# 45. Whether it is the Better Course in Battle to await the Enemy’s Attack and, having held it, to take the Offensive, or to make on the Enemy a Furious Onslaught at the Start

The Roman consuls, Decius and Fabius, with two armies were about to engage the armies of the Samnites and the Tuscans, and happened to be engaged together in the same battle at the same time. Hence it is worth while asking which of the two diverse modes of procedure adopted by the two consuls was the better. For Decius attacked the enemy with the utmost impetuosity and with all his forces, whereas Fabius was content to hold them, since he was of opinion that it is more useful to be slow to attack, and to restrain one’s impetuosity till a time comes when the enemy at length has lost the ardour for fighting he had at the start, and his fury, as one might say.

From the way things went, it may be seen that Fabius’s plan was much better than that of Decius; for the latter tired himself out with the vehemence of his first onslaught, with the result that, when he perceived that his men would otherwise soon turn tail, he did what his father had done before him, sacrificed himself for the sake of the Roman legions, that by his death he might attain that glory which he had been unable to acquire by a victory. When Fabius heard of this, in order not to remain alive and yet gain less honour than his colleague had gained by his death, he pushed forward with all the forces he had reserved for such an eventuality, and gained a most glorious victory. So that obviously the way in which Fabius behaved is the safer and the more worthy of imitation.