escape and run
her down, because she is so swift. And even if she escaped these, she
did not escape you; you had all her runs by heart and knew all her
hiding-places, and there you would spread your nets, so that they were
scarcely to be seen, and the very haste of her flight would fling her
into the snare. And to make sure of her you had men placed on the spot
to keep a look-out, and pounce on her at once. And there were you at her
heels, shouting and scaring her out of her wits, so that she was caught
from sheer terror, and there lay your men, as you had taught them,
silent and motionless in their ambuscade. [41] I say, therefore, that if
you chose to act like this against human beings, you would soon have no
enemies left to fight, or I am much mistaken. And even if, as well may
be, the necessity should arise for you to do battle on equal terms in
open field, even so, my son, there will still be power in those arts
which you have studied so long and which teach you to out-villain
villainy. And among them I include all that has served to train the
bodies and fire the courage of your men, all that has made them adepts
in every craft of war. One thing you must ever bear in mind: if you wish
your men to follow you, remember that they expect you to plan for them.
[42] Hence you must never know a careless mood; if it be night, you must
consider what your troops shall do when it is day; if day, how the night
had best be spent. [43] For the rest, you do not need me to tell you
now how you should draw up your troops or conduct your march by day or
night, along broad roads or narrow lanes, over hills or level ground, or
how you should encamp and post your pickets, or advance into battle
or retreat before the foe, or march past a hostile city, or attack a
fortress or retire from it, or cross a river or pass through a defile,
or guard against a charge of cavalry or an attack from lancers or
archers, or what you should do if the enemy comes into sight when you
are marching in column and how you are to take up position against him,
or how deploy into action if you are in line and he takes you in flank
or rear, and how you are to learn all you can about his movements, while
keeping your own as secret as may be; these are matters on which you
need no further word of mine; all that I know about them you have
heard a hundred times, and I am sure you have not neglected any other
authority on whom you thought you could rely. You know all