Sextus Iulius Frontinus, vir consularis de re militari

...and therefore hurried to join his colleague Livius Salinator, to whom the war had been entrusted, having little faith in the strength of the forces under his own command. Yet he did not want his departure from Hannibal, whom he was opposing, to be noticed. He chose ten thousand of his bravest soldiers and ordered the lieutenants he was leaving behind to ensure that the same posts and watches were maintained, the same number of fires burned, and the same appearance of the camp was preserved, so that Hannibal, suspecting nothing, would not dare to act against the small number left behind. When he had finally joined his colleague in Umbria by secret paths, he forbade the camp to be enlarged so that he would give no sign of his arrival to the Carthaginian, who would have avoided the battle if he had known the forces were combined. Therefore, having attacked with doubled forces, he defeated the enemy and returned to Hannibal more quickly than any messenger. Thus, of the two most cunning Carthaginian leaders, by the same counsel, he concealed his movement from one and crushed the other.

Themistocles, exhorting his men to rebuild the walls in haste which they had torn down at the command of the Lacedaemonians, sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon to stall them. He responded that he himself would come to clear up this perception, and he arrived in Lacedaemon. There, he feigned illness and bought some time. After he realized that his stalling was suspected, he spread a false rumor to them and asked them to send some of their leaders whom they trusted to investigate the fortifications of Athens. He then secretly wrote to his own men to detain those who had come until the work was finished, so that they could acknowledge that Athens was fortified and that their leaders could not return until he himself was sent back. The Lacedaemonians easily performed this, lest they compensate for the death of one by the death of many. Lucius Furius, having led his army into an unfavorable position, and wanting to hide his anxiety so that the rest would not panic, gradually turning around as if with a larger circuit, attacked the enemy. By reversing his column, he led his army back unscathed, as they were unaware of what was being done. Metellus in Spain, when asked what he was going to do the next day, said, "If my tunic could speak, I would burn it." M. Licinius Crassus, to someone asking when he would move the camp, replied, "I fear that the trumpet might hear it."

On exploring the plans of the enemy. Chapter II.

A decorative initial "F" begins the text.Scipio Africanus, having taken the opportunity to send an embassy to Syphax, ordered the most chosen tribunes and centurions to go with Lelius in the guise of slaves, whose care it would be to observe the royal forces. When they examined the position of the camp more freely, they pursued a horse that had been let loose on purpose as if it were fleeing, and went around the greatest part of the fortifications. When they had reported this, the war was finished by fire.