oth consuls to elude before they could
deliver them into Hannibal's hands. They did succeed in passing
Livius, but they were intercepted by Nero. The patrols who seized
these messengers brought them to Nero's tent. Nero opened and read the
letters. All Hasdrubal's plans and arrangements were detailed in them
very fully, so that Nero perceived that, if he were at once to proceed
to the northward with a strong force, he could render his colleague
such aid as, with the knowledge of Hasdrubal's plans, which he had
obtained from the letters, would probably enable them to defeat him;
whereas, if he were to leave Livius in ignorance and alone, he feared
that Hasdrubal would be successful in breaking his way through, and in
ultimately effecting his junction with Hannibal. Under these
circumstances, he was, of course, very earnestly desirous of going
northward to render the necessary aid, but he was strictly forbidden
by law to leave his own province to enter that of his colleague
without an authority from Rome, which there was not now time to
obtain.

The laws of military discipline are very strict and imperious, and in
theory they are never to be disobeyed. Officers and soldiers, of all
ranks and gradations, must obey the orders which they receive from the
authority above them, without looking at the consequences, or
deviating from the line marked out on any pretext whatever. It is, in
fact, the very essence of military subordination and efficiency, that
a command, once given, suspends all exercise of judgment or discretion
on the part of the one to whom it is addressed; and a good general or
a good government would prefer generally that harm should be done by a
strict obedience to commands, rather than a benefit secured by an
unauthorized deviation from them. It is a good principle, not only in
war, but in all those cases in social life where men have to act in
concert, and yet wish to secure efficiency in action.

And yet there are cases of exception--cases where the necessity is so
urgent, or the advantages to be derived are so great; where the
interests involved are so momentous, and the success so sure, that a
commander concludes to disobey and take the responsibility. The
responsibility is, however, very great, and the danger in assuming it
extreme. He who incurs it makes himself liable to the severest
penalties, from which nothing but clear proof of the most imperious
necessity, and, in addition to it, the most triump