Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/245

 STRATAGEMS, II. xiii. 7-1 1

the Parthians, as often as he broke camp at day- break, his retiring troops were assailed by volleys of arrows from the barbarians. Accordingly one day he kept his men back till nearly noon, thus producing the impression that he had made a per- manent camp. As soon as the Parthians had become persuaded of this and had withdrawn, he accom- plished his regular march for the remainder of the day without interference.^

When Philip had suffered defeat in Ejjirus, in order that the Romans might not overwhelm him in flight, he secui'ed the grant of a truce to bury the dead. In consequence of this, the guards relaxed their vigilance, so that Philip slipped away. 2

Publius Claudius, defeated by the Carthaginians in a naval engagement and thinking it necessary to break through the forces of the enemy, ordered his twenty remaining vessels to be dressed out as though victorious. The Cai-thaginians, therefore, thought our men had proved themselves superior in the encounter, so that Claudius became an object of fear to the enemy and thus made his escape.^

The Carthaginians, on one occasion, when defeated in a naval battle, desiring to shake off the Romans who were close upon them, pi*etended that their vessels had caught on shoals and imitated the move- ments of stranded galleys. In this way they caused the victors, in fear of meeting a like disaster, to afford them an opportunity of escape.

Commius, the Atrebatian, when defeated by the deified Julius, fled from Gaul to Britain, and happened to reach the Channel at a time when the wind was

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