did in Italy. But since he took not that course, we may infer
that he was moved by sufficient reasons. For the captain who has got
an army together, and perceives that from want of money or friends he
cannot maintain it long, must be a mere madman if he do not at once,
and before his army melts away, try the fortunes of battle; since he is
certain to lose by delay, while by fighting he may chance to succeed.
And there is this also to be kept in view, that we must strive, even if
we be defeated, to gain glory; and that more glory is to be won in being
beaten by force, than in a defeat from any other cause. And this we may
suppose to have weighed with Hannibal. On the other hand, supposing
Hannibal to have declined battle, Scipio, even if he had lacked courage
to follow him up and attack him in his intrenched camp, would not have
suffered thereby; for as he had defeated Syphax, and got possession of
many of the African towns, he could have rested where he was in the same
security and with the same convenience as if he had been in Italy. But
this was not the case with Hannibal when he had to encounter Fabius, nor
with the Gauls when they were opposed to Sulpitius.

Least of all can he decline battle who invades with his army the country
of another; for seeking to enter his enemy's country, he must fight
whenever the enemy comes forward to meet him; and is under still greater
necessity to fight, if he undertake the siege of any town. As happened
in our own day with Duke Charles of Burgundy, who, when beleaguering
Morat, a town of the Swiss, was by them attacked and routed; or as
happened with the French army encamped against Novara, which was in like
manner defeated by the Swiss.

CHAPTER XI.--_That one who has to contend with many, though he be weaker
than they, will prevail if he can withstand their first onset._

The power exercised in Rome by the tribunes of the people was great,
and, as I have repeatedly explained, was necessary, since otherwise
there would have been no check on the ambition of the nobles, and the
commonwealth must have grown corrupted far sooner than it did. But
because, as I have said elsewhere, there is in everything a latent evil
peculiar to it, giving rise to new mischances, it becomes necessary to
provide against these by new ordinances. The authority of the tribunes,
therefore, being insolently asserted so as to become formidable to the
nobility and to the entire city, disorders dangerous t