of the horse in generall Chap. 20 The diligence to bee vsed in choise and exercise of the best formes of battailes Chap. 21 Of Chariotts the names and degrees of the Commaunders Chap. 22. Of the Elephants the names and degrees of theire Rulers Chap 23. The names of the militarie motions expressed in this booke Chap. 24. Of turning and double turning of the souldiers faces as they stand embattailed Chap. 25. Of wheeling double and treble wheeling of a battaile and of returning to the first posture Chap. 26. Of filing ranking and restoring to the first posture Chap. 27. Of Counter march and the diverse kinds thereof with the manner how it is to be done Chap. 28. Of doubling and the kinds thereof Chap. 29. Of the broadfronted Phalange the deepe Phalange or Herse and the vneuen fronted Phalange Chap. 30. Of Parembole Protaxis Epitaxis Prostaxis Entaxis Hypotaxis Chap. 31. The manner how the motions of the wheeling Double and Treble wheeling of a battaile are to bee made Chap. 32. Of closing of the battaile to the right or left hand to the middest Chap. 33. The vse and advantage of these exercises of armes Chap. 34. Of signes of directions that are to bee given to the army and theire seuerall kinds Chap. 35. Of Marching of diverse kinds of battailes fitt for a Marche of the right Induction of the Coelemboles and of the Triphalange to bee opposed against the Coelemboles Chap. 36. Of Paragoge or Deduction Chap. 37. Of the Phalange called Amphistomus Chap. 38. Of the Phalange called Antistomus Chap. 39. Of the Diphalange called Antistomus Chap. 40. Of the Phalange called Peristomus Chap. 41. Of the Phalange called Himoiostomus and of the Plinthium Chap. 42. Of the Phalange called Heterostomus Chap. 43. Againe of the horsebattaile called the Rhombe and the foote halfe-moone to encounter it Chap. 44. Of the horse battaile Heteromeres and the broad fronted foote battaile to be opposed against it Chap. 45. Of another kinde of Rhombe for Horsemen and of the Epicampios Emprosthia to encounter it Chap. 46. Of the foote battaile called Cyrte which is to bee sett against the Epicampios Chap. 47. Of the Horse battaile which is square in ground and the wedge of foote to bee opposed against it Chap. 48. Of the Foote battaile called Plaesium and the Sawefronted foote battaile to encounter it Chap. 49. Of overfronting the enemies battaile and overwinging it and of Attenuation Chap. 50. Of the leading of the Cariage of the Army Chap. 51. Of the wordes of cōmaund of certain Rules to be observed therin Chap. 52 Of silence to be vsed by souldiers Chap. 53. The manner of pronouncing the wordes of Commaunde Chap. 54. The Authors that haue written Tacticks of this booke and of the profitt of the Arte. CHAP. I. HOmer the Poet seemeth to bee the first at least we reade of that had the skill of imbattailing an army and that admired men indued with that knowledge as appeareth by Mnestheus of whome he writeth His like no liuing wight was found nor any age did yeild To Marshall Troopes of horse or bandes of foote in bloudie field Concerning Homers discipline militarie the workes of Stratocles of 1 Frontine a man of Consular dignitie in our time are to be read 2 Aeneas perfected the Theorie thereof at large publishing many volumes of warfare which were abridged by 3 Cyneas the Thessalian Likewise 4 Pyrrhus the Epirote wrote Tacticks and his sonne 5 Alexander and Clearchus and Pausanias and 6 Euangelus 7 Polibius the Megapolitan a man of great learning Scipioes companyon Eupolemus and 8 Iphicrates 9 Possidonius also the Stoick sett forth the art of warre many other some in Introductions as Brion some in large Tactick volumes Al which I haue seene and read and yet thinke it not much to purpose to mention perticulerlie being not ignorant that it hath beene the manner of those writers for the most parte to applie theire stile not to the ignorant but to such as are alreadie acquainted with the matters they intreat of as for the impediments which presented themselues to mee when first I gaue my minde to the studie of this art as namely neither to happen vpon sufficient Instructours nor yet to find light or perspicuitie enough in the precepts delivered I will endevour as much as I can to remoue out of other mens way And as often as wordes shall faile to expresse my meaning I will for plainenes sake vse the direction of figures and pourtraicts adioyning thereby the view of the ey as an aide and assistance to the vnderstanding withall retaine the termes of auncient authours to the end that whosoever shal follow this booke for an introduction being therein exercised both to the same wordes also to the vsage of things expressed in them may grow as it were acquainted and imagine himselfe no straunger when he cōmeth to read their workes By which waies by me prescribed I make no doubt they will easely be vnderstood Now that this art of all other is of most vse may appeare by Plato in his booke of lawes where he saith That the Cretan Law giver so contrived his Laws as if men were alway praepared to fight For all cities haue by nature vnproclaimed warre one against another Which being so what discipline is more to bee esteemed or more avaylable to mans life then this of warre Notes IT seemeth by this Chapter that the Authors that haue of auncient time written Tactiks haue beene many and those not of such kinde of men as haue given themselues to study and contemplation alone but of such as besides theire knowledge in good letters haue beene actors in warre themselues which is more principall actors some of them Generalls other the next degree to generalls Howbeit there is none heere mentioned by Aelian whose workes are extant Where by may be esteemed the inestimable losse these later ages haue suffred in being deprived of such excellent monuments I hope I may so terme them without offence though I haue not seene them For what but excellent can proceed from men of such excellencie in theire profession such as the most parte of those were Yet for some of them I can say nothing as finding litle remembrance of them in auncient writers Of this kind are Eupolemus Stratocles Hermias Clear chus Pausanias albeit such names may often bee founde The rest are specially mentioned and much commended Of whome I will set downe what I finde 1 Frontine a man of Consular dignity I haue before noted some what of Frontine Wee haue of his as it is thought other workes besides his stratagemes But this booke of Tacticks whereof Aelian speaketh wee haue not I will onely adde the relation of Vegetius towching Frontine who writeth thus Cato the elder albeit hee had beene both invinceable in armes and often Generall of great armies beleeued yet hee should more profit his Countrey if hee laid downe in writing the
you are farre superior so in vertues worthy of your birth and yeares and in all hopefull expectations are you nothing inferior to Adrian It may please your Highnesse to regard him with a gratious eye and to esteeme the Presentor of him your faithfull bedesman that will not cease to pray to the mighty God of hosts to giue you conquest ouer all your enemies From my Garrison at Woudrichem in Holland the 20 of September 1616. Your Highnesse most humbly deuoted IO BINGHAM THE TACTICKS OF AELIAN or art of embattailing an army after the Grecian manner THE Grecian arte of embattailing an army most mightie Augustus Cesar Adrian the antiquitie whereof reacheth back to the age wherein Homer lyved hath beene committed to wryting by many whose skill in the Mathematicks was not reputed equal with myne whereby I was induced to thinke it possible for me soe to deliver the groundes therof that posteritie should rather regard and esteeme my labors then theirs that before me haue handled the same argument But weighing againe myn own ignorance for I must confesse a truth in that skill practise of armes which is now in esteeme among the Romaines I was by feare with-held from reviving a science half dead as it were and since the invention of that other by your auncestors altogeather out of request and vnregarded NotwithstandiÌ„ng comming afterward to Formie to doe my dutie to the 1 Emperour Nerva your maiesties father It was my fortune to spend sometime with 2 Frontine a man of Consular digniÌ„tie and of great reputacion by reason of his experience in militarie affaires and after conference with him perceiving he imparted no lesse studie to the Grecian then to the Romaine discipline of armes I began not to despise that of the Grecians conceiving that Frontine would not so much affect it if hee thought it inferiour to the Romaine Having therefore in times past framed a project of this worke but yet not daring then to publish it in regard of 3 your majesties incomparable valour and experience which make you famous aboue all Generalâ—s without exception that euer were I haue of late taken it againe in hand finished it being if I deceaue not my self a worke both worthy to be accompted of of sufficiencie especially with such as are studious of the arte to obscure the credit of the auncient Tacticks For in respect of the perspicuitie I dare bouldlie affirme the reader shall more advantage himselfe by this little volume then by al their writings such is the order and methode I haue followed Howbeit I durst scarcely offer it to your majestie who haue beene Generall of so greate warres least happily it proue too too slender a present altogether vnworthy of your sacred viewe And yet if your majestie shall bee pleased to thinke of it as of a Greekish Theorie or a various discourse it may bee it will giue you some little delight the rather because you may therin behold 4 Alexander the Macedons manner of marshalling his fields And for that I am not ignorant of your majesties more weightie affaires I haue reparted it into chapters to the end you may without reading the booke in few wordes take the somme of that which is to bee delivered and without losse of time find the places you are desirous to peruse Notes THe Tacticks As Taxis in a general sence signifieth order so Tacticos is as much as perteyning to order but specially taken it signifieth parteyning to order of a battaile or to the embattailing of an army Here of the arte of embattailing an army is called Tacticè and hee that is skillful and experienced in that arte Tacticos Vegetius nameth him magistrum armorum and the books written of the arte Tactica And that this is the true signification of the word may appeare by Xenophons Cyropaedia where the arte Tactick is distinguished from the arte Imperatory or arte of a Generall Hee induceth Cyrus in a discourse with his father speaking thus In the end you asked mee what my master taught mee when hee professed to teach the art Imperatory And when I answered the Tacticks you smiled and asked particulerly what the Tacticks availed without provision of thinges necessary to liue by what without preservacion of health what without knowledge of arts invented for the vse of warre what without obedience so that you plainely shewed that the Tacticks are but a small portion of the arte Imperatory or of commanding an army Thus Xenophon making a difference between the arte Imperatory the arte Tactick And in other place hee speaketh yet more particulerly Cyrus sayd hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it not the duty of a Tactick to enlarge onely or to stretch out in 〈◊〉 the front of his Phalange or to drawe it out in depth or to reduce it from a winge to a Phalange or to countermarche readily the enemy shewing himselfe on the right or left hand or in the rear but to diuide it when need is to place euery part for most advantage to leade it on speedily when occasion is of prevention Yet sometimes in a gener all signification books entreating of the whole arte of warr are called Tacticks as the Constitutions military of the Emperour Leo are entituled Tactica Leonis perhaps of the best parte because the arte of embattailing an army hath alwayes been esteemed the chiefest point of skill in a Generall Howbeit Aelian in his title of this booke taketh Tacticè in the streighter signification as appeareth by the definitions he alleageth out of Aenaeas and Polibius of whome the first defineth the art Tactick to bee a science of warlick motion with whome also Leo agreeth the other to bee a skill whereby a man taking a multitude serviceable ordereth it into files and bodies and instructeth it sufficiently in all thinges apperteining to warre Which two definitions comprehend in fewe words the argument of the whole booke For first Aelian intreatcth of levieng of arming men then of filing next of joyning files and making bodies after of ordering the whole Phalange or battaile further of motions requisit to affront the enemy whersoever he giveth on whether in front flank or reare lastly of marching and of the sondry formes of battailes carieng with them advantage of charging or repulsing the enemy in your marche He that will further vnder stand the boundes of this arte let him reade in the 21. chapter of Leo the 58. section 1 The Emperour Nerva your maiesties Father The Emperour Nerva here mentioned was not Nerva Cocceius whoe succeeded Domitian but Vlpius Traianus who was also called Nerva because he was adopted by Nerva Cocceius succeeded in the Empire And where Aelian termeth him Adrians father indeed Adrian pretended he was Traians sonne by adoption But Dio plainely denieth it Spartian saith some reported hee was adopted by the faction of Plotina Traians wife by substituting one to speake with a faint voice as if it had beene Traian vpon
or Ochane which was the Macedonian manner and not to hold them any more by the Porpax or handle and so to free their left hand to apply both to the menaging of a pike This I take to be the direct meaning of Plutarch Cleomenes then perswaded them to leaue theire speares take pikes And left the target in the left hand might proue an impediment to the vse of a pike hee thought best they should cary them at their backe by the Ochane To cary them then by the strappe at the backe is to giue free vse to the left hand without which a pike specially a long pike such as Cleomenes advised them vnto cannot be wielded as experience will teache any man that list to make triall 4 And long pikes Pikes for the most parte haue beene called by two names by the Graecians Doru and Sarissa Aelian nameth them Dorata both heere and in other places of this book Xenophon speaking of the weapons of the Chalybes saith they had Dorata of 15. cubits long armed with iron at one end onely Tet is Doru taken for a speare oftentimes as in that place of Plutarch last recited where Cleomenes perswaded the Lacedemonians to chaunge theire Dorata speares into Sarissas pikes The like recounteth hee of Philopoemen whoe chaunged the speares of the Achaeans into pikes calling the speares Dorata the pikes Sarissas And even in this place Aelian termeth them not Dorata simply but with addition of Perimekestera of a longsise And after describing the armes of the Peltastes hee saith theire speares Dorata were much shorter then the pikes Sarissae of the armed Properly the pike of the Macedonian is termed Sarissa if sometime Doru some other word is added to avoide the ordinary signification of Doru as Doru macron in Xenophon Doru perimekes in Aelian Yet deny I not but it may bee called Doru of the matter For Doru signifieth wood of any kinde and by consequent the wood a pike is made of But as I said the Macedonian pike is properly called Sarissa What the length of this pike was Aelian will shewe in the 14. Chapter And for the wood it was made of I take it to haue beene Corneil For I finde that the Macedonian horsemans staffe was of that wood Arrian confirmeth it saieng And nowe the Macedonians had the better both by reason of the strength of theire bodies and experience in warre and also because they fought with Corneil launces against Iavelins For I assent not to the translater of Arrian whoe turneth Xystois Craneinois into Corneil dartes where it should bee Corneil launces For in that place Alexander is reported to haue fought with a launce and to haue broken it in fight and to haue asked another of Aretes one of the Quiries of his stable whoe had also broke his and fought with the truncheon and to haue taken the launce of Divarates the Corinthian and returned presently to the fight and therewith overthrowne Mithridates the sonne in lawe of Darius Besides it is said that the Macedonians had the advantage in weapons Take it thus that they fought with dartes against Iavelins what advantage had they especially being come to the shock Dartes are vsed a farre of At hand noe man fighteth with them vnlesse hee haue noe other weapon I thinke noe man will deny but that a Iavelin in closing is more advantagious then a darte And that Xyston signifieth a launce Aelian himselfe testifieth in this Chapter calling the launciers Doratophori or Xystophori The Macedonian then had his horsemans staffe of Corneil Whiâ— Pliny affirmeth to bee a sound and a fast wood If his launce a man may â—bably coniecture his pike also which exceeded the launce in length and thicknesse onely Wee at this day preferre the Ashe before all woodes for toughnesse lightnesse and beautie especially if the vaine runne through to the end Notwithstanding I finde in Cicuta a knight of Venice an old souldier and one that followed the Emperour Charles the fift in his warres of Africk that the opinion of his time enclyned rather to Firre both for lightnesse and strength I haue not seene the experience therefore leaue I the iudgement to triall Wee haue then out of Aelian that the armed had both target and pike that one man should at one time vse both target and pike in fight against the enemy will seeme incredible in our dayes Yet vsed the Macedonian souldiers both at one instant they both charged theire pikes and covered themselues with theire targets against the flyeng weapons of the enemy The manner was this when they closed with the enemy they charged theire pikes with both handes and with a slight wryeng of the body and lifting vp the right shoulder whirled their target hanging at their backe vpon the left shoulder that stood next the enemy in the charge and so covered all theire body to the midle and beneath I haue touched it in the practise of Cleomenes It appeareth more plainely in Plutarch describing the battaile betwixt K. Perseus and the Consul Aemilius Hee hath this The enemy approaching Aemilius issued out of his Campe and fownd the legionary Macedonians bearing nowe the heades of their pikes stiffe vpon the targets of the Romans not suffering them to come vp to the sword which when hee sawe and sawe with all the other Macedonians casting about their targets from behinde their shoulders and receiving the Roman targetiers with their pikes abased together at one signal and likewise the firmenesse of the battaile shutte vp serred the roughnesse of the front the pikes lyeng out before he became astonied affrighted as having never before beheld so fearefull a sight Which passion spectacle hee afterward oftentimes recounted to his familier friends This ioyâ—ing of targets in the front is called Synaspismos whereof wee shall haue occasion to speake heere-after 5 The light They had divers names given them in the Greek history Sometimes they are called Euzoni because they so girded vp theire apparaile about theÌ„ that they were light and fitt for motion Sometimes Askeuoi because they beare no military furniture of defence Sometimes Elaphroi because they resemble as some think a harte in lightnesse and swiftnesse Sometimes Gynnietae naked because they were without defensiuâ— armes Sometimes Psyloi naked or light as they are heere termed by Aelian and by Appian and the other that I cited 6 Flyeng weapons onely The light-armed are divided into three kindes Archers Darters and Slingers Which three kindes were of much vse emongest the Graecians and they beare onely flieng weapons Xenophon testifieth that Cyrus the elder had them And the Graecians in theire returne out of Persia Alexander had them in his warre against Darius and Pyrrhus in his warre in Italy Sicill and Greece The Graecians against Brennus King of the Gaules Both the Athenians The bans at the battaile of Delos 7 Arrowes Archers haue alwayes
battaile where in the Graecians marched from breaking they appointed six Lochoi of a hundred a piece for that purpose and Commaunders to leade them And after hee reckoneth seventy men to a Lochos And in the first booke of Cyrus his expedition hee telleth of two Lochoi of the armed of the Regiment of Menon that were slaine by the inhabitants of Cilicia and counted them a hundred men Cyrus in the same Xenophon commaundeth his Lochos to bee made of twenty foure men But the Lochos that Aelian heere speaketh of is a lesse number namely sixteene which was the file of the Macedonians as appeareth by Arrian and Polybius Albeit Arrian calleth it not Lochos but Decas and Polybius the depth of the battaile This number of sixteene was vsed by the Graecians also before King Phillips time as appeareth by Xenophon in his historie of the Graecians And likewise by Thucydides who reporteth that the Siracusans were so ordered against the Athenians Leo saith it was the manner of the auncient warriers to make a file of sixteen calleth it a Tetragonall number 2 Some allow it eight some twelue The Lacedaemonians made the depth of theire battaile sometimes eight men for a file is it that measureth the depth of the battaile and so fought with theire enemies Thucydides witnesseth as much the Lacedaemonians saith hee were not alwaies ordered in depth alike but as theire Lochagoi they were commaunders of fiue hundred and twelue a piece thought good commonly notwithstanding the depth was of eight a piece Xenophon also writeth that Dercyllidas the Lacedaemonian being to fight with Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus ordered his Phalange into eight The same proportion was helde by Mnasippus the Lacedaemonian against the Corcyraeans and by Clearchus the Lacedemonian against his enemies Xenophon saith that Thrasybulus the Athenian salieng out of Pyraeum against Pausanias the Lacedemonian King ranged his men into eight His wordes are When Thrasybulus and the other armed sawe these things they quickly gaue aide to theire owne people and put theire armed in order eight deepe Pausanias being hardly layed vnto and retiring foure or fiue furlongs commaunded the Lacedemonians and theire Allies to resort vnto him and there casting his men into a deepe Phalange ledde against the Athenians Out of which words wee may note that the Lacedaemonians observed not alwaies that order of eight deepe but varied according to place or other circumstance Yet ordinarily they gaue but eight to a file or to the depth of theire Phalange as Thucydides witnesseth before The same Thrasybulus with his complices entring the base Citty of Athens called Pyraeum to free his countrie from bondage of the thirty tyrants having but a fewe with him possessed the court which led to the temple of Diana called Munychia and being assaulted by the garrison of rhe Lacedaemonians ordered his armed men into ten deepe and the light armed behinde them The tyrants and theire followers stood in battaile fifty deepe At the battaile of Leuctra the Lacedaemonian armed were twelue in depth the Thebans fifty Alexander the great leading his armie against Clitus and Glaucias the way being so narrow that no more then foure might marche in front made the depth of his armie a hundred and twenty And the souldiers that Xenophon brought backe out of Persia when they purposed to sacke Byzantium put themselues without commaunde in order of fifty deepe In the text is fifty deepe but the margent hath eight which I take to bee the truer reading because Xenophon saith the place was faire to sett a battaile being voide of building and having an even plaine And it was not the manner of the Graecians to make a Phalange fifty deepe vnlesse there were extraordinarie occasion In the battaile of Delos betwixt the Athenians and Thebans the Thebans were fiue and twenty in depth the Athenians but eight The same Athenian were eight in depth against the Syracusans So that the depth of eight was much vsed among the Graecians How-be-it I find not that they called a file of eight by the name of Lochos Cyrus the elder made his files of twelue men and the leader thereof hee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the file it selfe decas which in signification albeit it importe ten yet wee must retaine the word as it is vsed and not fly to the originall of the Etimologie as I noted before vpon other occasion But Aelian maketh his file of sixten His reason followeth 3 For whether they vse darts c. The file being sixten in number the souldiers therein every one having after-distance from other three foote take vp in the whole depth fourty eight foote and being doubled to thirty two men they take vp ninety six foote which amounteth to thirty two yards That bowes and slings easilie out reache this distance appeareth by Vegetius before by mee alleaged who saith they stroke their marke six hundred foote of which in our account by scores is ten score Of the darte a man may rather doubt which notwithstanding with an exercised arme is sent much further then thirty two yards Lipsius writeth that a dart was vsually cast foure hundred foote which amounteth to a hundred thirty three yardes or as wee in shoting measure it six score and odde The reason why Aelian placed the light armed behind wee shall see beere after in fitt place The order and parts of a file or Decury CHAP. V. ' THE best man of every file is the first in place and hee that leadeth the file who is also called the file-leader the Commaunder the fore-stander The last man of the file is called the Reare-Commaunder or bringer-vp The whole file it self is termed 2 a verse and 3 a Decany and of some 4 an Enomoty Yet there are that hold Enomotia for the fowerth parte of a file and the Commaunder of an Enomoty they call Enomotarcha and two Enomoties they take for a Dimery name the Commaunder thereof Dimerites so that the half file is said to bee a Dimery 5 and the Commaunder Dimerites This man is the last of the file Hee that standeth next behinde the file-leader is named a follower and the next after him a Leader and the next after him againe a follower So that the whole file consisteth of Leaders followers placed successiuely one after another 6 It behoueth the file-leader to bee more sufficient then the rest of the file and next him the Leader of the half-file or bringer-vp They define a file to bee a Rowe of followers placed according to theire worth successiuely after a file-leader Notes 1 THE best man of every file Why the file-leader ought to bee the best man of the file many reasons may bee given first because hee commaundeth the rest And as in all other things hee that is to rule and governe another ought to haue more knowledge then hee that is commaunded and
hollowed for that and other purposes Heereof Aelian likewise treateth in this booke heere after And albeit the most vsuall embattailling of them hath beene in the wings yet the bestowing in the reare according to Aelians minde hath also advantages First it concealeth theire number which because they are shaddowed with the pikes standing before can hardly bee discerned Then it is easie from the reare to drawe them to any place of service without disorder bee it before on the wings or behinde the reare Further it will not bee easie for the enemies horse to charge them the armed standing before for a sure defence Lastly from the reare they shall bee able at all times to anoye the enemy before the battaile ioynes as soone as the battaile ioynes and all the time of fight Neither doth this manner of embattailing want examples of the ould historie of the Graecians The embattailing of Cyrus the elders armie in Xenophon hath the light-armed in the reare I will set downe the effect of Cyrus words at large because they conteine the ordering of an armie to fight according to the iudgement of Xenophon Cyrus then being to trye a battaile with Craesus thus directs his Commanders you saith hee Araspes take your place in the right wing as you now doe and you the other Myriarches as you are acoustomed For when the fight is once a foote noe Chariot may change horses and command the Taxiarches and file-leaders to order theire files every one divided in two parts Phalange-wise that is each half fronting one with another in a right line A file conteineth foure an twenty men Then saide one of the Myriarches doe you thinke Sir that wee shall bee able in this order to encounter so deep a Phalange as the enemies Cyrus answered the Phalanges that are deeper then may with theire armes reach the enemy are they fitt thinke you either to annoye the enemy or profitte theire frindes For my part I could wish those that are ranged 100 in depth to bee in depth a thowsand For so should wee haue the fewer to fight with all The number that I giue for the depth of the Phalange I doubt not but will entirely serue for vse and maintaine a joynt fight in every part The Darters I will place after the armed and after the darters the Archers For who will sett them in front that confesse themselues vnable to maintaine a fight hand to hand Howe then will they hould theire grownde if they bee sett before the armed but being in the reare some with darts other with arrows sent over the heads of the armed will greatly endammage the enemy And it is cleere that wherewithall soever an enemy is endamaged with the same a mans owne fide is eased and relieved You therefore order your selues as I haue appointed As for the captaines of the Targetiers I will haue them and theire files stand likewise next the armed in the Reare and after them the Archers And you the chiefe Commaunder of the Reare enjoyne the other reare Commanders every man to haue an eye to those vnder him that they doe theire duties And let them sharply threaten the negligent and in case any man treasonably forsake his place punish him with death For it is the worke of Commanders both with word and deed to encourage those they command to make the cowards more afraide of them then of the enemy This is your charge but you Euphratas that command over the Engines see that the beasts that drawe the Engines and Turrets followe the Phalange as neere as may bee And you Daouchus that haue the charge of the baggage come with your manye next after the Turrets and let your Serieants seuerely punish them that hast to much before or come to slowly after And you Carduchus that rule the wagons wherein the women are order them next the baggage For all these comming in the reare will both breede an opinion of multitude and giue vs meanes to lay an ambush and will force the enemy purposing to encompasse vs to fetche a larger compasse which the larger it is soe much the weaker must hee be And you Artabasus and Artagersas each of you leade next after these the 1000. foote you commande a piece And you Phranuchus and Asiadatas order the Chiliarchies of horse you commande not with the Phalange but set them by themselues a part behind the wagons and when you haue done it repaire to vs with the rest of the commanders But you are to bee in a readinesse as if you were first to fight And you the commanders of the Camel-riders place your selues after the wagons and doe what Artagersas shall bidde you And you the Commanders of the Chariots after lotts are cast let him whose lotte it is range himself and his 100. Charriots before the Phalange the other two hundred one of them is to follow the Phalange on the right side wing-wise the other on the left So farre Cyrus I haue rehearsed the words at large principally to shewe that the light-armed in ancient time were placed sometimes behinde the Phalange and yet further also to represent the manner of embattailing an armie which was then vsuall For heere haue you set downe the place of the Myriarches of the other commaunders which was in front then the place of the pikes of the light-armed of the reare commanders of the Engines of the baggage of the wagons wherein the women were of the gards for the baggage both horse and foote of the Camels and of the Chariots And albeit many of these particulers agree not with our manner at this day for wee haue neither Engines nor Camels nor Chariotts nor slings nor darts nor arrowes yet is the reason of warre alike in all and in our placing also the fitnesse of seruice principally to bee respected The place of the horse is heere omitted by Xenophon which may be supplied out of the seventh booke where Chrysanthas Generall of the horse is saide to stand on the right wing of the Phalange with half the horse Hystaspas on the left with the other half But to returne to the placing of the light-armed the same Xenophon testifieth that it was the Aegyptian manner to order theire light-armed behinde that in the battaile betwixt Cyrus and Craesus the Aegyptian archers and darters were with drawne swords compelled by the reare-commanders to shoote and east theire darts Thrasybulus in his fight against the thirty Tyrants set his armed in front and in the reare his targetiers and darters without armor and those that cast stones And it seemeth by the words of Thrasybulus to his owne side that the Tyrants did the like The Tyrants saith hee haue brought vs to a place in which by reason of the steepnesse they must ascend and can neither cast stone nor dart over the heads of theire owne people that are embattailed before Where wee contrarywise whether wee throwe jauelins or darts or stones shall easily reache
said are the files of the Phalange But if the conueniency be obserued it will not seeme impertinent For all the Leaders being in front therefore are they called Leaders because they precede and the rest follow it makes both a gallant shew and that rancke being as it were the edge of our battaile not only serues to hew a sunder and rent a pieces the forces of our enemie But also standeth as an assured bulwarke of defence before the rest of the Armie that followeth And it is well noted by Leo that the multitude of Commanders in orderly diuisions both signifies that there are many worthy and valiant men in the armie And is a meanes to keep the Souldiers in greater obedience and to giue vndoubted effect to all directions Of what qualitie and disposition those Leaders ought to be you may see in the fourth Chapter of Leos Tactickes Onely I will adde that as they are higher in dignity so ought they in vertue and valour exceede those that are vnder their command 1 A Dilochy Consists of two files for so signifies the word Dilochia and the Leader is called a Dilochite 2 A Tetrarchy Of foure files and the Leader is called a Tetrach one that hath the command of foure files And here I must once more admonish that in the words of diuers signification we must not weigh what is the proper signification but how they are vsed in this Art and booke For the word Tetrarch signifieth sometimes a King as Hesychius hath and Deiotarus in Tully is called a Tetrarch and Herode in the Gospell who both are commonly knowne for Kings Thessaly likewise was diuided into 4. Principalities Thessaliotis Pthiotis Pelasgiotis and Astiotis whereof euery one was named a Tetrarchy Onely the difference is that a Tetrarch being a King or a Gouernour signifies him that hath the gouernment of the fourth part of the land for a Tetrarchy is the gouernment of the fourth part But a Tetrarchy in Aelian signifies a body military consisting of foure parts 4. files and the Tetrarch commands not ouer one alone but ouer all the 4. parts 3 A Taxis As the word Tetrarchy is diuersly taken so is Taxis likewise For sometimes it imports Order in a generall signification as I noted before Sometimes the order of a battaile sometimes a company of any kinde of Souldiers foote or horse as Taxis Peltastarum Taxis Equitum Sometimes a single Phalange as in Arrian mention is made of Taxis Ooeni Taxis Perdiccae and Taxis Meleagri c. who were Phalangarches as the story sheweth i Sometimes for all the armed as Taxis Phalangitarum Sometimes a rancke of men standing embattailed as in Thucidides who discribing the battell of the Lacedemonians saith the front which he calleth the first rancke teen proteen Taxin consisted of 448. But in a more speciall signification it is taken for a band of Souldiers And in that signification the number varieth In Xenophon it comprehendeth a hundred men What the number of the Athenian Taxis was I finde not deliuered by any Writer That they had Taxiarchs Polyenus sheweth plainely And if a man with leaue might gesse I would imagine their Taxis consisted of 250 men For I finde in the same place of Polyenus that they had Chiliarchies Pentecosiarchies Taxies and Lochagies I haue before shewed that Lochos in Xenophon is made sometimes of aboue 100. men Out of which may be inferred with probability that Taxis being the next degree aboue the Lochagie hath the double number or more The rather because a Chiliarchy hauing in it a 1000. the Penticosiarchy must haue 500. and by likelihood the Taxis 250. as being the next office vnder the Pentecosiarchy But whatsoeuer the Taxis of the Athenians or of other people was Aelian maketh his Taxis vp with 128 men and 8. files which is a double number to the Tetrarchy With whom Suidas agreeth giuing 2. Tetrarchies to a Taxis and saith it consists of 128 men The Commander of the Taxis is called a Taxiarch as the Commander of the Tetrarchy is a Tetrarch Here I am to note by the way that the Interpreter of Xenophon translateth Taxiarcha the Commander of a Cohort wher 's Taxis in the straighter signification cannot be taken for a Cohort because a Cohort differeth much in number hauing in it at the least 500. and odde men where the Taxis when it is greatest hath no more then 128. And Polybius saith plainely that spira is the Greeke word that fully expresseth the Romane Cohort 4 A Syntagma The word commeth of Syntasso or Syntatto to place together and a Syntagma is a body compounded of many parts artificially put together But it may be taken for anybody in the armie Diodorus reports of Dionysius the elder That after he had diuided his whole Armie which had in it 30000 into three parts he imployed two against the Carthaginian Campe in diuers manner himselfe tooke the Syntagma or third part which consisted of mercenary Souldiers and led against that quarter of the campe which had the Engins Aelian also vseth the word diuerslie For he calles the whole armie by the name of Syntagmata in the plurall number and sometimes Syntagma in the singular And further giues the same name to a file Suidas likewise discribing the length of a Phalange saith it is the first rancke Syntagma of file Leaders which stretcheth forth in a right line from winge to winge Whereby appeareth that which the Logitians affirme which I touched before that there are more things then names of things And that fit names cannot be giuen to all The names that haue beene giuen by antiquity to expresse the seuerall bodies of the Phalange are to be reteined by vs as proper enough to signifie the thing they meant Neither are we to vary from them vnlesse we our selues can inuent better The Syntagma that Aelian here mentioneth is framed of two Taxies that is of 16. files of 256 men The Commander of it is named a Syntagmatarch And where he addeth it is called of some a Xenagy we are to vnderstand that Xenagos was he amongst the Grecians that had the command of a band of strangers as he that leuied strangers was called Xenologos and the band it selfe was called a Xenagy Why the Syntagma should haue the appellation of Xenagy I cannot diuine vnlesse the reason were because it was about the number wherof strangers made their companies that serued amongst the Graecians And I thinke and shall till better information that the body of the light armed called a Xenagy mentioned hereafter had that name likewise for the same reason Now of all the bodies in this Chapter mentioned there is none that commeth so neere the companies vsed at this day as doth the Syntagma for excepting that our numbers differre and are in diuers places more or lesse the offices of each are alike You haue in