And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put [them] in array against the children of Ammon.
Ver. 10. And the rest of the people.] Thus Joab, consilium e re nata capiens, opposeth one stratagem to another, and getteth the day, though nothing so strong as the enemy. The like hereunto did Judas Maccabeus, and before him Claudius Nero, the Roman consul, who, hearing that Asdrubal the Carthaginian was coming into Italy with a great army to join with his brother Hannibal, secretly and speedily took the flower of his forces, and setting upon Asdrubal, beat him and slew him, and then tumbling his head toward his brother Hannihal's trenches, so amazed him and discouraged him, that he was glad to retreat into an utmost nook of Italy for his own security. a
a Liv., decad, iii. lib. vii.