Quod disciplina mllitaris plurimum prodeat
The Necessity of Discipline
Military discipline is the foundation of strength and the primary requirement for any leader seeking victory.
What is it that most breaks down a military force? Military discipline is essential, though I wouldn't easily say just how useful it is. For as it has been said, discipline was so beneficial to the Romans that they brought the whole world under their rule. Alexander the Macedonian also received a small military force from his father, but it was a trained one; once it was accustomed to military discipline, he set out against the world and routed countless enemy armies. Xerxes, harassed by three hundred Lacedaemonians at Thermopylae, said he was deceived in this: while he had many men, he had no men who were disciplined. He spoke the truth, as proven by his flight after being shamefully defeated at Salamis; he who had dragged so many nations into war that their leaders could not easily be counted, barely escaped in a single ship. It is said that because of the sheer number of his army, he could not count its leaders except by having each one hand over a single arrow, so that the number of arrows would reveal the number of leaders. A leader is utterly useless if discipline doesn't flourish under him; and he hopes for victory in vain who doesn't constantly train the minds and hands of his soldiers.
Courage Amidst Adversity
True soldiers must maintain their spirit and courage even in the face of defeat, as fear is the mark of a shameful spirit.
An untrained soldier quickly deserts his commander and can't handle the labor that continuous training hasn't prepared him for. Caesar's spirit was bolstered by the confidence that he was facing an untrained soldier and a commander who was past his prime, and who had forgotten how to lead during a long, peaceful retirement. Yet even when victory seems hopeless, a person's spirit must be raised to the hope of vengeance. For sometimes the only salvation for the defeated is to hope for no salvation at all, and to consider themselves victors if they don't die unavenged. It's a great reward to be satisfied by vengeance, and to compensate for the loss of life with the solace of retribution. Anyone who finds it difficult to escape will easily accept the necessity of fighting. Those who take the offensive are bolder, and often others, while desiring to die honorably and courageously, win a happy victory. Fortune favors the bold, and as the crisis of battle looms, fear exposes cowardly spirits—than which nothing is more shameful for those who profess the name and duty of a soldier.
The Corruption of Luxury
Luxury and intemperance are the enemies of military virtue, leading to the inevitable decay of kingdoms and the loss of true strength.
Military law hits the timid hardest. A leader in military matters must also be most diligent in guarding against Venus and wine, lest they break the spirit of those who fight. Luxury always wins, but only against those it has already corrupted; it’s all the more important to flee from it, because it rages most fiercely against those in its service. Antiochus equipped an army with such luxury and excess that even the common soldiers made their boots out of gold and trampled the very material people fight for. The Parthians, too, are very often defeated because they are so extremely luxurious. For whatever moves toward the eastern regions and the world's warmth, the mildness of the climate has softened those peoples. They are accustomed not to fight in close combat, but to harm the enemy from a distance as much as they can. They don't know how to take besieged cities through patience and force. They fight while their horses are charging, while they are retreating, and often even while they are feigning a flight. Following ancient custom, their signal is given by a drum rather than a trumpet; they can't fight for long, because if their perseverance matched their initial charge, they would be unbearable. By nature they are silent, quicker to act than to speak, and sparing in their food; they have no loyalty to their word or promises, and they obey their leaders out of fear, not out of shame or religious duty. A principality corrupted by luxury cannot stand for long, or if it does, it will vomit out under the crushing judgment of God whatever the excess of its luxury has swallowed. Indeed, it knows no moderation and does not check its intemperance until, through a more indulgent license, it slips into extreme depravity. Examine the disasters of the Assyrians, and by the testimony of historians you will prove that their kingdoms were overturned by the impulse of luxury. Among other things, Trogus reports that the last king of the Assyrians to reign was Sardanapallus, a man more corrupt than any woman. A prefect, having struggled with great ambition to gain admission to see him—something that had been permitted to no one before—finally found him among crowds of prostitutes, spinning purple wool on a distaff in womanly attire (surpassing all women in the softness of his body and the lasciviousness of his eyes) and distributing tasks among the maidens.
The Fall of the Effeminate
History serves as a mirror, showing that leaders who abandon their duty for the sake of vice and vanity bring ruin upon themselves and their people.
Seeing this, he was indignant that so many men, armed with swords and weapons, should be subject to such a woman, and he went to his companions to report what he had seen. He refused to serve someone who would rather be a woman than a man. A conspiracy was formed; when he heard of it, he retreated into the royal palace, where he built a pyre, set it on fire, and threw both himself and his riches into the flames—the only way in which he imitated a man. The strength of the preceding kings was sapped by luxury, and then, as softness grew step by step, it was finally broken, shattered, and ground down into this effeminacy. The Roman Empire was nearly exhausted and torn apart during Nero’s reign, whose gluttony devoured almost everything, whose lust stained it, whose greed drained it, whose sloth broke it, and whose luxury, combined with pride, brought it to nothing. He never wore the same garment twice, so that he might outshine others in glory, if only in some small way. But while Rome allowed this, it made the whole world inglorious; whatever the industry of their ancestors had gained, the inertia of this man nearly lost.
Read the original Latin
quid militiam maxime frangit. Proinde necessaria est disciplina militaris, cuius quanta sit utilitas non facile dixerim. Vt enim dictum est, Romanis adeo profuit disciplina ut orbem suae subicerent ditioni. Alexander quoque Macedo exiguam manum militarem suscepit a patre sed doctam, qua assuefacta militiae orbem terrarum aggressus innumeras hostium copias fudit. Xerses a trecentis Lacedemoniorum ad Termopilas uexatus, cum eos manu infinita, plurimisque suorum amissis uix confecisset, in eo se deceptum dicebat quod multos quidem homines haberet, uiros autem disciplinae tenaces nullos. Hoc equidem uere dixit, quod et fuga illa testatur qua apud Salaminam turpiter uictus qui tot gentes in bella trahebat ut duces non possent facile numerari, uix una naue euasit. Fertur enira quod duces exercitus eius non consueuerit prae multitudine aliter numerare quam singulis telis reeeptis a singulis, ut ex numero telorum ducum quoque numerus teneretur. Est autem dux usquequaque inutilis apud quem disciplina non uiget; et frustra sperat uictoriam qui animos manusque militum assidue non exercet.
Miles subitus subito deserit ducem et laborem ferre non sustinet quem continuus non exercuit labor. Cesaris animum fiducia roborauit quod ei res erat aduersus militem subitum ducemque emeritum et qui longa pacis quiete dedidicerat ducem. Sed et ubi uictoria desperatur, ad spem uindictae erigendus est animus. Est enim interdum una salus uictis nuUam sperare salutem, et ut se uictores putent si qui non moriantur inulti. Magni namque muneris loco est satiari ultione; et dispendium uitae uindictae solatio compensari. Facile assumit pugnandi necessitatem cui fugiendi imponitur difficultas. Audaciores sunt qui bellum inferunt et saepe alii, dum honeste uiriliterque mori cupiunt, feliciter uincunt. Audentes namque Fortuna iuuat et, ut pugnae discrimen imminet, degeneres animos timor arguit, quo nichil ignominiosius est his qui nomen et officium militiae profitentur.
Timidos namque grauissime lex militaris percellit. Duci quoque in re militari diligentissime praecauendum est ne Venus et uinum pugnantia pectora frangant. Semper enim uincit luxuria, sed eos dumtaxat quos ante coiTumpit; eoque studiosius fugienda est quo in clientelam suam acerrime seuit. Antiochus tantae luxuriae et superfluitatis instruxit exercitum ut etiam gregarii milites auro caligas facerent proculcarentque materiam cuius amore populi dimicant. Gens quoque Parthorum saepissime superatur eo quod luxuriosissima est. Xam quicquid ad Eoos tractus mundique teporem ibitur, emoUit gentes clementia celi. a Solent non in acie cominus praeliari sed, quoad possunt, hostem eminus ledunt. Obsessas urbes mora et uiribus nesciunt expugnare.
Pugnant autem procurrentibus equis aut terga dantibus, saepius etiam simulantibus fugam. Signum his ex antiquo more non tuba sed timpano datur; nec pugnare diu possunt, quia intolerabiles essent si quantus est eorum impetus, tanta esset perseuerantia. Natura taciti, ad faciendum quam ad dicendum promptiores, in cibum parci, fides dicti promissique nulla, principibus metu non pudore uel religione parent. Principatus uero quem corrumpit luxuria, diu stare non potest aut, si steterit, opprimente iudicio Dei euomet quicquid immoderatio luxuriae hausit. Modum siquidem sui nescit nec ante intemperantiam reprimit quam ex indulgentiore licentia in extremam turpitudinem prolabatur. Assiriorum discute plagas et historiarum testimonio conuinces regna eorum impulsu luxuriae esse subuersa. Inter cetera refert Trogus quod postremus rex Assiriorum regnauit Sardanapallus uir muliere corruptior. Ad hunc jc uidendum (quod nemini ante eum permissum fuerat) praefectus, cum admitti magna ambitione egre optinuisset, inuenit eum inter scortorum greges purpuram colo nentem, muliebri habitu (cum moUitie corporis et oculorum lasciuia omnes feminas anteiret) pensa inter uirgines partientem.
Quibus uisis, indignatus tali feminae tantum uirorum iri subiectum tractantesque ferrum et arma habentes parere progressus ad socios quid uiderit ref ert. Negat se ei parere posse qui se feminam mallet esset quam uirum. Fit igitur coniuratio; qua ille audita in aulam regiam se recepit, ubi extructa incensaque pira et se et diuitias suas in incendium mittit; hoc solo imitatus uirum. Et praecedentium quidem regum robur a luxuria emoUitum est, deinde per singulos quasi per gradus inualescente moUitia in hoc tandem efFeminatum fractum et comminutum est. Imperium fere Romanum exhaustum est et diuulsum Nerone imperante, cuius gula fere omnia deuorauit, maculauit Hbido, exhausit auaritia, fregit ignauia, luxuria cum superbia exinaniuit. Hic nuUam uestem bis induit, ut uel in aUquo ceteris singulari gloria praeluceret. Sed, dum Roma permisit, totum orbem fecit inglorium; quicquid aUorum quaesiuit industria, huius inertia fere amisit.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
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