14.87
When he judged that the army was alert, obedient to himself, and patient in labor, he moved his camp near to Numantia. He did not place advance guards in fortified stations, as some do, because he did not wish to divide his army as yet, lest he should meet some disaster at the outset and gain the contempt of the enemy, who had so long despised the Romans. Nor did he proceed at once to attack the enemy because he was still studying the nature of this war, watching his opportunity, and trying to discover the plans of the Numantines. In the meantime he foraged through all the fields behind his camp and cut down the unripe grain. When those fields had been harvested and it was necessary to move forward, and a short road to Numantia was found across the country which many advised him to take, he said: What I am afraid of is the coming back. Our enemies are very nimble. They can dart out of the city and dart back again, while our men, like soldiers who return from foraging, will be tired out with the booty, the wagons, and the burdens they bring. For this reason the fighting will be severe and unequal. If we are beaten the danger will be serious, and if victorious, neither the glory nor the gain will be great. It is foolish to incur danger for small results. He must be considered a reckless general who would fight before there is any need, while a good one takes risks only in cases of necessity. He added by way of simile that physicians do not cut and burn their patients till they have first tried drugs. Having spoken thus, he ordered his officers to take the longer road. Then he made some excursions beyond the camp and later advanced into the territory of the Vaccaei, from whom the Numantines bought their food supplies, cutting down everything, taking for himself what was useful as food, and piling the rest in heaps and burning it.
