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[98]
This is the manner of the marching and resting of the Romans, as
also these are the several sorts of weapons they use. But when they are
to fight, they leave nothing without forecast, nor to be done off-hand,
but counsel is ever first taken before any work is begun, and what hath
been there resolved upon is put in execution presently; for which reason
they seldom commit any errors; and if they have been mistaken at any time,
they easily correct those mistakes. They also esteem any errors they commit
upon taking counsel beforehand to be better than such rash success as is
owing to fortune only; because such a fortuitous advantage tempts them
to be inconsiderate, while consultation, though it may sometimes fail of
success, hath this good in it, that it makes men more careful hereafter;
but for the advantages that arise from chance, they are not owing to him
that gains them; and as to what melancholy accidents happen unexpectedly,
there is this comfort in them, that they had however taken the best consultations
they could to prevent them.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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