Marcus Cato

So then Cato halted his forces there, and summoned the men of Firmum to a private conference. These soldiers he had always found trusty and zealous in his service. When they had run up and stood grouped about him he said: I must take one of the enemy’s men alive, and learn from him who they are that form this advance guard, what their number is, aid with what disposition and array their main body awaits us.

But the task demands the swift and bold leap of lions fearlessly rushing all unarmed upon the timorous beasts on which they prey. So spake Cato, and the Firmians instantly started, just as they were, rushed down the mountain-side, and ran upon the enemy’s sentinels. Falling upon them unexpectedly, they threw them all into confusion and scattered them in flight; one of them they seized, arms and all, and delivered him over to Cato.

From the captive Cato learned that the main force of the enemy was encamped in the pass with the king himself, and that the detachment guarding the pass over the mountains was composed of six hundred picked Aetolians. Despising their small numbers and their carelessness, he led his troops against them at once, with bray of trumpet and battle-cry, being himself first to draw his sword. But when the enemy saw his men pouring down upon them from the cliffs, they fled to the main army, and filled them all with confusion.