Having heard this view, the king said to Live-Well: "My worthy sir, I desire to hear your opinion also." And Live-Well said: "O King, I disagree. Inasmuch as the enemy is cruel, greedy, and unprincipled, you should most certainly not make peace with him. For the proverb says:
With foes unprincipled and false.
'Tis vain to seek accommodation:
Agreements bind them not; and soon
They show a wicked transformation.
Therefore you should, in my judgment, fight with him. You know the saying:
'Tis easy to uproot a foe
Contemning fighters, never steady,
Cruel and greedy, slothful, false,
Foolish and fearful and unready.
"But more than this—we have been humiliated by him. Therefore, if you propose peace, he will be angry and will employ violence again. There is a saying:
The truculence of fevered foes
By gentle measures is abetted:
What wise physician tries a douche?
He knows that fever should be sweated.
Conciliation simply makes
A foeman's indignation splutter,
Like drops of water sprinkled on
A briskly boiling pan of butter.
Besides, the previous speaker's point about the strength of the enemy is not decisive.
