# CHAPTER 38 — What a Commander Should Be Like to Gain the Trust of the Army

As we said above, Valerius Corvinus was with his army fighting the Samnites, new enemies of the Roman people, and in order to reassure his soldiers and to make them acquainted with their enemies, he had his troops engage in certain light skirmishes, but since for him this was insufficient, he wanted to speak to them before the battle, and he showed them with great effectiveness how little they should esteem such enemies, citing their own exceptional skill as well as his own. Here it is possible to note, through the words Livy has him speak, what a commander should be like to gain the trust of an army; these words are as follows: ‘Each one of them must go into battle with confidence in such a glorious record in war as well as in his own valour, and still more should he keep in mind under whose leadership and auspices he must enter battle—was it a man who commanded attention only as a superb orator, warlike in words but ignorant of military operations, or one who knew from his own experience how to handle arms, advance in front of the standards, and take his place in the thick of the fray? “It is my deeds, not my words, soldiers,” he said, “which I want you to follow, and you should look to me not only for training but for an example as well. Not by means of political factions nor through the conspiracies beloved of the nobility have I won for myself three consulships and the highest praise, but by this right hand of mine”.’ * These words, carefully examined, will teach anyone how a man must conduct himself if he wishes to hold the rank of commander, and anyone who is not like this will discover in the passing of time that this rank, when it is held through fortune or through ambition, will have the effect of stripping him of any reputation, not of bestowing it upon him; because it is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious. It must also be considered, as was noted at the beginning of this discourse, that if great commanders have employed extraordinary expedients to strengthen the courage of a veteran army when they are to confront unfamiliar enemies, how much more shrewdness must be employed in commanding a new army which has never before looked the enemy in the face, because if a new enemy terrifies the experienced army, every enemy will terrify an inexperienced army that much more. Still, we have seen on many occasions how good commanders have overcome all these difficulties with the utmost prudence, as did Gracchus the Roman and Epaminondas the Theban, about whom we have spoken elsewhere, * who with new armies vanquished well-trained armies of veterans.

The methods they employed were the following: they trained them for several months in mock battles and made them accustomed to obedience and discipline, and later on, they used these men with the greatest confidence in actual battle. No military man should, therefore, be discouraged about his capability to create good armies when he does not lack for men, because the prince with an abundance of men who lacks soldiers must not complain about the cowardice of his men but only about his own laziness and lack of prudence.