where ordinarily Clocks do not strike nor Bells ring then the Caporals are to have allowance of Match which they call Passelunt whereby they regulate Passelunts themselves to relieve their Sentinels when six seven eight or nine Inches of it are burnt In Camps and Garrisons Drummers are to beat Taptoo at night and in the morning Revallie This word Zapzu or Taptoo is High and and Low Dutch and Taptoo signifies no more drink to be tapp'd or sold and is not as some fancy to advertize the Guards to place their Night Sentinels but to acquaint Sutlers to sell no more drink and Souldiers to go home to their Lodgings and who is found out of their quarters after it ought to be punish'd It should be â—eat constantly at one hour Summer and Winter and ten a clock at night is a proper time for it But By-Guards as they are call'd and Night Sentinels are to be put to their Night Sentinels and By-guards Posts when day-light is well near spent and this in Winter will be about four and in Summer about ten a Clock at night neither ought the last Night Sentinels to leave their Posts till the Dian or Revallie beat which cannot be done at one constant hour as the Taptoo for in Winter it may be eight and in Summer three or four in the morning and beat it should not till the Captain of the Watch gives order for it and he is not to take up his measures by day-light Dian Travaille or Revallie but by the clearness darkness or mistiness of the morning the Night Sentinels being to continue on their duty till they can discover all the Fields about them When by order of the Colonel or Captain of the Watch the Dian is beaten at the Head Watch all the Drummers of the rest of the Guards ought immediately to beat and then the Night Watches and Sentinels come to their several Guards It is then also that the Souldiers who have been in their quarters or huts all night and either Towns-men or Countrey people who are ordered to work at the Fortification either of Town or Camp are to go to their work and therefore this beating of the Drum in the morning I think is more properly called Travaille than Revallie CHAP. XXII Of things previous to a Battel of a Battel it self and of things after a Battel OF all Martial Acts to fight a Battel well and gain the Victory is of the highest importance and makes the Prince or his General most renown'd It is this and neither Retreats nor taking Towns though both these shew the qualifications of an excellent Captain that crowns them with Laurel By the winning of Battels sometimes one sometimes more Kingdoms are gain'd by one party and lost by another Let us then take a view of those things that should be adverted to before so great a hazard be made Most men are of opinion that he who hath the conduct of an Army should never Generals should not be forcâ—d to fight if they can chuse suffer himself to be forc'd to fight I say so too if he can help it and what is the meaning of this but that his Intelligence should be so good that if he intend not to fight he should either quickly get himself out of the way or strongly entrench his Army in a place where he cannot want provisions But when he hath done either of the two he may be forc'd to fight for who can save his Army without fighting if his Enemy storms his Retrenchment or in his Retreat pursues him fiercely and powerfully To force an Enemy to fight To force an Enemy to Battel succeeds sometimes well hath a doubtful event for many times it succeeds well as it did with Alexander at Arbela against Darius with Scipio against Hannibal at Zama with his Brother against Antiochus in Asia with Charles the Fifth against the King of France at Pavia and Gustavus his Army against Wallenstein at Lutsen Yet peruse History you will find that many more have lost than ever gain'd by it take a few instances Edward the Black Prince was forc'd to fight at Poiâ—tiers so was Henry the Fifth of England at Agencourt yet both gain'd glorious Victories Harold when he might have protracted the War being Master of all England forc'd William of Normandy to fight and thereby lost both his Crown and his life Edward the Second of England forc'd Robert Bruce Sometimes very ill King of Scotland to fight at Bannockburne but lost the honour of the day and most of his numerous Army Julius Caesar made himself constantly master of his own dyet either by Entrenching or Retiring so that he was never forc'd to fight but when he pleas'd But when he forc'd Pompey he try'd both Fortunes At Dirrhachium he was beaten off with loss and was glad to retire which indeed he did with admirable Prudence and Courage At Pharsalia he brav'd the same Pompey to Battel which so soon as he accepted Caesar got the Victory Yet it seems most agreeable to reason that men should fight well when they are forc'd to fight Despair whetting their Courage and for this reason many Captains take away all means of escape from their own Armies to make them sensible their safety is in their hands and not in their feet and withal they leave an open way for their Enemy to run away and hence is the common Maxime in War That a Bridge of Gold should be made for a Flying A Golden Bridge Enemy Before a Battel it is fit to view an Enemies countenance and try his Courage by frequent Skirmishes and these very oft each Army sending help to their own parties draw on a Battel insensibly Good Intelligence if possible Intelligence should be had of his numbers of Horse Foot and Artillery and in which of these his greatest strength lyes but I will repeat nothing in this place of what I have said in my Discourse of Intelligence In the next place our General should view if he have time and opportunity for it the situation of the Field Situation of the Field where both his own and his Enemies Army are to fight that accordingly he may either lay ambushes or shun them This was one of Hannibal's Master-pieces he should take notice how the Wind blows that accordingly by the The Wind. ordering his Batallions he may take the advantage of it He should cast up his account how the Sun will shine if it be a fair day at such hours when he The Sun conceives the fight will begin that thereby he may oâ—der his affairs If his Intelligence be good within his Enemies Army he should endeavour to stir up jealousies divisions and dissentions in it and in the time of these if his To make an Enemy jealous Friends give him the sign fall upon him After his Army is marshall'd if he have tiâ—e he should ride along the Front of all his Brigades and by short
every one what the eternal hath ordain'd for them Nor did Polybius know what was reveal'd to Nebuchadnezzar in that dream which Daniel interpreted to him that the Persians Daniel Ch. 2. should subdue the Assyrians the Grecians should ruine the Persians and the Romans should put a period to the Macedonian Monarchy There was no stop to be made to the current of the Victories of the Romans whom the Almighty had pre-ordain'd to become Masters of the World That there is such an All-ruling Providence was not unknown to the wiser Heathens though they being in a mist did not see with so clear eyes as we who are illuminated by the brighter rays of Gods own word and for all that I think few Divines can express in fewer words the omnipotency and unbounded power of the most high than a Pagan Poet did when he wrote Sic ait immensa est finemque potentia coeli Ovid's Met. Non habet quicquid superi voluere peractum est Heav'ns power hath no limits hence we see All done infallibly what Gods decree If Polybius had liv'd in our days he might have seen the hand of Heaven distributing Victory to speak with reverence and submission to the Almighties pleasure more partially than he either heard it was awarded in the Hannibalian or saw it given in the third Punick War of the first whereof he writes when he falls upon this discourse with us He might have seen men of one Nation arm'd alike following one and the same method of War and for any thing I know of equal Courage both parties inflam'd the one with Loyal zeal the other with rebellious rage acting their parts very highly on the bloody stage of War he might have seen I say the best of Soveraign Kings King Charles the First lose his Crown and Life and have his head chopp'd off with an Ax when the worst of Subjects and greatest of Rebels had his deck'd with Bays Or if Polybius had liv'd but one age longer than he did he might have seen the Roman Legions which he so much commends cutting one anothers Throats all Countrey-men all men of equal Courage and Conduct arm'd alike using one and the same Art and Discipline of War embruing their hands in one anothers blood and those who fought for the State and Liberty of their Countrey overthrown kill'd murther'd and massacred and their Enemies almost ador'd for their success in a bad cause and he might have either seen or heard of Pompeys Head ignominiously struck off and Caesars crown'd Caesar and Pompey with Laurels And if Polybius had been an eye-witness of the prodigious success Gustavus Adolphus the Great King of Sweden had in Germany in the year 1630. when he invaded the Roman Empire and how he took Cities Forts and Castles more Emperour Ferdinand the Second for their number and more considerable for their Strength Beauty and Riches in the space of six months and made a greater progress in his Conquests in less than two years time than Hannibal did in Italy the whole eighteen years he stay'd in it If I say he had seen this he had never attributed Victory to the goodness of Arms the cunning of the Art or exactness of the Discipline of War for he would have seen the Emperour Ferdinand the Seconds Generals wise And his Generals couragious experienced vigilant as well and as much as either the King himself or any of his great Captains Besides both Wallenstein Duke of Friedland and Count Tili had that which Polybius himself requires in a General that was they were fortunate Their great Victories over the Kings of Bohemia and Denmark Bethlem Gabor the Duke of Brunswick the Marquesses of Baden and Durlach and the famous Earl of Mansfield being yet fresh in memory And if Polybius had seen any disparity of Arms or Armour or of Horses either for their number or their goodness in this German War he had seen the Emperours Armies have the odds by much neither was the difference of the manner of their War or Ratio Belli so considerable as to cast the Scales so far as that Martial King did in so short a time Nor was Hannibals discent into Italy with few more than twenty thousand men more hazardous than the Kings landing in Germany with eight or ten thousand at most was justly thought to be What was it then would Polybius have said that carried Victory whose wings Ferdinands Generals and Armies thought they had clipp'd over to the Sweed what else but the hand of the Almighty who when that Emperour was very fair to have reduced Germany to an absolute Monarchy said to him and the whole house of Austria Non plus ultra Go no further Titus Livius had read without all question this comparison of Polybius Another comparison of Titus Livius whereof I have spoken enough and it may be hath taken from it a hint to start another question which is this If the great Alexander after his return from India and his subduing so many Nations in little more than ten years time had made a step over to Italy what the issue of the War between him Voided by himself and the Romans would have been And gives his Sentence that infallibly his Countrey men would have beaten that Great Conquerour Paola Paruta a Paruta not satisfied with Livius Noble Venetian and a Procurator of St. Mark refutes Livius his arguments and concludes that the Macedonian would have over-master'd the Romans But in steps a third an Author of no small reputation the renown'd Sir Walter Raleigh Nor Sir Walter Raleigh who will give the prize to neither Macedonian nor Roman but to his own English It will not be denied but the English Nation did admirable feats in France which was indeed the Stage on which Caesar acted his most martial exploits under Edward the Third King of England and his Son the Black Prince as also under Henry the Fifth while he liv'd and after his death under his Valiant Brothers But Paruta refutes Livius yet I have seen none that opposeth Sir Walter and I am sure I shall not because I am not so much beholding to the Grecians and Romans as to the English But those who are curious to read the reasons of all the three may find those of Livy in his ninth Book of his first Decad those of Paruta in the second Chapter of his Political Discourses and those of Raleigh in the first Chapter of the fifth Book of the first part of his History of the World But to return to Livy's question I shall tell my opinion and that is lawful Strong presumptions against Livius his opinion enough for me to do and it is this Since Hannibal as Polybius confesseth carried not much above twenty thousand men over the Alps of all that great Army that he brought out of Spain and with them durst invade the Roman Seignories in Italy it self when Rome was Mistress of Sicily and
the one or other is the head of the Army Now as I said before where the greatest trust is there is the greatest honour and consequently the Infantry are more honourable than the Cavalry These things were well enough known to the Grecians and Macedonians he that commanded the whole Phalanx that is the whole Army stayed with the heavy armed Foot so did all the Artillery and Ammunition of the Army And certainly they had Detachments as well as we have and the Suntagmatarch of a Foot Phalanx had under his command two hundred and fifty six men with Colours and suitable Officers how would the merry Greeks have laughed if this Suntagmatarch whom our Captains sixty years ago in many places when Companies were three hundred strong did represent had been required to submit himself to the command of an Elarchos who was Captain of sixty four Horse and represented our Ritmasters now adays for sometimes the Grecian Troop of Horse was one hundred In the Roman Art of War a Legion was commanded by Tribunes by turns or as we call it from the French by toures he whose six month it was to command had ordinarily four thousand two hundred sometimes five thousand and sometimes six thousand Foot under his command the Horse ordained to attend this Legion were but adjectitious and were seldom above three hundred sometimes not so many The denomination of any Officer is à majori parte from the greater part and therefore the Tribune was a Colonel of Foot and yet commanded these three hundred Horse as absolutely as he did any Centuriate in the Legion Hence it is that with reason I aver that in the Roman Discipline the Horse were constantly commanded by Officers of Foot and peruse all the Roman Histories you shall not find that ever any Officer of Horse pretended to the command of any of the Foot With the Roman Infantry were intrusted their Balists Catupults their Battering Rams their Ambulatory Towns their Bridges and all the Materials whereof these were composed Now these were the Artillery of the Ancients with the Roman Infantry were intrusted the Treasurer and Treasure of the Army all Provisions for Man and Horse their Altars and places of Devotion and though the Troops of Horse had their petty Standards and Vexilla yet the Eagle which was mounted on a long Pole and was the great Ensign of the Legion was constantly intrusted to the keeping of the first Centurion who was a Foot-officer With the Foot the Consul march'd lodg'd and fought All these being intrusted to the Roman Foot and not to the Horse shews that these Conquerours of the World esteemed the Foot-service more honourable than that of Horse for still I say the more trust the more honour It is true the Roman Horsemen were all elected of Gentlemen for so I interpret the Equestris Ordo and therefore I doubt not but they had a Precedency at door and Table before the Legionary Soldiers who were all levied out of the Commons but that gave them no Superiority or command over the Foot which is the thing now pretended to Nor will the Roman Discipline which order'd the Horse to ride the Rounds about the Guards of Foot as you have it in the twenty second Chapter of the Roman Art of War entitle these Horsemen to any Superiority or command over these Guards of Foot no more than a Gentleman who is sent to go a Round with Musqueteers to attend him will evince that he hath the command of these Guards or any Centinel of them both the Ancient and Modern Rounds being only obliged to give an account to those who sent them in what posture they found the Guards and Centinels yea these four Roman Horsemen who were to ride the Rounds were commanded to lye at the door of the Hut or Tent of a Centurion of Foot which I think denoted their subjection to him Thus I think it is clear that with these ancient Romans to whose arms and discipline of War most of the world paid homage the Foot-service was more honourable than that on Horseback To confirm this I hope it will be granted me that where the greatest danger is there is to be expected the greatest honour Now very often the Roman Consuls where they saw the Enemy prevail in Battel they called the Cavalry or a part of it thither but mistake it not it was not to fight on horseback but to make them alight from their Horses and fight on foot with the Legionaries which encouraged the Foot when they saw the Horse could not ride from them And therefore since the danger was greater to fight on foot than on horseback the Romans thought fighting on foot more honourable than fighting on horseback and consequently the Foot-service more honourable than that of Horsemen Julius Caesar the greatest Captain that ever was practised this in the greatest Battel he ever fought which was against the Helvetians now called Switzers To shew good example he alighted first from his horse and then caused all his Cavalry to alight and as himself tells us caused all the horses to be driven away a great way from that place of Battel And so did several of the Roman Consuls before him And I think you need not doubt but the horsemen being on foot were marshal'd by the Tribune as the Foot were and so the Decurions who were Captains of horse received their orders from the Centurions each whereof commanded sixty Footmen whereas the Decurion had but the command of thirty So here we see Officers of Horse commanded by Officers of Foot but never the contrary I find Abâ—er Joaâ— Amasa fight still on foot and so did their Master David King of Israel so did Saul before him and most of the Kings of Judah and Israel after him except some who fought on Chariots to their small advantage but none fought on horseback I believe Absalom fought on foot though after his rebellious Army was routed he mounted on a Mule to carry him away with more haste than good speed Many Kings in the Modern Wars since Gunpowder made a noise have fought on foot Edward the fourth of England fought nine Battels on foot our Kings of Scotland did so frequently And if King James the fourth was kill'd at Flowdon he was slain fighting on foot and all these were Princes who trac'd the path of honour and studied both to shew their own valour and to overcome their enemies which they conceived they did more properly on foot than on horseback Since the best govern'd Kingdoms and States both ancient and modern have given the honour to the Foot and not the Horse by intrusting them with their chief strength their Treasure their Artillery Provisions Ammunitions Towns Castles and fortified places I cannot enough admire what new light the Commanders of Horse of our time have got that can move them to demand a superiority over the Officers of Foot of equal quality with themselves If they say because they can be sooner at an
all that attended the Baggage of his Army to mount upon Mules and Sumpter-Horses and hide themselves in some near Hills and Woods and in the time of fight to make a show as if they would cut off the Gauls pass to their Camp which the Muleteers doing upon a sign from the Dictator the Gauls immediately fled Such a Stratagein did King Robert Bruce happily use against Edward the Second of England in the Battel nâ—ar Sterling But Not always the like being practis'd by the French at Agencourt against Henry the Fifth King of England had an issue contrary to the thing intended It hath been always and ever will be a rule of War Thaâ— no man offer to plunder or look for booty till the Enemy be totally routed and chac'd No plunder till an Enemy be totally routed out of the Field but for most part it is ill observed When Parmenio at Arbela sent word to his Master Alexander that the Perstans were fallen on the Baggage which was but slenderly guarded it was well answer'd of that great Prince Let saith he the Enemy be master of all the goods that belong to my Army so I over master him for then I shall recover my own and get his to boot The not observing this rule lost the Christians the Victory against the Turk at Agria At the Battel of Janquo in Bohemia in the year 1644. if I mistake Instanceâ— not the Imperialists were well near masters of the Field in so far that several Brigades of the Swedes had run away and very many of their Officers were taken Prisoners but they fell too soon to the plunder of the Swedish Waggons which Torstensone Christina's Felt-Marshal did not offer to rescue though his own Lady was taken with them but took the advantage of the Enemies disorder and with fresh and couragious Troops pluck'd the Victory out of his hand beat them out of the Field recover'd his Lady all his Prisoners and Baggage and made himself master of all the Imperial Coaches and Waggons took numbers of Prisoners and among them him who commanded in chief the Count of Hatsfeld I know not how the proposition of some will relish with our great Captains that some lusty strong men should be arm'd with Head-pieces and Corslet and long and large Targets all Musket-proof and a Rank of these serr'd together order'd to march before every Batallion of Pikes and so protect them from shot till they be within two Pikes length of the Enemy that they can make use of their own Weapons But whether this be approv'd or not I think it would be of no great charge to the Prince or State who manageth the War to order every Pike man to have at his girdle a Pistol with a Barrel two foot long whereof the three first Ranks may make use before they present their Pikes and the other three fire over the heads of those who are before them in the time they are charging Now the Battel is done and if it fall out that it hath been so well fought Things to be done after the Battel that none of the Armies can boast of Victory but that both have left the place of Combate as it were by mutual consent or that they are parted by night then either both prepare to fight next day or the one finding those wants of which the other hath no knowledge takes the advantage of darkness and retires to some place of security where he may provide for his hurt men be furnish'd with what he wants recruit his Forces and so give a stop to his Enemies further progress and this no doubt is a tacite acknowledgement that he yields the honour of the day to him who keeps the Field But this was never laid in ballance by any prudent Captain with the preservation of his Army the loss whereof may lose the Prince his Master more than such a Punctilio of Honour which at a more fortunate Rencounter may quickly be recover'd But if both resolve to try their fortunes next day then both prepare for it the wounded are sent away Ammunition is given out and those who are sound are refresh'd and encourag'd This falls out but seldome though sometimes it hath happen'd The Victory is pronounc'd to be his Badge of Victory who remains master of the ground where both fought and in ancient times he acknowledg'd himself to be vanquish'd who desired liberty to bury his dead Bernard Duke of Saxon Weymar having besieged Reinfeld and two Imperial Armies coming to raise the Siege he fought both till night parted the fray but with this difference that the Imperialists got between him and the besieged Town and so succour'd it upon which the Duke retired and left his Enemy the badges of Victory but with a resolution to return and throw the Dye of War once more as he did as you shall hear anon When an entire Victory is obtain'd he who hath lost the day should not lose What a Vanquish'd General should do his Courage too but ought to gather up his Shipwrack rally his dispers'd and broken Troops get new recruits dissemble his losses encourage his party and draw to a head again these are things practis'd by all intelligent Generals withal he should with all convenient diligence send a Trumpeter to the Victorious General to demand a list of his Prisoners which when he hath got he should make all the haste he can to get them ransom'd or exchang'd and this is a duty he owes to Prudence Honour and Conscience On the other hand he who hath gain'd the Victory may lose himself if he be What a Victorious General should do secure for a resolute enemy may soon take him napping As that same Duke of Weymar did the Imperial Army that had beaten him for having got together the rest of his Forces that were not with him at his late overthrow he return'd and gave Battel to the Imperialists who dream'd of no such thing and obtain'd so compleat a Victory over them that he made all the general persons his Prisoners who were led into Paris in triumph Duc de Savelli an Italian was one of them who escap'd afterward out of Prison but the deep contemplation of the sudden change of fortune in his Military imployments mov'd him to make an exchange of his Helmet with a Cardinals Cap. It is for that that he who commands a Victorious Army should not in sloth pass away his time but improve his Victory to the greatest advantage of his Master and not be guilty of that whereof one of the greatest Captains among the Ancients Hannibal was taxed that he knew not how to use Victory whereof two others one before him and another after him could never be accused and those were the Great Alexander and the Great Julius Caesar CHAP. XXIII Of Retreats TO Retire after a Battel or a brisk Rencounter leads me to speak of Retreats Next the sighting well and winning of a Battel the three great
is that of the Garter instituted by Edward the Third of England under the Patrociny of Saint George as that of the Thistle of Scotland was under Saint Andrew John of Valois King of France instituted the order of the Star under the protection of Saint Owen say the French as one of his Successors Louis the Eleventh instituted that of Saint Michael In the minority of Henry the Sixth of England when the War was hot between that Kingdom and France Philip le Bou Duke of Burgundy instituted the Noble Order of the Golden Fleece under the protection of Saint Andrew The King of Denmark makes Knights of the Elephant and the Duke of Savoy those of the Annunciation Christina Queen of Sueden instituted a new Order of Knighthood which she would have called the Order of the Amaranth which they say never withers and accordingly she appointed the Device to be semper idem The Knights of the Teutonick or Dutch Order those of St. John of Jerusalem called afterwards Hospitallers Knights of the Rhodes and now of Malta as also those of the Sepulchre or Knights Templars were and some yet are very Martial Knights whose renowned Actions are and ever Religious Orders of Knighthood will be on the Records of Fame But there were likewise Religious Orders for they vowed Chastity Poverty and Obedience And from Religion have come most of the Spanish Orders of Knighthood Sanctius the third of that name King of Castile for the more vigorous prosecution of the War against the Infidels instituted the Order of Calatrava in the Kingdom of Toledo The Master of which Order is a person of great Riches and Power His Son Alphonse the Ninth in the time of his dangerons War with the Moors instituted the Order of Saint James which hath since come to that heighth of power that the Master of it is one of the greatest Subjects of Spain But Ferdinand the first Catholick King made himself and his Successors with the help of the Pope Masters of these Orders One of the Kings of Portugal when he had Wars with both the Saracens of Africk and Spain instituted the Order of the Knights of Jesus Christ About the year 1570. the Queen of Navarre caused 12 Jane d'Albret great Medals of Gold to be coined which she distributed among 12 of the most eminent Chieftains of the Reformed Religion as tokens of their fraternity to incite them to Constancy Valour and Perseverance in the Cause against the Roman Catholicks Upon one side of the Medal were these words Assured Peace Entire Victory or Honest Death On the Reverse was the Queens own name with that of her Son the Prince of Bearne who was afterwards Henry the Fourth the Great King of France and Navarre War drains the Treasures of Princes and States so dry that for most part they are not able to pay the Wages and Arrears of those who serve them much less reward them The Roman Oak Olive and Laurel Crowns are out of fashion long ago nor would they signifie any thing but rather be ridiculous unless they were given with all the Wages due to the party who is to be honour'd with one of those Crowns as the Romans were accustomed to do I have observ'd in another place how in many parts of Christendome Officers above the quality of private Captains many times are reduced to beggary to obviate which since Princes and States cannot forbear War or will not live in Peace it would be a great work of Charity in them and would much redound to their Honour Works of Charity and Fame to build some Hospitals and endue them with some small Revenue in which those Commanders who are lame old and poor might get a morsel of Bread which would be an exceeding great relief to those distressed Gentlemen and much encourage younger people to engage in a fresh War for alass though written Testimonies sign'd and seal'd by the Prince or his General may be of good use to young and lusty Gallants who have their Health and some Money in their Purses to look for new Fortunes yet Passes though never so favourable to poor old men are upon the matter nothing else Passes but fair Commissions to beg CHAP. XXVIII The Comparison made by Justus Lipsius of the Ancient and Modern Militia examined IT is one of the Curses that follow'd Adam's fall and I think was inherent in Discontent follows humane nature him before his fall that as he was not so none of his Posterity can be content with his present condition The longing desire we have to enjoy that we want robs us of the content we may have of what we possess Hence it is that old men cry up those customes that were used when they were Boys vilifying the present and magnifying the by-past times Neither is this fastidium or loathing of present things the concomitant of age only for young men who are in their strength are tainted with it Some are displeased with the Government of the State others hugely dissatisfied with that of the Church because none of them are cast in those moulds which they fancy to be better than the present ones and though perhaps they cannot pretend to have seen better in their own times yet they have heard or read of those which they conceive were so absolutely good that nothing can be added to their perfection Others like only of those Governments which have their birth rise growth and perfection in their own giddy brains But to come nearer our purpose few Souldiers are satisfied with their own Countrey Militia for if they have been abroad in the World at their return home they cry up the Arms the Art and the Discipline of Foreigners nor can they find any thing at home can please them And though their occasions have never invited them to take a view of strange places yet their Books afford them matter enough to prefer those Arms those Exercises those Guards those Figures of Battels that Discipline of War they never saw to all those they may daily see Of this disease of Discontent I think Justus Lipsius hath been Justus Lipsius an admirer of the Roman Militia irrecoverably sick and though he did not compile a Military Systeme of his own as Machiavelli did yet I may compare these two in this that both of them were Speculative Souldiers Lipsius is so far disgusted with the Milice of his own time which truly being about eighty or ninety years ago was an excellent one which he might have seen and observ'd better than his Writings shows he did and is so much in love with the old Roman Militia which he never saw but by contemplation that in the comparison he makes of the two in the last Chapter of his Commentary on Polybius he is not asham'd to prefer the Ancient Art of War to the Modern one in all its dimensions As I conceive he was so Rational as to think no man would deny the Modern He compares
actors and this they do either upon hear say registring the fables of vain and ignorant Solâ—â—ers who either have been or pretend to have been in the action for truths or write according to their own apprehensions of things which many times are so pitifully weak that their extravagancies put knowing Readers on the rack and force them to cast their Books away from them And indeed I have read the descriptions of some Battels in Books writ by no mean Authors wherein both Armies were Marshal'd in such order that I could not fancy it could be done by any except Aâ—adis de Gaul or the Knight of the Sun Let us except from these of Modern Historians Paolo Giovio d'Avita and the other unknown Author of the History of the Civil Wars of France Philip Noble Hisâ—orians de Comines Cardinal Bentivoglio Strada John Peâ—it Edward Philips his late History of England Chemnitius his History of the Swedish Expedition Theatrum Europâ—um these two last written in high Dutch and Di Sirâ— who hath written the History of these times very Voluminously in Italian These having either been Actors themselves or having got their relations from those Emperours Kings Princes or Generals who manag'd the Wars have given us Histories well worth the reading To these we may add Guicciardinâ— though for his prolixity he be used very scurrilously by Bocâ—alini who tells us that in Guicciardini taxed by Boccalini Parnassâ—â— a Laconian who had exprest his thoughts in three words which he might have done in two was order'd for his punishment to read Guicciardini The poor fellow beg'd rather to be fley'd alive than be tortur'd with reading an Historian who in the relation of the War between the Florâ—ntines and Pisans made longer discourses of the taking a Pigeon house than he needed to have made of the best fortified Castle Yet thus much most if not all Historians agree on when they speak of Armies they mention Van Battel and Reer which shews that the Roman method of Marshalling their Armies in three Bodies one behind another was observed by most Nations till of later years some Masters of the Military Art for some good reasons thought it convenient to reduce them to two It is pity so few since Vegetius his time have shewn themselves Tacticks that We have but few Tacticks is to teach us the Art of War used in their own time for so we should have known the Military Customs of several Nations and of several ages I have heard tâ—â—t Gonsalvo di Corduba who by his gallant Conduct recover'd the Kingdom of Naples from the French for the House of Arragon wrote in Spanish Traâ—â—ado de re Militari if it be extant it must be well worth the perusal as the work of one who by his great actions had acquir'd to himself the Title of Iâ— Gran Capitanâ— It Gran Capitano the â—reat Captain In the last year of the Reign of Henry the Fourth of France about sixty years ago Louis de Mâ—mgomery Lord of Carbâ—â—sâ—â— wrote a little Book De â—â— Louis de Mâ—â—gomery Milice Francoise of the French Militia it shows him to have been very much a Soldier but the marrow of that piece lyeth in his descriptions of some Artificial Fire-works the knowledg whereof lyes not in every mans way nor is it Preissac necessary for every Soldier though it add to his perfection The Siâ—â—r de Prâ—issaâ— wrote a little Treatise in French of Military Questions and Resolves very well Englished by Mr. Cruso an understanding Captain who I suppose wrote Captain Crusâ— Bockler himself in English a Book of Cavalry well worth the reading Bockler a German Engineer hath not many years ago written in his own language a piece wherein he gives us a pretty good account of the Military Customs of his own Country in his own time which may be from the year 1630 till the year 1664 or thereabout Lieutenant Colonel Elton his Compleat Body of the Military Lieutenant Colonel Elton Art with the Supplement added to it by Captain Rud without which it is not a Compleat Body is a piece well worth the perusal There are certainly others who have writ of this Subject whom I have neither seen nor read Some again there are who instead of informing us what method or ordinances of War Princes and States used in their time the want whereof I so much lament give us Models of their own framing either in whole or in part for Princes and States only to mould new Militia's my part I think any new mould of a Militia or the reformation of an old one is the work of a Prince or State who are able to bring together persons experienc'd in all kind of Military affairs to give their advices out of which the Prince or State may frame such Constitutions as are thought most conducible to carry on a War and then by their authority impose a necessity of obedience to those Constitutions and therefore they should not be the work of any private person Brancatiâ— an Italian peremptorily condemns the use of the Pike and in imitation of him Mr. Lâ—ptoâ— an English man writes a Book wherein he endeavours to prove the uselesness of that ancient weapon but I shall meet with his arguments in another place Machiavelli goes a greater length and presents the world with a Milice of Machiavelli his Books of War his own the birth of his own brain a hodg podg of some of the Ancient and some of the Modern Militia with a mixture of many of his own inventions In his Books of that Subject he fathers most of his notions on Fabritio Colâ—â—â—â— an excellent Captain who no doubt if ever he had seen them had rejected them as spurious Some of his mistakes I have touch'd in my Discourses of the Roman Art of War I shall only in this place trouble my Reader with two or three Animadversions that will shew his skill in Martial affairs In his fourth Book he makes it one of his Maxims that all good Captains should rather receive than give the charge of this I spoke in the Nineteenth First observation of them Chapter of my Essays of the Roman Art of War here I shall tell you the reason he gives for his opinion The first fury saith he is easily sustained by firm and experienc'd Soldiers and then it vanisheth in smoke But I ask first what if they who are charged be neither firm nor experienced for all Armies are not composed of Veterans next I ask what if they be both firm and experienc'd and yet do not sustain the charge in thosew two cases the first charge vanisheth not in smoke Pompey his Soldiers were firm and experienc'd yet did not sustain Câ—sarâ— Charge at Pharsalia but of this I spoke enough in another place In that same Fourth Book this Author shews us how an enemy may be surrounded in time of Battel and I pray you observe the Lesson he gives
were of necessity to be all Gentlemen a custom worn clear out most of German Troops being now composed of Einspanneers without Gentlemen unless it be the Officers and not all of them neither The Commission of array in England is an excellent order by which an Army In England Royal may be brought together either for defence or invasion in a very short time The ancient custom of Levy in Scotland as we are told was to command all between sixteen and sixty years of age to appear in every Shire and you need In Scotland not doubt but out of these an Election was made of such a number as the Kings Lieutenants thought â—it But in latter times a far better and more expedient way was found out and that was to impose the raising such a number of Horse and Foot on every Shire proportionably according to the true valuation of the Estates of the Heritors and Proprietaries Assuredly a way very orderly methodical and just provided it never be made use of in an unjust cause The Kings of Sweden have constantly standing forces within the Kingdom to In Sweden prevent both Invasions and Insurrections they consist of Regiments and Troops which have their denominations from the Provinces where they are raised and where they reside they have their Officers and Colours and are appointed at several times to meet muster and exercise but are not in pay only some small thing is given to the Captain and the Ensign who ordinarily are their Drill-masters and upon that account get wages But these Troops and Regiments are sometimes carried out of Sweden to foreign Wars and that in great numbers and others appointed to be raised in their rooms As in the time of Charles the Ninth they were carried to Liefland against both Pole and Muscovy in the time of Gustavus Adolphus and his Daughter Queen Christina to Livonia Prussia and Germany and more lately by Charles Gustavus to Prussia Livonia Pole Germany and Denmark The Kings of Denmark have their Countrey Militia for defence of the Kingdome In Denmark but are neither so orderly nor so numerous as those of Sweden neither do they take them so frequently to foreign expeditions as of old they did when by their mighty Armies they invaded many places of Germany Scotland and England and made an entire conquest of Normandy But these were like the inundations of the Huns Lombards Goths and Vandals which two last both the Sweedes and Danes pretend to be their Ancestors on the Roman Empire The like of such an Election or Levy hath been in former times used in In Spain Spain and may be yet But when we consider that it hath been often drain'd of men in the days of Philip the Second for the maintenance of his Wars in Italy and the Low Countreys but more especially for his Plantations in America which began in his Father Charles the Fifth's time and continued during the Reigns of Philip the Third and the Fourth we must conclude that all the Spanish Levies made within that Kingdome neither were nor could be voluntary The French Levies of old were all made of the Natives the Cavalry consisting of the Nobility and in the number and strength of a Cavalry France surpassed any other European Nation Charles the Seventh took the assistance of Scottish Foot who joyn'd with his own in his long Wars with England In France But his Son Lewis the Eleventh beside the Scots made use of the Switzers who had at that time acquir'd the reputation of a stout and warlike people not only in maintaining their liberties against the house of Austria but in a bloody War against Charles the Warlike Duke of Burgundy whom they defeated in three great Battels in the last whereof they kill'd himself if he be not yet on his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem These Switzers were so much the more highly esteem'd of by Lewis because they had routed and undone his capital Enemy of them his Infantry was mostly compos'd and he appointed some thousands of them to guard his person as his Father had appointed the Scots to guard his but Lewis kept the Scots likewise and it was well for him that he did so for they defended his life valiantly at the Siege of Liege when the Inhabitants by a desperate Sally had pierced through the Burgundian Army even to his lodging as Philip of Comines relates the story Not only while he liv'd but in the reigns of his Son Charles the Eight and of his successor Lewis the Twelfth did the French Infantry consist of Switzers but Francis the first having had some bloody-trials of the Infidelity of these Mercenary Soldiers put on a resolution to stand thereafter on his own legs and not on those of strangers In order to which in the year 1534 in imitation of the Romans he appointed to be levied and enrolled seven Legions of French Foot French Legions six thousand each which made up a gallant Infantry of two and forty thousand men how these were arm'd shall be told you in its own place This Ordinance fell out to be made in the days of Marshal Monluc who seems in his Commentaries rather to disapprove than approve of it but gives not his reasons I suppose these Legions were kept up in the reigns of this Francis who was the instituter of them and of his Son Henry the Second But if I have observed right they began to wear out in the reigns of his Grand-children Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third who in the time of their Civil Wars made use again of the Switzers as also of Germans and so did likewise the Protestants take the assistance of both Horse and Foot of the German Nation as you may find them ordinarily design'd in the French Histories under the name of Reuters and Landâ—sknechts the first in the German Language signifying Riders or Horsemen the second Country fellows For as I told you the Germans composed their Cavalry of Gentlemen and their Infantry except the Officers of Peasants In the Seventeen Provinces both before they became all subject to the Dukes of Burgundy when they were under several Dukes and Earls and after the Levy In the Low-Countries of their Foot was imposed on the Commons to be made of the sixth fourth or tenth man according to the danger of the Country or for most part the pleasure of the Prince The Cavalry was made up of the Nobility according to their several qualities and abilities and they were obliged to keep such a number of serviceable Horses and Arms in the time of peace on their own charges having for that some exemptions and priviledges of no great consideration and in time of War they were paid with some small wages appointed at the first forming their Militia Which Cavalry saith Bentivoglio used to be of a high repute and estimation but now saith he not being composed of the Noblest as formerly it was but of common and ignoble persons it