians held sacred, in front of his army. The Egyptians wouldn't harm the animals so Cambyses's army crossed 100 miles of barren, dry, vegetation-less expanse without opposition.

Morons.

Of course, we twaddle over terrorists' civil rights, rendition, and wire-tapping terrorist's phone calls because we "should be better than that" so...

There's rich irony in our inability to remember Santayana's good advice.

The Greeks thought they were serving their honor, the Egyptians their gods, and we.... our higher selves, I suppose.