nd honourable.

Nor can that knowledge of countries which I have spoken of as necessary
in a commander, be obtained in any convenient way except by the chase.
For he who joins therein gains a special acquaintance with the character
of the country in which it is followed; and he who has made himself
specially familiar with one district, will afterwards readily understand
the character of any strange country into which he comes. For all
countries, and the districts of which they are made up, have a certain
resemblance to one another, so that from a knowledge of one we can pass
easily to the knowledge of another. He therefore who is without such
practical acquaintance with some one country, can only with difficulty,
and after a long time, obtain a knowledge of another, while he who
possesses it can take in at a glance how this plain spreads, how
that mountain slopes, whither that valley winds, and all other like
particulars in respect of which he has already acquired a certain
familiarity.

The truth of what I affirm is shown by Titus Livius in the case of
Publius Decius, who, being military tribune in the army which the consul
Cornelius led against the Samnites, when the consul advanced into a
defile where the Roman army were like to be shut in by the enemy,
perceiving the great danger they ran, and noting, as Livius relates, a
hill which rose by a steep ascent and overhung the enemy's camp, and
which, though hard of access for heavy-armed troops, presented
little difficulty to troops lightly armed, turned to the consul and
said:--"_Seest thou, Aulus Cornelius, yonder height over above the enemy,
which they have been blind enough to neglect? There, were we manfully to
seize it, might we find the citadel of our hopes and of our safety._"
Whereupon, he was sent by the consul with three thousand men to secure
the height, and so saved the Roman army. And as it was part of his plan
to make his own escape and carry off his men safely under shelter of
night, Livius represents him as saying to his soldiers:--"_Come with me,
that, while daylight still serves, we may learn where the enemy have
posted their guards, and by what exit we may issue hence._" Accordingly,
putting on the cloak of a common soldier, lest the enemy should observe
that an officer was making his rounds he surveyed their camp in all
directions.

Now any one who carefully studies the whole of this passage, must
perceive how useful and necessary it is for a cap