Athene's Prophecy (Gaius Claudius Scaevola Trilogy) (15 page)

"It follows four and precedes six?"

"That's not exactly what I mean. Some Greeks," and he emphasized the word some, "have noticed that there are five elements, seven metals, and five planets."

Yes, Gaius thought to himself, if there were a record for the most tendentious nonsense in the world, this would be it.

"It all follows from the fundamental importance of symmetry. The primitive matter is represented by a circle, the most symmetric of shapes. Such matter is worked on by two properties: hotness and its contrary coldness, and dryness and its contrary, wetness, such that opposites have nothing in common. Thus on opposite sides are fire and water, air and earth, while the properties can be shared by adjacent elements, thus fire and air can share hotness, air and water wetness, and so on."

"According to this," Gaius frowned, "you can't heat water. That must be wrong."

"Not at all," Timothy said in a firm tone. "Fire can heat earth, and hot earth makes water hot. You have to place your water in a pot, or it puts out fire. That's a fine example of the symmetry at work."

"Perhaps, but you can explain anything like that," Gaius shrugged disparagingly.

"Because it's a fundamental truth!" Timothy snorted. "Of course substances may be mixtures of the ideal elements. Suppose I put a pot of seawater on a fire. If the real fire contains some earth, the bottom of the pot becomes black. The seawater is a mixture of water and earth, so when water is driven off you get wet air and leave behind dry earth. The underlying material has had its properties changed, which changes the elements."

"Changes the elements? You mean, things aren't made of unchanging elements."

"Not according to Aristotle," Timothy smiled. "The elements are states, and the change of elements changes the state of being. When burning wood, wood does not combine with fire or anything else. Instead, fire is an agent of change and is coming into being while the wood is passing away. Water has the property of wetness, but so does oil; fire cannot come into being from water, though, but it can from oil, so oil is not a fundamental element of change, but is changed itself by the element fire, which liberates air and perhaps a little earth from the oil."

"Why does oil have air rather than water? Because of fire?" Here was a theory that explained everything and nothing both at the same time!

"Oil has air and water," Timothy stated. "It has wetness, but yes, the fire shows it has air. Also, elements tend to separate and go to their natural place, determined by the contraries up and down. Fire, being like the heavens, goes up strongly, while earth, being the heaviest, and most earth-like, falls fastest. Water falls slowly, air rises slowly. Oil sits on the top of water, so obviously it has more of the nature of air."

"Which presumably means," Gaius countered, "that the air should rise to the heavens and disappear. Eventually we won't be able to breathe!"

Timothy stared at him, and then laughed. "According to the great Aristotle, you have a correct premise, but you've failed to draw the correct conclusion. Look at the logic! Air rises yet we still breathe. Therefore?"

"I don't know!" Gaius said irritably.

"The obvious conclusion is that we shall not run out of air because the heavens are filled with air already! As the great Aristotle noted, nature abhors a void. There can be no permanent void, otherwise air would rush in and fill it!"

"Oh!" Gaius said. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Whether or not there's a void is unimportant. What matters is whether you consider every possibility, then by sheer logic, arrive at the correct conclusion. That's what I'm trying to teach you. I can help you expand your thinking, to give you exercises in logic, but you have to do your part. If you are just going to sit there, then you might as well do what you will with me now, because this will just be a complete waste of time!"

"Two responses," Gaius said firmly, as he stood to take a position of authority. "Whatever the outcome of this, you need not fear. Any failings on my part are not your problem, that I promise."

"Thank you," Timothy said, in a voice of slight surprise.

"Secondly," Gaius continued, "it is not my intention to fail. But that doesn't mean I intend to agree with your theories about . . ."

"Gaius!" Timothy interrupted, "that's good. I don't want your agreement! I want you to think! Rome will stand, even if no Roman has the first clue about the elements!" He paused, then added, "If you wish me not to say such things about Rome . . ."

"You may say what you wish about Rome, short of inciting a revolt," Gaius said. "Many Romans have been highly critical, so say what you wish! On the other hand, be prepared for some fairly caustic Greek comments!"

"I've noted some already," Timothy said. "Now, as I was saying, if you are to be successful, you have to be able to filter out that which is important from that which is not, and physics is as good as anything to practise on. So, to make things more difficult, soon we shall discuss further the elements, but tomorrow we discuss the Battle of Issus."

Chapter 11

"Battles can be won before they're fought," Timothy started, "through supply, morale, belief in the cause, reason to fight, but assume for this discussion there was only one major difference: Alexander's army was professional, Darius' was far bigger.

"Before the battle, Darius had lost the western seaboard to Alexander, at least down to the Gulf of Iskanderun. Darius had sent a small force forward to hold Tarsus, but Alexander had already taken it. Alexander then fell ill with fever, and Darius, who was now camped on the plain of Sochi, thought that Alexander's apparent immobility signified that he was afraid of his large army. Comment."

Gaius paused. The answer was obvious, so why ask? Eventually he said, "Darius jumped to the conclusion he wanted to, but he still should have sent out spies."

"Suppose he learns that Alexander is ill? To win, you must take the initiative. Your men mustn't see you as indecisive. Even if you're defensive, building fortifications helps them to feel that the commander has a plan and knows what he's doing. However, Darius remained at Sochi for some time, seemingly doing nothing. Comment?"

"There's no need for Darius to build fortifications, but he should have used all the available time and been busy carrying out exercises, drilling his troops."

"You would be quite happy for Darius to remain at Sochi?"

"If you significantly outnumber the enemy, why not force the battle on flat terrain? And with soldiers of poorer quality, why not use the time to drill them and make them better?"

"So with numerical superiority, you sit back and let this Greek wander around your country, sacking it?"

"What I said does not preclude sending small squads into the more hilly coastland as scouts, to raid supplies, and be a general irritant to your opponent," Gaius offered.

"Great strategy! Be a prick!" Timothy admonished, and before Gaius could respond, he continued, "Anyway, Darius heard that Alexander had advanced south, leaving part of his forces at Issus. Darius crossed the mountains and killed the small contingent of wounded he found at Issus, then on hearing that Alexander and Parmenio were commanding separate armies, he marched south. Alexander heard that Darius, with an army five times bigger, is marching towards him. Instead of recalling Parmenio and heading south to take shelter behind fortifications, Alexander marched rapidly to meet Darius. Comment?"

"Blood-thirsty Greek!" Gaius shrugged.

"And that's your assessment?"

"Alexander's outnumbered five to one! Common sense says, get fortified."

"Which is the difference between a great commander and an ordinary one. The ordinary commander follows common sense. The great commander recognizes the opponent's mistakes, and Alexander saw a heaven-sent opportunity to defeat Darius. And, young Gaius, to win a war, you have to remove the enemy's army from the field, not merely irritate him. Now, why was Alexander's strategic position so good?"

"Presumably with the hills and sea Darius didn't have enough room to deploy his larger army," Gaius offered.

"They met on opposite sides of the Pinarus River," Timothy continued. "There was not much flat land; the sea was on Darius' right and hills were on his left. Apart from near the beach, the river had a bank about a metre high. The river bottom was stony, but the river, apart from the odd hole, was about knee deep. Darius sent 20,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry to act as a screen while he built up his line. He deployed his cavalry to his right, his Greek infantry in the centre, his Asiatic infantry behind and on either side of them, then himself, and even more further behind, more infantry. On the right, his cavalry was extremely deep, owing to the narrowness of the beach, and on his left, because of the hills, he defended with weaker troops, supported by archers. His attack plan was to deploy his cavalry on his right, to take advantage of the flatter terrain. Alexander took about a quarter of his cavalry with him to his right. Both infantries formed lines that readily covered all the flat land. Comment on the Persian deployment."

"Alexander will probably attack Darius' left flank with cavalry."

"Which I presume you knew?" Timothy remarked caustically.

"Yes, but Darius could have worked that out," Gaius shrugged. "That was what he did at the Granicus, and this situation was very similar."

"He doesn't have to repeat himself," Timothy chided.

"No, but Alexander was probably the last commander to lead from the front. The critical point would be where Alexander was. See him go to the right, he will attack from the right. He should have had scouts to see where Alexander was."

"So, Darius planned to attack with cavalry on Alexander's left, and he sent all his cavalry there. Grossly outnumbered, the Greeks still did not lose. Why?"

"You're going to tell me the Greeks fought better," Gaius smiled.

"Far from it," Timothy admonished him, then added with a smile, "Of course, they probably did. No, the problem was geometry. Parmenio could defend a line with depth, so Darius' cavalry, outnumbering the opposition over twelve to one now, could not use the numerical advantage. Comment!"

"They couldn't use it straight away," Gaius replied. "Given time, they must have prevailed. So the trick, using this strategy, is not to lose the battle before you win it." He paused, then added, "In my view, Darius' tactics were somewhat ill-conceived here."

"Go on?" Timothy encouraged.

"The cavalry may be Darius' strongest asset, but they don't have enough room. I think at least half of them should be taken to the left, where at least they can get at the enemy."

"Perhaps!" Timothy smiled. "Anyway, Alexander attacked Darius' left flank and after loosing a few volleys of arrows, Darius' archers panicked, running back through their own infantry, who in turn panicked and ran up into the hills. Comment?"

"Darius should have placed his archers behind the infantry to protect them, and also sent some of his best heavy infantry over to the left, to give Alexander a surprise if he attacks on the basis of attacking where the worst troops are often placed."

"So, the left has panicked, and turned and run. Now, how does Darius win?" Timothy asked.

"Alexander pursues the Persians into the hills, and now there is a hole, which Darius sees."

"And he sends Greek infantry into this hole. Why does he lose?"

"He didn't commit enough troops, and nowhere near enough cavalry. Alexander's phalanxes more or less held, then Alexander brought up extra cavalry and attacked the left flank of Darius' troops and this attack quickly became a losing position. Having failed to punch a clean hole in the Greek line, his centre had to retreat or be caught in a pincer, and at this key moment, instead of finding a counter to Alexander, Darius fled and the battle was lost. Even worse, on the right his cavalry had made progress and now they had to retreat or be surrounded. Once they started to retreat, Parmenio cut them to pieces. What could have been a possible victory rapidly turned into a terrible defeat."

"So what was Darius' biggest mistake?"

"His strategy was to win by attrition, which was fine, but he had to ensure he didn't lose first. He should have kept his best infantry and all his cavalry that couldn't get at the enemy in reserve, to deal with what eventuated. If he had fired more cavalry into that hole in the Greek deployment, they might have got around the back and changed everything."

"So, what was the decisive point?"

"The moment Darius decided to run," Gaius said quietly. "You can't have lost a battle of attrition when you still heavily outnumber the opposition, and most of your losses were your worst troops."

"Do you see anything else noteworthy?"

"Darius should have attacked immediately, perhaps using the 50,000 troops he sent forward as a screen while some of his army was getting organized," Gaius replied. "Even this small part of his army would provide problems for Alexander. If they could have engaged Alexander's men and fought for an hour, Darius could deploy his main army wherever he could see the weakest point. If the strategy's to fight by attrition, he should send in a fifth of his army, and eventually roll them back and bring forward another fifth, and so on. Keep this up long enough and Alexander's men will be so tired he must lose."

"Following Roman tactics," Timothy nodded.

"They work!" Gaius pointed out. "Rome wins more than it loses."

"Anything else?"

"I can't think of much else," Gaius admitted.

"The most important issue of all is the question of a battle plan. A good commander has to do more than just give orders and start something. Once troops are engaged in battle, there's not much more you can do with them, so you have to plan for as many possible outcomes as you can, and ensure that every unit knows what to do next. That, as an aside, is the basic advantage of your launching the attack, because then you control the initial situation.

"Because the situation was very similar to that at the Granicus, if he anticipated Alexander attacking on his left, he could have asked those troops to retreat, and have troops and supporting cavalry ready to drive into the hole that develops. Such openings are quite transient, but if you are ready and drive home the advantage immediately, you can be sure the opponent has no plan for that contingency. The side that is executing a plan should defeat the side that is trying to work out what to do next.