CHAP. XLVIII.
When an Enemy commits any grand fault, 'tis to be suspected for a fraud.
FUlnius being left Lieutenant of the Roman Army in Tuscany, upon the Consuls going to Rome to be present at some Ceremony, the Tuscans to draw him into a trap, lay'd an Ambuscade for him not far from his Camp; and having disguised some of their Soldiers in the habit of Shepheards, they caused them to drive certain Cattel within sight of the Romans; and the Shepheards were so exact in their obedience, that they came up to their very Stoccadoes: The Lieutenant wondered at their confidence; and the unreasonableness of the thing gave him occasion to suspect; whereupon he found out a way to discover the fraud, and frustrate the whole plot: From whence we may observe that a General is not to presume upon any gross error that his enemy commits; because it is not rational to be∣lieve he would be so sottish, and inconsiderate, were there not some stratagem at the bot∣tom; yet many times men are so blinded with desire of Victory, that they see nothing but what makes for themselves. The French having overthrown the Romans not far from the Allia, and pursuing them to Rome, found the gates open, and without any guards to de∣fend them: They apprehended it a design, and stood drawn up all that day and the next night, without daring to enter, not imagining the Romans could have been so abject and imprudent as to have abandoned their Country. In the year 1508. when the Florentines besieged Pisa, Alfonso del Mutolo a considerable Citizen of that Town, being Prisoner in the Camp, promised that if they would give him his liberty, he would deliver one of the Gates into their hands; the Florentines believed and discharged him; but coming after∣wards to negotiate more particularly with certain Commissioners deputed to that purpose, he was so far from coming privately, that he was always accompanied with several of the Pisans, only when they came to treat, he desired them to withdraw. Forasmuch therefore as he came publickly, and attended by several Pisans, the Florentines had good reason to suspect the performance of his promise: But the Florentines were so blinded with a desire to have the City, that following the direction of Alfonso, they came up to the Gate towards Lucca, expecting to be let in; but all things being prepared for them, they received a great loss, and left many of their best Officers and Soldiers behind them.