2 Samuel 17:6

When Hushai was come to Absalom, &c.— Ahithophel proposed all imaginable advantage to the evil cause in which he was engaged, from expedition, upon the principle mentioned by Tacitus, that "nothing determines civil discords so happily as dispatch." Hushai, on the contrary, wholly laid himself out to protract and to delay: for delay would not only ward off David's present danger, but would also, as the same Tacitus observes, give ill men time to repent, and the good to unite. And it is certain, that in all contests of this kind, that remark of Livy will always hold good, that when men have time to think, there will never be wanting those who will be glad to gain the favour of the right side by adhering to the public good. These were the principles of Husai's advice; and his advice, as being much better suited to Absalom's cruelty as well as his vanity, and seemingly to the interest of his ambition as well as the safety of his followers, who cared to put nothing to the hazard of a small party, easily prevailed.