34 “If unknown nations and an
untried enemy confronted you, I should urge you on by the example of other
armies. As it is, look back upon your former honours, question your own eyes.
These are the men who last year under cover of darkness attacked a single
legion, whom you routed by a shout. Of all the Britons these are the most
confirmed runaways, and this is why they have survived so long. Just as when the
huntsman penetrates the forest and the thicket, all the most courageous animals
rush out upon him, while the timid and feeble are scared away by the very sound
of his approach, so the bravest of the Britons have long since fallen; and the
rest are a mere crowd of spiritless cowards. You have at last found them, not
because they have stood their ground, but because they have been overtaken.
Their desperate plight, and the extreme terror that paralyses them, have
rivetted their line to this spot, that you might achieve in it a splendid and
memorable victory. Put an end to campaigns; crown your fifty years’ service
with a glorious day; prove to your country that her armies could never have
been fairly charged with protracting a war or with causing a rebellion.”
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