Contrast of Leadership Styles

Example 1, Appius and Quinctius

from Livy, History of Rome (ed. Rev. Canon Roberts)
BOOK II: THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC, Chapters 58-60

Cited in Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Discourses. New York, Penguin Books, 1970, # 19.

58 During the disturbances in Rome, the war with the Volscians and Aequi broke out afresh. They had laid waste the fields, in order that if there were a secession of the plebs they might find refuge with them. When quiet had been restored they moved their camp further away. Appius Claudius was sent against the Volscians, the Aequi were left for Quinctius to deal with.

Appius Claudius Quinctius
Appius displayed the same savage temper in the field that he had shown at home, only it was more unrestrained because he was not now fettered by the tribunes. He hated the commons with a more intense hatred than his father had felt, for they had got the better of him and had carried their Law though he had been elected consul as being the one man who could thwart the tribunitian power--a Law, too, which former consuls, from whom the senate expected less than from him, had obstructed with less trouble. Anger and indignation at all this goaded his imperious nature into harassing his army by ruthless discipline. No violent measures, however, could subdue them, such was the spirit of opposition with which they were filled. They did everything in a perfunctory, leisurely, careless, defiant way; no feeling of shame or fear restrained them. If he wished the column to move more quickly they deliberately marched more slowly, if he came up to urge them on in their work they all relaxed the energy they had been previously exerting of their own accord; in his presence they cast their eyes down to the ground, when he passed by they silently cursed him, so that the courage which had not quailed before the hatred of the plebs was sometimes shaken. After vainly employing harsh measures of every kind, he abstained from any further intercourse with his soldiers, said that the army had been corrupted by the centurions, and sometimes called them, in jeering tones, tribunes of the plebs, and Voleros.

59 None of this escaped the notice of the Veientines, and they pressed on more vigorously in the hope that the Roman army would show the same spirit of disaffection towards Appius which it had shown towards Fabius. But it was much more violent towards Appius than it had been towards Fabius, for the soldiers not only refused to conquer, like the army of Fabius, but they wished to be conquered. When led into action they broke into a disgraceful flight and made for their camp, and offered no resistance till they saw the Volscians actually attacking their entrenchments and doing frightful execution in their rear. Then they were compelled to fight, in order that the victorious enemy might be dislodged from their rampart; it was, however, quite evident that the Roman soldiers only fought to prevent the capture of the camp; otherwise they rejoiced in their ignominious defeat. Appius' determination as in no way weakened by this, but when he was meditating more severe measures and ordering an assembly of his troops, the officers of his staff and the military tribunes gathered round him and warned him on no account to try how far he could stretch his authority, for its force wholly depended upon the free consent of those who obeyed it. They said that the soldiers as a body refused to come to the assembly, and demands were heard on all sides for the camp to be removed from the Volscian territory; only a short time before the victorious enemy had all but forced his way into the camp. There were not only suspicions of a serious mutiny, the evidence was before their eyes. Appius yielded at last to their remonstrances. He knew that they would gain nothing but a delay of punishment, and consented to forego the assembly. Orders were issued for an advance on the morrow, and the trumpet gave the signal for starting at dawn. When the army had got clear of the camp and was forming in marching order, the Volscians, aroused, apparently, by the same signal, fell upon the rear. The confusion thus created extended to the leading ranks, and set up such a panic in the whole army that it was impossible for either orders to be heard or a fighting line to be formed. No one thought of anything but flight. They made their way over heaps of bodies and arms in such wild haste that the enemy gave up the pursuit before the Romans abandoned their flight. At last, after the consul had vainly endeavoured to follow up and rally his men, the scattered troops were gradually got together again, and he fixed his camp on territory undisturbed by war. He called up the men for an assembly, and after inveighing, with perfect justice, against an army which had been false to military discipline and had deserted its standards, he asked them individually where he standards were, where their arms were. The soldiers who had thrown away their arms, the standard-bearers who had lost their standards, and in addition to these the centurions and duplicarii who had deserted their ranks, he ordered o be scourged and beheaded. Of the rank and file every tenth man was drawn by lot for punishment.

 60 Just the opposite state of things prevailed in the army campaigning amongst the Aequi, where the consul and his soldiers vied with each other in acts of kindness and comrade-ship. Quinctius was naturally milder, and the unfortunate severity of his colleague made him all the more inclined to follow the bent of his gentle disposition. The Aequi did not venture to meet an army where such harmony prevailed between the general and his men, and they allowed their enemy to ravage their territory in all directions. In no previous war had plunder been gathered from a wider area. The whole of it was given to the soldiers, and with it those words of praise which, no less than material rewards, delight the soldier's heart. The army returned home on better terms with their general, and through him with the patricians; they said that whilst the senate had given them a father it had given the other army a tyrant.

 

Example 2, Rehoboam's Counselors

from 1 Kings 11:43; 12:1-24; 14:21-31; and 2 Chron. 9:31-12:16.

Cited in Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Discourses. New York, Penguin Books, 1970, # 19.

Background

Rehoboam’s accession to the throne came under very difficult political circumstances. Solomon’s policies of forced labor and high taxation to support his greatly expanded court and administrative apparatus had created a good deal of popular unrest. Added to this was his attempt at breaking up tribal loyalties by the creation, in order to facilitate tax collection, of twelve administrative districts that basically disregarded the old tribal borders. The growing resentment against such policies erupted after Solomon’s death, on the occasion of Rehoboam’s aborted coronation at Shechem. Rehoboam rejected the counsel of his older mentors who advised easing the people’s tax burden and went instead with the guidance of his contemporaries who counseled the continuance of the policies of his father. Upon hearing this message from Rehoboam, the northern tribes revolted and instituted their own monarchy. Rehoboam unsuccessfully attempted to put down the revolt (1 Kings 12:18, 21, 24).

P. J. Achtemeier, Harper's Bible Dictionary, electronic ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). p 859.

 

1 Kings 11:41-12:21.
41 As for the other events of Solomon’s reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 43 Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
 

12     Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from a Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.


Older Counselors Younger Counselors
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

 
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

 
 
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, O Israel!
Look after your own house, O David!”
So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, b who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men—to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.