incuriously slip into want than abundance, duly dispensed. Custom, carried on according to reason, has in it more of sharpness than abstinence has moderation is a virtue that has more work than sufferance. The well-living of Scipio has a thousand fashions, that of Diogenes but one. This as much excels the ordinary lives in innocence, as the most exquisite and accomplished excel that in utility and force. CHAPTER XXV. Observations on Julius Cæsar's Methods of making War. Commentaries a pro for every general. IT is said of many great leaders, "That they have Cesar's "had certain books in particular esteem, as Alexander "the Great, Homer; Scipio Africanus, Xenophon; per lesson Marcus Brutus, Polybius; Charles V. Philip de "Comines; and it is said, that in our times, Ma"chiaval is elsewhere in repute ;" but the late marshal Strossy, who took Cæsar for his man, doubtless made the best choice; for in truth this book ought to be the breviary of every great soldier, as being the true and sovereign pattern of the military art. And, moreover, God knows with what grace and beauty he has embellished that rich subject, with such pure, delicate, and perfect expression, that, in my opinion, there are no writings in the world comparable to his in this respect. I will here record some rare and peculiar passages of his wars that remain in my memory. encouraged His army being in some consternation upon the How Cæsar rumour that was spread of the great forces which his troops king Juba was leading against him, instead of abat- when a ing the apprehension which his soldiers had con- the superior ceived at the news, and of lessening the strength of numbers of larmed by the enemy. The ready obedience soldiers. the enemy, having called them all together to reanimate and encourage them, he took a quite contrary method to what are used to do; for he told them, "That they should trouble themselves no "more with inquiring after the enemy's strength, "for that he was certainly informed of it:"* and then he mentioned a number much surpassing both the truth and the report that was rumoured in his army. In this he followed the advice of Cyrus in Xenophon; forasmuch as the imposition is not of so great importance to find an enemy weaker than we expected, as it is to find him really very strong, after having been made to believe that he was weak. It was his way to accustom his soldiers simply to of Caesar's obey, without taking upon them to control, or so much as to speak of their captain's designs; which he never communicated to them but upon the point of execution; and he took a delight, if they discovered any thing of what he intended, immediately to change his orders to deceive them; to which purpose, when he had assigned his quarters in a particular place, he often passed forward and lengthened his march, especially if it was foul weather. How he amused the better to surprise them. The Swiss, in the beginning of his wars in Gaul, enemy, in having sent to him to demand a free passage through order the the Roman territories, though he resolved to hinder them by force, he, nevertheless, spoke kindly to the messengers, and took some days to return an answer, in order to make use of that respite for assembling his army. These silly people did not know how good a husband he was of his time; for he of ten repeats it, "That it is the excellency of a cap"tain to seize the critical juncture;" and his diligence in his exploits is, in truth, unparalleled and incredible. The virtue As he was not very conscientious in taking adhe required vantage of an enemy under colour of a treaty of * Suetonius, in his Life of Julius Cæsar, cap. 66. diers. agreement, he was as little in this, that he required in his solno other virtue in a soldier but valour,* and seldom punished any other faults but mutiny and disobedience. indulged After his victories, he often gave them all manner The licence of liberty, dispensing them, for some time, from in which he the rules of military discipline, saying, "That he had them. "soldiers so well trained up, that, though powdered "and perfumed, they would run furiously to bat"tle." should be In truth, he loved to have them richly armed, He loved and their furniture to be engraved, gilt, and silvered that they over, to the end that the care of saving their arms richly armmight engage them to a more obstinate defence. ed. them with. When he harangued them, he called them by the The title he name of fellow-soldiers, as we do to this day; which honoured his successor Augustus reformed, supposing he had done it upon necessity, and to cajole those who only followed him as volunteers: Rheni mihi Cæsar in undis, Dux erat, hic socius, facinus quos inquinat, æquat.↑ Upon the banks of Rhine, 's my fellow here; But that this carriage was too low for the dignity of diers. With this courtesy Cæsar mixed great severity, to His severity keep them in awe. The ninth legion having muti- to his solnied near to Placentia, he ignominiously cashiered them, though Pompey was yet on foot, and did not receive them into favour till after many supplications: he quieted them more by authority and boldness than by gentle ways. Where he speaks of his passage over the Rhine towards Germany, he says, *Suetonius, in the Life of Julius Cæsar, cap. 67. Exhorta સ્પંદ "That, thinking it unworthy of the honour of Roman people to waft over his army in vessels, he "built a bridge, that they might pass over dry "foot."* There it was that he built that wonder ful bridge, of which he gives so particular a description; for he is no where so fond of displaying his own actions, as in representing to us the subtlety of his invention in such mechanical performance's: tions to sol-. tle of great I have also observed this, that he was fond of giv diers being exhortations to the soldiers before a battle; for fore a bat- where he would show, that he was either surprised, or reduced to a necessity of fighting, he always brings in this, "That he had not so much as leisure "to harangue his army." Before that great battle with those of Tournay," Cæsar't says he, " having import ance. given order for every thing else, presently ran "where fortune carried him to encourage his men, "and meeting the tenth legion, had no more time "to say any thing to them but this, that they "should remember their wonted valour, and not be " astonished, but bravely sustain the enemy's "shock:" and, as the enemy already approached within a dart's cast, he gave the signal of battle; and, going suddenly thence elsewhere to encourage others, he found that they were already engaged. By his own account, his tongue indeed did him notable service upon several occasions; and his military eloquence was in his own time so highly reputed, that many of his army collected his harangues, by which means there were volumes of them preserved a long time after him. He had so peculiar a grace in speaking, that they who were particularly acquainted with him, and Augustus amongst others, hearing those orations read, could distinguish even the phrases and words that were none of his. The rapidity of Ca The first time that he went out of Rome with any sar's pro- public command, he arrived in eight days at the De Bello Gallico, lib: iv. cap. 2. Idem, lib. ii. cap. 3. river Rhone,* having with him in his coach a secre- gress in his tary or two before him, who were continually writ-military expeditions. ing; and one that carried his sword behind him. Yet, as if he had nothing to do but to drive on, having been every-where victorious in Gaul, he speedily left it, and, following Pompey to Brundusium, in eighteen days time he subdued all Italy, returned from Brundusium to Rome; from Rome he marched into the very heart of Spain, where he surmounted extreme difficulties in the war against Afranius and Petreius, and in the long siege of Marseilles; from thence he proceeded to Macedonia, beat the Roman army at Pharsalia, passed from thence, in pursuit of Pompey, into Egypt, which he also subdued; from Egypt he went into Syria and the territories of Pontus, where he fought Pharnaces; from thence into Africa, where he defeated Scipio and Juba; and again brushed through Italy into Spain, where he defeated Pompey's sons: Ocyor et cæli flammis, et tigride fœtâ.† Ac veluti montis saxam de vertice præceps t Swifter than lightning, or the furious course Stunn'd with the shock they fall, and, stunn'd, from earth rebound. Speaking of the siege of Avaricum, he says, He would "That it was his custom to be night and day with see every * Plutarch, in Casar's Life, chap. 5. + Lucan. lib. v. ver. 405. Virg. Æn. lib. xi. ver. 681. |