# CHAPTER XIV —_Of the effect produced in Battle by strange and

CHAPTER XIV.—_Of the effect produced in Battle by strange and
unexpected Sights or Sounds._


That the disorder occasioned by strange and unexpected sights or sounds
may have momentous consequences in combat, might be shown by many
instances, but by none better than by what befell in the battle fought
between the Romans and the Volscians, when Quintius, the Roman general,
seeing one wing of his army begin to waver, shouted aloud to his men to
stand firm, for the other wing was already victorious. Which words of
his giving confidence to his own troops and striking the enemy with
dismay won him the battle. But if a cry like this, produce great effect
on a well disciplined army, far greater must be its effect on one which
is ill disciplined and disorderly. For by such a wind the whole mass
will be moved, as I shall show by a well-known instance happening in
our own times.

A few years ago the city of Perugia was split into the two factions of
the Baglioni and the Oddi, the former holding the government, the
latter being in exile. The Oddeschi, however, with the help of friends,
having got together an armed force which they lodged in villages of
their own near Perugia, obtained, by the favour of some of their party,
an entrance into the city by night, and moving forward without
discovery, came as far as the public square. And as all the streets of
Perugia are barred with chains drawn across them at their corners, the
Oddeschi had in front of them a man who carried an iron hammer
wherewith to break the fastenings of the chains so that horsemen might
pass. When the only chain remaining unbroken was that which closed the
public square, the alarm having now been given, the hammerman was so
impeded by the crowd pressing behind him that he could not raise his
arm to strike freely. Whereupon, to get more room for his work, he
called aloud to the others to stand back; and the word back passing
from rank to rank those furthest off began to run, and, presently, the
others also, with such precipitancy, that they fell into utter
disorder. In this way, and from this trifling circumstance, the attempt
of the Oddeschi came to nothing.

Here we may note that discipline is needed in an army, not so much to
enable it to fight according to a settled order, as that it may not be
thrown into confusion by every insignificant accident. For a tumultuary
host is useless in war, simply because every word, or cry, or sound,
may throw it into a panic and cause it to fly. Wherefore it behoves a
good captain to provide that certain fixed persons shall receive his
orders and pass them on to the rest, and to accustom his soldiers to
look to these persons, and to them only, to be informed what his orders
are. For whenever this precaution is neglected the gravest mishaps are
constantly seen to ensue.

As regards strange and unexpected sights, every captain should
endeavour while his army is actually engaged with the enemy, to effect
some such feint or diversion as will encourage his own men and dismay
his adversary since this of all things that can happen is the likeliest
to ensure victory. In evidence whereof we may cite the example of
Cneius Sulpitius, the Roman dictator, who, when about to give battle to
the Gauls, after arming his sutlers and camp followers, mounted them on
mules and other beasts of burden, furnished them with spears and
banners to look like cavalry, and placing them behind a hill, ordered
them on a given signal, when the fight was at the hottest, to appear
and show themselves to the enemy. All which being carried out as he had
arranged, threw the Gauls into such alarm, that they lost the battle.

A good captain, therefore, has two things to see to: first, to contrive
how by some sudden surprise he may throw his enemy into confusion; and
next, to be prepared should the enemy use a like stratagem against him
to discover and defeat it; as the stratagem of Semiramis was defeated
by the King of India. For Semiramis seeing that this king had elephants
in great numbers, to dismay him by showing that she, too, was well
supplied, caused the skins of many oxen and buffaloes to be sewn
together in the shape of elephants and placed upon camels and sent to
the front. But the trick being detected by the king, turned out not
only useless but hurtful to its contriver. In a battle which the
Dictator Mamercus fought against the people of Fidenae, the latter, to
strike terror into the minds of the Romans, contrived that while the
combat raged a number of soldiers should issue from Fidenae bearing
lances tipped with fire, thinking that the Romans, disturbed by so
strange a sight, would be thrown into confusion.

We are to note, however, with regard to such contrivances, that if they
are to serve any useful end, they should _be_ formidable as well as
_seem_ so; for when they menace a real danger, their weak points are
not so soon discerned. When they have more of pretence than reality, it
will be well either to dispense with them altogether, or resorting to
them, to keep them, like the muleteers of Sulpitius, in the background,
so that they be not too readily found out. For any weakness inherent in
them is soon discovered if they be brought near, when, as happened with
the elephants of Semiramis and the fiery spears of the men of Fidenae,
they do harm rather than good. For although by this last-mentioned
device the Romans at the first were somewhat disconcerted, so soon as
the dictator came up and began to chide them, asking if they were not
ashamed to fly like bees from smoke, and calling on them to turn on
their enemy, and “_with her own flames efface that Fidenae whom their
benefits could not conciliate_,” they took courage; so that the device
proved of no service to its contrivers, who were vanquished in the
battle.