And what shall we say again when Timoleon in the same book exhorting the Greeks to do battle with the Carthaginians, almost at the moment that they are about to encounter an enemy largely outnumbering them, first bids them not to consider the numbers of their foes but their cowardice.
For, he says, although the whole of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Libya&groupId=686&placeId=427">Libya</a> is thickly populated and full of men, yet when we wish to convey an impression of solitude we use the proverbial phrase "more desert than <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Libya&groupId=686&placeId=427">Libya</a>," not referring to its solitude but to the cowardice of the inhabitants.
"In general," he says, "how can we be afraid of men who having received from nature in distinction from other animals the gift of hands, hold them for the whole of their life idle inside their tunics,
and above all wear drawers under their tunics that they may not even when killed in battle be exposed to the view of their enemies?. . . .
Walbank Commentary