# 39. That a General ought to be acquainted with the Lie of the Land

Among other things essential to the commander of an army is a knowledge of terrains and of countries, for, unless he has this knowledge, alike general and detailed, no army commander can perform any operation well. Wherefore, just as all sciences demand practice if we desire to attain perfection in them, so this is one that calls for a good deal of practice. And this practice and this detailed knowledge is acquired more by hunting, than by any other exercises. Hence ancient writers tell us that the heroes who ruled the world in their day were brought up in the forests and on the chase. For the chase not only provides one with the requisite knowledge, but teaches one a host of other things that are essential in warfare. Thus, Xenophon, in his Life of Cyrus tells us how, when he was about to attack the king of Armenia, in appointing tasks he reminded those about him that it would be just like one of those hunting expeditions on which they had often accompanied him; and to those whom he sent to form an ambush in the mountains he said that they would be like men going to lay snares on the ridges; and to those who had to scour the countryside that they would be like men who went to rouse a wild beast from its lair so as, after hunting it, to drive it into the nets.

This I mention to show that Xenophon supports the view that a hunting expedition is very like a war, and that, consequently, great men look on this sport as honourable and necessary. Nor yet can a knowledge of the country be acquired in a more convenient way than by hunting, for the chase gives those who engage in it an exact knowledge of the lie of the land in which the sport takes place. It also enables one who has familiarized himself with one district, to grasp with ease the details of any new region. For all countries and all their parts have about them a certain uniformity, so that from the knowledge of one it is easy to pass to the knowledge of another; whereas he who has not acquired a good experience of any one, can with difficulty acquire a knowledge of another, and cannot acquire it at all unless he is there for a long time. A person who has had practice, for instance, will see at a glance how far this plain extends, to what height that mountain rises, where this valley goes, and everything else of this kind, for of it all he has already acquired a sound knowledge.70

That this is so Titus Livy shows us in the case of Publius Decius. When he was a tribune in charge of troops belonging to the army which the consul, Cornelius, commanded in the Samnite war, and the consul had led the Roman army into a valley where it could have been shut in by the Samnites, Decius saw the great danger to which it was exposed, and said to the consul: ‘Do you see, Aulus Cornelius, that peak above the enemy? It is in that height that lies our hope of safety if we take it quickly, the Samnites having stupidly neglected it.’ Also, before telling us what Decius said Titus Livy says: ‘Publius Decius, a military tribune, observed a hill which rose above a wooded ravine and threatened the enemy’s position, difficult of access to an army in marching order, but not difficult to light troops.’ Whereupon he was sent there by the consul with three thousand soldiers and so saved the Roman army. Then, when night came on, and he was thinking of departing so as to save both himself and his troops, Livy makes him use these words: ‘Come with me while the light holds, and let us reconnoitre the places in which the enemy has placed guards to see whether there is any way out.’ All of which he carried out clad in a small military cloak, lest the enemy should notice an officer wandering about.

This evidence all goes to show how useful and necessary it is for a general to know the nature of the country; for, if Decius had not been a prudent man and acquired such knowledge, he would not have been able to see how useful it was to the Roman army to take that hill, nor would he have been able to tell from a distance whether the hill was accessible or not; nor yet, when he had been sent to the top of it and wanted to get back to the consul, would he, with the enemy on all sides, have been able to spot from a distance the way to go and the places which the enemy was guarding. One is bound then to infer that Decius had such expert knowledge, and that it was this that enabled him to save the Roman army by taking the hill, and afterwards when he was surrounded there, to discover a route whereby both he and the troops that were with him could reach safety.





Book Three



[DISCOURSES 40–42]


[Salus Populi, Suprema Lex]