Page:The Prince.djvu/200

Rh rivers and marshes, because the study of one country leads to the knowledge of others.

Now this study is eertainly most useful to those who command armies. A general who neglects it will never know where to look for an enemy, nor how to conduct his troops, nor to encamp, nor at the proper time to attack. The Greek and Roman historians deservedly praised Philopomenes Prince of Achaia for his application to the study of war in time of peace. He would in his travels stop and ask his friends, which of two armies would have the advantage, that posted on such or such a hill, and the other in such a particular place? How this, which he would suppose to be commanded by himself, should join and give battle to the other? What steps he ought to take to secure a retreat, or to pursue the enemy, should he retire? He thus proposed to them all the cases which might happen in war, listened attentively to their opinion, gave his own, with the reasons on which it was founded. By these means he was seldom surprised by unforeseen events.

As to that part of military science which is learned in the closet, a prince ought to read history, and to pay particular attention to the achievements of great generals, and the causes of their victories and defeats; but above all he should follow the example of those great men, who, having proposed themselves a model, resolved to