# CHAPTER 40 — Why Employing Deceit in Waging a War Is a Glorious Thing

Although employing deceit in every action is detestable, in waging a war it is, nevertheless, a laudable and glorious thing, and the man who employs deceit to overcome the enemy is to be praised, just like the man who overcomes him by force. This is evident in the judgement those who write the lives of great men make in praising Hannibal and others who have been very well known for similar methods of conduct. Since there are many examples to be read, I shall not repeat any of them. I shall say only that I do not mean that deceit is glorious when it causes you to break your word and your agreements, because this kind of deceit, even though it may on occasion gain state and kingdom for you, as was discussed above, will never bring you glory. But I am speaking of the kind of deceit that is employed with an enemy who does not trust you, and that especially involves waging war, as was the deceit of Hannibal, when on the lake of Perugia * he simulated a retreat to trap the consul and the Roman army, and when to escape from the hands of Fabius Maximus he lit the horns of his cattle. *

Similar to this kind of deceit was that employed by Pontius, commander of the Samnites, to encircle the Roman army at the Caudine Forks: having stationed his army behind the mountains, he sent out some of his soldiers in the disguise of shepherds with a large flock on the plain; once they were captured by the Romans and asked where the Samnites’ army was, they all agreed in saying, according to Pontius’ orders, that it was at the siege of Nocera. This story, believed by the consuls, caused them to enclose themselves within the Caudine gorge, where they were immediately surrounded by the Samnites. This victory, obtained by deceit, would have been most glorious for Pontius if he had followed the advice of his father, who wanted the Romans either to be allowed to survive in liberty or all of them to be massacred and to avoid choosing a middle path, ‘which neither wins friends nor removes enemies’. * Such a path is always pernicious in matters of state, as I have already discussed above, in another place. *