§ 1. If war has been altogether resolved upon and one’s forces are thought equal or greater, it is not prudent to keep the army in pacified territory; it must immediately be led against the enemy. For those who fight abroad possess many advantages.
Great courage and confidence in one’s forces are formidable in the man who attacks voluntarily.
Secondly, it contributes greatly to the reputation and authority necessary to those who wage war that you possess so much power that you can not only defend your own possessions but also lay claim to another’s.
Thirdly, you can thus transfer your own dangers to the enemy. For if war is waged at home, the enemy is received within one’s innermost parts; everything is driven off, carried away, and burned; a friendly and a hostile soldier are equally burdensome. Hence arise dejected spirits, complaints, mutinies, and disturbances, all of which are transferred to the enemy when the soldier is carried across into his country.
Hence we see that the Roman people, while struggling at home, nevertheless did not neglect the Spains but transferred the terror of war into Africa; and in this manner at last they recalled rather than drove Hannibal from Italy. Nor is it doubtful that, if the Romans had abandoned the Spains, they could not have defended their own Italy. For the Carthaginians, having attained undisturbed possession of the Spains, could easily have defeated the Romans by the forces and resources of that nation.
§ 2. Battle must not be permitted to a veteran army that is afraid, because it sees itself to be inferior for a certain reason. Whether it is timid or eager the soldiers themselves will declare, even unwillingly. Pallor and trembling betray the man who is afraid. They expressed approval by assent if they raised their hands, gave a shout, and struck their shields against their knees. Lucan, book 1:
At once all the cohorts assented to these things and, raising their hands high, promised whatever wars he called them to; so great a shout goes to the heavens.
Ammianus indicates the differences between their expressions: “After these words had been finished no one remained silent, but all the soldiers, striking their shields against their knees with a dreadful crash—which is a full indication of prosperity, for, on the contrary, when shields are struck with spears, it is evidence of anger and grief—approved with immense joy, except for a few, the judgment of Augustus.”