The one advantage of taking the overlandroute was that we would arrive in Philippi fit and ready forwhatever Marcus Primus had in mind, which as one can imagine wasone of the predominant topics of conversation around the fire everynight. Norbanus had sent three Tribunes along with us: LuciusAurelius Libo, who had been with the army for two years at thatpoint; Publius Cassius Capito, now starting his second campaignseason; and a new Tribune, just arrived from Rome, by the name ofAulus Menius Scipio, supposedly from an obscure branch of thefamily that produced Scipio Africanus, at least that was the rumorthat he made no attempt to dispel. Libo and Capito I knew, whilethey knew me, but Scipio was one of those Tribunes who initiallywas very impressed with himself because he had read the Anabasis,Polybius, and, of course, Caesar’s account of our time in Gaul,meaning that Scipio considered himself an expert. The fact that Ihad actually been there did not seem to impress him all that much,presumably because I had been hefting a shield and wielding asword, actually killing all those Gauls that he read about. Atleast, that was my impression, although I was to find outdifferently later. Because of his reading, it appeared that he feltqualified to question many of my decisions. We were not much morethan a week on the march when, one day, Scipio questioned my choicefor a campsite.
“Wouldn’t we be more secure on thatpromontory over there?” Scipio pointed to a steep-sided hill abouta half-mile from the spot that the engineering officer, a veteranofficer named Flavianus, had chosen.
I know that I could have either ignored theboy, or patiently explained that the exploratores had beendoing their jobs longer than he had been alive, and knew more aboutsiting a camp than any book ever written. Instead, I decided totake a slightly different approach.
“Tribune, you obviously have studied a greatdeal about the art and science of warfare. Perhaps you'd enlightenme as to why you believe that promontory is a superior position tothis hill?”
Now, if Scipio had been more experienced, hewould have been suspicious that I was actually eliciting an opinionfrom him, since I had completely ignored him for our entire marchto that point. But he seemed to be thrilled that I was asking, andproceeded to describe the obvious advantages of the position.
“As you can see, Prefect, the sides of thehill are very steep, while the top is flat, and clearly spaciousenough for our camp to fit, with some room to spare to accommodatethe auxiliaries. Anyone trying to mount an attack would have toscale those steep slopes, and the sides of the hill are bare of anyreal cover, so they would be chopped up by our artillery beforethey could get close.”
The truth was that Scipio was right, anddespite my irritation with him, I was somewhat impressed at hiseye. Yet, there is much more to selecting a campsite than baredefense of the camp, especially when it is in what might be enemyterritory. On the spur of the moment, I changed my mind aboutraking the Tribune over the coals, deciding to go easy on him.
“I must say that I'm impressed, Tribune,” Isaid cordially, and he beamed with pleasure at my compliment. “Youhave a good eye for defense, and that's certainly important. Butperhaps you could point out the source of water for that particularhill?”
He looked about for a moment, then pointedto the base of the hill on which we were standing, where a smallrivulet cascaded down from a spring about halfway up the slope torun along the base of our hill, off into the distance in thedirection that we would be marching.
“Right there,” he said confidently. “Only afurlong or two from the other hill.” Thinking that he hadanticipated where I was going, he quickly continued, “But if youlook carefully, there's a natural path down the side of that hillthat could be used for the water carriers to use, so there's water.It would be a bit of a chore, but nothing that the men couldn'teasily handle.”
Scipio was speaking with the callowassurance of a man who had probably never hauled a bucket of wateracross the courtyard of his villa, let alone up what I could seewas an extremely steep and torturous track that would be a hugechore that the men would loathe being forced to carry out. That wasnot what concerned me about the Tribune’s choice.
“That’s true,” I agreed. “It wouldn't beimpossible for the men to carry the water we'd need, but keep inmind that they'd have to bring not only water for their own needs,but for all the livestock. Do you know how much water each animalneeds?”
His face clouded, showing doubt for thefirst time. Then, after a moment, he shook his head.
“They drink four times the amount a man doeson average. A little more than that for the draft animals, a littleless for the cavalry mounts and mules.”
“That’s a lot,” he admitted, but he wasclearly not ready to concede defeat. “But still not too great atask for the men, surely.”
“No, not for a single night. If we were tostay longer, then it would be a different matter.”
“But why would we stay here for more thanone night?”
Now I had him, except he did not yet knowit.
“Before I answer that, let me ask you aboutthis hill, the one where we're making camp. Why wouldn't you chooseit?”
“Because the other hill is a better positionas far as defense. You said so yourself,” he replied instantly.
Now, that was not what I had said, but I letit pass.
“Would you say this hill is indefensible,then?”
“No,” he said a bit reluctantly. “It’s not,but it’s just not as good a position as the other hill.”
“Tribune, what would happen if a whole swarmof Dalmatians suddenly showed up?”
I pointed down the valley between the twohills to the south, which I
