The Art of War - Khamkoo

Captains had a molestation from which the present ones are almost free,
which was the interpretation of sinister omen to their undertakings; for if
an arrow fell in an army, if the Sun or the Moon was obscured, if an
earthquake occurred, if the Captain fell while either mounting or dismounting
from his horse, it was interpreted in a sinister fashion by the
soldiers, and instilled so much fear in them, that when they came to an
engagement, they were easily defeated. And, therefore, as soon as such
an incident occurred, the ancient Captains either demonstrated the cause
of it or reduced it to its natural causes, or interpreted it to (favor) their
own purposes. When Caesar went to Africa, and having fallen while he
was putting out to sea, said, "Africa, I have taken you": and many have
profited from an eclipse of the Moon and from earthquakes: these things
cannot happen in our time, as much because our men are not as superstitious,
as because our Religion, by itself, entirely takes away such ideas.
Yet if it should occur, the orders of the ancients should be imitated.
When, either from hunger, or other natural necessity, or human passion,
your enemy is brought to extreme desperation, and, driven by it, comes
to fight with you, you ought to remain within your quarters, and avoid
battle as much as you can. Thus the Lacedemonians did against the
Messinians: thus Caesar did against Afranius and Petreius. When Fulvius
was Consul against the Cimbri, he had the cavalry assault the enemy
continually for many days, and considered how they would issue forth
from their quarters in order to pursue them; whence he placed an ambush
behind the quarters of the Cimbri, and had them assaulted by the
cavalry, and when the Cimbri came out of their quarters to pursue them,
Fulvius seized them and plundered them. It has been very effective for a
Captain, when his army is in the vicinity of the enemy army, to send his
forces with the insignia of the enemy, to rob and burn his own country:
whence the enemy, believing they were forces coming to their aid, also
ran out to help them plunder, and, because of this, have become disorganized
and given the adversary the faculty of overcoming them. Alexander
of Epirus used these means fighting against the Illirici, and
Leptenus the Syracusan against the Carthaginians, and the design succeeded
happily for both. Many have overcome the enemy by giving him
the faculty of eating and drinking beyond his means, feigning being
afraid, and leaving his quarters full of wine and herds, and when the enemy
had filled himself beyond every natural limit, they assaulted him
and overcome him with injury to him. Thus Tamirus did against Cyrus,
and Tiberius Gracchus against the Spaniards. Some have poisoned the
wine and other things to eat in order to be able to overcome them more
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