On Military Matters

...it is recorded that he captured more than two hundred and fifty thousand of the enemy people. Under this leader, to mention nothing of other matters, it would have certainly been the end for the Roman state in that greatest and wonderfully horrific slaughter of Cannae. The Battle of Cannae (216 BC) was a major defeat for Rome during the Second Punic War against Hannibal of Carthage. This outcome was avoided only because a delay in reaching the city stood in the way. By a long process of restoration, military service itself was recalled into the light from the very brink of destruction. Eventually, through diligent cultivation, this discipline did not merely secure for the Romans leadership over the neighboring tribes such as the Sabines, Etruscans, Latins, Hernicans, Volscians, and Auruncans. It made them the kings and masters of almost all the most remote tribes and nations of the entire world.

Chapter II

MMILITARY science is a certain civil department and a most honorable faculty. It exists to protect and maintain the other parts of civil power. It is highly necessary by its very nature. It is legally bound to this purpose through the examples of various times, by selection, and by the taking of an oath. This science, as Iphicrates teaches, is divided into the infantry, the cavalry, the phalanx, and the leader. Iphicrates was a famous Athenian general known for reorganizing infantry equipment and tactics in the 4th century BC. The infantry are like the hands. The cavalry are the feet. The phalanx itself is the chest and breast. The general is the head. As Aristotle prefers, the general acts as the mind and the soul. Furthermore, the discipline is perfected by three things: nature, instruction, and practice. By the principles of nature, brave men are created from the brave and the good. The virtue of the fathers exists in the young men and in the horses; eagles do not give birth to a weak dove, as Flaccus says. original: "est in equis patrum uirtus nec imbellem pgenerant aquilæ columbam" – This is a quote from the Roman poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). Who can doubt that instruction and training bring the greatest aid to this matter? In the past, those who were educated in all the arts of the liberal studies were held in high honor in battles, serving as a nursery for leaders and commanders. Among our ancestors, it was the custom to give guardians and masters to those entering military service, so they might be educated in their first year. Even the greatest poet did not overlook this when singing of Pallas and saying: To endure military service under you as a master, the heavy work of Mars. original: "Sub te tolerare magistro militiam graue Martis opus" – A reference to Vergil's Aeneid, where the young Pallas is sent to learn war from Aeneas. Moreover, the force of habit and practice is such that the spirit of those fighting is always inclined toward slaughter and burning for battle. If you lead an unaccustomed soldier into such things, it is no different...