44.39
"Some
might say: 'Even if we had not our battle line in proper formation, had we no
fortified camp, no provision for water, no troops to guard the access to it?
Had we nothing which we could call our own except the bare ground on
which to fight?' Your ancestors looked upon a camp as a safe haven for the
army against every mischance, from which they went out to battle, where,
after being tossed in the storm of battle, they could find a safe retreat. It was
for that reason that after they had fenced it with earthworks, they
strengthened it with a powerful guard, for he who lost his camp, even if
victorious on the field, was held to be defeated. A camp is a resting-place for
the victor, a shelter for the vanquished. How many armies to whom the
fortune of battle has proved unkindly have been driven inside their ramparts
and then at their own time, sometimes almost immediately, have made a
sortie and repulsed their victorious foe? Here is the soldier's second
fatherland, here is his abode, with the rampart for its walls; here each finds in
his tent, his home and his household gods. Ought we to have fought as
homeless wanderers with no place to receive us after our victory?
"In reply to these difficulties and hindrances it is asked, 'What if the
enemy had gone off last night?' How much exhausting toil should we have
had to endure in following him into the heart of Macedonia! I am perfectly
certain that if he had decided to depart he would not have awaited us, nor
drawn up his troops on the field. How much easier would it have been for
him to get away when we were at a distance, than it is now when we are
close upon him and he cannot withdraw by day or night without our
becoming aware of it! What could we wish for better than, instead of being
obliged to attack their camp in its strong position on the bank of a river,
fenced with a rampart and numerous towers, we attack them in the rear after
they have left their intrenchments and are making their way in a straggling
column through open country? These were my reasons for postponing the
battle from yesterday to today, for it is my intention to give battle, and as the
way to the enemy across the Elpeus has been blocked by him, I have opened
up a fresh way by dislodging his men who were holding another pass, and I
shall not stop till I have brought the war to a close."
