Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

When he was about to risk everything at Arbela against a million men arrayed against him, his friends came to him and accused the soldiers of talking together and making agreements in their tents that they would hand over none of the spoil to the royal treasury, but would keep everything for themselves. And he smiling said, You bring good news; for I hear in this the talk of men prepared to conquer and not to flee. And many of the soldiers came to him and said, Be of good cheer, Sire, and do not fear the great numbers of the enemy; for they will not be able to stand the very smell of goat that clings to us.

As the army was being drawn up for battle, he saw one of the soldiers fitting the thong to his javelin, and he shoved him out of the line as a useless man who was making ready at this time when he ought to be using his weapons.