Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	file_n	front_n	left_a	2,096	5	10.6385	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55335	The history of Polybius, the Megalopolitan containing a general account of the transactions of the world, and principally of the Roman people, during the first and second Punick wars : translated by Sir H.S. : to which is added, A character of Polybius and his writings by Mr. Dryden : the first volume.; Historiae. English	Polybius.; Dryden, John, 1631-1700. Character of Polybius and his writings.; Sheeres, Henry, Sir, d. 1710.	1698 (1698)	Wing P2787; ESTC R13675	386,363	841

share the sole Honour of the Victory he would not be persuaded to attend the coming of his Colleague In short he collected by all these Circumstances that Flaminius was likely to afford him many occasions to sur-prize him and lay Ambushes in his way to gall and molest him And in truth he was not mistaken in the judgment he had made of this Consul And most certain it is that they think very wide of the Truth who conceive that to acquire a right Knowledge and take just Measures of the Humour and Character of the Enemy he is to deal with is not among the prime Qualities and Duties of a General For as not only when we fight Man to Man but when one Rank chargeth another he who thinks of Victory ought with exact care to observe what naked or weak part the Enemy discovers whereby to compass his End in like manner those who have the Leading of Armies in time of War ought with skill and address to penetrate and discover the weak side of the Mind of that Captain with whom he hath to do For there are those who by an unaccountable kind of Imbecility and a Thoughtfulness which infects all the Actions of Life are not only remiss in their Publick Administrations but forget what belongs to the Duty of their Private Affairs Some are so abandon'd to the use of Wine that neglecting Nature's invitations to repose they become at length unable to sleep otherwise than by the Fumes of excessive Drinking others are captivated by Love who have not only thereby sacrific'd the Safety of Cities and great States but have themselves paid down their own Lives with Infamy Cowardice and a base Mind are Faults throughout the World but most capital in a General they are Blemishes to every private Man where-ever they are found and mark him with Reproach but in the Leader of an Army they are a publick Curse and Calamity For in short they are not only the cause of Armies languishing in Sloth and Idleness without ever entring on Action but they themselves who rely on such Leaders are often led into Precipices and inextricable Dangers Rashness Passion Pride and Vain-Glory are all so many inlets to the Enemies Success leading Men as it were and subjecting them to the Triumph of their Foes and hurrying their Friends and those who trust them to Perdition For such Men are always expos'd to the Trains and Stratagems of their Enemies Wherefore he who wisely studies and attains a right Knowledge of the Frailties and Weak-side of an Enemy and Attacks him there by vanquishing the Leader will soon be Master both of the General and his Army For as a Vessel that hath once lost her Pilot is not long able to dispute it with an Enemy and by taking him we soon become Masters of all that was under his Charge so in War where the one General is superior in Cunning or Military Abilities to the other he shall also render his Army superior to his Enemies Thus in a word our wise African having taken a scantling of the Roman General 's Capacity came at length to gain his Point After Hannibal had decamp'd from about Fesulé and had march'd by and got some distance beyond the Roman Camp he sell on their Frontiers whereupon the Consul became inrag'd to be thus contemn'd as he conceiv'd But Hannibal had no sooner began to spoil and ravage the Country and the Smoke which appear'd every where from far made it manifest that he was burning and destroying all before him Flaminius could not then abstain from Tears Nevertheless when any undertook to advise that it would be the safest course however not to follow and ingage temerariously with the Enemy nor to come too hastily and without mature deliberation ration to a Battel with an Army so much superior to them in Horse and above all that he ought to attend the coming of the other Consul and not adventure on Action till all their Troops were incorporated he lent so deaf an Ear to these Counsels that he had not Patience so much as to hear them demanding of those who thus advis'd him What they thought the People of Rome would say of him should he permit the Carthaginians to burn and destroy the Country with Fire and Sword up to the Walls of the City while he remain'd in Tuscany an idle Spectator of the Desolation of his Country and in the Rear of the Enemy without attempting any thing Wherefore he decamp'd and caus'd the Army to march and without regard to season or situation thought on nothing but how he might come speedily to a Battel as if Victory were the thing of all others he least doubted And in a word he had possess'd the Army with so strong an expectation of Success that there were see more Camp-Wenches and the rake holly Equipage of Boys an Vagabonds following the Army than there were Soldiers who bare Arms and all this Rabble bringing with them Chains and Shackles to secure the Prisoners In the mean time Hannibal led his Army through Tuscany on that Quarter that lies toward Rome leaving the City of Corone and the neighbouring Mountains on his left-hand and on his right the Lake Thrasimene and the more to provoke the Romans he sack'd and destroy'd all the Towns that lay in his march and did them all the other mischiefs that are the product of the cruellest War But as soon as he had notice of the approach of Flaminius and had made choice of Ground proper to put his Designs in execution he resolv'd to delay sighting no longer The Ground he had chosen lay thus There was a tract of plain even Ground stretching out in length a good distance This Level or Vale lay between and was inclos'd on both sides with high Mountains the farther end thereof being bounded by an inaccessible Eminence and the entrance border'd on a Lake between which and the said Mountain there is a very narrow Way or Defile which leads into the Plain Hannibal then having pass'd into the Plain by that Streight takes first possession of the high Ground he had in Front where he lodg'd his Spaniards and Africans behind the Mountains on the right he posted the Baleares and the rest of his light-arm'd Troops order'd in one deep File and posted the Gaulish Horse in the like order behind the Mountains on his left in such manner that they reach'd as far as the Defile we mention'd between the Lake and the Mountains which is the Inlet to the Plain These Orders being executed in the Night and Hannibal having thus surrounded the Plain he remain'd quiet making show of a Desire to sit still and attempt nothing In the mean time Flaminius follows close at his Rear eagerly pursuing his Determination to attack him and arriving in the Evening near the Lake Thrasimene he there encamp'd and early the next Morning march'd with his Van-guard along the Vale by the side of the Lake with determination to fall on the