vpon Hanniball yet notwithstanding had not the foresight of Fabius ben the valeancy of Marcellus had serued the Romans to small purpose But Hanniball hauing two valeant captains vpon him at once of two diuerse humours was sore incumbered how to deale with them For when Marcellus had lost a battell Fabius was readie at hand to stop Hanniball from passing any further And in this case seeing the Romans were able to maintaine two armies and it stoode them on hand to conquer or at leastwise to recouer that which they had lost at the iourny of Cannas they were not misaduised in their counsell to chuse these two braue captains of so differing humors to the intent that the continuall fighting of the one might wearie Hanniball and the lingering of Fabius might ouerthrow him But this is not easie for all men to do and specially for theÌ„ that haue not their people trained to the wars as the Romans had who sent them out of Rome as it were by swarms After whose example the prince that is able to leuie store of men and well trained needeth not to be afraid to giue battell to vncumber himselfe of a noisome enemie that cannot be driuen away but by fight The Romans did so against the Gaules and Germaines against Pyrrhus and against Hanniball So did Charles Martell against the Sarzins and Philip of Valois against king Eâ—ward But when a prince sees that fortune is against him then must he alter his manner of dealing as Charles the fifth did against the Englishmen For the former victories that they had obtained against the Frenchmen had taught him to seeke the oportunitie of time For sith the former way auailed him not it behoued him to try another The Gaules were valeant and furious in fight and therfore Cneus Sulpicius did well to protract time with them Hanniball was inuincible in Italie and therefore Fabius did wisely in trying another way and Scipio did boldly and valeantly in making warre in Affricke to turne him away from Italie If Manfred had taken the aduauntage of time at Naples he had done wel for he had cut the combes of the Fenchmen who are furious and almost vnpregnable at the first brunt and had in short time brought Charles to vtter want of vittels and monie Contrariwise it stood Conradine on hand to giue battell to Charles duke of Aniou as he did For he was to reconquer the countrie And Charles of Aniou being but a new conquerour and as yet scarce well assured of his kingdome was not to haue refused him neither did he For there are times and seasons which permit not delay but require of necessitie the hazarding of a battel In our ciuill warres we haue seene two captains that haue vsed means cleane contrarie one to another and yet the purpose and resolution of either of them was commendable and had come afterward to a good end if it had been ripe The duke of Guise a braue and valeant captaine if euer any were sought battell by all the means he couâ—d and could not away with lingering delaies the which he did not without great reason For first he ment to alay the fire which he saw increasing in such sort as it would be hard to quench if it were once throughly kindled in all parts Againe he feared least the prolonging of time would increase the contrary side and that many would incline that way if it were not preuented by destroying the chiefe leaders of that part by a bloody battel And as for winning therof he thought himselfe sure of it For although the contrary party had the choise of the souldiers of the old bands yet had he not such a number of horsmen as the duke of Guise led the which alone might be a cause of victorie for the footmen do nothing without horsmen Moreouer he had a great number of Suislers and a goodly bâ—nd of French harquebuzers store of ordnance seeld peeces and whatsoeuer else is requisit in an army roiall whereas the other side was but an army patched vp howbeit that there were some good and well practised captains and valiant souldiers Contrariwise Monsieur de Tauanes perceiuing that there behoued many battels to be giuen for the vtter defeating of the contrary side though it be better to delay the time and that the king should by length of time bereaue them of the countrie that they had conquered forasmuch as he had sufficient wherewith to hold out the war at length which abilitie they had not who oftentimes wanted monie and men of war to be at commandement of the ring leader because the most part serued of good will and could not enforce vs to hazard a battell but to their owne great disaduantage And if that maner had continued any longer than it did they had ben brought to a great afterdeale CHAP. IX Whether it be possible for two armies lodged one neere another to keepe themselues from being inforced to fight whether they will or no. WE haue seene the profit that commeth of waiting to take the oportunity of time and of ouermatching the enemy by long delay and protracting of time but yet there remaineth a doubt concerning the possibilitie thereof whether it lie in a mans power to refuse to come to battell when he is neere his enemie and marcheth side by side with him They that hold the opinion that a man cannot be enforced to battell alledge the examples of Cneus Sulpicius against the Gaules of Fabius Maximus against Hannibal of Pericles against the Lacedemonians of Charles the fifth against Edward king of England of the constable of France at Auignion of the duke of Alua at Naples against the duke of Guise and of diuers others who by delay of time brought the enterprises of their enemies to nothing and were neuer enforced to come to handstrokes On the contrarie part they that haue hazarded a battell in their owne countrie haue found themselues ill apaid as Craesus against Cyrus Darius against Alexander Philip of Valois against king Edward and many others aforealledged whom we forbeare to speake of to auoid tediousnes But these examples are not able to proue that a captaine cannot be compelled to fight whether he will or no. For when a conquering enemie commeth strongly into a countrie he may compell you to come to battell or else to flee or else to shut vp your selfe in some citie which are dishonourable points and of dangerous consequence The duke of Saxonie meant to haue wone time of the emperour Charles the fifth after that maner vpon trust of the great riuer Albis that was betweene the two camps but the emperour found a foord the which was shewed him by a miller whereat he passed some of the troops of his horsmen and the residue did so much by swimming and by boats that they got land on the side where their enemies lay Philip king of Macedonie the father and Perses his son encamped themselues vpon a mountaine wherunto there
the assailant For when the assailant departeth out of his countrie he leaueth garrisons and men of warre behind him to defend it against sudden troubles that might ensue of insurrections by absence of the prince or by some sodaine inuasion of some neighbor that would take him vnprouided as Iames king of Scots did to his owne vndoing against the king of England at such time as he was passed to Calice with a great force and was occupied about the siege of Tirwin and Turney So that no well aduised prince setteth vp all his rest vpon the hazard of one battell but doth euer reserue a store for after-claps And if a prince chance to be taken prisoner in a forraine countrie he shall be discharged vpon his raunsome and vpon such conditions as the conquerour listeth to giue him but if he be taken in his owne countrie it is hard but that diuerse weake and il-furnished rownes wil yeeld themselues to the conqueror vpon report of his victorie which townes shall not be admitted in account when they come to treat of peace And oftentimes fortune is so fauourable to the vanquisher that after a victorie he maketh himselfe lord of the whole realme and needeth not to make any other agreement with his prisoner than to grant or take away his life at his own pleasure It is commonly said that fortune furthereth the aduenterous and we see it so by experience Ninâ—â— Semyramis and Alexander were fortunate in their conquests Pyrrhus was fortunate in getting but vnfortunate in keeping And they that go forth with that intent do seldome faile of their purpose Charles the eight conquered Naples in short time and brought backe his armie through the midst of Italie passing vpon the bellies of his enemies Edward king of England comming into France with resolute purpose to conquer the realme gaue battell to Philip of Valois and ouercame him both by sea and by land notwithstanding that Philip of Valois did what could be done by a well-aduised prince For he encountered him vpon the sea afore he tooke land but it booted him not For God made fortune to turne against him in which case it is better to strike saile than to hazard a battell as Charles the fifth could well skill to do being taught by the aduersities of his grandfather and father William duke of Normandie after one battell made himselfe souereigne lord of the realme of England being fully resolued either to conquer or else to die I will not say therefore that an inuader shall alwayes be sure of victory for sometimes it falleth out cleane contrarie as it did with Cyrus who was defeated by the Massagets in their own countrie with the Swissers who were discomfited in Prouince by Iulius Caesar with the Sarzins which were discomfited by Charles Martell who caused Euâ—o duke of Gascoyne to turne against them To be short He that looseth a field in a strange countrie loseth but his men but he that loseth it in his owne countrie loseth both men and goods and sees his land dayly wasted and his subiects pilled CHAP. XI Of the pitching of a Campe. NOw seeing it is so that in both sorts of warre aswell of assailing as of defending men must be brought to march togither either to receiue or to follow the enemie we must needs speake of the seating of a campe as vpon the which alone dependeth the winning of the battell as Pyrrâ—us shewed full well who in that point was esteemed the excellentest of all captains The campe that is well planted ought to be nere a riuer that they may haue the commoditie of water which cannot be forborne and also for the fortifying of themselues and for the doing of their enterprises For a riuer doth wonderfully strengthen a camp because the enemy cannot passe it without danger But a captaine must also be maister of the riuer and not coope vp himselfe betweene two riuers except he haue means to get out againe at his pleasure least it disappoint him of the commoditie of vittels and of succours as it befell to Iulius Caesar in Spaine against Affraenius and Petreius But that happeneth commonly by some extraordinarie ouerflowing wherof notwithstanding a man shal discharge himselfe so well that he shall ouercome them afterward Secondly woods serue for another fortification and yeeld means of goodly enterprises Thirdly mountains giue great aduantage to them that are incamped in them For they that are faine to mount vp to their assault are wearied afore they come to handstroks Contrariwise they that come downward go with the greater force vpon their enemies Hanniball vanquished the Romans at Trebia by hauing his campe planted neere to a wood He had lodged himselfe neere a riuer and neere thicke copses full of brush wood and thornes taking occasion to beguile the Romans by that seating of his camp for when they should com to encouÌ„ter him he sent his brother Mago into that place ouernight accompanied with a thousand horsmen and a thousand footmen to lie in ambush there And the next morning he caused his light horsmen of Numidie to passe the riuer and to skirmish with the Romans and to draw them into the stale The which thing was done so cunningly that when the Romans were in the heat of the fight they were assailed behind by Mago who lay in ambush there so as they could notwithstand the Carthaginenses but were constrained to giue back with great losse of their men As for to passe a riuer to assaile the enemy the danger therof is very great as appeareth in Manlius who would needs passe a riuer that had but only one foord to passe at to encounter with Asdruball contrary to the aduice of Scipio who warned him of the perill wherinto he did put himselfe Neuertheles he passed the riuer and assailed Asdruball who suffered the Romans to do as they listed without offering them battell vntill he saw them incumbred in passing the foord And then with all his force he set vpon the taile of them and made so great a slaughter that all their army was at the point to haue ben discomfited had not Scipios forecast bin who made the enemies to recoile by the helpe of his men of arms Timoleon seeing the army of the Carthaginenses sore troubled and put out of order in passing a riuer with great peril and therby deeming that he might take them at aduantage ere they were halfe passed shewed his men of war with his finger how the battel of his enemies was parted in two halues by the riuer the one halfe of them being on the one side and the other half on the other and commanded Demaratus to take his horsmen and to goe and charge vpon the formost of them to keep them from ranging themselues in battelray And therewithall he caused his footmen to go downe into the plaine by means wherof togither with a storm that fel suddainly against the Carthaginenses he gat the battel As
ordained that the moneth of Iune should be called the second May. Likewise when a certaine Pope might not make his enterance into Paris vpon a Thursday because of the vnconueniencie of the next day following whereby the rost-meat of the Persians should haue bin spared he ordained that the next day being Friday should bee called Thursday to wherevpon it came to passe that that weeke hath euer since bene called the weeke with the two Thursdaies Dion forbare not for all the eclipse of the moone to weigh vp his Anchors presently and to depart forthwith from Zacinth to goe to make warre vpon Dennis the tyrant of Sicill whome he draue out of Syracuse immediatly vpon his arriuall there Nothwithstanding to put away the superstition of his souldiers he brought them a soothsaier who said vnto theÌ„ My fellowes be of good chere and assure your selues that all shall goe very well with vs. For the God head sheweth vs to our sight that some one of the things which are now most glorious cleare bright shal be eclipsed and darkened now there is not at this time any thing more resplendant than the tyrannie of Dennis and therefore ye may well thinke that as soone as you be arriued in Sicilie ye shall deface the brightnes thereof When Pericles was readie to saile with fiftie vessels it happened that the sonne was eclipsed the which thing did put all his coÌ„panie in feare yea the pilot himselfe to wherefore Pericles seeing the Pilot sore dismaid did spread out his cloke and couer his eies with it demaunding of him whether he thought it did him any harme or no. The Pilot answered him no. Then sayd Pericles there is no difference betweene this and yonder eclips sauing that the body or thing that darkeneth the sunne is greater than my cloke that couereth thine eies The Arabian guides that had beguiled Crassus by leading him into a place where he and the greater part of all his armie were slaine intending to haue done as much to Cassius who had gotten himselfe into the citie of Carras and was purposed to depart thence the next morrow did what they could to persuade him to tarrie vntil the moone were passed out of the signe of the Scorpion which they affirmed to bee an vnluckie signe hoping to stay him by that superstition But he answered them that he feared much rather the signe of Sagittarius that is to say of the Bow-man or Archer because the Romans had lately afore ben curstly galled by the archers of the king of Parthia When Timoleon was readie to giue battell to the Carthaginenses by chance there came into his host certaine mulets loden with smallage the which thing the souldiers tooke for a foretoken of ill luck because it was the custom of those daies to bestrow the graues of dead folks with that hearbe But Timoleon inteÌ„ding to draw them from that superstition made his armie to stand still hauing declared diuers things to them according to the time he told them that the garland of honor offered it selfe vnto them afore victorie For among the Corinthians qd he such as win the prise at the gaming 's of Ischmus that are kept in their countrie are crowned with garlands of smallage And therwithal himself tooke of it and made him a garland the which he did put vpon his head and after him all the rest of the captains yea and euen the priuat souldiers also As Marcellus was about to shock with the Gauls of Lumbardie that were on the coast of Genoa his horse turned back for feare carried him away whether he would or no which thing helfearing least the Romans should take for a signe of ill lucke â—emed his horse to the left hand suddenly made him to turne head towards the enemie and euen presently therewithall worshipped the sunne as who would say his turning backe had not bene by chaunce but purposely to that intent because the Romanes vvere vvoont too make such returns when they worshipped their gods When Iulius Caesar was arriued in Affrike as he went out of his boat he fel to the grouÌ„d which thing some that vvere about him tooke for an euill signe But to turne it to the cleane contrarie I hold thee O Affrike quoth he as if he had done it of set purpose Edward king of England being landed in Constantine at a place called the Hogue S. Wast did no sooner set foot on ground but he fell downe and that so forcibly that his nose gushed out a bleeding vvhereat his lords that vvere about him counselled him to retire againe into his ship because of the euill signe But king Edward very nobly and readily answered It is a very good signe for mee for the land is desirous of me The soothsaiers counselled Iulius Caesar not to passe into Affrike afore vvinter yet letted he not to do it yea and vvith very happie successe When he pursued Scipio in Affrike because there vvas a brute in his camp that the Scipios could not be vanquished in that countrie he in derision of that superstitious opinion had in his armie a Scipio neither of vvealth not offâ—me nor of experience in fears of vvar to the end that his souldiers should be of the better courage knowing that Caesar had a Scipio as vvell as his enemies When Paulus Aemilius vvas readie to giue battell to Perses king of Macedonie the soothsaiers told him thâ—t by defending he should get the victorie and not otherwise To rid his armie of this feare he made an vnbrideled horse to be driuen towards the enemies sent certain Romans after him to catch him againe Anon the enemies ran out vpon the Romans and so began a fray Paulus Aemilius sent forth his men to defend them and thereupon began a skirmish whereupon ensued a battell wherein he wan the victorie according to the foresaieng of the soothsaiers The Romans kept a huge masse of gold and siluer in their treasurie and whensoeuer any was put in they cursed the man with very great ceremonies that should touch it saue only for maintainance of wars against the Gauls But yet for all that Iulius Caesar wanting monie to pay his men of war made no conscience to lay hand on it And to take away the superstition of the people and the feare of any curse that should come vpon the citie he told them he might iustly take it seeing he came from conquering the Gauls Sylla in a like case shewed himselfe to be neither superstitious nor yet religious For vpon a time when he wanted monie he tooke all that was in the temple of Apollo at Delphos and for the doing thereof hee sent a friend of his name Caphis but he was afraid to enter vpon the consecrated things and protested with salt tears that he did it against his will And when some of the standers by told him that they heard the sound of Apollos viall within the temple whether it were that he beleeued it to be
vncertaine chance of battell than to trust to the small hope of sauing themselues by flight and so standing resolute vpon that point they caried away the victorie The duke of Guelders finding a great power of the Brabanders comming vpon him was sore astonied for he saw that he must either fight thirtie to one or else shut vp himselfe in a citie To shut vp himselfe he was loth and therefore fully resoluing himselfe to abide the battell he fell to giuing charge vpon his enemies vnprouided who being taken with a lunatike feare fled away without striking a stroke Stillico went and charged suddenly vpon the Gothes as they were going into Gallia At the first they were astonished at the sudden and vnprouided onset but at length resoluing to abide the battel they not onely ouercame him but also returned into Italie by the countrie of Genes When Manfride gaue battell to the duke of Aniou the duke of Anious armie began to want food as well for the men as for their horses And in driuing off the time a while longer and in tarying for his men that were dispersed in diuerse places of his realme he had both made himselfe the stronger and also brought his enemie to extreme necessitie But in chusing rather to set vpon his enemies while they were wearie and ill at ease of the long iourney that they had made he found by experience that nothing is vnpossible to a conquerour for he lost the battell and died Carafa the countie of Mathalon would not beleeue the counsell of them that would haue had him to follow the French-men that drew toward Salerne and to haue cut off their vittails without fighting with them vnlesse they could take them in some place of aduauntage or to get betweene Salerne and their campe to keep them froÌ„ entring into the town to make them returne into the Basilicat because they waÌ„ted both vittels artillery But of a brauerie he would needs giue them battell because they were but few in number and for his labour he lost the field For the lord of Perfie attending him with resolution discomfited him Had he beene trained in the schoole of king Lewis the eleuenth he would haue learned that he which hath the profit of a warre hath also the honour therof When Ferdinand king of Naples began to reconquer the realme of Naples he was so ioyfull of his good fortune that in a brauerie he would needs giue battell to the Frenchmen contrarie to the aduice of a great captaine who counselled him to hold himselfe close within Seminara vntill he were more certainly aduertised of the intent and power of the Frenchmen telling him that the counsels which promise suretie in all things are honourable inough and that they which by a fond ouerlustinesse of courage do hinder the means whereby a matter should come to good issue are void of honour shamefull and miserable But this good counsell was ouercome by the worser so that he gaue the Frenchmen battell who woon the day to the great confusion of Ferdinand and of the Arragonians The Frisons being aduertised of the great preparations that the countie of Ostreuant made for warre against them met in counsell to consider what was best for them to do many gaue counsell to bid him battell at his first arriuall but Iues Iouire a man of personage as big as a giant and wonderfull valiant withall counselled them to watch the time and not to hazard their forces against stroÌ„ger than themselues saying That they had many good ditches and trenches which would disappoint horsmen wherein their enemies ouermatched them and that their footmen should soone be wearied and tired with the combersomnesse of their iourney and with the small store of vittails which they should find abrode in the country so as they might be rid of them for the burning of a dozen villages Yet notwithstanding they forbare not to giue battell and lost it The men of Liege would needs fight with the duke of Burgoins men who was entred with an armed host into their countrie and they did it against the counsell of the lord of Pâ—erandes who would haue them to win time of them and to put their men in garrison But he could not persuade the common people to do so and therfore they were all discomfited and left eight and twenty thousand men dead vpon the field Now must we a little see how we in France haue sped in that behalfe King Philip of Valois gaue battell to the Englishmen in his owne realme at a place called Cressye and was there ouercome King Iohn trusting in his own force chose rather to giue the Englishmen battel at Poictiers than to subdue them by famin and vnrest and he â—or his labour was taken prisoner but Charles the fift hauing taken another course and helping himselfe with the counsell of Fabius would neuer hazard his state vpon a battell by means wherof he ouermatched the Englishmen and did so much by his countenances that he tooke from them almost all Guien euen from vnder their nose and seazed vpon the towns and cities of the duke of Bretaine And when any man spake to the king of giuing battell his counsell would say thus vnto him Sir let them go they can neuer get your inheritance for smoke For when a storme commeth into a countrie it must in the end needs depart againe King Edward was wont to say of him That neuer any king did lesse put on armour nor euer any king did worke him more incuÌ„beraÌ„ce for he coÌ„quered Guien without battel And the king of England with two puissant armies leuied both at one time could do no more but wast and burne the country without winning so much as any one citie of account At the beginning of the wars of Peloponnesus Pericles chose rather to see the forraying and burning of the territorie of Athens than to go out of Athens to hazard a battel persuading himselfe that the delay of time would quaile the force of the Lacedemonians Fabius Maximus ouerthrew Hanniball more by not fighting than other captains had done by fighting with him At the first encounter of Trebia because Sempronius had giuen a foile to the Affricanes he was so puffed vp with that first skirmish that he thought al was wonne and that the want of a little hardinesse was the onely let that the warre was not brought to a full end contrarie to the opinion of Scipio his fellowcommissioner And so he lost the field Flaminius being vnmindfull of this losse would needs do the like and he also was serued with the same sauce Minutius striuing to follow their steps had ben vndone if Fabius had not ben as Varro was who by like headines was the death of fiftie thousand Romans at Cannaâ— A man may say that Marcellus wearied Hanniball in so many combats that he feit himselfe discomfited by winning but yet in the end Marcellus abode by it And although fortune began to turne her back
them against their enemies But anon returned the foreriders vvho made report that there was no means to force Menander to fight Whereat Eumenes pretended to be sore displeased and so passed on Themistocles vsed the like policie towards Xerxes vvhen he caused him to be secretly aduertised to get him out of Greece vvith all the hast he could that he might auoid the hazard of battell as I haue said elsewhere Hermocrates being aduertised of the intent of Nicias in breaking vp his siege before Siracuse in going his way perceiuing that as that day because it was a festiuall day and they were occupied in doing sacrifice to their gods he could not cause his men to march to take the passages that he might vanquish the Athenians at his more ease sent a familiar friend of his to Nicias with instructio◠〈◊〉 tell him that he came from such as gaue him secret aduertisements vvithin the citie vvho sent him warning to beware that he vvent not on his vvay that night vnlesse he vvould fall inâ—o the ambushes that the Siracusanes had laid for him Nicias being bleared vvith those vvords taried all that night so as the next morning the Siracusans tooke all the passages by meanes vvherof the Athenians vvere vnfortunatly ouercome Eumenes perceiuing that the rest of the princes enuied him and sought means to kill him to the intent to preuent them bare them on hand that he wanted money and borrowed a good round sum of euery of them chiefly of those vvhom he knew to hate him to the intent that thenceforth they should trust vnto him and desist to lie in wait for him for feare of loosing the monie that they had lent him By meane whereof it came to passe that other mens monie was his safegard and the assurance of his life And whereas other men are vvoont to giue monie to saue and assure themselues this man did set his life in safetie by taking There was not a greater cause of the bringing in againe of king Edward the fourth into the realme of England when he was driuen out than the marchants and other men to vvhom he vvas indebted and the vvomen that were in loue vvith him because he vvas voluptuous vvho to the vttermost of their power persuaded their husbands to be a meane of his returne Sometimes it is needfull to set neighbours at oddes but that must be done couertly and cunningly least it be perceiued The Athenians fearing the power of the Lacedemonians had forsakeÌ„ the league which they had made with the Thebans and in stead of holding with them had shewed themselues to be against them which was a meane to ouerthrow the Thebans vpside downe But Pelopidas and Gorgidas captains generall of Beotia espying a way how to set the Athenians againe in a iealousie and heart-burning against the Lacedemonians found out such a practise as this There was a captaine named Sphodrias a verie valiant man of his person but therewithall light-headed and fond conceyted such a one as easily conceiued vaine hopes in his head vpon a foolish vaine glorie to haue done some goodly feate in his life Pelopidas linked to him a merchant of his familiar acquaintance who tolled him on to attempt great things and to go and surprise the hauen of Pyrey while the Athenians mistrusted no such thing and therefore kept it not with any sure guard assuring him that the lords of Lacedemon would lâ—ke of nothing so well as to hold the citie of Athens vnder their obeysance and that the Thebanes who wished them euill to the death for their forsaking and betraying them at their need would not in anie wise succour them Sphodrias being mooued with his persuasions tooke those men of warre with him that he had and departing by night went into the countrie of Attica euen to the citie Eleusine But when he came there his men were afraied and would go no further And so being discouered hee was faine to returne from whence he came Whereby he procured to the Lacedemonians a warre of no small importance nor easie to bee vndone againe For thence-foorth the Athenians sought the alliance of the Thebanes againe and succoured them verie earnestly Coriolanus vsed the like practise For when he saw he could not cause the peace to be broken that was betweene the Romans and the Volses he procured a man to go tell the Magistrates of Rome that the Volses had conspired to runne vpon the Romans as they were looking vpon their playes and gaming 's and to set fire vpon the citie Whereupon the Volses were commaunded to depart out of the citie of Rome afore the Sunne going downe Wherewith the Volses being displeased proclaimed warre against the Romans Alcibiades vsed the like tricke For the Lacedemonians were come to treat of peace with the Athenians and had for their patrone one Nicias a man of peace and well renowmed among the Athenians Alcibiades went vnto them aforehand and warned them in any wise to beware that they told not that they had commission to conclude a full agreement least the people compelled them of authoritie to graunt them whatsoeuer they would haue counselling them but onely to set downe certaine conditions as in way of conference The next morning Alcibiades asked them verie smoothly what they came to do They aunswered that they came to make some profers of peace but had no commission to determin anie thing Then fell Alcibiades to crying out vpon them calling them vntrustie and variable telling them that they were not come to do anie thing that was of value And so the ambassadours were sent home without doing any thing and Alcibiades was chosen captaine to make warre against them Coriolanus to encrease the dissention which he knew to be betwixt the nobilitie and commons of Rome caused the lands of the noble men to be with all care preserued harmles causing the peoples in the meane time to be wasted and spoiled which thing caused them to enter into further quarrell and disagreement one against another than euer they had done afore The noblemen vpbraided the common people with their iniurious banishing of so mightie a man and the people charged the nobilitie that they had procured him to make warre against them in their reuenge Hanniball to bring Fabius in suspition whom he feared aboue all the Romans caused his lands of purpose to be kept harmelesse when he wasted all other mens to the end it might be thought that he had some secret conference with him and that that was the cause why he would not fight with him howbeit that in verie deed his refusing to encounter was of great wisedome to make his enemie consume away without putting any thing in hazard Timoleon practised another notable policie to shift himselfe from the hands of the Carthaginenses Whereas he was sent by the Corinthians to deliuer the citie of Siracuse from the tyrannie of Dennis as soone as he was arriued at Rhegium Icetes whom the Siracusanes imploied to the same