Read the excerpt from Part 1 of The Odyssey.

And this new grief we bore with us to sea:
our precious lives we had, but not our friends.
No ship made sail next day until some shipmate
had raised a cry, three times, for each poor ghost
unfleshed by the Cicones on that field.

What theme is best revealed by this conflict?

Sadness can destroy people.
One must mourn before moving on.
Many lives are lost too soon in battle.
People are haunted by lost souls.

Many lives are lost too soon in battle.

The best theme revealed by this conflict is that "Many lives are lost too soon in battle." This is evident from the excerpt where it highlights the grief and loss of the sailors' friends who were killed in battle. The mention of the "precious lives we had, but not our friends" indicates that the sailors had survived the battle but had lost their companions, emphasizing the notion of premature deaths in warfare.