§ 1. A dismayed army is impelled to fight either by shame or by fear. By shame, as when the commander casts a standard among the enemy. Servius Tullius did this as a young man under Tarquin; Furius Agrippa, Titus Quinctius Capitolinus, Marcus Furius Camillus, and Salvius Pelignus imitated him. Or it occurs when the commander flies forward into the first battle-line. Thus Lucius Sulla, when the legions were giving way before the army of Mithridates, darted into the first battle-line with his sword drawn and told the soldiers that, if anyone asked where they had left their commander, they should answer, “In Boeotia.” Julius Caesar also sprang forward on foot into the first battle-line at Munda, and thus the soldiers conquered while they were ashamed to desert him.
Quintus Furius restrained men fleeing through fear by threatening that he would receive no one into the camp unless he was victorious. Scipio at Numantia threatened that those who fled would become enemies to him. Marcus Atilius and Philip of Macedon did the same. Priscus the dictator and Cornelius Cossus killed a standard-bearer who hesitated.
§ 2. A brief exhortation in a crisis is effective. Iphicrates promised victory if, when he gave the signal, they would advance one step; he gave it when the situation was inclining toward defeat and conquered. Epaminondas too employed the same kind of exhortation. When Alexander saw his men giving way, he said, “Once more, Macedonian men, let us advance once more”; and thus they drove back the enemy. Therefore, when the battle-line gives way, restrain those retreating; if they return, they have conquered. Caesar indeed:
He himself puts swords into their hands and supplies their missiles; he himself moves forward the battle-lines and drives the backs of his men, and with the butt of his reversed spear rouses those who cease and hold back.
§ 3. There is greater danger when an army is afraid. In such a situation it must be aroused by some remarkable confidence, and this generally can be accomplished in no other way than for the soldiers to think that there is a hidden reinforcement and a stratagem. Fulvius Nobilior gave courage to his men, who were about to fight the victorious Samnites, by saying that one enemy legion had been corrupted by him with money for the purpose of betrayal; and he commanded the tribunes, centurions, and chief centurions to contribute whatever gold and silver they had for the immediate payment of the reward to the traitors. Hence came eagerness and victory.
Therefore one must exhort not only openly—which is sometimes the act of a man who lacks confidence—but through hidden channels, so that courage may increase. When Lucullus saw the army of Tigranes from elevated ground, he said, “We have conquered, soldiers; we have conquered.” He pierced the legs and thighs of the cuirassiers with swords; they cut apart their spear shafts with swords.
§ 4. It is useful to arouse emulation. Against Ariovistus Caesar said that he would fight with the Tenth Legion. It gave him thanks for his judgment, and the others were inflamed by shame for battle.
§ 5. Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius inflamed soldiers who refused battle because of mutinies by delaying, since they could not endure the enemy’s insults. Lucius Sulla wearied his soldiers with works until they demanded battle; thus labor served in place of exhortation. When the Lacedaemonian soldiers had deposited their most precious possessions at Orchomenus, Agesilaus ordered the townsmen not to receive anything, so that the army might fight more ardently for its own property. Here avarice drove it into battle.
Sometimes terror is struck into the enemy and courage struck out of him by a single utterance. When the Ionians were wavering, Leotychidas spread the report that the Persians had been defeated at Plataea; by this means he animated them.
When Pan, the commander of Bacchus, learned that a hollow mountain was nearby, he ordered a shout to be raised by night; doubled by the echo, it struck terror into the enemy. When Aristomenes saw the triremes intermingled and the battle undecided, he ordered his soldiers to shout, “Permit them to flee.” The enemy, truly thinking that their own men were fleeing, fled themselves as well.
§ 6. It was customary in antiquity to exhort men to battle by setting forth the enemy’s arrogance and injustice. Thus, when the Carthaginian envoys brought most unjust conditions, Fabius filled the army with indignation. Epaminondas declared that the Lacedaemonians had resolved, if they conquered, to kill everyone of the male sex, to carry off wives and children into slavery, and to destroy Thebes. So great was the ardor of the combatants that they routed their adversaries at the first assault.
By now there is too much experience of this imposture, whereby, in order to move subjects against their princes, men invent everything done and not done. But such things are of use among the inexperienced, and if matters are properly arranged, the whole thing will become an object of ridicule. For what is easier than to expose the emptiest falsehoods? The same Frontinus in book 1, chapter 12, has examples of many men who exposed them all.
It easily falls back upon its authors, moreover, if they have soldiers subject to superstition. When Caesar knew that the Germans had a law against fighting during the waning moon, he defeated them in battle when they were hindered by religious scruple.
Although impostures must never be employed, they nevertheless have sometimes raised the foolish spirits of soldiers. Thus Archidamus secretly established and adorned an altar by night and led horses around it, so that Castor and Pollux might be thought to have been present.
Epaminondas by night arranged through an artisan that the statue of Pallas should hold in its hand the shield that at first had been placed before its feet. The Boeotians, born in dense air, thought that the goddess had taken up her shield and would be their protectress, and fought bravely. He also brought forward the prophet of Trophonius. Alexander likewise abused the superstition of his men. For he inscribed upon the diviner’s hand letters that foretold victory; when the diviner held the entrails, the marks were imprinted upon them. Attalus did this still more carefully against the Gauls. Polyainos, book 4.