me to finde thee, to departe out
of the fielde, and to devide the menne into thy tounes to thentent that
tediousnesse of winnyng them, maie wearie hym.

ZANOBI. Cannot the faightyng of the battaile be otherwise avoided, then
in devidyng the armie in sunderie partes and placyng the men in tounes?

[Sidenote: Fabius Maximus.]

FABRICIO. I beleve that ones alreadie, with some of you I have reasoned,
how that he, that is in the field, cannot avoide to faight the battaile,
when he hath an enemie, which will faight with hym in any wise, and he
hath not, but one remedie, and that is, to place him self with his armie
distant fiftie miles at leaste, from his adversarie, to be able betymes
to avoide him, when he should go to finde hym. For Fabius Maximus never
avoided to faight the battaile with Aniball, but he would have it with
his advauntage: and Aniball did not presume to bee able to overcome hym,
goyng to finde hym in the places where he incamped: where if he had
presupposed, to have been able to have overcome, it had been conveniente
for Fabius, to have fought the battaile with hym, or to have avoided.

[Sidenote: Philip king of Macedonia, overcome by the Romaines; How
Cingentorige avoided the faightyng of the fielde with Cesar; The
ignorance of the Venecians; What is to be doen wher soldiours desire to
faight, contrary to their capitaines minde; How to incourage souldiers;
An advertisment to make the soldiour most obstinately to faight.]

Philip Kyng of Macedonia, thesame that was father to Perse, commyng to
warre with the Romaines, pitched his campe upon a verie high hill, to
the entent not to faight with theim: but the Romaines wente to find hym
on thesame hill, and discomfaited hym. Cingentorige capitain of the
Frenche menne, for that he would not faight the field with Cesar, whom
contrarie to his opinion, had passed a river, got awaie many miles with
his men. The Venecians in our tyme, if thei would not have come to have
fought with the Frenche kyng, thei ought not to have taried till the
Frenche armie, had passed the River Addus, but to have gotten from them
as Cingentorige, where thei havyng taried knewe not how to take in the
passyng of the men, the occasion to faight the battaile, nor to avoide
it: For that the Frenche men beyng nere unto them, as the Venecians went
out of their Campe, assaulted theim, and discomfited theim: so it is,
that the battaile cannot bee avoided, when the enemie in any wise will
faight