I went through a period of skipping theses and still do if I'm in a hurry, but I think they are quite clever in the way they assess the odds and suggest tactic's for the forthcoming battle.

I thought it would be interesting to start a thread that tried to decipher the meaning of the various phases that make them up.

For example:

No friends have come here to die for them = They ain't getting any reinforcements.

A count of our numbers shows who the gods really favour this day = We outnumber them heavily.

They have nothing to to stop our Elephants = The enemy army only has few skirmishers.