quam patriae quod mitis erat. ne desine tales, nate, sequi. “Si bella canant, prius agmina duris exerce studiis et saevo praestrue Marti. 321 non brumae requies, non hibernacula segnes enervent torpore manus. ponenda salubri castra loco; praebenda vigil custodia vallo. disce, ubi denseri cuneos, ubi cornua tendi 325 aequius aut iterum flecti; quae montibus aptae, quae campis acies, quae fraudi commoda vallis, quae via difficilis. fidit si moenibus hostis, tum tibi murali libretur machina pulsu; saxa rota; praeceps aries protectaque portas 330 testudo feriat; ruat emersura iuventus effossi per operta soli. si longa moretur obsidio, tum vota cave secura remittas inclusumve putes; multis damnosa fuere gaudia; dispersi pereunt somnove soluti; 335 saepius incautae nocuit victoria turbae. neu tibi regificis tentoria larga redundent deliciis, neve imbelles ad signa ministros luxuries armata trahat. neu flantibus Austris neu pluviis cedas, neu defensura calorem 340 aurea summoveant rapidos umbracula soles. inventis utere cibis. solabere partes aequali sudore tuas: si collis iniquus, * * * * * Page 311 he was kindly to his country. Fail not to make such as he thine example, my son. “Should war threaten, see first that thy soldiers are exercised in the practices of war and prepare them for the rigours of service. The ease of winter months spent in winter quarters must not weaken nor unnerve their hands. Establish thy camps in healthy places and see that watchful sentries guard the ramparts. Learn how to know when to mass your troops and when it is better to extend them or face them round; study the formations suitable for mountain warfare and those for fighting on the plain. Learn to recognize what valleys may conceal an ambush and what routes will prove difficult. If thine enemy trusts in his walls to defend him then let thy catapults hurl stones at his battlements; fling rocks thereat and let the swinging ram and shield-protected testudo[157] shake his gates. Your troops should undermine the walls and issuing from this tunnel should rush into the town. Should a long siege delay thee, then take care thou unbend not thy purpose in security or count thine enemy thy prisoner. Many ere this have found premature triumph their undoing, scattered or asleep they have been cut to pieces; indeed victory itself has not seldom been the ruin of careless troops. Not for thee let spacious tents o’erflow with princely delights nor luxury don arms and drag to the standards her unwarlike train. Though the storm winds blow and the rain descends yield not to them and use not cloth of gold to guard thee from the sun’s fierce rays. Eat such food as thou canst find.