a prudent captain ought
absolutely to refrain from all those operations which, while of trifling
moment in themselves, may possibly produce an ill effect on his army.
Now, to engage in a combat wherein you risk your whole fortunes without
putting forth your entire strength, is, as I observed before, when
condemning the defence of a country by guarding its defiles, an utterly
foolhardy course. On the other hand, it is to be said that a prudent
captain, when he has to meet a new and redoubtable adversary, ought,
before coming to a general engagement, to accustom his men by skirmishes
and passages of arms, to the quality of their enemy; that they may learn
to know him, and how to deal with him, and so free themselves from the
feeling of dread which his name and fame inspire.

This for a captain is a matter of the very greatest importance, and
one which it might be almost fatal for him to neglect, since to risk a
pitched battle without first giving your soldiers such opportunities to
know their enemy and shake off their fear of him, is to rush on certain
destruction. When Valerius Corvinus was sent by the Romans with their
armies against the Samnites, these being new adversaries with whom up to
that time they had not measured their strength, Titus Livius tells us
that before giving battle he made his men make trial of the enemy in
several unimportant skirmishes, "_lest they should be dismayed by a new
foe and a new method of warfare._" Nevertheless, there is very great
danger that, if your soldiers get the worst in these encounters, their
alarm and self-distrust may be increased, and a result follow contrary
to that intended, namely, that you dispirit where you meant to reassure.

This, therefore, is one of those cases in which the evil lies so nigh
the good, and both are so mixed up together that you may readily lay
hold of the one when you think to grasp the other. And with regard to
this I say, that a good captain should do what he can that nothing
happen which might discourage his men, nor is there anything so
likely to discourage them as to begin with a defeat. For which reason
skirmishes are, as a rule, to be avoided, and only to be allowed where
you fight to great advantage and with a certainty of victory. In like
manner, no attempt should be made to defend the passes leading into your
country unless your whole army can co-operate; nor are any towns to be
defended save those whose loss necessarily involves your ruin