the Etruscans. For the consul
Fabius having routed that people near Sutrium, and thinking to pass
onward through the Ciminian forest into Etruria, so far from seeking the
advice of the senate, gave them no hint whatever of his design, although
for its execution the war had to be carried into a new, difficult, and
dangerous country. We have further witness to the same effect, in the
action taken in respect of this enterprise by the senate, who being
informed of the victory obtained by Fabius, and apprehending that he
might decide to pass onward through the aforesaid forest, and deeming it
inexpedient that he should incur risk by attempting this invasion, sent
two messengers to warn him not to enter Etruria. These messengers,
however, did not come up with the consul until he had already made his
way into that country and gained a second victory; when, instead of
opposing his further advance, they returned to Rome to announce his good
fortune and the glory which he had won.

Whoever, therefore, shall well consider the character of the authority
whereof I speak, will see that it was most wisely accorded; since had it
been the wish of the senate that a consul, in conducting a war, should
proceed step by step as they might direct him, this must have made him
at once less cautious and more dilatory; because the credit of victory
would not then have seemed to be wholly his own, but shared by the
senate on whose advice he acted. Besides which, the senate must have
taken upon itself the task of advising on matters which it could not
possibly understand; for although it might contain among its members all
who were most versed in military affairs, still, since these men were
not on the spot, and were ignorant of many particulars which, if they
were to give sound advice, it was necessary for them to know, they
must in advising have made numberless mistakes. For these reasons they
desired that the consul should act on his own responsibility, and that
the honours of success should be wholly his; judging that the love of
fame would act on him at once as a spur and as a curb, making him do
whatever he had to do well.

This matter I have the rather dwelt upon because I observe that our
modern republics, such as the Venetian and the Florentine, view it in
a different light; so that when their captains, commissaries, or
_provedditori_ have a single gun to place in position, the authorities
at home must be informed and consulted; a course