The battle being fought and _won_, the victory must be followed up with as much alacrity and vigor, as though nothing had been gained,--a maxim very difficult of observance, (from the momentary disobedience which pervades all troops flushed with conquest,) but with which an able general will never dispense.

No one knew better the use of this maxim than Napoleon, and no one was a more strict and habitual observer of it.
4th.

The battle being fought and _lost_, it is your first duty to do away the _moral_ effect of defeat,--the want of that self-respect and self-confidence, which are its immediate followers, and which, so long as they last, are the most powerful auxiliaries of your enemy.

It is scarcely necessary to remark that, to effect this object,--to reinspire a beaten army with hope, and to reassure it of victory,--we must not turn our backs on an enemy, without sometimes presenting to him our front also;--we must not confide our safety to mere flight, but adopt such measures as shall convince him that though wounded and overpowered, we are neither disabled nor dismayed; and that we still possess enough both of strength and spirit to punish his faults, should he commit any.
Do you operate in a covered or mountainous country ?--avail yourself of its ridges and woods; for by doing so you will best evade the pressure of his cavalry.

Have you defiles or villages to pass ?--seize the heads of these, defend them obstinately, and make a show of fighting another battle.