were called Tarentines and some had Bows and Arrows and were called Scythae because the Scythians delighted much in the Bow If you will compare the Antient Grecian and the Modern Armies used not half an age ago in the point of Arms you will not find any considerable Grecian and Modern Arms compared difference To the heavy arm'd Grecian Foot answer our Pike-men when they were and still should be armed with Head-piece Back and Breast Greeves and Taslets except in this that ours want Targets and walk not in Brazen Boots To the light armed or Velites of the Greeks do answer our Bowmen or Harquebusiers when we had them and now our Musquetiers To the Grecian Cataphracti on Horse-back correspond our Gens d'Arms or Cuirassiers armed with Lances when they were in fashion and now with Pistols and Carabines To the light armed Horse-men called Sagittarii or Scythâ— you may compare those whom the French call still Archers armed formerly even since Gun-powder was found out with Bows and Arrows and half Lances and now with Pistols or Carabines To the Tarentines answer generally our Light Horse-men armed Offensively now with Hand-guns and Swords and some of them Defensively with Back Breast and Head-piece but most without any of them CHAP. IV. Of their great Engines and Machines of their Training and Exercising THe Ancients had their Artillery as well as we have These were their Rams Balists and Catapults They had also their Vineae Plutei Moscoli and other Engines whereby they made their approaches to the Walls of besieged Towâ—s I think it strange that some attribute the invention of the moving or ambulatory Tower so much admired by Antiquity to Demetrius the Son of Antigonus for to me it is clear enough that his Fathers Master the Great Alexander had one of them at the Siege of Gaza which was rendred ineffectual by the deep Sand through which it could not be brought so The ambulatory Tower near the Walls as was needful for the Wheels on which it was to move sunk down Neither do I think that Alexander himself was the inventor of it Whether the Trojan Horse whose Belly was stuffed with armed men might be such a Machine as this or whether it had only its existency in the Poets brain is no great matter But because the Romans used all these Warlike Engines at the expugnation and propugnation of Towns I shall refer my Reader concerning them to the fourth Chapter of my Discourses of the Roman Militia where I shall also show him the substance of what Aeneas an Ancient Grecian Tactick saith on that subject Here I shall only observe that as the Grecians were very apt to usurp to themselves the invention of many Arts and Sciences which they stole from others So it will be found that many of these Machines were used in the World before the Grecians were so much known as afterwards they came to be We read in the seventeenth Chapter of the second Book of the Chronicles That Ozias King of Judah by the invention of skilful Masters made and planted on the Towers and corners of the Walls of Jerusalem Engines which shot Arrows Darts and great Stones And these were no other than those Machines the Greeks called Catapults and Balists And this was long before the overthrows and defeats of the Persian Monarchs These Machines not invented by the Grecians made Greece famous in the habitable World Some think Moses invented them and I think they may as well fansie he invented the moving Tower of all which hereafter whereof I spoke but just now But the place alledged for this which is the last verse of the twentieth Chapter of Deuteronomy will not justifie that for it is said there as the Italian Translation hath it Thou shalt cut down those Trees which bear no Fruits and make Bulwarks Bastioni of them against those Cities thou art to besiege And though Lipsius and Tâ—rduzzi think that here are only meant Stakes and Pallisadoes for Ramparts and Sconces yet I may without Heresie believe that the Vineâ— and Plutei of which we read in Latin Histories may be meant in the Text and the Ram also wherewith I suppose Joshua may have battered the Walls of those Cities which he had no authority from the Almighty to beat down with the sound of Rams horns as he did the strong Walls of Jericho The Grecians were very exact in Training and drilling both their Horse and Foot and without question they taught their Souldiers very perfectly to handle and manage all the Arms they were appointed to carry whether those were Javelins Darts Stones Slings Swords Pikes Lances Maces or Bows and Arrows And as careful they were to teach them those motions Grecian words of Exercise and evolutions whereby their Bodies whether small or great changed their present posture into another either by Facings Doublings Countermarches or Wheelings And though the European Nations were forc'd to find out words of Command each in their own language to teach the use and handling of the Pistol Carabine Harquebuss Musquet or any other Fire-gun in regard none of those were known to any of the Autients yet the handling of the Pike is the same in all its postures that the Grecians had And all our European words of Command for the motions and evolutions of Bodies are borrowed from the Greek By Example That which they call'd All one with ours Declina in hastam we call To the Right hand That which with them was Declina in Scutum with us is To the Left hand Because they carried their Pike on their right Shoulder and their Target on the left Their Inflectio in hastam aut Scutum was our Right or Left about Jugare with them is to my sense though I know others think not so to Double Ranks Their Intercalatio was our Doubling of Files Reddere in arrectum is As you were It is needless to give you more since most of our Modern words are the same with theirs and are obvious in most languages Yet here I shall take liberty to speak a little of both their and our Counter-marches that hereafter I need not trouble either my self or my Reader with that point of exercise for which I have so small an esteem They called a Counter-march Evolutio per versum and they had three kinds of it which are yet retained in our Modern Exercises and these were the Macedonian the Lacedaemonian and the Persian which was also called the Choraean The Macedonian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Van as it possessed before e're he who was Leader faced Macedonian Countermarch to the Rear It is done thus He who is in the Rear marcheth through or between two Files to the Van and then without an alt so many foot beyond the File-leader as the Body at their due distance possesseth all the rest that were in the File before him following him in order as they stood till
he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
Speeches Couragious looks and gestures and with Promises of noble Rewards Harangues he should enflame the Spirits of his Souldiers with a desire to fight and withal he should assure them that the honour of their Prince and their own safety depends only on their courage and gallant behaviour all hopes of Retreat being taken away But this commendable custome of haranguing Armies by Generals is much worn out in our late Wars and I shrewdly suspect most of those Orations we read are the fine fictions of Historians who are better at that than the describing the manner how Generals marshall'd their Armies If a General be strong in Cavalry he should shun fighting in a strait or close Countrey if his Infantry be numerous he should shun Heaths and Champaigns yet it is but seldome in his power though sometimes it be to chuse either the one or the other He should advise well with the Master of The planting the Ordnance the Ordnance how to plant his Artillery whether on the Flanks in the great Intervals or upon some heighth and ascent whether that be before or behind the Army or if his train be great in all these places this should be done before the beginning of the fight that accordingly Batteries and Beds may be readily made and the Gunners ready to fire when they are commanded Our Army being marshall'd either in one two or three Bodies as our General 's own reason and experience will direct him or the ground permit of which I have spoken in the seventeenth Chapter All these things being done the Word and the Sign should be given and these are quickly carried through the Army by the Major Generals and the Adjutants At suce a time the Word The Word is ordinarily a Sentence for Souldiers are no Grammarians as God with us For God and the King Our trust is in God and Vivat such a Prince and the like The Sign may be a Handkerchief on the Hat or a piece of Linnen The Sign on the right or left arm a twig of a Birch an Elme an Oak or a Sycamore or it may be a Fur or what else the Prince or his General pleaseth The Word and Sign are given both to Officers Common Troopers and Souldiers and sometimes they are alter'd in the time of Battel if there be any ground or Both many times alter'd suspicion that the Enemy hath got them or any of them I remember when the Iâ—perialists had lost the Battel at Oldendorpe in Germany in the year 1633. the Prisoners who were all Roman Catholicks pretended they had been beaten by the just Judgement and Revenge of the Blessed Virgin in regard before the Battel began the Word was Sancta Maria and in the time of the Fight it was changed for the reason I spoke of to Viva Ferdinando Being ready to advance to the Charge the General takes his place having The Battel assign'd before a Station to all his General Officers of the Field Many have reason enough to think that the General himself should stand in the middle of the Infantry of the Battel where he useth to march but that is not constantly practis'd yea and but seldome in our late Wars for many times he A Generals station in time of it who commands in chief takes his station in the right Wing of the Cavalry so did the Great King of Sweden at the first Battel of Leipsick and so he did at Lutsen likewise So did Count Tili at that same Battel at Leipsick and so did Banier at Woodstock I told you formerly in my discourse of marshalling Armies That Charles the Fifth intending to fight Sultan Solyman at Vienna drew up all his Cavalry in the two great Intervals which his three great Batallions of Foot made fifteen thousand Horse were in each of the two Bodies and in that on the right hand stood the Emperour himself and with that on the left his Brother King Ferdinand Nor was nor is this custome of a Generals standing in the right Wing of the Horse or between it and the Infantry a new thing the Roman Consuls using it frequently when two of them joyn'd together Sometimes in our late Wars when the Army was marshall'd in Battel Should be where he pleaseth and Reserve five General persons have commanded in five several places as thus In the Right Wing the Commander in chief in the Body of the Infantry which makes the Battel he who hath the command next to the General in the Left Wing stood the third person in dignity in the Right of the Reserve the fourth and in the Left hand of it the fifth So the Suedish Generals order'd their business at Woodstock where two of their Armies were joyn'd against an Imperial and a Saxish Army Banier the first Felt-Marshal commanded the Right Wing of the Cavalry Leslie the second Felt-Marshal commanded the Battel of the Avant-guard Lieutenant General King the Left Wing of the Horse Lieutenant General Vitsdrun the Right hand of the Reserve and Major General Ruthven the Left But in ancient times a General of an Army chose to stand where he pleas'd and where he thought his presence could be most steadable so Pompey made his station in the Right Wing of his Army at Pharsalia which Caesar observing chose to stand on the Left Wing of his that he might be opposite to his Grand Competitor And I know nothing can tye a General in our times to take a station or no station to himself but as he pleaseth For my own part I think he should tye himself to no particular place but should ride where he sees or hears the greatest danger to be Indeed he ought to appoint particular stations to all his general Field-Officers from which they should not budge upon any pretence whatsoever without express command from the Commander in chief and these places should be given them according to the honour and precedency they enjoy by their several charges As let us suppose he hath under him a Lieutenant General of the whole Army a General and Major General of the Horse and a General and Major General of the Foot he may place his Lieutenant General Stations of the general Field-Officers on the Right Wing of the Avant-guard the General of the Cavalry on the Left and the General of the Foot in the Battel the Major General of the Horse on the Right Wing of the Reserve and the Major General of the Foot on the Left And keep himself free from any one station to ride with his Adjutants and Guards where he thinks his presence is most necessary and shortly to be an Ubiquitary that being restricted to no place he may be every A General an Ubiquitary where If he have more General Field Officers than these just now mention'd he may place three more one on the left hand of the Right Wing the second on the Left hand of the Left Wing and the third on the left
a Grecian Troop of Horse consisting of sixty four to be marshall'd three deep as most of our Modern Troops now are and so there should have been in it twenty one Files for 21 multiplied by three produceth sixty three and he who shall make the sixty fourth shall be the Trumpeter with whom we could not meet before in Aelian's enumeration of the Officers of a Troop What distances were kept between Ranks or Files between several Troops or yet between greater Bodies of the Horse Aelian tells us not Yet writing of the right ordering of Batallions I think he was obliged to speak of Distances for who can marshal an Army unless those be condescended Nor of Distances on I conceive that assuredly the Rhombus was oblig'd to keep a great Distance both between its Ranks and its Files otherwise it could not turn to either Right or Left hand or to the Rear without Wheeling and this if I mistake not was one of the advantages the Thessalians proposed to themselves by that form of Horse Battel But when either it or the Wedge was to charge they were oblig'd to serr together as close as they could otherwise they could not pierce so home as was expected by those who cast them in those moulds It is probable that the Square Bodies of the Grecian Horse were exercis'd did march and fight at those distances used now in our Modern Militia Our Author makes the number of the Cavalry in a Macedonian Army to be half the number of their Velites or light armed Foot I told you those were eight thousand one hundred ninety two therefore the Horse must be four thousand ninety six The smaller Bodies of which he composeth this Cavalry are shortly these Sixty four Horse-men made a Denominations of the several Bodies of the Horâ—e Troop and were called an Elarchy its Commander Elarchas our Ritmaster Two Troops made an Epilarchy of one hundred twenty eight Horse-men its Commander Epilarchas for whom we have no Officer unless a Major and I find no such man among the Macedonians Four Troops made a Talentinarchy of two hundred fifty six Horse its Commander Talentinarchâ— is represented by our Lieutenant Colonel Two Talentinarchies made one Hipparchy of five hundred and twelve Horse he was called Hipparcha our Colonel Two Hipparchies made an Ephipparchy its Commander Ephipparchâ— had under him one thousand twenty four Riders our Brigadieer may resemble him Two Ephipparchies made a Telos which consisted of two thousand forty eight Horse its Commander was called Telarcha whom if you please our Major General of Horse shall represent Two Telarchies made up an Epitagma and this consisted of four thousand one hundred ninety six Horse-men which compos'd the whole Phalange of the Macedonian Cavalry its Commander was called Epitagmarcha for him our Modern Militia furnisheth us with a Lieutenant General or if you will a General of the Horse Now though our Author hath given us the exact number of both the smaller and greater Bodies of the Macedonian Cavalry Inexcusable omission yet he hath not at all told us how many of them were heavy armed and how many light armed for which he is inexcusably to blame CHAP. VIII Of the Great Macedonian Phalanx of its number and how marshall'd with some Observations on both APhalanx signifieth a number of men great or small Train'd and Instructed The signification of Phalanx in Military Duties and order'd in Ranks and Files By this Definition any Foot Company or Horse Troop is a Phalanx as well as an Army and a whole Army is a Phalanx as well as a particular Company or Troop It is true in Authors the word Phalanx is ordinarily taken for the great Body of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed Foot which formerly I have out of Aelian described to you of which I shall tell you thus much more that he saith it had two Horns for so the Translator renders the word Kâ—ras and those were the Right and Left hand Horn which we either simply call the Right or Left hand or the Right and Left Wing But indeed I wonder why Aelian divides the whole Phalange of Foot into two Horns Right and Left and why so many of our Commanders in the Modern Wars imitate him in dividing a whole Body into the Right or Left Wing never considering that naturally and really there is a Body between two Wings and the same error is committed in dividing a whole Batallion of armed men into two Flanks very ordinarily done by some Drill-masters And here no doubt Aelian forgot himself for the Phalange of the heavy armed Foot was divided as I â—old you before into four lesser Phalanges or Phalangarchies two whereof made the two Wings which he calls Horns and the other two compos'd the Body These four Phalangarchies made three Intervals how great we know not out of Phalangarchies which before the fight issued the light armed and if they prevail'd they pursued their Victory being followed by the Phalange but if they were beaten as for most part they were they retired to the Rear the same way they came and then the four Phalangarchies closed together to give or receive the charge according as they were ordered by their Superiours But now I am to speak of the whole Macedonian Army which was called The great Macedonian Phalanx of both Horse and Foot the Great Phalanx consisting of heavy and light armed Foot and Horse not reckoning their Chariots and Elephants Their heavy armed Foot were sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four the Velites were eight thousand one hundred ninety two the Horse four thousand ninety six Add all these together you will find the Macedonian great Phalanx to consist of twenty eight thousand six hundred seventy two Combatants A Story goes that either the Great Alexander or Julius Câ—sar or both should have said That they desired no more than thirty thousand men to conquer the whole World Certainly if either of them or both said so they meant that that number should still be kept compleat and full for though they should have been constantly Victorious and never have lost one man in Battel or Skirmish yet sickness and toyl would have made all that number to have moulder'd away before they could have march'd over the tenth part of the then habitable World But I do not at all believe that either of them said so for true Histories if there be any truth in Histories assure us that both of them had Armies which far exceeded that number At Arbelâ— Alexander had more than double the number of a Macedonian Army and yet Aelians numbers did noâ— always hold at that same time when he fear'd to be surrounded I suppose he wish'd his forces to be more numerous than they were Neither do I believe that his Father Philip who was the framer of the Phalanx did keep himself precisely within that number for at Cherâ—nea where he routed the Confederated Greeks he exceeded
Troops Let us see how Polybius will help us in all or in any of these In his sixth Book he says In old times two hundred Horse were assign'd for every Legion and these were elected after the Foot were levied but in his Election of the Horsemen own time and long before it three hundred Horse were appointed for every Legion and were elected before the Foot and elected they were not by the Consuls or Tribunes as the Foot were but by the Censor This is all Polybius saith of their election Out of History we find that the Roman Horse-men were all of the Equestral Dignity that is Gentlemen yet in ancient times they serv'd on Horses bought at the publick charges and when any of them committed gross faults their Horses were taken from them which was justly accounted an ignominy Thereafter when they came to serve on their own Horses yet on the publick wages there was a lustration or muster of them when the Censors pleas'd but ordinarily it was once in five years of all those of that Rank who were able both for their Persons and their Purses to serve on Horse-back and then they rode in State on the best Horses and in the best equipage they were able to procure and past by the place where the Censors sate as Judges All those who could be accus'd of no Misdemeanour rode on without interruption but such as the Censors could charge with enormous crimes were stopp'd and commanded to sell their Horses which was no small disgrace to them And this Muster or Show was called Transvectio Transvectio Of the Duties of their Horse-men their Guards and Watches and of their Pay Polybius speaks not much I shall say something of each of them in their proper places He speaks a little of the Distance between Troops of which I shall treat in my Discourse of Intervals The same Polybius avers That the three hundred Horse levied or elected First difference between Polybius and Vegetius for each Legion were divided into ten Troops every one whereof consisted of thirty Riders which made up compleatly three hundred Horse Here Polybius and Vegetius differ the last allowing thirty two Horse-men to a Troop and the first but thirty for certainly in Companies of so small a number two made a considerable difference Out of these thirty Riders says Polybius three Prafecti were chosen by whom he tells not but lets us suppose by the Consul or some of the Tribunes He on the Right Hand had the command of the Troop In his absence he on the Left Hand had it and he not being present the third did officiate These three chose three others to be Agminis or Turmae Coactores for so Casaubon renders it in Latin The first Elected Praefectus was called Turmae Ductor the Leader of the Troop the other two were called Decuriones and I suppose one of them carried the Vexillum or Banner though Polybius tells us nothing of it And yet it should not have been omitted since every Troop had a Standard Now by this reckoning of Polybius so weak a Troop was but a Caporalship and he who commanded it but a Caporal The two other Decurions but Leaders of Files and the three Agminis Coactores but Bringers up For we do not find that any one of them was supernumerary but the contrary that all of them were members of the Troop and elected out of the number of the thirty so that without those six Polybius his Turmae were but twenty four strong Nor shall you find that any greater Pay was allowed to any of these six than to the other four and twenty And this difference is also to be observed between Polybius and Vegetius that the first speaks of three Decurions and as many Sub-Decurions the last only of one Decurion Nor Second difference indeed do I find at all any warrant in History for Vegetius his thirty two Riders since all agree that for most part three hundred Horse were levied with each Legion and these three hundred divided into ten Turmas which made thirty for each Troop But we shall examine how he disposeth of these two supernumery Riders when we come to speak of his Legion How deep or how many in File these Troops were none of our Tacticks Deepness of the Roman Horse not told us directly write no more than they do of the depth or the heighth of the Foot An inexcusable oversight For without the knowledge of that we can neither know nor guess what ground a Maniple Cohort Troop or Legion could or might take up Vegetius gives us some ground to conjecture that in his opinion the Foot were eleven in File For in the last Chapter of his second Book as I observed before he saith for every Carrobalist Mules were appointed to draw it and to manage and have a care of it a Contubernium of Soldiers that is saith he eleven men This will not positively make eleven in File yet it gives a strong presumption that Vegetius thought so which if he did and that it was so indeed all Masters of the Military Art have taken up their measures wrong in appointing Foot Files to be of even and equal numbers as sixteen twelve ten eight and six As to the Roman Horse some may have mistaken Polybius who think he insinuates they were marshall'd eight in File For who will consider right what he writes will find that in that place he spoke not at all of the Roman Cavalry The passage is in the twelfth Book of his History where he puts himself to much trouble to demonstrate the vanity and absurdity of Polybius against Calisthenes Calisthenes his Relation of that great Battel fought in Cilicia between Darius and Alexander where that Historian saith that the Persian King marched with thirty thousand Horse in Battel and called up his mercenaries to him who were as many All this in a ground not above fourteen Stadia or Furlongs in Latitude which makes but one Italian mile and three quarters As also that Alexander marched in Battel with his whole Foot forty Stadia five Italian miles in an uneven woody and broken ground The impossibility of both which Polybius as an experienced Captain undertakes to demonstrate And this he could not do unless he had first considered how deep the Horse were marshall'd otherwise he could not know of what Longitude the front of thirty thousand Horsemen would be whether they would require more ground than the fourteen Furlongs allowed by Calisthenes as no doubt they did And therefore he agrees on eight deep his words are these In just Battels saith he the Horse Battalion is so ordered for most part that its deepness consisted of eight Riders Now first he saith for most part Vt plurimum not always for indeed I doubt not but he knew well enough it was not always so Secondly he speaks there of Persian and Gracian Armies and what he says of the deepness of their Horse Squadrons
likewise but with this difference that in every Troop of the Allies there were forty Riders but in the Roman Troops there were only thirty Thus was the gross or bulk of the Roman armies Marshalled As to the Evocati of the Romans and the Extraordinarii of the Allies Polybius hath told us no more than Station of the Extraordinaries uncertain what I have told you in my Discourse of the Allies that they were Encamped besides the Consul and were to be near him in the field and to wait on the Treasurer also But we are left by him and others to conjecture how in what particular place or places they were ordain'd to fight And truly I shall be easily induced to believe that sometimes the Consul placed three hundred of the Allies Extraordinary Horse on the right hand of the Roman Horse in the right wing and so made that wing stronger by one hundred than the other for otherwise the left wing had been two hundred stronger than the right The fourth hundred of the Extraordinary Horse Terduzzi will have to stay with the Consul and probably they did so The Allies Extraordinary Foot were divided into two great Squadrons one whereof stood between the first Legion of the Allies and the first Legion of the Romans on the right-hand of the Battel the second Squadron stood on the left-hand of the second Roman Legion between it and the second Legion of the Allies Thus Lipsius and Terduzzi will have it to be and I think it may be probable enough that it was so yet I doubt none of these two can tell me who told them that it was so In another place Lipsius thinks that both the Evocati and Extraordinarii at the Consuls command join'd with the Triarii to reinforce the Battel and truly this is not improbable but the question is where they stood before they were commanded to join with the Triarii for as Lipsius Marshals them in the Intervals of the Triarii they would hinder the Principes and Hastati to join with the Triarii What Terduzzi saith on this subject I suppose he hath out of Lipsius for though they were coetaneous yet I find Lipsius often cited by Terduzzi But I shall wrong none of them if I say that neither of them in this particular had more warrant than their own Leves conjecturâ— fallacia vestigia as Lipsius calls them If you will believe Vegetius in the eighteenth Chapter of his Third Book the Consul should have made use of the Extraordinarii both Horse and Foot to environ and surround the Enemies left wing if you ask me why the Consul might not as well have surrounded the enemies right wing as his left I must answer you that Vegetius hath kept up the reason from us as a secret In that same Chapter Vegetius says that the Commander in chief should stand between the right wing of the Horse and the Foot as a fit place from whence he might take up his measures and encourage and relieve both his Horse and Foot Lipsius and Terduzzi fix him to the Aquila or the Eagle on the right Station of a Roman Consul in Battel hand of the Roman Legion But Polybius saith in that Battel I just now spoke of Scipio gave the right wing to Masanissa and the left to Lâ—lius to command It would seem then that himself staid with the Foot and so indeed he did for he caused a retreat to be sounded to the Hastati that he might advance with the Principes But since I may guess as well as others I suppose he stood between the two Roman Legions and consequently besides the Eagle of the second Legion and assuredly that part being directly the Center of the army it was in my opinion the only proper place for a Captain-General but when two Consuls were joined together it was not so for ordinarily the one commanded the right wing of the Horse and the other the left So it was at Cannae where the Romans were beaten by Hannibal so it was at Vesuvius where Manlius got the Victory over the Latins after the death of his Colleague Decius so it was at Metaurus where Nero and Livy defeated and kill'd Asdrubal But indeed where there was but one Consul or General he seldom tyed himself to one place but rode where he saw his Presence was most needful So did that Manlius I just now mentioned so did Caesar and so did many others of the ancient Roman Captains And it had been no prejudice either to Lipsius or Terduzzi to have suffer'd a Consul in a Consular army to have stood where he pleased either besides the first Eagle or the second or besides none of them Vegetius in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of his Second Book speaks of some more Offices in a Consular army than Polybius doth and these were three Praefectus Legionis Praefâ—ctus Castrorum and Praefectus Fabrorum It is strange we do not read of these three great Commanders among the ancient Romans and yet in my opinion they had the two last as by the description of their Officers the Reader will quickly conceive As to the first Polybius makes no mention of Other General Officers in a Consular Army him and if there had been any such Officer in his time he neither could or would have past him when he gave us the particular description of a Legion and all its Officers and more especially when he tells us that the Tribunes received the word or Tessera from the Consul and gave it to the Centurions and that the said Tribunes took on them to judg and give definitive sentence in their Legions which they could not have done if there had been a Praefectus above them So it seems he hath been a new Officer created after the Emperours came in play This Fraefectus Legionis this Brigadier or this Legionary Colonel for I Praefectus Legionâ— know not how to English it according to Vegetius his description in the ninth Chapter of his Second Book was an Officer of great experience was obey'd by all the Tribunes Centurions and Soldiers the care of Men Horses Clothes Colonel of the Legion and Arms belong'd to him By his order they were drill'd and train'd and by his authority the Soldiers were punisht for their misdemeanors by the Tribunes But mark it he had only this power in the absence of the Legate and as his Deputy Legato absente tanquam ejus Vicario saith Vegetiuâ— Now if every Legion had a Legate I should believe the Legate was Colonel the Praefectus Lieutenant Colonel the Tribunes were Captains and the Centurions Corporals as I observed before in my Discourse of the Infantry Polybius indeed speaks of Legates but of no Praefecti except among the Allies The Praefectus Castrorum saith Vegetius had the care of the Position of the Praefectus Castrorum Camp the ordering the depth and breadth of both Ditch and Rampart the care of the Sick and of the
have observ'd in most Tacticks Lieutenant Colonel Elton is very clear in his definition of a distance which though I told you of it before I shall again give you Distance says he is a place or interval of ground between every rank and rank and every file and file as they stand By this description then three foot of distance being allowed between every file and file there are in seventeen files sixteen distances or intervals which make but forty and eight foot then you are to allow seventeen foot to the Combatants that is one foot for every man to stand on seventeen being added to forty eight make sixty five and so many foot of ground doth a Company possess in front if it consist of seventeen files for the ground of the ranks you are to compute it thus Six ranks take six foot to stand on and thirty foot for five intervals six foot being allow'd for open order in all six and thirty foot which a Distance of Ranks Company Regiment Brigade or Army of Foot constantly possesseth from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up unless you bring the ranks to stand at order which you may frequently do with very good reason and then the five Intervals take up but fifteen foot which being added to the six foot on which the ranks stand make but twenty one foot And when Pikes are to give or receive a Charge you may bring them to close order that is one foot and a half and then the five Intervals take up but 7½ foot these being added to six make 13½ foot Observe that in Exercising this Company of seventeen Files you are to set aside one of the Files because it is odd and so The Colours will hinder the doubling the Files The Colours of the Company are to be on the head of the Pikes neither can they conveniently be between the second and third rank in time of Battel as some would have them to be for you may easily consider what room an Ensign can have with his Colours between ranks when they are at order much less at close order as they should be in the time of Battel It will be fitting before I go further to meet with an objection concerning Objection against my Distances of Files Distances it is this The three foot of distance allowed between Files say they must be reckoned from the Centers that is from the two middle parts of the two File-leaders as from the middle part of the right hand File-leader to the middle part of the File-leader who stands on his left hand I wonder at this notion for hereby two File-leaders take up one foot of ground and so doth the rest of the File and there are but two foot of Interval between the two files and this cannot at all quadrate with the definition of distance for that is an Interval between Files and not betwixt the two middle parts of two mens Bodies And the Authors of Tacticks should have been clearer in their expressions and have said two foot between Files which they knew was too Answered little and have added that every File should have one foot of ground to stand on for what language is this a man shall have half a foot for his right middle part and another half foot for his left middle part for this way of their reckoning of the three foot of distance amounts to just so much and no better language which I conceive is very improper besides by this account the right and left hand Files would have each of them one half foot of ground more than any of the rest of the Files the right hand Filemen hath it by the right middle parts of their bodies and the left hand Filemen by the left middle parts of their Bodies because these two Files on these two hands have no Sidemen which you may easily conceive if you please a little to consider it Let us in the next place see what Officers are appointed to have the command Of Officers of a Company and inspection of this Company and here we may find some difference in the several establishments of Princes and States yet in this we find all agree to have a Captain a Lieutenant an Ensign Serjeants Corporals and Drummers except the Spaniard who rejects the Lieutenant as useless some allow no more Officers than those I have spoken of some allow more to wit a Captain of Armies a Furer a Fourier and a Clerk or Scrivener And besides some allow Lancepesats or Lancpresads as they are commonly called as also Reformado's and Gentlemen of a Company But neither Lancepesats Gentlemen of the Company nor Reformado's are Officers and though Corporals be yet they carry Arms and march in rank and file I shall describe all these and all the Officers of a Foot Company beginning with the Reformado and ending with the Captain Those are called Reformado's or Reformed who have been Officers suppose Reformed Officers Commissionated and those only and are out of charge and bear Arms till they can be prefer'd In some places they are permitted to be without Arms. A Gentleman of the Company is he who is something more than an ordinary Gentleman of a Company Souldier hath a little more pay and doth not stand Centinel In French he is called Appointe and with the Germans he is called Gefreuter They march and watch with Arms they go common Rounds and Patrouills and near an Enemy they are to be the forlorn Centinels whom the French call Perdus Lancespesate is a word deriv'd from the Italian Lance spesata which signifies a broken or spent Lance. He is a Gentleman of no ancient standing in the Militia for he draws his Pedigree from the time of the Wars between Francis the First and his Son Henry the Second Kings of France on the one part and the Emperour Charles the Fifth and his Brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy on the other part in those Wars when a Gentleman of a Troop of Horse in any Skirmish Battel or Rencounter had broke his Lance on his enemy and lost his Horse in the Scuffle he was entertain'd under the name of a Broken-Lance by a Captain of a Foot Company as his Comerade till he was again mounted But as all good orders fall soon from their Primitive Institution so in a short time our Monsieur Lancespesata for so he was called was forc'd to descend from being Lancespesata the Captains Comerade and became the Corporals Companion and assisted him in the Exercise of his Charge and therefore was sometimes called by the French Aide Caporal But when the Caporal grew weary of the Comradeship of his Lancespesata he made him officiate under him and for that had some allowance of pay more than the common Soldier which he enjoys in those places where he is made use of and still keeps the noble Title of Lancespesata though perhaps he was never on Horseback in his life corruptly
A Regiment marshal'd in one Division orders the Colonels Company to draw up on the right hand next to that the Majors thirdly the second Captains fourthly the fourth Captains fifthly the sixth Captains sixthly the seventh Captains seventhly the fifth Captains eighthly the third Captains ninthly the oldest Captain and lastly the Lieutenant-Colonels Company I know some would have the Majors Company to be where I have plac'd the youngest Captains because they think next to the Van and the Reer the middle is the most honourable place But if they take heed they will find it is not so with a middle Company as with a middle man in a file who upon doubling the front by half files becomes a Leader Besides no Company can properly be said to be in the middle of a Regiment unless the Regiment consist of odd Companies which seldom or never is practised for draw up a Regiment of ten Companies in one front the sixth Company which is accounted the middle one or the Company in the middle of the Regiment is not so for it hath five Companies on its right hand and but four on its left Now my reason for Reasons for the manner of it drawing up the Companies in that order whereof I have spoken is this The right hand or the Van is the most honourable place and next to it the left hand or reer Now the honour comes from danger which is for most part expected from the Van or the Reer and hence it will follow that the nearer a Captain and his Company are the danger the more honourable place they have and therefore the nearer they are to the Van and the Reer the more honourable place they have If then the Regiment be attackâ— in the Van where most danger is expected the Majors Company is by much nearer the danger when it is marshal'd next to the Colonels than if it were drawn up about the middle of the Regiment and consequently is in the more honourable place by this same reason the oldest Captain is to be nearest the Lieutenant-Colonel who hath the second place of honour for if the Reer be attackt the Lieutenant Colonel is nearest the danger and next him the first Captain by this same rule of proportion the second Captain is next to the Major it being fit since the first Captain hath the second place of dignity in the Reer that the second Captain have the third place in the Van. And if this rule hold as I hope it will the third Captains Company must be drawn up on the oldest Captains right hand that so he may have the third place from the Reer as the second Captain had the third place from the Van. And to make short I place the fourth Captain in the fourth place from the Van and the fifth Captain in the fourth place from the Reer the sixth Captain in the fifth place from the Van and the seventh and last Captain in the fifth place from the Reer Now because an Enemy is sooner expected in the Van than in the Reer the Van is more honourable than the Reer and therefore I marshal the last Captain in or near the middle of the Regiment where being furthest from danger either in Van or Reer he obtains the place of least dignity for though all places are honourable yet some are more honourable than others I marshal then a Regiment of ten Companies drawn up in one Division thus Order of a Regiment in one Batallion Colonel Major Second Captain Fourth Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fifth Captain Third Captain First Captain Lieutenant-Colonel The Companies standing in this order the Major will have but little trouble How to put them in one Body to Body them one of two ways First he may command all the Pikes to advance twenty or twenty four paces and there join them then let him cause the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the right to advance to the right hand of the Pikes and the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the left hand to march up to the left hand of the Pikes and so his work is done Secondly if he have no other ground than that he stands on he is to command the Pikemen to march thorough the files of the Musqueteers by the right and left hand till they meet in one Body in the middle the Musqueteers being likewise order'd to march by both hands to their due distances so that this motion is a Chorean Countermarch of files This may be done with much ease and a few words if the Major please but some have the vanity to make themselves and their Soldiers more business than they need by crying this and that riding here and there making work to themselves and sometimes sport to the Beholders If the Major be order'd to marshal the Regiment in two Divisions he may do To marshal a Regiment of ten Companies in two Batallions it thus The Colonels Company being to have the right hand of the first division and the Lieutenant-Colonels of the second Division he ought to place the other Companies according to their Dignities and these are the Majors Company in the Reer of the first Division and the first Captains in the Reer of the second Division the second Captain next to the Colonel in the first Division the third Captain next to the Lieutenant-Colonel in the second Division the fourth Captain on the right hand of the Major in the first Division and the fifth Captain on the right hand of the oldest Captain in the second Division the sixth Captain next to the second Captain in the first Division and the seventh and last Captain next to the third Captain in the second Division The ten Companies of a Regiment then drawn up in two distinct Batallions are in this order Order of ten Companies in two Divisions First Division Second Division Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Second Captain Third Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fourth Captain Fifth Captain Major First Captain My reason for this is because the Regiment being now divided into two Bodies or Batallions the two Reers are next in dignity to the two Vans and those that are nearest to the two Reers are next in honour to those who are nearest to the two Vans for this reason I place the sixth Captain just in the middle of the Reasons for that order first Division as furthest from danger of either Van or Reer of that Division having two Companies before him and two behind him or two on each hand of him And I place the last Captains Company in the middle of the second Division as the place of least dignity and that belongs to him all other Captains having the Precedency of him The Pikes of the first and second Divisions are in the middle of their several Batallions and the Musqueteers of the five Companies of each Body equally divided on both hands of the several Bodies of the Pikes which is done in that same way as when the Regiment
Protestant War in France 100 years ago Charles the Ninth and his Brother Henry the Third they managed them at as small an expence as possibly they could yet they obliged every man at Arms to keep three Horses two strong Coursers and one Gelding every Archer and Light-Horse-man two a good Horse and a good Nag And I suppose you will really think it strange how they could keep so many when I tell you what allowance of pay they had Every man of Arms had 45 French Livres in the Month about Three pound fifteen shillings Sterling every Archor and Light-Horse-man had Thirty Livres about Two pound ten shillings A Captain of all three had five Riders pay allow'd him the Lieutenant four the Cornet three and the Quartermaster two very inconsiderable wages but assuredly they had either other shifts or things were at easier rates in France then than they have been since In the times of the Emperours Ferdinand the First Maximilian the Second Rodolph the Second and Matthias I find that the German Establishment was Old German Companies of Horse particularly Curiassiers that no Ritmaster or Captain of Horse should have any Rider in his Troop but Gentlemen and that every Troop of Curiassiers should consist of Three-hundred Riders many whereof were bound to maintan three serviceable Horses and all the rest two at least and every one of these Gentlemen who kept either two or three Horses were to keep a lusty fellow well Hors'd in quality of a servant armed with a long Gun wherewith they rode when commanded before the Troop and fired on the Enemy and immediately retired behind the Troop as I told you the Carabineers did these being equal in number to their Masters made up Three hundred and resembled the French Archers These Dutch Servants had the Emperours pay or that of some German Prince but their Masters received it with their own nor had the Masters power to put away these Servants or the Servants to go from the Masters so long as the War lasted but if any difference arose between them it was voided by the Ritmaster or Marshal of the Army These German Companies of Horse had for Officers a Captain a Lieutenant a Cornet a Quartermaster Their Officers and six Corporals whom they called Ritmasters which is to say File-leaders each whereof had fifty Troops under his command two Trumpeters There was likewise allowed to every Troop a Priest a Clerk a Chirurgion a Dagmaker a Saddler and a Smith All these Curiassiers were armed for offence with two Pistols a Sword and a Lance so long as this last was in fashion so if you will reckon all that belonged to this German Troop both Masters and those who attended them who were all obliged to fight you will find it consisted of six hundred fighting men and of nine hundred Horses at least But since that time I have seen four Regiments in that same Country who were not all of them together so strong In later times Commissions have been given for levying Regiments free Squads and Troops but all Regiments did not nor do not consist of alike Troops and Regiment of those times number of Companies nor all Companies of alike number of Riders nay not under one Prince you shall see a Lieutenant Colonel have four Troops in his Squadron which he calls free because he acknowledgeth no Colonel or other Commander under the Major General and each of these Troops to have fifty or sixty Riders being oblig'd to have no more by their Ritmasters Capitulation You may see in that same Army a Regiment of six Companies each of Seventy men another of eight Troops each of fifty horse so little is an uniformity in equal numbers of Troops or of Horsemen in every Troop regarded or look'd after I saw one Regiment in the Sweedish service I may say one for I saw not such another in any of their Armies in which were according to Capitulation twelve Troops each of them consisting of one hundred Riders effectively but four of the Regiments of that Army were not so strong as that Regiment was alone Troops Squads and Regiments of Horse in our Modern Wars are not cast into Wedges or Rhombs as some of the Ancient ones were at which manner of figures Aelian makes his Grecian Companies to be very dexterous The Square front being now only in use The number of Ranks of either Regiments or Troops whether they be strong or weak are alike in all because the depth of the Battel is determined by the Prince or State to be alike in all and in the matter of this depth there hath been great variance among those who assume to themselves the title of Tacticks who teach the rules of War Many would have the file of Horsemen to be five deep others will not hear of How deep Horse should be marshaled Difference of opinions that because thereby ranks cannot double an objection which I have answer'd already in my discourse of Exercise Others will have six because that admits doubling of ranks but that is rejected because if six deep be enough for the Foot it will be too much for the Horse There be others who would have every Troop of Horse to consist of sixty and four Riders and these being Marshall'd eight deep and eight in front according to the square root make a perfect square of men and Horse and this speculation seems very pretty but I Square Root reserve my answer to it till I speak of the square root it self for the present let it suffice that if six deep be too many for a Cavalry eight deep will be very far out of purpose The late Earl of Strafford as he appointed in his Military Instructions the foot to be eight deep so he order'd his Troops of Horse to be four in File But Universally now for any thing I know unless it be in the Low-Countries the Horse are Marshall'd three deep without Three deep regard to doubling of ranks whereof I have already spoken and assuredly this of all others brings most hands to fight When you have known how deep the Troop is to be drawn up you should cause to be set down in paper in what order you will Marshal your Horsemen whom you ordain to be Leaders and whom Bringers up and whom for the right and left hand files that all your Riders may be placed according to their dignity then it will be an easie matter to draw up your Troop and for the Major to draw up the Regiment for being that all the Horsemen are arm'd alike there is no separation to be made of one part of the Troop from another as there is of separating the Pikemâ—n from the Musqueteers in Foot-Companies the Major giving every Ritmaster his place of dignity according to his antiquity or Commission and those intervals being kept that are appointed the several Troops be they few or many are very soon cast into the mould of a Regiment In my discourse
of the Governour he should have good Intelligence He should also have a serious consideration of his own Provisions Considerations before a Siege be formed Money Meat and Munitions and many more particulars of which and concerning which no definite or certain rules can be given And before he form or lay down his Siege he ought to weigh and consider well all the advantages and disadvantages that may accrue to him As whether the gaining the Town or Castle he Besiegeth will counterpoize the loss of men and that vast expence of money meat and munitions that must be hazzarded and bestowed in reducing it how long time his own Provisions will be able to hold out whether he be able with probability of success to withstand or fight any Enemy that dare adventure the relief of the Besieged place And that which concerns most both his Masters service and his own honour is to cast up his account so well that if any unexpected accident or adventure fall out such as are the change of Weather inundations of Waters a mighty and unlooked for Succourse a Pestilence or other heavy disease in his Army he may notwithstanding these and in spight of an Enemy raise his Siege and march away to places of safety and consequently make an honourable Retreat with little or no loss of Men for it is not to be thought that an Army marcheth away from a Besieged place with dishonour because ratio Bâ—lli depending on emergencies and accidents changeth as oft as ratio Status and as in this nothing is thought dishonourable that can save the State so in that nothing can be dishonourable that can save the Army I have not the vanity to prescribe or give rules for what should be done at How to begin the Siege Sieges but I prâ—sume I may be permitted to tell Novices for to them only I write what is done and ordinarlly practised at Sieges After a resolution is taken to Besiege a place diligence and expedition should be used that all Passes High-wayes and Avenues be possest by the Cavalry that no entrance to the Fort be permitted and that all Citizens or Souldiers belonging to it be seized on and made Prisoners that intelligence may be got of all affairs within Many Generals at Sieges entrench their Armies and many do not Those At some Sieges Armies are not entrench'd who do not have no apprehension of an Enemy and therefore upon intelligence of the approach of one they must be ready to march either to meet and fight that Enemy or leave both him and the Besâ—eged place for good and all both which I have known practised Those who Entrench their Armies Armies Entrenched at Sieges take the far surer way though the doing it costs a great deal of time and labour The Entrenchment must be made both against those within the Town and against any without who will hazzard to relieve it The Fortifications of the Camp are properly called the Trenches though the word be frequently taken for approaches and in that word are comprehended the lines of Communication which Lines are divided into several parts Field-sconces whole and half Bulwarks Star-works and Redouts None of these should have a Curtain between them above six or seven hundred foot long for the distance of them one from another should be less than a Musket shot They should be built of black Earth if it can be had but if the ground be sandy it must be knit together with Wit hs fascines Straw or growing Corn and without with a Ditch and Pallisado Of the same matter should the Redouts and Batteries in the approaches be built The Star-sconces having their sides 40 or 50 foot long and their points far distant are ordinarily made in hast when time will not permit better to be made If an Army be numerous enough or that there be store of Pioneers with it a General may fortify his Camp and begin his approaches both together and this will save him much time which in such occasions is very precious But if he cannot do both at once he should Entrench himself and then begin those works which are called Approaches running Trenches and by the Dutch Laâ—fgrabon In making these to break Ground without the range of a piece of To approach to a Forâ— Ordnance will be too far and within Musket shot perhaps too near yet many think 8 or 900. foot from the besieged Fort is passable At this place where the approach begins a Sconce should be made and in it a Court of Guard neither were it amiss here to make a Battery and in it to plant some Culverines and twelve pounders to beat down the nearest Parapets of the Fort from whence those who are to work in the approaches may be infested But before I approach any nearer the Fort I must tell you that I admire how Captain Rud the late Kings Engineer hath left it upon Record That the Romans were the first that used the Spade at Sieges and that Julius Captain Rudd's opinion disputed Caesar was the first that besieged Towns by circumvallation Against the first assertion though we should not speak of prophane Authors yet we find it written in the 15. verse of the 20. Chapter of the second book of Samuel That Jacob cast up a Bank saith our Translation against Abel where the Rebel Sheba was Deodati in his Italian translation calls it Bastione a Bulwark Now these could not be done without the help of a Spade or something like it and this action of Joab was done some ages before Romulus Against the second assertion I object the ten years Siege of Vâ—n which was by circumvallation and that was some Centuries of years before Caesar besieged Alexia And we read in holy Writ that Trenches were cast and Towers built against besieged Towns and that was nothing else but circumvallations and those who made them did so little know Caesar that they did not foresee that ever such a man would be in the world as Caesar But to return to our first Sconce or Battery from it a line or if you please A running Trench a running Trench which upon the matter is nothing else but a Ditch must be digged and run either to the right or left hand 3 4 or 500. foot long a little crooked and oblique for doing which Souldiers are appointed with Pickaxes Spades and Shovels one behind another at the distance of 4 or 5. foot the formost digging 3 or 4. foot deep casting the Earth up either to the right or left hand between him and the Fort and so by him who is first and them that come after him the running Trench is made 6 or 8. foot deep and at first 6. Foot broad and thereafter 10 or 12. broad sometimes more if it be necessary to make use of Waggons in the approaches which falls out sometimes At the end of this first Line a Redout is to be made this is a A Redout
cannot be appropriated to the Roman Cavalry But he concludes at eight deep eight hundred Horse would take up in Persian Horse eight deep front one hundred and twenty five Paces which is one Furlong and consequently eight thousand Horse needed to have for their Front twelve hundred and fifty paces that is ten Furlongs And therefore Darius his thirty thousand Horse being eight deep would in Front have possess'd of ground four thousand six hundred eighty six paces more than thirty seven Stadia or Furlongs and these will make more than four Italian miles and a half and as much ground Calisthenes must have allowed to his Mercenaries Observe here that Polybius allows for one hundred Horse in Front one hundred twenty five paces which is more than six foot for a Horse-man to stand on and for distance between him and his side-man But if Polybius his meaning be that the Roman Horse were marshall'd eight We know not how deep the Roman Horse were deep then Vegetius his thirty two Riders will do better than Polybius his thirty in a Troop because thirty two will make four Files compleatly whereas thirty makes but three Files of eight and a broken one of six In such a mist do these two great Masters of the Roman Art of War leave us out of which neither accurate Lipsius or any other of my reading hath offer'd to guide us I conceive according to thirty in a Troop ten deep might havâ— done well and who can tell but Polybius meant so when he appoints three Decurions to be File-leaders and three Agminis or Turma Coactores to be Bringers up But that was indeed too many it making the Longitude or Front so small as render'd it very easie to be environ'd or surrounded In these very ancient times many Nations fought on Horses neither Unbridled Unsaddled Horses Bridled nor Saddled and some had Saddles but no Bridles hence we read that the Africans especially the Numidians divided their Cavalry in Fraenatos Infranatos equos into Bridled and Unbridled Horses And it is a wonder to read in Livy with what dexterity and agility these unbridled Horses were rul'd and manag'd by the Hand the Foot or Rod of a Rider Some again had Bridles for their Horses but no Saddles so had the Germans who laugh'd at the Romans as soft and effeminate for riding on Saddles and yet these very Saddles which the Romans used were nothing but a covering made of some piece of Cloath or Stuff rich or mean according to the quality of the Rider or at best of some bundle ty'd together for the ease of the Horse-man without either Iron or Timber in it as our Saddles have neither had any of them Saddles not ancient any Stirrups to ease the Riders Legs for these came first in fashion in Nero's time if Lipsius his observation holds Any thing of that nature that was used before was but a Ladder of Cords Wood or Iron to help the Horse-man to mount his Horse if he were aged indisposed sick or lame and so soon as he was on Horse-back the Ladder was remov'd perhaps not unlike to those Iron Ladders of two or three steps high used over all the Netherlands for Passengers to get up to their Waggons History tells us that Masinissa King of Numidia when he was fourscore years old or near that age could mount his Horse without the help of any Stirrup or Ladder And certainly not only the Romans but all other Nations were taught to get on Horse-back without any of them as now youths are taught in Academies and did ride inur'd to it by custome with as much ease without Stirrups as we do now with them The Romans sometimes caus'd their Cavalry to unbridle their Horses to To charge with Unbridled Horses make a furious charge which often succeeded well Livy in his eighth Book says it was practis'd against the Volscians with success And in his fortieth Book he gives us the relation of a Battel the Celtiberians fought in Spain against the Roman Praetor Fulvius wherein the Romans were very near worsted the Enemy having cast himself in a Wedge at which manner of fight he was thought almost invincible bore down all before him till the Praetor told his Horse-men that charging desperately on unbridled Horses might recover the Victory for said he formerly such a practice hath produced good effects The Cavalry obey'd his order and by a furious charge with Lances routed the Celtiberians Such a command in our time would be accounted both unpracticable and ridiculous yet we may believe that Horses were so taught and manag'd then that they would obey their Masters without Bridles and this we may suppose not to be impossible the Rider making use of his hands but truly I think it something strange to read that Julius Caesar could ride great Julius Caesar an expert Horse-man Horses without a Bridle at the full gallop with his hands clasped together behind his back Sometimes the Roman Generals when they saw an Enemy prevailing have brought their Cavalry or a part of it to the place of danger and caus'd them to alight from their Horses and fight afoot with their Swords This both reinforced the Battel and mightily encourag'd the Foot by seeing that those who might have sav'd themselves by flight resolv'd to live and dye with them Authors do not inform us how they dispos'd of their Horses when they came to the Foot Combate but I shall imagine they did not let them go whither they pleas'd but either appointed their servants if they had any or some of their own number to look after them and I suppose also they alighted before they came to the place where they were to fight for shunning confusion and putting their own Foot in disorder Caesar before he began his Battel with the Switzers made all his Horse-men dismount and appointed them their Horse-men fight on Fooâ— stations where they were to fight afoot and to shew them a good example he alighted first himself and sent away all the Horses a good way from his Army thereby to encourage his Legionary Foot and make his Horse-men know that their safety depended only on their own valour But I believe he gave order that the Horses should be brought back so soon as the Enemy was perceiv'd to fly for we find he and his Cavalry were soon remounted and follow'd the chace very far And I know no reason why it may not be believ'd also that he kept some on Horse-back by him to carry all the Directions he gave to the several Bodies of his Army in time of the Battel which himself fighting on foot could not perform Gracchus betrayed by his Host being environ'd by an ambush of Hannibalians alighted and fought well for his life though he lost it But I think he should rather have hazarded to break through on Horse-back to get to his own party which was not far off since death would still have been
shrill and continued without interruption it was interpreted to be a certain sign of Victory but if it was dead cold and unequal often begun and often interrupted it bewray'd fear and discouragement and portended ruine and destruction It was used by all Nations as well as the Romans and the word Baritus whereby Historians express it was borrowed from the Ancient Germans whose cry they say sounded like the pronunciation of that word They cryed no more after they came to the medley else it would have hinder'd them from hearing the Commands of their Officers either by word of mouth or the Trumpet Though the loud noise of Cannon and Musket in our Modern Wars may seem reason enough to suppress this ancient custome of shouting yet it neither ought to be nor yet is it banish'd out of our Armies The Germans French Danes and Swedes in their advance and before they give Fire have their ca ca oâ— And no doubt with an advance a stroâ—t heats and inflames the Blood and helps to encourage The late Usurper and his Armies made but too good use of it These things were previous to a Battel First The Purple Coat of Arms at the Consuls Pavillion Secondly The Exhortation or Harangâ—e Thirdly The Marshalling the Army Fourthly The Word or Teâ—â—â—â—a Fifthly The Classiâ—â—â— And Lastly This Shout or Baritus Of the first five that were ordinarily practis'd Caesar speaks in the Second Book of his Gallick War as necessary for when he was almost surpriz'd by the Nervians he writes thus Caesar saith he of himself had all things to do at once the Standard to be set up that is the Scarlet Coat his Army to marshal his Souldiers to exhort to cause the sign to be given by the Trumpet and to give the Sign this last Sign signifieth the Tessera otherwise the words had been superfluous of which that great man cannot be taxed As to this last Sign which was the Word the Ancients found that same difficulty with which all Armies are still troubled and that was that by the often requiring and giving it the Enemy came to the knowledge of it and then it was useless Lipsâ—â—â— tells us that he reads in Pâ—liâ—â—nus that one Aâ—ues an Arcadian A pretty story Captain being to fall on the Lacedâ—monians in the night time or as we now call it to beat up their quarters instead of a Word he commanded his Army to require no Word at all but to use all those who sought a Word as Enemies so that the demanding the Tessora bewray'd the demander to be a Lacedaemonian who at that time receiv'd a notable overthrow The Roman Consul when Classicum a sign of Battel he was to fall on caus'd the Classicum to sound which was seconded by the nearest and immediately by all the Trumpets Horns and Horn-pipes of the Army And now the Battel begins concerning which an old question is not yet perhaps decided Whether it was better to give or receive the charge The A question whether to give or receive the charge Roman Dictator Cossus as Levy hath it in his sixth Book being to joyn Battel with a powerful Army of the Volscians commanded all his Foot to stand still and fix their Javelines in the ground and so receive the Enemies charge which being violent put them out of breath and then the Legionaries clos'd with them and routed them Great Pompey gave the like order at Pharsalia but not with the like success for he was totally beaten But Machiavelli with Machiavelli's opinion his accustomed confidence to give it no worse name in the fourth Book of his Art of War takes upon him to give the definitive sentence and awards the Victory to him who receives the charge And saith also that most Captains chuse rather to receive than give it yet he instances only one of the Fabii who by receiving the charge of the Sanonites and Gauls was Victorious But we must listen to a greater Captain than any he hath named and himself to boot and that is Julius Caesar who by giving the charge in the Thessalian Plains gain'd the Soveraignty of the Roman Empire and blames Pompey for following the bad advice of Triarius to wait till Caesar charged him His words whereby he seems to void this difference you have in the third Book of his Civil War which are these in English But on the contrary says he I think this was done Caesar's judgement of it by Pompey without any shew of reason meaning his keeping his Souldiers from advancing to the charge because there is saith he I know not what galant vigour and natural inclination to courage born in all men which Captains ought rather to cherish stir up and augment than any way mollifie or restrain Thus far Great Caesar But on the other hand if an Army be drawn up in an advantageous ground suppose a Hill or fenced with Marish River To keep advantages or Rock the quitting of which may prove prejudicial as the loss of all advantages especially in matters of War doth it alters clearly the case and those who have done it either in Ancient or Modern Wars to the irrecoverable loss of their Masters have much mistaken Caesar who never practised it and assuredly those who do it had need of good fortune otherwise they may be sure to be branded in true Histories with either perfidy or inexcusable folly and even in Romances with too much generosity In the time of Battel all both Commanders and Souldiers did their duties by punctually obeying the commands of their Generals though to the certain and inevitable loss of their lives if not they were sure to incur those punishments whereof I shall speak hereafter Nor were they obliged to obey the commands given them before the Battel only but all those orders and signs that were given them in the time of Battel These Vegetius in the fifth Chapter of his third Book calls Signs and divides them into three Signs in time of Battel sorts Vocal Semi-vocal and Dumb. The Vocal were the verbal commands of the Officers especially the Consul and Tribunes The Semi-vocal were the several sounds of Classicums Trumpets and Horns as March Charge Retire The Dumb signs were the Ensigns Standards and Eagles as also the elevation of the Hand of a Colours or a Lance or the shaking of a Spear by a Consul or General But these were agreed on before the fight began and were either given to the whole Army or but to a part of it as when you see such a thing done then you are to do so and so These Dumb signs would not do much good in our Battels where the smoak of Powder would render many of them imperceptible And now the Battel is ended and the Romans are either Victorious or have lost the day If the first they were to pursue the Enemy to his Camp To pursue a Victory or clearly out of the Field and not only so but to follow him
First strict Laws are made for the observance of Religious Duties a submission For Religion to Church-Discipline and a due respect to be given to all Ecclesiastical persons against Atheism Blasphemy Perjury and the prophanation of the name of God Secondly for the maintenance of the Majesty and Authority For Loyalty of the Prince or State in whose service the Army is that nothing be done or spoke to the disparagement of himself his Government his Undertakings or the Justice of any of his actions under all highest pains Thirdly for honour respect and obedience to be given to all superior Commanders from the highest For Obedience to the lowest of them and none of their Commands are to be disputed much less are they themselves to be affronted either by gestures words or actions But this is to be understood that the command be not diametrically contrary and prejudicial to the Prince his service but indeed such commands would be so clear that they need no canvasing otherwise any disobedience opens a door to resistance that ushereth in sedition which often is supported by open rebellion To clear which suppose what frequently falls out that the Governour of a well fortified and a well provided place offers to deliver Disobedience to unlawful Commands lawful it up to an enemy without opposition those under him may resist so unjust and so base a command and they not only may but ought to resist him for the disobedience in such a case of the subaltern Officers and Soldiers is a piece of excellent service done to their Master and if they do it not they are lyable to those Laws of War which for giving over a Fort in that fashion sentences the Governour to an Ignominious death the inferiour Commanders to be shamefully casheer'd and the common Soldiers to be disarm'd and made serve as Pioneers to the Army which were acts of great injustice if Inferiors were bound to give a blind obedience to all the Commands of their Superiors whatever they be without exception And such a case it is when an Officer commands those under him to desert their Post whether that be in Town Camp Leaguer or Field and go over with him to the Enemy If they do so and are ever retaken he is punisht for his treachery and they for their obedience to so illegal a command Fourthly Articles of War are made for due and strict keeping of Guards For keeping strict Guards and Watches and Watches and here as in many other points observe the severity of Military Law for he who after tap-too dischargeth any Hand gun be it Pistol Musket Fusee or Carrabine unless against an enemy or he who sleeps on his Centinel or deserts it or he who is drunk on his Watch are all to die these be crimes which the Municipal Laws of most Nations do not punish with death yet in the Laws of War this severity is thought no more than necessary Fifthly Laws are made against those who stay behind or straggle in ordinary Against straglers or extraordinary Marches Sixthly Against Fugitives and Runnaways either such as leave their Colours Against Runnaways when they are in Garrisons or Quarters and desert the Service under any pretence without a Pass or such as run away from their Colours or their Officers in the field in time of Skirmish or Battel or such who in storms and assaults desert their Posts till either they are wounded or have made use of their Swords all these are lyable to death and those who wound or kill any of them in their flight in their going or running away are not to be accountable for it Seventhly Against those who make any Treaty or agreement in the field Against Treaties with an Enemy with an enemy without the command or consent of him who commands in chief And here again observe another case wherein Inferiors are to refuse obedience the Military Law condemns a Colonel for such a Treaty and every tenth Soldier of his Regiment to die with him for giving obedience to so unjust a command Eighthly Against those who surrender fortified places unless extream necessity Against needless Surrender of Forts and several other crimes require it of which I shall speak in a more proper place Ninthly Against those who mutiny burn houses without the Generals command commit robbery murther theft or violence to those who have the Generals safeguards and against those who keep private correspondence unless order'd to do it by the General all these crimes by most Military Laws are punisht with death Tenthly Against private Combats or Duels the Combatants and Against Duels their Seconds are to die and if superior Officers knew of the Combat and did not hinder it they are to be casheer'd with Ignominy a necessary Law enough yet seldom put in execution Eleventhly Against those who sell play or pawn or change their Arms Against sellers or pawners of Arms. either defensive or offensive whether he be a Horseman or a Foot-Soldier he who doth any of these is not only punishable but likewise he who bought won or took them in pawn Twelfthly Against false Musters whether it be of Men Horses Arms Against false Musters Saddles or other Furniture by these Articles not only those who make the false Muster but all those who help to make it are punishable Thirteenthly Against those who detain the pay of either Horsemen or Against those who detain the Princes Pay Foot-Soldiers any Officer guilty of this deserves to die Neither if an Officer have lent money to a Soldier may he pay himself or retain in his hand what he pleaseth but must give him as much of his pay as can entertain him to do his Masters service Fourteenthly Against those Officers whatsoever they be except the General Against those who give Passes who give Passes The Swedish Articles order a Colonel who presumes to give a Pass to lose his life and to lose his charge if he permit any under his command to go home without the Felt-marshals knowledg Other abominable crimes such as Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality Greater Crimes Parricide are examin'd try'd and punisht according to the Municipal Laws of the Prince or State who is Master of the Army And many smaller Smaller faults faults are left to the cognizance discretion and arbitrament of a Court of War A Council of War and a Court of War are commonly by ordinary A Council of War Soldiers confounded as if they were one thing whereas they are very different the first being composed of those persons whom the Prince or his General calls to consult with concerning the managing the War and these are indeed but Counsellors and have in most Armies their President who is nominated by the Prince or State they do but advise for the Prince or his Captain-General have a negative voice and retain a power to themselves to do what they please A Court of War consists of
very short time consist of able and well exercis'd Soldiers I wish it may be so and I am sure it should be so In former times a Captain march'd in the head of his Company with a Head-piece a Corslet and a Gorge all high Proof and so did the Lieutenant in Captain and Lieutenant in Harness the Reer But you may now travel over many places of Christendâ—m before you see many of those Captains and Lieutenants The difference of the Armour was none but that the Captains Helmet was decored with a Plume of Feathers the Lieutenants not The Feathers you may peradventure yet find but the Headpiece for most part is laid aside The Spanish and French Captains and Lieutenants likewise carry Pikes the With Pikes Spaniards shoulder'd the French comported The Germans Swedes Danes and almost generally all others carry nothing in their hands but Canes but indeed besides that it was not the custom formerly to do so I hope it will not be denied but that in time of action Officers should have some other offensive Weapons in their hands than either Canes or Swords and on a march their servants may carry these whether they be Pikes or Partisans The Marquess of Guast Alphonso Davalo who had the command of several Imperial Armies when his Master Charles the Fifth took a view of his numerous forces at Vienna march'd in the head of the Infantry with a Pike in his hand Marshal Monluc at the Battel of Ceresole carried a Pike because he led a great Batallion of Pikes but on all other occasions he used a Halbert or Partisan as he tells us in several places An Halbert or Partisan of his Commentaries in one whereof speaking of the Halbert he says Il a tousiours aymé de me jouer de ce baston lá I lov'd always says he to play with that batton And assuredly a Partisan or Halbert is a more manageable weapon for an Officer than a Pike The Serjeant is distinguished from the Captain and Lieutenant because he shoulders his Halbert they comport theirs And I suppose it were fit the Captain and Lieutenants Halberts or Partisans should be diversified by several trimmings that the one may be distinguisht from the other The word Captain is a general word for all Commanders as Captains of fifties Captain a general Title of hundreds and of thousands and he who commands over all the forces is called very properly a Captain General but now it is most ordinarily taken for him who commands a private Company or Troop and so passeth current in all Languages that I understand A Company being thus describ'd with all its Officers a Regiment is soon understood A Regiment which I shall define to be a certain number of Companies join'd in one body under one head This definition agrees with all Regiments of whatever strength they be There is not a definite number of Companies ordain'd for each Regiment some consisting of six some eight some twelve and some of twenty but ten is now most ordinary and formerly it was so when Regiments were three thousand strong and each Company three hundred yet I find that in every French Legion which consisted of eighteen Companies there were about three hundred three and thirty men in each Company for every Legion was six thousand strong Nor is this word Regiment one hundred year old nor do A new word I know of what Language it is in the French and Italian Tongues it was called a Legion and so it was in Latin and he who commanded in chief over it was called Colonel and Colonello In Spanish it was called Terzo and its Commander Maistro del Campo In high Dutch it was called Faulein and he who commanded it Oberster which signifies Superior or Supreme But Colonel is now undâ—rstood in all Languages and the word Regiment however barbarous it be in it self hath supprest all other names and titles and is now only used in all European Tongues The Swedes in my time order'd all their new levied Regiments to consist of eight Companies and each Company of one hundred and twenty six men and this made the Regiment to be one thousand and eight men Regiments consisting of ten companies and each company of one hundred men wants but eight of the former number and both of them resemble the Grecian Chiliarchy which contain'd one thousand and twenty four men so that Chiliarcha is a Colonel you may call our Modern Colonel Chiliarcha in Greek more properly than you can call him Tribunus Militum in Latin A Regiment thus composed of ten Companies hath Officers besides those of Companies already describ'd whose charges belong equally to all the ten those are called Officers of the Staff in high Dutch the Etymology of the word I A Regiment-Staff cannot give you these are the Colonel the Lieutenant-Colonel and the Major these three are called likewise Officers of the Field Besides them there belongs to the Staff a Preacher a Chirurgeon a Quarter-master and a Provost Marshal these four are entertain'd in all Regiments by all States and Princes who maintain Armies and some have also a Regiment-Scrivener or Clerk an Auditor and a Hangman The Scrivener receives the Pay according Regiment-Scrivener to the Muster-rolls whereof he is the Keeper and gives it out to the particular Clerks of Companies according to the directions of the Colonel to whom when present the Scrivener is only accountable and in his absence to his Lieutenant-Colonel The Auditor hath that same power in a Regiment that Auditor a General Auditor or Judg-Marshal hath in an Army and what that is I have told you in the ninth Chapter of our Modern Art of War In some places to save expence they make the Quarter-master supply this Scriveners place nor do some Princes allow any Regiment-Auditor though I think him a very necessary Officer for without him our Regiment-Courts of War especially if the business be of any intricacy are very disorderly nor do some allow wages to Regiment-hangmen and where they are wanting capital crimes must be punisht Hangman by Harquebusiers and scourging must be converted into the Gatloupe The Regiment Provost-Marshal hath power to apprehend any Soldier whom he sees Provost-Marshal transgressing the Laws and Articles of War from doing whereof no Officer may hinder him but he hath not power to set any Prisoner at liberty no not those whom himself hath imprison'd He is Gaoler and keeps those who are committed to him either in Irons or without Irons for which he hath a Guard allow'd him He is to present the Prisoners to the Court of War and to desire that Justice may be done on them for the crimes they have committed which he is obliged to specifie and he is to be present at the execution of every sentence and when a Soldier is to run the Gatloupe he is to give him the first lash he is to impose prices on Wine Ale Beer Mead
of drilling I said that in exercising a Body of Horse whether one Troop or more some allow for order six foot some ten and for open order some allow twelve foot and some twenty others conclude six Distance foot between rank and rank and file and file sufficient but in marching there should be the length of a Horse between rank and rank but so much is not at all needful between files now it seems the Germans allow ten foot for the length of a Horse in marching and exercising as well as in their Castrametation for when Horse are orderly quarter'd in the field ten foot of ground are allowed for a Horse to stand on between his head and his tail But for all this I say six foot are not to be allowed in all motions of exercise as in Wheeling which is the poper motion of the Cavalry you cannot make it till your ranks and files be at close order and in this motion of Wheeling observe that the Wheeling to the left hand being the Bridle hand is more proper than Wheeling to the right Observe also that after your body hath Wheel'd you are to reduce them to their first order by making the ranks open which they must do by advancing and not by stepping back as the foot do The stronger the Troop be it should have the more Corporals who begin now to be qualified with the Title of Brigadeers for it seems not proportionable for a Troop of One Hundred and Twenty to have no more Corporals than a Troop of sixty or seventy yet for most part now all Troops have a like number of Officers and these are the Captain or Ritmaster The Lieutenant the Cornet the Quartermaster three Corporals or Brigadeers two Trumpeters some have three and some four a Saddler and a Smith and some allow a Chirurgion and a Clerk Many Troops have no allowance for the last four though all four Officers of a Troop are very necessary In some places if a Chirurgion be allowed for every Regiment it is thought very fair many Ritmasters entertain a Saddler and a Smith in their Troops allowing them the pay of Troopers and what benefit else they can make by their several Trades But if all who ride in the Troop be Gentlemen they will not permit these two Mechanicks to ride with them yet my opinion is since all who ride now in Troops are not Gentlemen they may without any disparagement suffer a Smith and a Saddler to ride in rank with them being they are profitable members of that little Commonwealth It is I think an oversight that a Clerk is not allow'd for every Company of Horse for a Quarter master hath enough to doth otherwise though he be not bound to officiate for the Clerk to receive the Pay of the Troop and give it out and keep the accounts of it unless you will say that the paying Money to a Troop falls out so seldom that the receiving it will be rather a divertisement than a trouble to the Quartermaster Having spoke to the Duties of a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign-bearer of a Foot Company I have nothing to add to the Duties of a Ritmaster Lieutenant and Cornet but between the Quartermasters of Foot and Horse there is this difference that the first hath no command but the second hath in Quarter-master of Horse other duties there is none But I shall tell the Quatermasters of Horse that they should have skill in Castrametation as much as the Foot Quartermasters have and rather more for the last look only to the regular quartering of Men in the Field the first to the quartering of both Men and Horses A Corporal Corporals of Brigadeers of Horse should have experience for he either assists the Lieutenant in placing and setting the Guards or he doth it himself without his Lieutenant he sets the Sentinels and sees them reliev'd and orders the Patrovils which are Rounds He is to ride in Rank and if the Troop march not in breast but in three several Squadrons then there is a Corporal on the right hand of every Squadron but in absence of higher Officers Corporals lead Divisions so do they those parties which they are to command if there be none to command above them When a Troop is divided into three Squadrons they have not their denominations from the Corporals or Brigadeers but the first is called the Captains Squadron the second the Lieutenants the third the Cornets and if there be a fourth it is called the Quartermasters When a Troop marcheth the March of a Troop Captain leads the first division the Cornet with his Standard the second the Quartermaster leads the third and the Lieutenant brings up yet some will have the eldest Corporal to lead the last division and the Quartermaster to bring up on the Lieutenants left hand for which I see very small reason or rather none at all Some French Troops and ours likewise have besides these Officers whom I have nam'd a Sub-Lieutenant or under Lieutenant who Sub-Lieutenant hath no command in the Lieutenants presence but in his absence he commands over the Cornet the French have likewise a Guidon to whom perhaps may Guidon answer he who in other places is appointed to carry the Standard either in the Cornets absence or when he pleaseth to appoint him to carry it As to the Officers of the Regiment-Staff of the Cavalry they are the same with those of the Foot and their Duties are the same But now methinks I hear a Trumpeter sound a Call Of Trumpets and of Trumpeters I have spoke in my Discourses of the Roman Art of War That which I have now to add is Trumpeters should be skilful to sound all the Trumpeters points of War and in the Fields they should seldom want their Trumpets about them for sudden Alarms And because they are frequently sent to an Enemy they ought to be both witty and discreet and must drink but little that so they may be rather apt to circumvent others than be circumvented they should be cunning and whereever they are sent they should be careful to observe warily the Works Guards and Sentinels of an Enemy and give an account of them at their return to him who sent them One Trumpeter should constantly lodge where the Standard quarters The German Trumpeters assume to themselves a great deal of liberty and have in a manner set up Pretended priviledges of the German Trumpeters a Republick of their own independent of that Discipline by which the Army of which they are members is governed They pretend to have their own Laws whereby they punish crimes very severely especially such faults that any of their number commits against the Articles of War of that Prince whom they serve and endeavour to vindicate themselves from any punishment inflicted by others than those of their own Common-wealth If any Trumpeter be abus'd or disgrac'd whether by his own Ritmaster or any other Officer
learn'd and practis'd his Art of Souldiery so happily against the Enemies of Gods people for so Deodati interprets it that his Countrey-men by a solemn Embassie invited him to be their Captain General against the Ammonites which he accepted and wrought their deliverance Here have you a Souldier who knew no other Art or profession but that of Souldiery approved of by the Lord and elected by him and the people at Mispa to fight the Lords Battels against the Enemies of his people and this very Souldier is reckon'd among the elect and faithful by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 2. v. 32. In the Gospel we read that the Souldiers ask'd the Baptist what they should do to he sav'd Be contented with your wages said he and do violence to no man Here he bids them not learn other trades and I am bound to believe that most of those who ask'd him the question if not all of them were Romans who knew no other livelihood but to be Souldiers and were then quarter'd in Judea to keep the Jews under the subjection of the Roman Emperours and whether this was a lawful employment or not shall be spoke to hereafter The Apostle Paul moves the question Who goes to War on his own charges meaning none is bound to do it Hence it will follow that a Souldier may serve for wages or if any will serve without wages as some Volunteers do it is not forbidden them however in these two places nothing being spoke against the profession of Souldiery I may safely conclude that the profession of a Souldier without any other trade is allow'd and authoriz'd by those two great Saints Our blessed Lord bore witness That the Centurion who said he was not worthy that our Saviour should come under his roof had more Faith than he had found in Israel and I make no doubt but if the profession of Souldiery had been unlawful he would have bid him learn some other Art wherewith to gain his livelihood The like may be said of that Centurion who sent to Joppa for St. Peter to come to Caesarea for we find not that the Apostle when he instructed that Captain and his Friends of the means of their Salvation gave him either advice or command to learn any other trade than that of Souldiery and it may not only be probably conjectured but asserted that these two Centurions had learn'd no other trade but that of Souldiery as much may be said of a third Centurion who confess'd our Saviour to be the Son of God even when he saw him suffer on the Cross as a Man who as Church Histories mention dyed a Martyr for the Christian Faith These of whom I speak who know no Art or way of livelihood but by the trade of Souldiery are ordinarily called Souldiers of Fortune though most of them might rather be call'd the Sons of Misfortune From what I have said this argument may be fram'd that That Profession Art or Trade that is neither directly indirectly or consequentially condemned by any Divine Law or Ordidinance mention'd in Holy Scripture is in it self lawful but the Profession or Art of Souldiery without any relation to any other Art is neither directly indirectly nor consequentially discharged in Scripture Ergo the profession of meer Souldiery is lawful If it be objected here That the Apostle writing to the Corinthians orders every man that would eat to work with his hands I answer first That the Corinthians being a people conquer'd by the Romans were not permitted to be Souldiers and next if the command be general for all Nations and in all Ages then Souldiers are included for they work with their hands and very oft a bloody work And if no Divine Law be against this profession as little can it be alledged That any positive Law of man hath forbid it and daily experience teaches us That all Princes and States make use of men who know no other trade but that of Souldiery which they could not do without sin if that profession were unlawful in it self Nay I have known the time thirty years ago when I serv'd in Germany That Princes and States though they bestow'd Levy-shoney very plentifully could not get half so many of that profession as they desired and at this very time when I write this those European Princes who are hot in War with others cannot get men enough of that trade and yet I shall easily grant they get more than they pay well But Hugh de Grot commonly call'd Grotius a very learned and grave Author Grotius's opinion examined towards the end of the Twenty fifth Chapter of his Second Book De fare Belli ac Pacis is a heavy Enemy to the trade of Souldiery for there he says Nullum vitae genus est improbius quam eorum qui sine causa respectu mercede conducti militant No kind of life says he is so godless as of those who without regard to the cause fight for wages and he subjoyns Et quibus ibifas ubi plurima merces And with whom it is a Rule That War is most lawful where greatest Pay is to be got For answer What if I grant all this it will make just nothing against my assertion The abuse of a thing cannot make the thing unlawful I shall confess it is so as he says with very many Souldiers who have another false Maxime which De Grot mentions not and that is It is all one with them whom they serve so they serve faithfully These are great faults in too many Souldiers but all Souldiers not being guilty of them all should not be charged with them nor should the profession suffer for the fault of some of its professors De Grot would have taken it unkindly if I should have argued thus with him No such a Godless kind of life as of those who without any regard to the justice of the cause embrace the quarrels though never so unjust of such Clients who are best able to reward them for though this be true enough in thesi yet Grotius would have thought that by such an expression I reflected on all Lawyers and Advocates and their profession too for it is certain that too many Lawyers do so which Grotius who profess'd Law knew but too well and perhaps practis'd it too much And as Grotius must confess that it is a sin in an Advocate to plead for a Fee in a Clients cause which he knows to be unjust so I shall acknowledge all Souldiers to be sinners who fight in a cause which they know to be unjust But I must tell you there is a great difference between Souldiers and Lawyers in this case for there be but few Advocates â—ho cannot discern between the justice and unjustice of the cause they undertake to defend whereas on the other hand there be but few and very few Souldiers who can discern between a just and an unjust cause for which they are to fight I knew a person abroad who