close quarters, by reason of his walls being demolished and his ditches
filled up, the defender is now at a far greater disadvantage than he was
formerly. Wherefore I repeat that these arms are infinitely more useful
for him who attacks a town than for him who defends it.

As to the remaining method, which consists in your taking up your
position in an entrenched camp, where you need not fight unless you
please, and unless you have the advantage, I say that this method
commonly affords you no greater facility for avoiding an engagement than
the ancients had; nay, that sometimes, owing to the use of artillery,
you are worse off than they were. For if the enemy fall suddenly upon
you, and have some slight advantage (as may readily be the case from his
being on higher ground, or from your works on his arrival being still
incomplete so that you are not wholly sheltered by them), forthwith, and
without your being able to prevent him, he dislodges you, and you are
forced to quit your defences and deliver battle: as happened to the
Spaniards at the battle of Ravenna. For having posted themselves between
the river Ronco and an earthwork, from their not having carried this
work high enough, and from the French having a slight advantage of
ground, they were forced by the fire of the latter to quit their
entrenchments come to an engagement.

But assuming the ground you have chosen for your camp to be, as it
always should, higher than that occupied by the enemy, and your works to
be complete and sufficient, so that from your position and preparations
the enemy dare not attack you, recourse will then be had to the very
same methods as were resorted to in ancient times when an army was so
posted that it could not be assailed; that is to say, your country will
be wasted, cities friendly to you besieged or stormed, and your supplies
intercepted; until you are forced, at last, of necessity to quit your