§ 1. One must not readily fight unless necessity compels it or you see that you have victory in your hands. An army eager to fight but unequal to the enemy must be restrained by a gentle method, so that its spirit may remain brave and eager and yet entrust itself to the commander’s prudence. Sertorius taught the barbarous Lusitanians by an example that the Romans must not be conquered all at once but worn down in parts. Then, when he saw that they were going to fight with disastrous loss, he sent a troop of cavalry to provoke the enemy, sent assistance to it when it was hard pressed, and brought them all back. He thus showed what the outcome of the battle would have been if they had tried fortune with all their standards brought together.
§ 2. Battle must not readily be joined. Vegetius, book 3, chapter 9: “Therefore all things must be considered beforehand, attempted beforehand, and done beforehand, before the final extremity is reached. For good commanders always seek to conduct battle not by open combat, in which the danger is common, but from concealment, so that, while preserving their own men intact, they may kill as many enemies as they can, or at least terrify them. In this part I shall relate what extremely necessary measures were discovered by the ancients.”
Paulus Aemilius said that an exceedingly good commander very rarely fought with standards brought together unless the highest necessity or the greatest opportunity had been given to him.
§ 3. Therefore he is a great commander who can endure taunts and the name of delayer with an even mind, lest he fight before the proper time or outside his own place and time. Fabius could endure it; Pompey could not. Accordingly, Fabius fought at the urging of others, and Pompey to his own hurt; for a colleague drew Fabius on, while the inexperienced bent Pompey. Against them all Pericles stood unconquered. When Pericles, unequal to the enemy but called to battle even with abuse by his own men, who were eager to fight, answered that felled trees very easily grow again but slain men are restored with the greatest difficulty. Plutarch, Pericles.
§ 4. The plan of Gnaeus Sulpicius the dictator was sound, when, as Livy says in book 7, he “protracted the war, being unwilling to commit himself to fortune against an enemy whom time and the foreignness of the place were making worse day by day.”
What Machiavelli thinks—namely, that if the enemy wishes absolutely to enter battle, it cannot be avoided—is true. But if he wishes this, the prudent commander will enter battle to his own advantage and with certain victory. For just as a man who has fallen headlong into an absolute desire to buy and eagerly desires to buy another’s farm is compelled to buy it for whatever price the seller names, so the man who rashly hastens into battle is compelled to accept the time and place according to the other’s will. But it is dangerous to accept from the enemy the conditions for fighting.
Charles V was unwilling to fight the Germans because he did not doubt that their army would soon be dispersed. For he saw that within the league the cities which supplied its sinews were despised and complained with justice; he therefore thought that they would depart from the league, as they did.
§ 5. The necessity of fighting presses if one must yield a place while the enemy is near. For a man who is compelled to depart after removing the baggage scarcely escapes without battle if the enemy follows. For the enemy follows and, by occupying places advantageous to himself, will compel him to fight at a disadvantage.
One must fight when provisions or pay appear likely to fail, and much more if the enemy lays waste to the countryside. At other times, when necessary for safety, it is not dishonorable to defend the walls and not advance into the battle-line. When the Thebans besieged Sparta, all were eager to go out to fight, but Agesilaus delayed because he said that the Athenians also had once been confined within their city by the Lacedaemonians.
§ 6. Nor shall I condemn a commander if he withdraws for a time. For if a stratagematic flight which is soon turned against a careless enemy is praiseworthy, why is not one which lasts for weeks or months also praiseworthy? When Metellus saw that the enemy was eager, he led his army back. Agesilaus likewise, when he saw the order and forces of the Athenians to be such that he could not conquer, withdrew. Polyainos, book 2.
Contempt must not be feared but loved. For whoever despises the enemy is unprepared for battle. An eagerness to fight must be nourished in the soldier; foresight for victory belongs to the commander.
Nor must one readily undertake war against practiced men. When Croesus was contemplating wars against the islanders, Bias dissuaded him by saying that the islanders were preparing a great number of horses against him. Croesus laughed and said, “Would that I might catch them on the mainland.” Then Bias replied, “And they desire to catch Croesus at sea.” For a naval battle was as difficult for Croesus as a land battle for the islanders.
§ 7. One must not fight if there is a danger of losing a kingdom. The duke of Alba was unwilling to fight Guise in the kingdom of Naples, for the French, if defeated, would have lost only their army, while the Spaniards would have lost a kingdom.
§ 8. Nevertheless, I would sometimes advise battle if the enemy has an army of recruits, which becomes better through experience, while you have one of veterans; likewise, if the enemy is afraid.
Let the weaker man terrify; let the stronger render the enemy careless. It is a part of victory for the enemy to be terrified. The man who fears lives only by half. The suspicion of danger contributes as much to victory as danger itself.
A lion is terrified by the noise of wheels, the crowing of a cock, and fire. The enemy flees if you cast before him a mask of fear.
The man who has a veteran and victorious army, as did Hannibal and Caesar, can readily advance to battle. But lest he introduce vigilance into the enemy, it belongs to a commander to wish to appear afraid; it belongs to a Thraso to wish to be feared. Accordingly, an equal will never fight with an equal except to his own advantage. But the fear which makes the enemy cautious must be removed, while that which makes him flee must be struck into him.