is simple, that is to say directed to
so few subjects, and taking up those only in their final results, the
art of execution is not, on that account, easy. Of the difficulties to
which activity in War is subject generally, we have already spoken in
the first book; we here omit those things which can only be overcome by
courage, and maintain also that the activity of mind, is only simple,
and easy in inferior stations, but increases in difficulty with increase
of rank, and in the highest position, in that of Commander-in-Chief,
is to be reckoned among the most difficult which there is for the human
mind.

45. OF THE NATURE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.

The Commander of an Army neither requires to be a learned explorer
of history nor a publicist, but he must be well versed in the higher
affairs of State; he must know, and be able to judge correctly of
traditional tendencies, interests at stake, the immediate questions at
issue, and the characters of leading persons; he need not be a close
observer of men, a sharp dissector of human character, but he must
know the character, the feelings, the habits, the peculiar faults and
inclinations of those whom he is to command. He need not understand
anything about the make of a carriage, or the harness of a battery
horse, but he must know how to calculate exactly the march of a column,
under different circumstances, according to the time it requires. These
are matters the knowledge of which cannot be forced out by an apparatus
of scientific formula and machinery: they are only to be gained by the
exercise of an accurate judgment in the observation of things and of
men, aided by a special talent for the apprehension of both.

The necessary knowledge for a high position in military action is
therefore distinguished by this, that by observation, therefore by study
and reflection, it is only to be attained through a special talent
which as an intellectual instinct understands how to extract from the
phenomena of life only the essence or spirit, as bees do the honey from
the flowers; and that it is also to be gained by experience of life as
well as by study and reflection. Life will never bring forth a Newton or
an Euler by its rich teachings, but it may bring forth great calculators
in War, such as Conde' or Frederick.

It is therefore not necessary that, in order to vindicate the
intellectual dignity of military activity, we should resort to untruth
and silly pedantry. There never has bee