and wealth termed them by the name of Hastati forasmuch as at their first institution they fought with a kind of Javelin which the Romans called Hasta but before Polybius his time they used Piles notwithstanding their ancient name continued unto the later time of the Empire The third choice which they made was of the strongest lustiest-bodied men who for the prime of their age were called Principes the rest that remain'd were named Triarii as Varro saith Quod tertio ordine extremis sub sidio deponuntur These were alwayes the eldest and best-experienced men and were placed in the third division of the battell as the last help and refuge in all extremitie Polybius saith that in his time the Velites Hastati and Principes did consist of 1200 men apiece and the Triarii never exceeded the number of 600. although the generall number of a legion were augmented whereof Lâ—psius alledgeth these reasons First because these Triarii consisted of the best of the souldiers and so might countervail a greater number in good worth and valour Secondly they seldome came to buckle with the enemy but when the controversy grew very doubtfull Lastly we may well conjecture that the voluntaries and extraordinary followers ranged themselves amongst these Triaries and so made the third battell equall to either of the former but howsoever they never exceeded the number of 600. And by this it appeareth that in Polybius his time the common rate of a legion was 4200. In this division of their men consisted the ground of that well-ordered discipline for in that they distinguished them according to their yeares and ability they reduced their whole strength into severall classes and so disposed of these different parts that in the generall composition of their whole body every part might be fitted with place and office accâ—â—ding as his worth was answerable to the same and so they made not only a number of grosse but a number distinct by parts and properties that from every accident which met with any part of the Army the judgement might determine how much or how little it imported the whole body besides the great use which they made of this distinction in their degrees of honour and preferment a matter of no small consequence in the excellency of their government The souldiers at their enrollement being thus divided according to their yeares and ability they then reduced them into smaller companies to make them fitter for command and fight and so they divided the Hastatâ— Principes and Triarii each of them into 10 companies making of those three sorts of souldiers 30 small regiments which they called Manipuli And again they subdivided every maniple into two equal parts and called them Ordines which was the least company in a legion and according to the rate set down by Polybius contained 60 souldiers In every Ordo there was a Centurion or Captain and a Lieutenant whom they named Optio or Tergiductor The maniples of the Triarii were much lesser then the maniples of either the Hastati or the Principes forasmuch as their whole band consisted but of 600 men The Velites were put into no such companies but were equally distributed amongst the other maniples and therefore the Hastati Principes and Triarii were called subsignani milites to make a difference between them and the Velites which were not divided into bands and so consequently had no ensigne of their own but were distributed amongst the other companies so that every Maniple had 40 Velites attending upon it And now I come to the description of a Cohort which the history here mentioneth The word Cohors in Latine doth signify that part of ground which is commonly inclosed before the gate of a house which from the same word we call a court and Varro giveth this reason of the metaphor As in a farm house saith he many out-buildings joyned together make one inclosure so a cohort consisteth of severall maniples joyned together in one body This cohort consisted of three maniples for every legion had ten cohorts which must necessarily comprehend those thirty maniples but these three maniples were not all of one and the same kind of souldiers as three maniples of the Hastati three of the Principes and three of the Triarii as Patricius in his Paralleli seemeth to affirm for so there would have remained an odd maniple in every kind that could not have been brought into any cohort But a cohort contained a maniple of the Hastati a maniple of the Principes and a maniple of the Triarii and so all the thirty maniples were included into ten cohorts and every cohort was as a little legion forasmuch as it consisted of all those sorts of souldiers that were in a legion So that making a legion to contain five thousand men a cohort had five hundred and so these six cohorts which he encamped on the other side of the river under the command of Titurius Sabinus contained three thousand souldiers but if you make a legion to consist but of four thousand two hundred which was the more usuall rate there were two thousand five hundred and twenty souldiers in these six cohorts By this therefore it may appear that a legion consisted of four sorts of souldiers which were reduced into ten cohorts and every cohort contained three maniples and every maniple two orders and every order had his Centurion marching in the head of the troup and every Centurion had his Optionem or Lieutenant that stood in the tail of the troup When a legion stood ranged in battell ready to confront the enemy the least body or squadron that it contained was a maniple wherein the two orders were joyned together making joyntly ten in front and twelve in file and so every five files had their Centurion in front and Lieutenant in the rereward to direct them in all adventures In the time of the Emperours their battalions consisted of a cohort and never exceeded that number how great soever the Army were Polybius distinguishing a maniple into two centuries or orders saith that the Centurion first chosen by the Tribunes commanded the right order which was that order which stood on the right hand known by the name of Primus ordo and the Centurion elected in the second course commanded the left order and in the absence of either of them he that was present of them two commanded the whole maniple And so we find that the Centurion of the first place was called Prior Centuriâ— in which sense Caesar is to be understood where he saith that all the Centurions of the first cohort were slain praeter principem priorem From whence we gather two specialities first the priority between the Centurions of the same Maniple for a cohort consisting of three Maniples whereof the first Maniple were Triarii the second Principes and the third Hastati and every Maniple containing two orders and
may be furnished with the next most sufficient men both because of their nearnesse unto danger as also that if their leaders or bringers up shall either be slain or disabled by wounds they may presently succeed in their places and make them good There is also a good decorum to be observed in the middlemen or fifth and sixth ranks both for the men themselves and their armes that in our marches when the middlemen or sixth ranks shall be called up to front with their leaders they may in some sort and proportion answer their places as also when we double our front by calling up middlemen to fight in a greater breadth they may not be unsutable but especially in marches that they may be able to make the best resistance when they shall become the flanks of the Battallions As these respects ought to be observed in ranks so the files also are not without their different degrees of dignity As the leader of the right-hand file is accounted to have the first place of honour in the Battallion for he doth not onely lead the rest in his own file but he is the author and beginner of the motions of the whole Battallion The leader of the left-hand file hath the next place because that he with the leader of the right-hand file do alwaies in their marching and imbattelling rectifie or rank the whole front of the battallion and so consequently all the next of their files as they stand in order even untill the middle who are accounted the last in dignity The Battallion being thus disposed into files and ranks and each file and rank according to his worth and experience rightly advanced it followeth that there should be a just distance proportioned between either that at all times upon all occasions they might be found ready and in comeliest fashion either to offend their enemy or defend themselves These distances which every follower must observe in respect of his leader and every leader and follower in respect of the sidemen may be reduced unto three severall Orders as followeth The first is called open Order the distance whereof is twelve foot between every follower and his leader or between every rank and six foot between them and the sidemen or between every file This order is commonly used upon marches when the enemy is known to be farre off as also in private exercising of souldiers for their severall managing of their armes It differeth somewhat from the Ordinatus Miles amongst the Romans who alwayes observed but four cubits in files and ranks The second distance is called Order when we contract the battallion both in length and breadth and gather the souldiers within a nearer scantling both in files and ranks that is by observing six feet in their files between the follower and leader and three feet between the ranks or sidemen This distance is used when we march toward an enemy near at hand or in marches by reason of the opportunity of the place suspiciously dangerous This is also near unto Densatus ordo but onely that that was but two cubits in both files and ranks The third and last order is when either we attend the enemy his present assault or that we intend to charge him upon our securest and best distance when every follower standeth three feet or his rapier length behind his leader and a foot and a half from the sidemen or files or when every souldier occupieth but one foot and a half for his own station joyning pouldron to pouldron or target to target This differeth from Constipatus ordo because that alloweth but one cubit for files and ranks and this close order alloweth one cubit in the file but two in the ranks This distance doth agree also best with the length of our piles of 15 or 16 feet long For it is thought fit oftentimes that the battallion consisting of ten ranks there should not charge more at one time then the 5 formost so that the pikes of the fifth rank might be three foot over the formost shoulder and the other five ranks should in this close order or nearer if it be possible follow the other charging with their pikes advanced untill some occasion should require their charge In the mean time they should perform their dutie in keeping the five formost ranks from retiring and besides adde strength unto the charge or shock The manner of exercising of composed Battallions with their different motions THe files and ranks being thus understood disposed and ordered and all parts and members of the battallion being joyned in their just proportion and distance able and fit to be altered upon any sodain occasion as if it were but one entire body into severall and divers postures and to make resistance unto what forces soever shall oppugne the same it might be thought needlesse to have made the disposition of the members so exact unlesse by continuall practise and exercise they might be made nimble and ready not onely to defend themselves and their whole body on all sides but also to be able to offend whensoever they shall espie the least occasion of advantage The terms of direction or command which are commonly used in this modern discipline of martiall exercise as they are not many onely answering to the different postures which are required in the Battallion so they are and must be short and perspicuously plain that by this means being sodainly uttered easily apprehended and understood they may as speedily be put in execution by those which shall be commanded First therefore that the Battallion may be commanded into some one fashion or posture from whence it shall be fit to convert it self into all other the Captain or Officer shall bid them stand in front When every particular souldier composing himself after his foremost leader standeth comely in file and rank fronting unto some certain place or to the Captain as shall be thought best for the present In this and all other directions whatsoever it shall be especially observed that every follower attending what is commanded mark his next leader and accordingly move himself as he shall see him move first The Battallion therefore thus fronting if the enemy should suddenly either assault the right or left flank it shall be commanded to turn faces to the right or left hand when every souldier observing his leader shall turn his face and make his flank his front according to the direction There is also a doubled motion or declination to the right or left hand when every souldier observing his leader shall turn their bodies twice to the right or left hand and by that means become turned with their faces where their backs were as if they expected an enemy in the rere or being to perform some other motion that may be offered beginning this alteration from the right or left hand as shall be commanded As every particular souldier in the troup is
thus commanded at sometimes to turn his face to the right or left hand or about the Battallion standing in order that is according to the distance before named so the whole Battallion being reduced into their close order is commanded to turn as one body to the right or left hand It is performed thus Imagine the Battallion stand first in order it shall be commanded that they close their files to the right hand when the right file standing still the rest turning their faces to the right hand march into their close order and return as they were next that they close their ranks from behind when every follower marcheth forward to his leader unto his rapiers point as is said before This done the leader of the right file standing immoveable all the rest as the body of a ship or a great gate turn about that leader as about the hinge or center every one keeping the same distance and order wherein they were first placed as if they were but one entire body When the same Battallion is to be restored into the same station wherein it was first it is commanded Faces about to the left hand and march into your order from whence you were closed Then let your leaders or first ranks stand still and the rest turning faces about march ranks in order as before then turn as you were and you are restored When the whole Battallion being in their close order should turn about and make the Rere the Front it is done by a double turning or declination and commanded to wheel about which is answerable to the former faces about or mutation There is also another wheeling in this sort when the front changeth the aspect thrice for as wheeling about maketh the Front the Rere so this wheeleth from the right hand to the left or contrariwise which fashion is so seldome used that we scarce afford it a name In all such motions and alterations it is most fit that all men perform their directions with their pikes advanced being in that sort most easie to be commanded as also lesse troublesome to their followers and leaders Countermarching Files and Ranks THere is also another means to prevent the enemy his assaulting us in the rere or flank lest he should find our worst men least able to make resistance and this is performed by countermarching both files and ranks three divers wayes apiece The first was used by the Macedonians after this fashion First the leader turneth his face about towards the right or left hand and so the next follower marching behind his leader turneth also and so the third and fourth untill the bringer up have carried himself out into a new place in the rere further from the enemy as he was before next unto him But this neither was nor is accounted safe or secure because it doth somewhat resemble a flying or running away from the enemy which might give him no small incouragement and therefore it is not much in practise Only at some times the bringers up marching throughout beyond the leaders untill they possesse the same space before them which they did behind them all turning their faces about make their leaders to affront the enemy who were before farthest from them The Lacedamonians used the contrary as it were pursuing the enemy the bringer up first being turned face about and so the next marching before him and so the third untill the leader himself became also turned and in the foremost front unto the enemy Which with us is somewhat otherwise but yet both affronting and as it were pursuing the enemy because our leaders first begin this motion and so countermarching through on the right or left hand become in the front in a new space of ground who were before in the rere The third and last was invented by the Persians whom when the place or near approch of the enemy would not suffer to change their ground they were wont to countermarch the front to the right or left hand and being come unto the depth of the bringers up to stand still untill the other half file had likewise marched forth and fallen upon their leaders in every file In all these it is especially commanded to march still in the same distance and by whole ranks to prevent confusion which especially the enemy at hand must needs be most dangerous and therefore carefully to be avoided In like sort the ranks may countermarch when either the right wing would be strengthened by the left or the left by the right alwayes marching by whole files towards the right or left hand according as they shall have the direction either changing the ground or upon the same ground as in the former countermarches There is used also another kind of strengthening both the front and flank when occasion shall be offered viz by doubling either files or ranks And this either by doubling the number of souldiers in the same files or ranks keeping still the same breadth and depth of ground or else by doubling the ground keeping the same number of souldiers The files are doubled when the second file shall insert it self into the first the leader thereof putting himself a follower unto the leader of the first and the next follower follower to the next in the first file and so forwards And likewise the fourth file inserting it self into the third and the sixth into the fifth And this is to be performed when the Battallion standeth in his order To double the place or depth is when the same number of men shall put themselves out of their order into their open order either by advancing forward or by falling backwards as they shall be commanded The ranks are doubled two manner of wayes either by inserting the second into the first to the right or left hand as before in the files or else the enemy being at hand by joyning whole troups together to the right or left wing according as occasion shall be offered and this is held to be the safest when the enemy is near to avoid confusion It is performed either in the same ground or by doubling the ground when either we desire to exceed the front of our enemy his battallion or to prevent lest we our selves be included The terms to both are Double your files or ranks to the right or left hand and when you would have them return again into their proper places it is commanded As you were The ordinary directions which are especially given in these martial exercises are first that no man in the time of exercising or marshalling shall be lowder then his Officer but every one attending to his place when he is commanded shall diligently hearken to such directions as shall be given The Captain in the front shall speak and the Sergeants in each flank shall give the word unto the Lieutenant or Ensigne
in the rere who as in his proper place seeth all things executed accordingly as the Captain shall command It shall be unpossible to performe any thing herein unlesse first every one do exactly observe his leader and his sideman and to this purpose it is often commanded Keep your files Keep your ranks Of Marches IN champains there needs no great labour to marshall particular troups for their after-marches because they may march either by whole divisions observing onely their course of indifferency that every division may every third day have the vantgard or else in such form and fashion as the Generall hath proposed for a day of battell according as the danger of an expected enemy shall give occasion But because all countries will not afford a champain for the marching of an army and therefore not possible to march far with many troups in front nor many files of any one troup or division by reason of often straights and passages betwixt hills woods or waters It is provided though by long induction the whole army shall be extended into a thin length and few files yet the souldiers well disposed shall be as readily able to defend themselves and offend the enemy on their flanks from whence only in such streights the danger is imminent as if they were to affront an enemy with an entire battallion in a champain country First therefore a division or Battallion being ordered and drawn before the Quarter into one even front of just files ten in depth the musketiers equally divided on the right and left slanks of the pikes all standing in their order that is to â—ay six feet distant in files and ranks the Captain carefully provideth that the first fifth sixth and tenth ranks be alwayes well filled and furnished with his most able and best-armed souldiers Which done he commandeth first the middlemen or half files to come a front with their leaders so that the division becometh but five in depth Next he commandeth to turn faces to the right or left hand as direction shall be to march from that quarter and so the whole division resteth ready in his fashion to march five in front the one half of the musketiers in the vantguard and the other in the rere the pikes in the battell and both flanks well furnished with the ablest best men to offend or defend as there shall be occasion that is to say the right flanks with the first and fifth ranks and the left with the sixth and tenth ranks If occasion afterwards shall be given of a halt in a champain or before the quartering the Captain commandeth first unto all they being first closed into their order Faces as you were next unto the half files Faces about and march out and fall again upon your files By which means the division becometh again reduced into the same front and fashion from whence it was first transformed ready to encounter an enemy or to be drawn into the Quarter When pikes are to charge pikes in a champain it useth to be performed two severall wayes First the whole division being commanded into their close order the five first ranks charging their pikes every follower over his leaders shoulder directeth his pike as equally as he can the first rank shall have three feet of his pike over the formost shoulder The other five ranks with their pikes advanced follow close up in the rere either ready to second the formost or to be employed in the rere as occasion shall be offered Otherwise and most usuall when the whole depth of the files throughout the division shall charge together all fast locked and united together and therefore most able to make the strongest shock offensive or defensive provided alwaies that none mingle their pikes in others files but the whole file one in anothers shoulder In charging with musketiers it is observed no way convenient that there should be too many in a rank or that the ranks should be too long For the first rank is commanded to advance ten paces before the second and then to discharge and wheeling either to the right or left hand falleth into the rere and so the second advancing to the same distance dischargeth and wheeleth as before and likewise the third and so forward as long as the Officer shall be commanded Which shall not so well be performed the ranks being extraordinary long because it will require so long a time to wheel from the front that the second may succeed unlesse by direction the rank may divide it self the one half to the right hand and the other to the left in wheeling to the rere In the retreat the whole ranks having turned their faces about are to march three or four paces forward their chief officer coming in the rere first commandeth the last rank to make ready and then to turn faces about discharge and wheel about to the head or front of the division and being clearly passed the next rank to perform as much and so the rest in order Where the passages are narrow and the division cannot come to charge in front as between two waters or woods the manner of charging is different for there being five or ten files led in the induction that file which flanketh the enemy dischargeth first onely and the rest marching continually forwards it standeth firm untill the last rank be passed and then sleeveth it self on the left flank and makes ready and so the second file and the third so long as the enemy shall continue there being a continuall discharging by files as before by ranks Unlesse it be in the pases of Ireland meeting with an irregular enemy where they use to intermingle their files of shot with pikes that the one may be a defence for the other when the enemy shall come up to the sword as they use there very often How directions are delivered in the warres ALl directions in the wars have ever been delivered either by signes subject to the eye by word of mouth or the sound of a drumme or some such warlike instrument Concerning those visible signes displayed unto the souldiers the falling of mists the raising of dust showers of rain snow the beams of the Sun hilly uneven and crooked passages by long experience have found them to be most doubtfull and uncertain as also because as it was a matter of great difficulty to invent different signes upon all sodain occasions so it is almost an impossibility that the common souldier who oftentimes is found scarce capable of the understanding of plain words distinctly pronounced should both apprehend and understand sodainly and execute directly the true sense and meaning of his Commanders signes The Drum and Trumpet are yet used But because many different sounds are not easily distinguished in souldiers understanding without some danger of confusion we onely command by the inarticulate sounds to arm to march to troup to
charge and to retreat with all which severall notes the souldier is so familiarly to be acquainted that so soon as he hears them beaten he may be ready sodainly to put them in execution as if he heard his Captain pronouncing as much The directions by word of mouth are infinite according to the different occasions which shall be offered yet alwayes with this caveat that they be short yet perspicuous without all ambiguity and plainly pronounced first by the Captain then derived by the Sergeants through the division or Battallion Though infinite yet the most usuall are these To your armes Keep your files keep your ranks Follow your leader Leaders look to your files Keep your distance Faces to your right hand Faces to your left hand Close your files Close your ranks Stand as you are As you were Faces about to the right hand Wheel about to the right or left hand Double your ranks Double your files Leaders countermarch through to the right or left hand Leaders countermarch to the right or left hand and stand Middlemen come forth and fall upon your leaders Besides many fit terms commanded in managing particular armes as pikes and muskets which are omitted And thus much touching the Tactick practise of our modern wars which I have the rather added in regard that diverse souldiers as unacquainted both with the manner and the value thereof do think a heap of people unmartialled to be as available for a great designe as any other number distinguished in files and parts and disposed for facile and easie motions according to the powerfull circumstances of time and place Wherein howsoever the practise of the Turk and the Hungarian may seem to give warrant to that opinion yet the use of Armes amongst the Graecians and the Romans whose conquering armies are pregnant witnesses of the excellency of their militarie discipline shall speak sufficiently for order and Tactick motion as most necessary parts in a well-ordered war FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. Saluâ—â— de bello Jogur Suitzers Mâ—tronâ— Sâ—quara Curardum viâ—inâ—s populis 〈…〉 inâ—â—r 〈◊〉 â—opulos col 〈◊〉 Caesar * Sâ—voyards The omission in the Helvetian expedition Caesar * Rome Caesar * So ne 〈◊〉 The manner of their watch Caesar Caesar 〈…〉 Places oâ— advantage in the Romane wars Their manner of victualling Caesar The manner of their imbattelling By tripleâ— Aâ—ies Lib. 1. de bello Civili Lib. 3. de bello Civili Lib. 5. de militia Romana A Phalanx dâ—â—â—ribed Caesar Speeches of incouragement before they gave battel Lib. 7. de bello Gallico The Roman Pile described Lib. â— de militia Romans Lib. 5. Salusâ— The Ensignes of the Romans The division of their day Caesar Langres Periculum 〈…〉 Caesar Caesar Caesar Tthe authority of the Roman Generals Liv. lib. 8. Lib. 3. de bello Civili Caesar Caesar le Doux Caesar Whether men have greater coâ—rage in their own or in a straâ—gers Country Caesar Footmen intermingled amongst horsemen Lib. 6. Lib. 3. de exâ—id Lib. 3. De bello Africano Caesar Caesar Caesar The use of lots Caesar Caesar a The countrey about Bâ—auvois b The countrey about Soâ—ssons c The people about Tournay d Arras e Amiens f Vermandois g Tervenne h Liege 308000. in all * La Disne Caesar A legion what it was Lib. 4. De vita Romuli Liv. lib. 22. Taciâ—us â— hist Velites Hastati Principes Triarii Lib. 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. de mil. Rom. The use of this division The distinction of their companies Manipuli Ordines Cohors Lib. 3. de re â—ust A legion ranged in battell The first order 3 De bello civili Prima cohorâ— The benefit of this discipline The benefit of small battalions and the disadvantage of great squadrons * Bray in the county of Reâ—ell To take a town by surprise A Testudo described Lib. 44. Lib. 4â— The necessity of good discovery * Now England The order which is to be observed in discovery Slingers with their art and use Lib. â— Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 quest 〈◊〉 Caesar * Noâ—on Caesar * Soyssons Agger or mount Towers or Turrets described Caesar The Bellovaci taken to mercy The Ambiani yield up themselves The Nervii * Sambre near Namur The manner of the Roman march The two respects which Caesar had in ordering a mâ—râ—h 1 Safety 2 Conveniency Agmen quadratum * Lib. 8. de bel Gall. * 60. Epist Lib 6. Agmen longum Lib. 5. de bello Gall. The use that may be made of this in our modern wars Caesar The descript on of the Roman Camp with all the parts belonging unto it The lodging of the legions Quintana Principia The tents of the Tribunes The space between the tents and the rampier Contubernium The ditch and the rampier Agger Vallum Praetoria porta Portae Decumana Portae principales Laeva Dextra Castra Aestiva Hiberna The commodity of this incamping The ceremonies which they used in their preparation to battel Caesar And therefore I rather take it be something else then a word The place and offices of 〈◊〉 Primipile The Target described Lib. 16. cap. 40. Caesar Lib. de Militia Ju. Cae. * Either Doway or Boldaâ— in Brabant Caesar Circumvallatio In the seventh Commentary Aries or the Ram. Cales Aries simplex Aries composita To give notice of an Alarme by fire Lib. 25. The punishments which the Romans laid upon a conquered Nation Caesar Of this suppliâ—â—tion I â—ill speak in the latter end of the fourth book Caesar Caesar The force of novelty turning the fortune of a battel Caesar * Savoyards * Le Perche * Cornoaille in Bretaigne 〈◊〉 * Vannes The weaknesse of our judgement inâ—egâ—â—rd of the knowledge of 〈…〉 The Authority of example Caesar * Ligâ—ris The grounds of that reverent opinion which is held of Embassadours Caesar Lendriguer Lisieux Nantes Auren be Leâ—â—doâ—â— Cities in Little Britain * Triers Caesar The causes of the ebbing and flowing of the sea Springâ—ides The manner of their shipping Lib. 28. The manner of sea-sights Lib. 2. de bello civili Caesar The force of industry * La Perchâ— Caesar * Roane * Eureux The use which the Romans made of a counterfeit fear Lib. 5. Caesar * Evocati Evocati Lib. 7. de Bello Gall. Caesar Sertorius Two meanes to atchieve victory and to over-master our enemies Tuba 〈◊〉 by war and Naamah by the floud Not to forgoe an advantage The place where suspected forces are best bestowed in battel Caesar Lib. 3. Avertimen to secundo Lib. de bello Gallico Caesar * Tâ—roane * Clâ—ve and 〈◊〉 * Those of Zutphen * Of Hassia Caesar Caesar * Geldres and Cleve Salust Tacit. 1. Annal. Caesar * Liege * Coâ—oâ—ia Agrippina * Wael Vincitur haud gratis jugulo qui provocat hostem Liv. lib. 9. Liv. lib. 7. Caesar Caesar Csar Lib. de Machin Caesar Caesar Caesar * 〈…〉 Monstrâ—ul Caesar Ansâ—er to the first objection The answer to the second reason The
Luc. lib. 4. Imprudentium fiducia est fortunam sibi spondere Seneca de beneficiis Incauta semper nimia praesamptio sui negligens Egâ—sip lib. 1. de Instit Cyri. Caesar Thucyd. lib. 7. Caesar â—aetis hâ—nc nâ—mine rebus Ciescendi posuere modum Lucan Eodem ubi laserunt navigia forbentur Seneca Epist 4. Non est in bâ—llo bis peccaâ—e Pluâ—aâ—ch Nullo contectus Curio busto Luc. Homer Iliad 8. Caesar Lib. 6. de comitiis Lib. 5. Anno 〈◊〉 701. Liv. lib. 7. Liv. lib. 9. * Four gallons and a half Plin. l. 35. cap. 12. * Lib. 39. Lib. 1. offic Nec enim 〈◊〉 vehementius rempub contiâ—t quam sides Lib. 2. offic In the life of Julius Caesar Lib. 7. Lib. 7. 2. Offic. Vetus urbi foenebre malum seditionum discordiarumque crebeâ—rima causa Annal. 6 Tull 2. offic Pecuniae quâ—renâ—â—â— ratio naturae consentanea omnibus est à fructibus animalibus de repub lib. 1. cap. 10. Caesar Gen Latinae Feriae Lib. 4 de Antiquit. Rom. Lib. 4. cap. 2 Appian lib. 4. Caesar Iliad 6. 12 Metam Iust lib. 1. Herodot lib. 2. Trebell Pol Sigism Baâ—in Muscâ—â— Quod Fonestias quam â—xoâ—iâ—m levamentum 〈◊〉 Tac. l. 3. Annal. Vix praesenti custedia manere illaesa conjugiâ— â—odem Iudg. 9. Anno 1595. Caesar Qui sapiunt bellum absolvunt celeriter pace fruâ—ntur quam possant dâ—utissime Appian Leges à victoribus 〈…〉 a victis lib. 4. 〈◊〉 in aeqâ—abi itate motâ—m in inaequalitate sâ—mper constitâ—imâ—s In Timâ—o Caesar Timendum ne sub pacis nomine involutum bellum Cicero 〈◊〉 7. Poedus Pacis Foedus Commercil Foedus mutuâ— Auxâ—lii 1. Reg. 22. In Veâ—rem The publication of their seâ—ulâ—r Plaâ—es was criâ—d in these words Convenice ad Iudos spâ—ctandâ—s quos nâ—qâ—e spectavit quisquam nec spectâ—tutus est Sueâ—on in Claudio Nolenteâ— amicum câ—pere difficile Xenoph. de factis dict Socrat. Caesar Frustra sapit qui sibi non sapit Aeneid â— Lib. 16. Successum fortuna experientiam laus sequitur Vaâ—râ— ex Gellio Salust Caesar * Rostra Omnia 〈◊〉 facilias quam 〈…〉 De Mechaniâ—is Livie lib. 8. Plutarch Caesar Incertae sunt res bellicae Thucyd. Caesar Aeneid 2. Homer 9. Iliad 〈◊〉 lib. 8. de bello Gallico Uladislaus Audaces fortuna iuvat Virtus omnia potest Virtute faciendum est quicquid in rebus bellicis est gerendum Plutarch 6 Metamâ—â— Nunquam ita quilquam bene subducta ratione ad vitam fait quin res aetas usus sen 〈◊〉 aliquid 〈…〉 Tâ—ren 〈◊〉 Multi homines pauâ—i viâ—i Herod lib. 7. 〈◊〉 saith that the Romans 〈◊〉 the siege of Veâ—ente being out of humane hope turned their eies to Fate and the hope they had in Destiny Caesar Caesar A hill separating Syria from Cilicia Columnaria Ostiâ—â—â— Propter Aurum Argentum nunquam pacem facit Ferrum lib. 14. Epist 93. Ferrum omnis artis instrumentum Aurum atgentum mortis mancipia Epictetus Capitatio Ostiaria Columnariae 31 ad Atticum Epist 1. In the Paâ—pacy of Sixt. Quinâ—us Fiscus reipub lien quod eo câ—escente artus reliqui tabescunt Sext. Aurelius Victor In Paraeâ—et 2 de Offic. Plutarch Bella sustentantuâ— pecuniâ—rum 〈◊〉 Dion 〈…〉 6. Ann. l. 13. Caesar Quae libera appellabatur * Lepâ—nto In Macedonia quae velint sibi candida nasci ad Haliaâ—monem ducere quae â—ugra 〈◊〉 ad Axium Caesar Caesar * Biremes 〈◊〉 hostium discessiones semper suspectas habere cap. 5. 5 Cyropaed Caesar 〈…〉 Petram Lucan Actus activorum in patientis sunt dispositione Arist Metaph. Caesar ex subâ—â—actis cen conibus Contemprares est homo nisi supra humana se â—rexit 〈◊〉 ratione i 〈…〉 iâ—â— Caesar Caesar Plâ—taâ—ch Lib. 3. c. 59. Labor militiae assidua frâ—ga itatis conâ—â—â—tudine factlior est Iustin Cyâ—us contented with bread and water Xenophon Aequalem oportet semper esse Imperatoris animum mâ—tari enim pro terum varieâ—atibus mentis instabilis argumentum efficitur Agapâ—tus Unus homo nobis cunctando restitute Rem Enn. Lib. 6. de Cyropaed There is a great part of the history in this place omitted Caesar Alâ—ae sunt Legati parâ—es atque Imperatoris â—vocati Millibus ducentis aeris Prinâ—ipilus Solon Plat. â— de 〈◊〉 Liviâ— lib. 4. Lib. 6. In vita Caeâ—â—is In repub multo praestat beneficii qâ—â—m maâ—â—ficii immemorem esse bonus segnior â—it ubi negligas mâ—â—as improbior Sal. Iugâ—r Caesar Et morâ—u spoliare nemus lethumqâ—e minantes Vellere aâ— ignotis dubias radicibus â—erbas Si bonam dederitis fidam perpetuâ—m 〈…〉 diuturâ—â—m Liâ— lib. 8. 〈◊〉 est quod non expâ—gnet pertâ—nâ—â—x opera intenta diligens cura Senec. lib. 6. Epist 51. Plin. lib. 4. cap. 4. Caesar Poenam semper anâ—e oculos versari putent qui peccaverunt Cic. â—n â—rat 〈◊〉 Milone Lib. 5. Cyâ—op Caesar Arma alienasse grave â—rimâ—n est â—a poeâ—a deâ—ertioni exâ—quatur utique si tota alienâ—vit Lib. 14. § de re militari Vir virtute ex miâ—s aliquâ—ndo fortuna semperâ—a imo maximus Caesar * Eâ—itius Sapiens non semper itâ— uno gradu 〈…〉 Herodot 〈◊〉 omnia expensa omnia feruntur accepâ—aâ—â— in tota ratiore mortalium sâ—la uttâ—â—que paginam facit Plin. lib. 2. cap. 7. Caesar Humanaâ—um rerum â—â—â—culus est qui roâ—atus semper â—osdem fortunatos esse non sinit Herodot lib. 1. Habet has vices conditio mortalium ut advâ—rsi ex secundis secunda ex adversis nascantur Pâ—in in Paneg. Herodot lib. 1. Lâ—â—vento è spesso judice non imperito delle cose Guicâ— lib. 5. Caesar The Philosophâ—â— Câ—ator was wont to say that 〈…〉 occasion of an ill 〈◊〉 is a great comfort in any 〈◊〉 of advâ—â—sity Plaâ— in câ—ns Apo. 〈…〉 Prae â—orum delâ—cta 〈◊〉 non acâ—â—piunt Veâ—â—t lib. 1. cap. 14. Finem dolendi qui consilio non fecerit tempore invenit 〈◊〉 Epist 64. Lib. 2. Livie 31. Livie 27. Lib. 2. de bello Civili Front lib. 1. cap. 1. Caesar Lib. 5. de Milit. Ro. cap. 14. Lib. 1. cap. 1 Caesar Humanâ—tum actionum felâ— itas infeli 〈…〉 rerum particulis quae multae sunt varie sed ex eventis judi intuâ— Dionys Hal. lib. 9. Caesar After three of the clock in the afternoon Lib. 5. Obsidio ejus urbis quam cito capere velis utgenda premenda Lib. 6. de Instit Cyri. Bello lex acquirendi justissima Dionys 〈◊〉 in exper legat Polyb. lib. 8 Caesar Comineus In orat pro Plaâ—â—o Virtus felicitatis mensura non foâ—tuna Dio. Hâ—licarn lib. 2. Caesar Prima egregiorum ducum sapientia victoriam siâ—e periculo comparare Polyae lib. 1 stratag Lib. 7. Lib. 3. Excid 2. Offic. 〈◊〉 In manibus vestris quantus sit Caesar habetis Lucan lib. 7. Lib. 2. cap. 3 Singulas cohortes detraxit Lib. 2. cap. 3. Caesar Plutarch Lucan lib. 4. Homer Iliad 3. Lib. 4. cap. 2. Lib. 7. Lib. 4. cap. 7. In the life of Pompey Florus Lib. 4. Infelix quanta Dominum virtute paraâ—â—â— Caesar Utilis tuta res dilato Dionys Halicar lib. 8. Non commitruntur regâ—â—is trireâ—es aut loca aut legiones aut arces sed verba tempora Demost de falsa legatione 1. Labor in nâ—gotio 2. fortitudo in periculo 3. induâ—tria in agendo 4. celeritas in consiciendo were Caesars properties Caesar Interdâ—â— majores copiae sternuntur à minoribus 〈…〉 lib. 8. Lib. 8. Caesar Pompeius Trogus lib. 6. Lib. 8. Caesar Pompâ—ius 〈…〉 esse non poâ—et risi beneficio servitutis 5. de 〈◊〉 16 5. Polit. Nil nimium cupito was writ in golden letters at Delphos Justum bellum esse iis quibus nisi in armis spes nulla est Machiav Nusquana gâ—ntium râ—peritur qui possit penibus approbart Mors omnium par est per quae venit diversi sunt id in quod definiâ—unam est Epist 67. Homines sicut pomi aâ—t matura caduâ—t aut 〈◊〉 Plut. in viâ—a Rompeii Mors Naturae lex est Mors tribuâ—um officiumque mortalium Seneâ—â— natural quaest â— Fabius dictus Maximus Scipio magnus Polyaenus lib. 8. Epist 100. This thaâ—â— fâ—lloweth seemeth of another stile The Prieâ—ts of Egypt said That whensoever the Axe and the bundle of Rods came into Alexandria the power of their Kings should presently case according as it was written in a Columne of gold at Memphis Lib. 2. Ep. 8. Lib. 15. cap. 18. Lib. 5. cap. 9. A File The Leader Battallion A Rank or Front Sidemen The number of souldiers in a Battallion unâ—â—rtain The length Breadth oâ— depth Dignities in places to be observed The first rank The bringers up or Tergiductores or last rank The second and ninth ranks The fifth and sixth ranks Files The right-hand file The left-hand file Distances between files and ranks Open order Order Close ordeâ— pouldron to pouldron The manner of câ—arging with five ranks Stand in front In arrectostate Faces to the right or left hand Declinate in hastam vel in scutum Faces about to the right or left hand Duplicatâ— declinatio or mutatio Wheel to the right or left hand Conversio in hastam vel scutum As you were Revolutio Reversio Wheel about Inflexio militum Reflexâ—o Files From the rere 〈◊〉 â—volutio Macedonica From the front through Laconica evolutio From the front and stand Choâ—ica evolutio Countermarching of ranks The doubling of files to the right or left hand By men Duplicare altitudinem By ground Doubling of ranks by inserting or adding new troups Duplicare longitudinem Silence to be kept In a champain In streights or narrow passages How to 〈◊〉 a division for such a maâ—ch To reduce them 〈◊〉 in into theâ—r first front The manner of chaâ—ging pikes with pikes Five ranks onely By the whole depth To charge with musketiers There must not be too many in a rank In the retreat The manner of charging by â—iles in narrow passages In the pases of Ireland By signes By drum or trumpet By word of mouth The most usual directing terms in exercising a baâ—â—allion or division
had a Son call'd Caesario establish'd Queen Caesar takes his march towards Asia through Syria having receiv'd intelligence that while he was engag'd in the warres of Aegypt King Pharnaces the Son of the mighty Mithridates taking his advantage of the dissensions among the Romans entertained some hopes of recovering what his Father had lost having in order thereto overthrown Domitius whom Caesar had left Governour in those parts and taken in by force the Provinces of Bithynia and Cappadocia expelling thence Ariobarzanes a friend and subject to Rome The like he intended to have done with Armenia the lesse which King Dejotarus had made subject to the Romans But Caesar coming upon Pharnaces before he expected him they in a few dayes came to a Battell which in a few hours was dispatched to the overthrow of the King and the infinite slaughter of his people which he himself escaped by flight This Victory gave Caesar more satisfaction then any of his former because of the great desire he had to return to Rome where he was informed many scandalls were spread and insolencies committed by the encouragement of his absence He had also understood that Pompey's eldest Son had seiz'd a great part of Spain and out of those that M. Varro had left there and some gleanings of his Father's troups had gotten together some considerable force He also knew that most of the principall Romans who had escaped the Battel at Pharsalia were gathered together in Africk and headed by M. Cato surnamed Vticensis for having kill'd himself at Vtica and Pompey's Father-in-Law that they had a great part of Pompey's navy that with the assistance of Iuba King of Mauritania they had subdu'd all that Country and had a great Army in readinesse against Caesar having chosen Scipio for their General because that name had been fortunate in Africk Caesar upon intelligence of all these transactions with his wonted celerity and diligence recovers all that Pharnaces had usurped chasing him from Pontus regained all those Countries which he recommended to the government of Caelius Minucius with two Legions where having reconciled differences decided all controversies and settled all things by rewarding and gratifying those Kings and Tetrarchs who had continued firm to the Common-wealth and interest of Rome he made no longer aboad in Asia but passing with all expedition into Italy he came to Rome within a little more then a year after he had departed thence wherewith if we compare his great expeditions and adventures it would prove matter of faith and astonishment to consider how such vast Armies should passe through so many countries in so short a time Some few dayes after his coming to Rome he is created the third time Consul and as farre as time and the exigencies of his affairs permitted studied the reformation of what disorders there then were For that his Enemies before-mentioned should be Masters of Africk was a thing he could not easily digest Therefore with his ordinary expedition he marches thitherward and commands his forces to follow He took shipping in Sicily and so passed into Africk having no great force with him however such was his confidence of his Fortune that he staid not the arrivall of either his Army or navy Being landed with his small forces near unto the City of Adrumetum he marches unto another called Leptis where he was received and where he took occasion by some conflicts to keep the enemy in action so to divert them from augmenting their forces In fine his Legions being arrived he very earnestly set himself to the prosecution of the war in which though it lasted but four Months from the beginning of Ianuary to the end of Aprill there happened many encounters and Battels For having dispatched what work Petreius and Labienus found him he came to deal with Scipio and King Iuba who had brought an assistance of 8000. men whereof one half were Cavalry Africa at that time being very abundant in horse as may appear partly in that Caesar's enemies had among them raised in that Country besides eight Legions of foot 20000. horse Hirtius Plutarch Lucan and Florus have written at large of this warre and tell you that Caesar was many times in very great danger as to his own person yet at last by the assistance of his forces and the compliance of his great Fortune he put a period to that warre by one signall Battel wherein there being slain of the Enemies side 10000. they were utterly defeated Caesar remained Master of the field and shortly after of all the Country The principall Captains of the adverse party though they escaped death at the fight died most of them miserably and unfortunately King Iuba himself being for want of refuge brought to that despair that fighting with Afranius and killing him he commanded one of his own slaves to dispatch himself Marcus Cato being in Vtica hearing of Caesar's approach though confident not onely of his pardon but his particular favour yet either out of an indignation to be oblig'd by his enemy or an extravagant zeal to Liberty laid violent hands on himself Cicero wrote a book in commendation of Cato to justify that action which Caesar answer'd with another which he called Anti-Cato both which are lost The Ceremony of his death was very remarkable for upon hearing of the miscarriage of most of his partners he embraces his Son and Friends and bids them good night pretending to go to bed Resting upon his bed he took into his hand Plato's book of the immortality of the Soul wherein having satisfied himself he about the relieving of the watch with a Roman resolution drew his sword and ran himself into the Body Being not quite dispatch'd Physitians came in and apply'd something to the wound which he suffer'd while they staid with him but assoon as they were departed he pull'd all off and thrust his dying hand into the wound Scipio the Generall in this war having escaped and shipp'd himself in certain Gallies was met by Caesar's navy but to avoid being taken by them he gave himself some wounds and leapt over-board and so was drown'd Caesar being by this means absolute Victor spends some time in ordering the Provinces of Africk which done and reducing Iuba's Kingdome into a Province he comes to Vtica whence he embarqued the third of Iune for Sardinia where having staid some few dayes he arrives at Rome Iuly 25. whither as soon as he was come there were granted unto him four Triumphs The first was for his conquest and Victories in France wherein were set forth the Rivers of Rhodanus and the Rhene wrought in gold In the second which was for Aegypt and King Ptolemey were represented the River Nile and the Pharos of Alexandria burning The third was for his Victory over King Pharnaces wherein a certain writing represented the celerity he used in the prosecution of that Victory which onely contain'd three words Veni Vidi Vici I came I saw I overcame The fourth was for his
for the bad beginning was not the beginning of a good but of an evil end And therefore that his men might foresee a happy end in a good beginning it behoved him with the best of his Army to assault the weakest part of the enemy The last form is called Gibbosa or gibbera Acies when the battell is advanced and the two cornets lag behind This form did Hannibal use in the battell of Cannae but with this Art that he strengthened his two cornets with the best of his souldiers and placed his weakest in the midst that the Romans following the retreat of the battell which was easily repelld might be inclosed on each side with the two cornets Chap. XX. The Battell between Caesar and Ariovistus THe sign of the battell being thereupon given our men charged upon the enemy very fiercely and they on the otherside returned so speedy a counterbuffe that the legions had no time to cast their piles and in that regard made hast to betake themselves to their swords But the Germans according to their manner putting themselves into a Phalanx received the force of their swords In the battell there were many legionary souldiers seen to leap upon the Phalanx and to pull up with their hands the targets that covered it and so to wound and kill those that were underneath and so the left Cornet of the enemy was overthrown and put to flight Now while the right Cornet was thus busied the left Cornet was overcharged with an unequall multitude of the Germans which young Crassus the Generall of the horse no sooner perceived having more scope and liberty then any of the Commanders that were in the battell but he sent tertiam Aciem the third battell to rescue and aid their fellows that were in danger by means whereof the fight was renewed and all the enemy was put to flight and never looked back untill they came to the Rhene which was about fifty miles from the place where they fought Where some few of them saved themselves by swimming others found some boats and so escaped Ariovistus lighting upon a little Bark tied to the shore recovered the other side and so saved himself the rest were all slain by the horsemen Ariovistus had two wives one a Swevian whom he brought with him from home and the other of Norica the sister of King Vocion sent unto him by her brother into Gallia and married there both these perished in that fight His two daughters likewise being there one was slain and the other taken As Caesar pursued the German horsemen it was his chance to light upon Valerius Procillus as he was drawn up and down by his Keepers bound in three chains which accident was as gratefull to him as the victory it self being so fortunate to recover his familiar friend and a man of sort in the Province whom the barbarous enemy contrary to the law of Nations had cast into prison Neither would Fortune by the losse of him abate any thing of so great pleasure and contentment for he reported that in his own presence they had three severall times cast lots whether he should be burned alive and that still he escaped by the fortune of the lots And M. Titius was found in like manner and brought unto him The same of this battell being carried beyond the Rhene the Swevians that were come to the banks of the Rhene returned home again whom the inhabitants neare upon that river pursued finding them terrified and distracted and slew a great number of them Caesar having thus ended two great warres in one Summer brought his Army into their wintering Campes somewhat sooner then the time of the year required and leaving Labienus to command them himself returned into the hither Gallia to keep Courts and publick Diets THE FIRST OBSERVATION THis Phalanx here mentioned can hardly be proved to be the right Macedonian Phalanx but we are rather to understand it to be so termed by reason of the close and compact imbattelling rather then in any other respect and it resembled much a testudo as I said of the Helvetian Phalanx Secondly I observe that Caesar kept the old rule concerning their discipline in fight for although the name of Triaries be not mentioned in his history yet he omitted not the substance which was to have primam secundam tertiam Aciem and that prima Acies should begin the battell and the second should come fresh and assist them or peradventure if the enemy were many and strong the first and second battell were joyned together and so charged upon the enemy with greater fury and violence but at all adventures the third battell was ever in subsidio as they termed it to succour any part that should be overcharged which was a thing of much consequence and of great wisdome For if we either respect the incouragement of the souldiers or the casualty of Fortune what could be more added to their discipline in this behalf then to have a second and a third succour to give strength to the fainting weaknesse of their men and to repair the disadvantage which any accident should cast upon them Or if their valour were equally ballanced and victory stood doubtfull which of the two parties she should honour these alwayes stept in being fresh against weary and over-laboured spirits and so drew victory in despight of casualty unto themselves THE SECOND OBSERVATION COncerning use of lots it shall not be amisse to look into the nature of them being in former times so generall that there was no Nation civil or barbarous but was directed in their greatest affairs by the sentence of lots As we may not refuse for an undoubted truth that which Salomon saith in the sixteenth of Proverbs The lots are cast into the lap but the direction thereof belongeth to the Lord through the knowledge whereof Josua was directed to take Achan the Marriners Jonas and the Apostles to consecrate Matthias So whether the heathen and barbarous people whose blindnesse in the way of truth could direct them no further then to senselesse superstition and put them in mind of a duty which they owed but could not tell them what it was nor how to be performed whether these I say were perswaded that there was any supernaturall power in their lotteries which directed the action to the decree of destiny and as the Gods would have it it remaineth doubtfull Aristotle the wisest of the heathen concerning things naturall nameth that event casuall or proceeding from Fortune of which the reason of man could assign no cause or as he saith which hath no cause So that whatsoever happened in any action besides the intent of the agent and workman was termed an effect of Fortune or chance of hab-nab For all other effects which depended upon a certainty and definite cause were necessarily produced and therefore could not be casuall or subject to the inconstancy of chance And because many and sundry such chances daily happened which like terrae filii
flight yet having some thirty horse which Comius of Arras had carried with him at his coming into Britany he imbattelled his legions before his Camp and so gave them battel The Enemy not being able to bear the assault of the Roman souldiers turned their backs and fled the Romans followed them as far as they could by running on foot and after a great slaughter with the burning of their towns far and near they returned to their Camp The same day the Britans sent messengers to Caesar to intreat for peace whom he commanded to double their number of hostages which he commanded to be carried into Gallia And forasmuch as the Aequinoctium was at hand he thought it not safe to put himself to the sea in winter with such weak shipping and therefore having got a convenient time he hoised sail a little after midnight and brought all his ships safe unto the Continent Two of these ships of burthen not being able to reach the same haven put in somewhat lower into the land the souldiers that were in them which were about three hundred being set on shore and marching towards their Camp the Morini with whom Caesar at his going into Britany had made peace in hope of a booty first with a few of their men stood about them commanding them upon pain of death to lay down their weapons and as the Romans by casting themselves into an Orbe began to make defence at the noise and clamour amongst them there were suddenly gathered together about six thousand of the Enemy Which thing being known Caesar sent out all the horsemen to relieve them In the meantime the Romans sustained the force of the Enemy and fought valiantly about the space of four hours and receiving themselves only some few wounds they slew many of the Enemy As soon as the Roman horsemen came in sight the Enemy cast away their weapons and fled and a great number of them fell by the horsemen OBSERVATION OF all the figures which the Tactici have chosen to make use of in military affairs the circle hath ever been taken for the fittest to be applyed in the defensive part as inclosing with an equall circuit on all parts whatsoever is contained within the circumference of that Area and therefore Geometry termeth a circumference a simple line forasmuch as if you alter the site of the parts and transport one arch into the place of another the figure notwithstanding will remain the same because of the equall bending of the line throughout the whole circumference Which property as it proveth an uniformity of strength in the whole circuit so that it cannot be said that this is the beginning or this is the end this is front or this is flank so doth that which Euclide doth demonstrate in the third of his Elements concerning the small affinity between a right line and a circle which being drawn to touch the circumference doth touch it but in a point only shew the greatnesse of this strength in regard of any other line by which it may be broken Which howsoever they seem as speculative qualities conceived rather by intellectuall discourse then manifested to sensible apprehension yet forasmuch as experience hath proved the strength of this figure in a defensive part above any other manner of imbattelling let us not neglect the knowledge of these naturall properties which discover the causes of this effect neither let us neglect this part of military knowledge being so strong a means to maintain valour and the sinew of all our ability for order correspondent to circumstances is the whole strength and power of an Army Neither ought there any action in a wel-ordered discipline to be irregular or void of order And therefore the Romans did neither eat nor sleep without the direction of the Consul or chief Commander otherwise their valour might rather have been termed fury then vertue but when their courage was ranged with order and disposed according to the occurrences of the time it never failed as long as the said order continued perfect It appeareth therefore how important it is for a Commander to look into the diversity of orders for imbattelling and to weigh the nature thereof that he may with knowledge apply them to the quality of any occasion The Romans termed this figure Orbis which signifieth a round body both with a concave and a convex surface in resemblance whereof I understand this Orbe of men imbattelled to be so named which might peradventure consist of five or more or fewer ranks inclosing one another after the nature of so many circles described about one Centre so that either the midst thereof remained void or otherwise contained such carriages and impediments as they had with them in their march This form of imbattelling was never used but in great extremity for as it was the safest of all other so it gave suspicion to the souldiers of exceeding danger which abated much of their heat in battel as will hereafter appear by the testimony of Caesar himself in the fifth Commentary upon the occasion which happened unto Sabinus and Cotta CHAP. XIIII THe next day Caesar sent Titus Labienus a Legate with those legions which he had brought out of Britany against the revolted Morini who having no place of refuge because their bogs and fens were dryed up where they had sheltred themselves the year before they all fell under the power of his mercy Q. Titurius and A. Cotta the Legates who had led the legions against the Menapii after they had wasted their fields cut up their corn burned their houses for the Menapii were all hid in thick woods returned to Caesar These things being thus ended Caesar placed the wintering Camps of all his legions amongst the Belgae to which place two only of all the Cities in Britany sent hostages unto him the rest neglecting it These wars being thus ended upon the relation of Caesars letters the Senate decreed a supplication for the space of twenty dayes OBSERVATION IN the end of the second Commentary we read of a supplication granted by the Senate for fifteen dayes which was never granted to any man before that time since the first building of the City but forasmuch as in this fourth year of the wars in Gallia it was augmented from fifteen unto twenty dayes I thought it fit to refer the handling thereof unto this place We are therefore to understand that whensoever a Roman Generall had carried himself well in the wars by gaining a victory or enlarging the bounds of their Empire that then the Senate did decree a supplication to the gods in the name of that Captain And this dignity was much sought after not only because it was a matter of great honour that in their names the Temples of their gods should be opened and their victories acknowledged with the concourse and gratulation of the Roman people but also because a supplication was commonly the forerunner of a triumph which was the greatest honour in the Roman
Hannibal To this may be added that famous battel between the old Romans and the last Latines wherein both parties were equally ballanced both in number and quality of their souldiers having both the same Armes the same use of their weapons and the same discipline as if it had been in a Civile war Neither could Fortune tell by the presence of their Armies where to bestow her favour or where to shew her disdain but that the worthinesse of the Roman Leaders brought the odds in the tryall and made Rome great with the ruine of the Latines Whereby it appeareth how much it importeth the whole fortune of the Army to have a Leader worthy of the place which he holdeth forasmuch as nothing doth make a greater difference of inequality between two equall Armies then the wisedome and experience of a grave Commander or the disability of an unskilfull Leader which are so powerfull in their severall effects that there is greater hope of a herd of Harts led by a Lion then of so many Lions conducted by a Hart. CHAP. XIV Ambiorix directeth the Galles how they might best fight with advantage and frustrate the weapons of the Roman souldiers THe which thing when Ambiorix perceived he commanded his men to throw their casting weapons afar off and keep themselves from coming near at hand and where the Romans charged them to give way for that by reason of the lightnesse of their armes and their daily exercise the Romans could do them no harm and again as they saw them retâ—re to their Ensignes then to pursue them Which commandment was so diligently observed by the Galles that as oft as any cohort sallied out of the Orbe to give an assault the Enemy gave back as fast as they could and in the mean time there was no help but that part must be left naked and open to the inconvenience of casting weapons and again as they retired to their place they were circumvented as well by them that had given place unto them as by such as stood next about them And if they went about to keep their ground they could neither help themselves by their manhood nor standing thick together avoid the darts that such a multitude cast upon them Aâ—d yet notwithstanding these inconveniences besides the wounds which they had received they stood still at their defence and having so spent the greatest part of the day for they had fought eight houres together they committed nothing dishonourable or unworthie of themselves THE OBSERVATION I Have spoken already of the manner of the Roman fight consisting altogether in good disposition of imbattelling and in firm standing and buckling at handy-blowes as may appear by this circumstance where Ambiorix forbiddeth his men to buckle with them but to give back and follow on again as the lightnesse of their Armes gave them opportunity In like manner in the first book of the Civile wars in the battel between Caesar and Afranius it appeareth that Caesar his souldiers were bound to keep their array not to leave their Ensignes nor without a weighty occasion to forsake their stations appointed them whereas the Afranians fought thin and scattered here and there and if they were hard laid unto they thought it no dishonour to retire and give back as they had learned of the Portugals and other Barbarous Nations CHAP. XV. The Romans are overthrown THen T. Baluentius who the year before had been primipile of that legion a valiant man and of great authority had both his thighs darted through with a javelin and Q. Lucanius of the same order valiantly fighting to succour his son was slaâ—n and L. Cotta the Legate as he busily incouraged all the cohorts and centuries was wounded in the mouth with a sling Titurius moved with these things as he beheld Ambiorix afar off incouraging his men sent Câ— Pompeius unto him to intreat him that he would spare hâ—m and his souldiers Ambiorix answered that â—f he were desirous to treat he might for he hoped to obtain so much of the people to save the souldiers but for himself he should haue no harm at all for the assurance whereof he gave him his faith Titurius imparted the matter to Cotta and that if he liked that they two should goout of the battell and have conference with Ambiorix he doubted not but to obtain of him the safety of themselves and their souldiers Cotta absolutely denied to go to an armed enemy and continued resolute in that opinion Titurius commanded such Tribunes and Centurions as were present to follow him and when he came near to Ambiorix being commanded to cast away his arms he obeyed and willed those that were with him to do the same In the mean time while they treated of the conditions and Ambiorix began a solemn protestation of purpose Titurius was by little and little incompassed about and slain Then according to their custome they cried victory and taking up a houling charged the Romans with a fresh assault and routed their troups There L. Cotta fighting valiantly was slain the most part of the souldiers with him The remnant retired into their camp amongst whom L. Petrosidius the Eagle-bearer when he saw himself overcharged with enemies threw the Eagle within the rampier and fighting with a great courage before the Camp was slain The rest with much ado indured the assault untill night and in the night being in despair of all succour slew themselves every man A few that escaped from the battell came by unknown wayes through the woods to Labienus and certified him how all things had fallen out OBSERVATION ANd thus have we heard of the greatest losse that ever fell at any one time upon Caesar his Army from the time that he was first Proconful in Gallia unto the end of his Dictatorship For in the two overthrows at Dyrrachâ—um he lost not above 1000 men and in that at Gergovia not so many but here fifteen cohorts were cut in pieces which amounted to the number of 7000 men or thereaâ—out Which maketh cowardise and ill direction the more hatefull in regard that the great victory which his valour obtained in Pharsalia cost him but the lives of two hundred men The resolution of such as returned to the Camp witnesseth the exceeding valour of the Roman souldier if a valiant Leader had had the managing thereof or if Cotta alone had been absolute Commander there had been great hope of better fortune in the successe But here it happened as it commonly doth that where there are many that are equall sharers in the chief authority the direction for the mâ—st part followeth him that is more violeâ—t in opinion then the rest which being a property rather of passion then of judicious discourse forceth a consent against the temperate opposition of a true discerning understanding And so consequently it falleth out that one coward having place and authority in the Councell doth either infect or anniâ—ilate the sound deliberations of the rest of the Leaders for
soulders to be sent him with all speed He rated every city what proportion of arms they should have ready and specially he laboured to raise great store of horse To extraordinary diligence he added extraordinary severity compelling such as stood doubtfull by hard and severe punishment for such as had committed a great offence he put to death by fire and torture lesser faults he punished with the losse of their nose or their eies and so sent them home that by their example others might be terrified By these practises and severity having speedily raised a great army he sent Lucterius of Cahors a man of great spirit and boldnesse with part of the forces towards the Rutheni and he himself made towards the Bituriges Upon his coming the Bituriges sent to the Hedui in whose protection they were in require aid against Vercingetorix The Hedui by the advice of the Legates which Caesar had left with the army sent forces of horse and foot to the aid of the Bituriges who coming to the river Loire which divideth the Bituriges from the Hedui after a few dayes stay not daring to passe over the river returned home again bringing word to our Legates that they durst not commit themselves to the Bituriges and so returned For they knew that if they had passed over the river the Bituriges had inciosed them in on the one side and the Arverni on the other But whether they did return upon that occasion or through perfidious treachery it remaineth doubtfull The Bituriges upon their departure did presently joyn themseleves with the Arverni OBSERVATIONS IT is observed by such as are acquainted with matter of Government that there ought to be alwayes a proportion of quality between him that commandeth and them that obey for if a man of Sardanapalus condition should take upon him the charge of Marius army it were like to take no better effect then if Manlius had the leading of lascivious Cinaedes And as we may observe in oeconomicall policy a dissolute master may as soon command hair to grow on the palm of his hand as to make a vertuous servant but the respect of duty between such relatives doth likewise inferre the like respect of quality so in all sorts and conditions of command there must be sympathizing means to unite the diversity of the parts in the happy end of perfect Government In this new Empire which befell Vercingetorix we may observe a double proportion between him and his people The first of strength and ability and the other of quality and resemblance of affection upon the assurance of which proportion he grounded the austerity of his command For it appeareth that his first beginning was by perswasion and intreaty and would indure no direction but that which was guided by a loose and easy reine holding it neither safe nor seemly but rather a strain of extreme madnesse first to punish or threaten and then to want power to make good his judgements but being strengthened by authority from themselves and backed with an army able to controll their disobedience he then added punishment as the ensign of Magistracy and confirmed his power by rigorous commands which is as necessary a demonstration of a well-settled government as any circumstance belonging thereunto Touching the resemblance and proportion of their qualities it is manifestly shewed by the sequele of this history that every man desired to redeem the common liberty of their country in that measure of endeavour as was fitting so great a cause Amongst whom Vercingetorix being their chief Commander summae diligentiae as the story saith added summam severitatem to great diligence great severity as well assured that the greater part would approve his justice and condemn the uncertainty of doubtfull resolutions desiring no further service at their hands then that wherein himself would be the formost In imitation of Valerius Corvinus Factamea non dicta vos milites sequi volo nec disciplinam modo sed exemplum etiam à me petere I would have you O my Souldiers do as I do and not so much mind what I say and to take not your discipline only but your pattern also from me And therefore the party was like to be well upheld forasmuch as both the Prince and the people were so far ingaged in the matter intended as by the resemblance of an earnest desire might answer the measure of due proportion CHAP. IV. Caesar cometh into Gallia and by a device getteth to his army THese things being told Caesar in Italy assoon as he understood that the matters in the city were by the wisdome of Pompey brought into better state he took his journey into Gallia and being come thither he was much troubled how to get to his army For if he should send for the Legions into the Province he understood that they should be certainly fought withall by the way in his absence If he himself should go unto them he doubted how he might safely commit his person to any although they were such as were yet in peace In the mean time Lucterius of Cahors being sent against the Rutheni doth easily unite that State to the Arverni and proceeding further against the Nitiobriges and the Gabali he received hostages of both of them and having raised a great power he laboured to break into the Province and to make towards Narbo Which being known Caesar resolved by all means to put him by that purpose and went himself to Narbo At his coming he incouraged such as stood doubtfull or timorous and placed garrisons amongst the Rutheni the Volsci and about Narbo which were frontier places and near unto the enemy and commanded part of the forces which were in the Province together with those supplies which he had brought out of Italy to go against the Helvii which are adjoyning upon the Arverni Things being thus ordered Lucterius being now suppressed and removed holding it to be dangerous to enter among the garrisons he himself went towards the Helvii And albeit the hill Gebenna which divideth the Arverni from the Helvii by reason of the hard time of winter and the depth of the snow did hinder their passage yet by the industry of the souldier making way through snow of six foot deep they came into the confines of the Arverni who being suddenly and unawares suppressed little mistrusting an invasion over the hill Gebenna which incloseth them in as a wall and at that time of the year doth not afford a path to a single man alone he commanded the horsemen to scatter themselves far and near to make the enemy the more afraid These things being speedily carried to Vercingetorix all the Arverni full of fear and amazement flocked about him beseeching him to have a care of their State and not to suffer themselves to be sacked by the enemy especially now at this time when as all the war was transferred upon them Upon their instant intreaty he removed his camp out of the territories
and raised of earth as the best defence against the fury of the artillery But forasmuch as the old manner of fortification is here in part delivered by Caesar give me leave to have a word or two touching the fortifications of these times And first touching the art it self in respect of the matter and the manner it is a member of architecture but the end is military for to fortify is nothing else but to make a building answerable to necessity and the occurrences of war Neither is it the end of fortification to make a place inexpugnable or unpossible to be taken for so it were Ars artium but to reduce it to a good and reasonable defence Wheresoever then any such defence is required the mystery of fortification is to raise such a fort and to apply such a figure answering the quality and site of that place as may give greatest strength thereunto for as all places are not capable in the disposition of their best strength of all sorts of figures so there is a difference of strength between this and that figure And as the place wanteth the advantage of motion and agility for its own defence so is it requisite it should be furnished with the best means and commodities both to annoy the enemy and to defend its own people And in that respect all circular forms as compounded of parts of one and the same nature are unfit for fortification for where a fort ought so to be disposed that it may have as many hands to strike as Briarâ—us and as a Hydra never to want a head it is necessary that the figure thereof be of different and unlike parts as apt to work divers effects For unlesse it be able to discover a far off to command the country about as far as the artillery will play to stop the passages to hinder approaches and assaults to damnify the enemy at hand and far off sometimes with the artillery sometimes with small shot sometimes with fire-works and other times by sallies it hath not that perfection as is requisite Admitting therefore composition of parts next unto the circle the triangular fortresse is most unperfect first in regard it is a figure of lesse capacity then any other of equall bounds which is a great inconvenience in a hold when the souldiers shall be pinn'd up for want of room and through the straightnesse of the place not to be able to avoid confusion Secondly the bulwarks of all such triangular fortresses have alwayes such sharp cantons as are easily subject to breaking which giveth the enemy means to approach them without disturbance from the fort The quadrangle fortresse hath almost the same imperfection of angles as the triangle hath but is more spacious within and of greater capacity And therefore Pentagons or Hexagons or any other that hath more angles is fittest for fortification understanding the place to be capable of them as being of a greater content and having their angles more obtuse and by consequence more solid and strong A plain champain level doth admit all sorts of figures and may take the best having these advantages it easily hindereth an enemy from approaching near unto it or incamping before it and is not subject to mines by reason of the water rising in such levels But on the other side a small troup will besiege it and battery may be laid to divers places of it it is alwayes subject to mounts of earth and needeth many bulwarks â—ditches and much cost to keep it A fortresse upon a hill hath these advantages an enemy can hardly lodge near unto it or lay battery against it it requireth more men to besiege it and is not subject to mounts The disadvantages are that it is not in our choice to make it in the best form of strength but must give it such a figure as may best fit the place being sometimes too large and spacious and sometimes too strait The enemies artillery hath greater force against it playing upward and the artillery of the fort playeth not so sure downward The hands of all forts are the bulwarks from whence the artillery playeth the supplements to the bulwarks are the ravelins the platforms the casmates and the cavaleros The walls are made in scarp canting inwards the better to bear the weight of the earth with this proportion that to every five foot and half or six foot in height there be one foot allowed in scarp The counterscarp is another wall outward to the first and stopeth inward in the same manner as the former And thus much touching the generall view of fortification which is as much as may well be comprehended in these short observations reserving the further consideration thereof to a particular treatise by it self CHAP. XII The siege of Avaricum continued THe siege being hindered by so many disturbances and the souldiers afflicted all the time with cold and continuall rain yet they overcame all these lets with continuall labour and in five and twenty dayes they raised a mount of three hundred and thirty foot in breadth and fourscore in height When it came almost to touch the wall Caesar himself attending the work as his custome was and encouraging the souldiers to omit no time from the same a little before the third watch of the night the mount was seen to smoak the enemy having set it on fire with a mine And at the same instant of time a shout being taken up by them that stood upon the wall they made a sally out at two gates on both sides the towers Some cast firebrands and dry matter from the wall unto the mount pouring pitch and other things to nourish the fire that no man knew whither to run first or where to give help Notwithstanding forasmuch as Caesar had appointed two legions by turn to watch before the camp and two other to follow the works it happened and that quickly that some were ready to confront the sallies and others to draw back the towers from the front of the mount and to cut the mount asunder the whole multitude coming out of the camp to quench the fire The rest of the night being now spent the fight continued every where and ever the enemy took new spirits and had hope of victory the rather because they saw the sheds or hovels belonging to the towers burnt and that the souldiers could not come near the said towers to manage them as was fitting without shelter and covert and that they ever sent fresh men to take the rooms of such as were weary and over-laboured supposing the safety of all Gallia to consist in that instant of time There happened our selves beholding it an accident worthy memory which I think not fit to omit A certain Gall before the gate of the town casting with his hands balls of tallow and pitch to increase the fire right over against the tower was shot through the right side
Philosopher Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris Ingratitude is culpable of all sorts of wickedness and deserveth the greatest measure of revenge And the rather for that it taketh away the use of vertue and maketh men forget to do good For whereas the nature of goodness is specially seen in communicating it self to the relief of other mens wants we ought to give all diligence not to hinder this inlargement nor by a froward and crooked example to prejudice others that stand in need of the like favour I have often heard it spoken but I know not how true it is and am loath to believe it that in the exchange of a good turn the party that receiveth it hath more assurance of his benefactor touching a faithfull and friendly disposition for the future time then he that shewed the kindness can have of the receiver for men are loath to loose both the fruit and the seed and will rather bestow more cost and labour then forgoe the hope of their first endeavours expecting both in reason and nature fruit answerable to their seed whereas the badness of our nature is such of it self Ut gratia oneri ultio in quaestu habetur THE SECOND OBSERVATION THere is no means so ready to abuse a multitude as false suggestion which like a lying spirit seduceth the minds of men from the truth conceived and fashioneth their hearts to such purposes as seemeth best to the abuser and the rather when it is delivered by a man of place and authority and such a one as pretendeth carefulness for the safety of a people for then it slieth as fast as the lightning in the aire and deludeth the wisest and best experienced of the multitude A mischief that can hardly be prevented as long as there is a tongue to speak or an ear to hear But as Socrates said of pain and case that they are alwayes tied together so men must endeavour to redeem the hurts of such an evill by the benefit which thereby is consequently implyed for it were hard if wise men could not make the like use of a multitude to good purposes as these deceivers do for their own advantage Numa Pompilius to whom the Roman Empire did owe as much for lawes and civil government as to Romulus for their martiall discipline the better to establish such ordinances and decrees as he made in his kingdome feigned familiar acquaintance with a goddesse of that time called Egeria and by her he said he was assured that the Statutes which he made were both equall and just and good for the Romans to observe and the people found no hurt in believing it In like manner Lycurgus having given many lawes to the Spartans repaired to the citie of Delphos and there he got a pleasing Oracle which he sent to Sparta assuring them that his laws were very good and that city keeping them should be the most renowned of the world And Sertorius for want of other means used the service of a white Hind as a gift sent him from Diana to make the Lusitanians believe whatsoever might best advantage his business And thus a multitude lieth open to good and ill purposes and is either happy or unfortunate in the counsell of their Leader CHAP. XIX Caesar hindereth the revolt of the Hedui EPoredorix the Heduan a young man of great parentage and of great power in his countrey together with Viridomarus of like age and authority but not so nobly born who being preferred to Caesar by Divitiacus was by him advanced from mean estate to great dignity came both to Caesar with the Heduan horsemen being called out by name to that war by him Between these two there was alwayes contention who should be the chiefest and in that controversie for magistracie the one stood for Convictolitanis and the other for Cotus Of these two Eporedorix understanding the resolution of Litavicus opened the matter to Caesar almost about midnight He prayed him not to suffer their State to fall away from the friendship of the people of Rom by the wicked counsell of young men which would necessarily fall out if he suffered so many thousand men to joyn themselves to the enemy whose safety as neither their kinsfolks would neglect so the State could not lightly esteem of Caesar being much perplexed at this message forasmuch as he had alwayes cherished the State of the Hedui without any further doubt or dispute he took four expedite and unburthened Legions and all the horse out of the camp neither was there space at such a time to make the camp lesser forasmuch as the matter seemed to consist in expedition He left behind him C. Fabius a Legate with two legions for a garrison to the camp And having given order for the apprehending of Litavicus brethren he found that a little before they were fled to the enemy Thereupon adhorting the souldiers not to think much of their labour in so necessary a time every man being most willing he went five and twenty miles and then met with the forces of the Hedui The horsemen being sent to stay their march he commanded not to kill any one of them and gave order to Eporedorix and Viridomarus whom they thought to be slain to ride up and down amongst the horsemen and to call to their countrymen They being once known and the fraud of Litavicus discovered the Hedui stretched out their hands making signs of submission and casting away their weapons desired to be spared from death Litavicus with his clients and followers who by the custome of Gallia must not forsake their patrons in the extremest danger fled to Gergovia Caesar having dispatched messengers to the State of the Hedui to acquaint them that he had saved their people which by the law of arms he might have slain gave the army three hours rest that night and then returned towards Gergovia In the mid-way certain horsemen sent by Fabius made known unto Caesar in what danger the matter stood that the camp was assaulted with all the enemies forces and forasmuch as such as were wearied were still relieved with fresh men it came to passe that our men fainted with continuall labours for the camp was so great that they were alwaies to stana upon the rampier to make it good and that many were wounded with the multitude of arrowes and other sorts of weapons wherein their engines had served them to good purpose for their defence Fabius when these messengers came away had shut up two gates and left other two open and had made sheds and hovels for the better defence of the wall and prepared himself for the like fortune the next day These things being known by the exceeding travell of the souldiers Caesar came into the camp before Sun-rising OBSERVATIONS AS often as the people of Rome had occasion to make war besides the body of the army inrolled for that service in such sort and with such ceremonies as I have formerly delivered the Consul or
bereave the judgement of her prerogative and give it no respite to censure them whereby it cometh to pass that young men are for the most part heedless inconsiderate rash and resolute putting more upon hazard then upon good advice On the otherside old age is cold in blood and not so quick of spirit but being beaten with the rod of long experience it learneth to be slow and lingring full of doubts and consideration inclining rather to a feminine fear then to a forward resolution Neither of these attributes are simply in themselves the best attendants of noble enterprises for a hot-spur gallant may run apace but not go sure and what young man soever is advanced to command had need of an old mans wit to discharge it And if authority did at any time fall into the hands of youth in the Roman government which was very seldom it was Praemium virtutis non aetatis for his vertues sake not his age Pompey was extraordinary happy in that behalf for he attained the surname of great because he had deserved the honour of triumph before his beard was grown And yet Sertorius took such advantage at Pompeys youth coming against him in Spain that he said he would have whipped the young boy to Rome again with rods had not that old woman meaning Metellus come to help him Again where old age heapeth doubt upon doubt and falleth into the danger of unprofitable lingring Nec ausus est satis nec providit it wanteth boldness to steel the enterprise falleth also short of good providence as Tacitus speaketh of F. Valens Augustus Caesar purposing to commend Tiberius his successour with an extraordinary praise said he was a man that never put one thing to be twice consulted of And it is said of Marius that being come to the age of threescore and five years or thereabouts he shewed himself very cold and slow in all his enterprises forasmuch as age had mortified his active heat and killed that ready disposition of body that was wont to be in him The Romans finding Fabius Maximus to be full of doubts and delay good to defend but not to offend and Marcellus of a stirring spirit neither quiet with good nor ill fortune as Annibal truly said of him they thought to joyn Marcellus youthfull courage with Fabius fear and wisedome and so make a temperature fit for a Generall whereupon they called Marcellus the sword and Fabius the buckler wherein Caesar of himself was excellent of whom Suetonius reporteth Dubium cautior an audentior It is uncertain whether he was more wary or daring The best state of years then for this business is that which tempereth the heat of youth with the coldness of age and quickneth the slow and dull proceedings of double advice with the rashness of youthfull resolution and falleth out between the years of five and thirty and five and fifty Scipio Africanus commanded the Roman army in Spain at four and twenty years of age and died at four and fifty Annibal was chosen Generall to Asdrubal at six and twenty years and poisoned himself at threescore and ten Pompey was slain at nine and fifty and Caesar at sixe and fifty Marcellus kept his youthfull resolution to his old dayes forbeing threescore years of age he never longed for any thing more then to fight with Annibal hand to hand CHAP. XXVIII The Galles consult of the carriage of that war THe revolt of the Hedui being known the warre waxed greater Ambassadours were sent out into all parts and they laboured to draw the rest of the States to their party as farre as either favour authority or money could prevail having got the pledges into their hands which Caesar had left with them they terrified such as stood doubtfull by threatning to kill them The Hedui do desire Vercingetorix to come unto them and to acquaint them with the course of that war which being yielded unto they labour to have the chief command transferred upon them The matter growing unto a controversie a generall Councell of all Gallia was summoned at Bibract Thither they repaired in great multitudes and the matter being put to voices they all with one consent made allowance of Vercingetorix for their Generall The men of Rhemes with the Lingones and Treviri were absent from this Councell the two first continuing their affection to the Roman party the Trâ—viri were farre off and were annoyed by the Germans in respect they were absent from that warre and remained neutrall The Hedui were much grieved that they were put by the principalitie they complain of the change of their fortune and wished for Caesars former indulgence neither yet durst they disjoyn themselves again from the rest the warre being already undertaken but Eporedorix and Viridomarus two young men of great hope were constrained though unwilling to obey Vercingetorix He commanded pledges to be delivered by the rest of the States and appointed a day for that businesse He commanded fifteen thousand horse to be speedily brought together touching foot forces he would content himself with those which he had for his purpose was not to wage battell but whereas he was very strong in horse he made no doubt to keep the Romans from corn and forrage only thâ—y must patiently endure to have their corn spoiled and their houses burnt which particular losse would quickly be recompensed with libertie and perpetuall sovereignty These things being ordered he commanded ten thousand foot to be raised by the Hedui and Segusiani bordering upon the Province and to them he added eight hundred horse and sent them under the command of Eporedorix his brother to make warre against the Allobroges And on the other side he caused the Gabali and the nearest villages of the Arverni to set upon the Helvii the Rutheni and the Cadurci and to depopulate their countrey Notwithstanding by secret messages he dealt with the Allobroges whose minds he thought to be scarce settled from the former warre the promised money to their chiefest men and to give the government of all the Roman Province to their State To answer all these chances there were provided but two and twenty cohorts which being raised out of the Province were disposed by L. Caesar a Legate to prevent these mischiefs The Hedui of their own accord giving battell to their borderers were beaten out of the field and were driven into their towns with the slaughter of C. Valerius Donotaurus the sonne of Caburus the chief man of their State and of many other The Allobroges having set many watches and garrisons upon the river Rhene did with great care and diligence defend their borders Caesar understanding the enemy to be stronger in horse then he himself was and the passages being shut that he could not send either into the Province or into Italy for any supplies he sent over the Rhene into Germany and got horse from such States as he had quieted the year before with such light-armed footmen as were accustomed
potestate consulari documento fuere quam plurium imperium bello inutile esset tentando ad sua quisque consilia cum aliâ— aliud vâ—deretâ—r aperuerunt ad occasionem locum hosti The three Tribunes with consular power clearly shewed how inconvenient a thing it is to have more then one commander in chief for while every one adheres to his own advice and judgement one man thinking this thing convenient another that they open a way to the enemy to make advantage against them In the time of their Consuls Quintius and Agrippa being sent against the Aequi Agrippa referred the businesse wholly to his collegue concluding as Livie saith Saluberrimum in administratione magnarum rerum est summum imperii ad unum esse It is the safest way in the managing of great affairs to have one man bear the chief sway And therefore as one body requireth but one head so one businesse would have but one directour forasmuch as Aemulatio inter pares ex eo impedimentum Aemulation and consequently hinderance will be amongst equalls CHAP. XXXV The Galles do chuse out sixty thousand of their best men and do assault the weakest part of Caesars camp THe Galles being repelled twice with great losse do fall into consideration what they were next to do They call unto them such as were well acquainted with the nature and site of the place by whom they understand of the situation of the upper camp On the north side there lay a hill which by reason of the greatnesse of the circuit our men could not take in within the compasse of their works and thereupon were necessarily constrained to lay their camp in an unequall place somewhat shelving This part was kept by Caius Antistius Rheginus and Caius Caninius Rebilus with two Legions This being known by the discoverers the Captains of the enemy chose out sixty thousand of those States which carried the greatest opinion of manhood and did secretly determine amongst themselves how and in what sort they would have the service carried and do determine to put it in execution when the Sun should be near about the noon meridian appointing Vergasilaunus to command those forces being one of the four Captains and kinsman to Vercingetorix He going out of the camp in the first watch of the night came to the end of his journey a little before day and hiding himself behind a hill commanded his souldiers to refresh themselves from the former nights travell And when it began to be towards noon he made towards that part of the camp which I have before mentioned and at the same time the horsemen began to approach towards the works and the rest of the forces shewed themselve before the camp Vercingetorix perceiving this out of the watch-tower of Alesia went out of the town and carried with him long poles hooks and such other provisions which he had made ready before hand for a salley They fought at one instant in all places all wayes were tryed and where they thought it to be weakest thither they ran The Roman forces were dismembred by reason of the large extension of their works so that they could not easily defend many places and the shout which was made behind their backs did much affright our men forasmuch as they perceived that their danger did consist in other mens valour for such things as are absent do for the most part greatly perplex and trouble mens minds Caesar having got a convenient place doth see what is done in every part if any were overcharged he sent them succour and was ready to answer all occasions on both sides the camp He told them that that was the time wherein it was behovefull for them to fight The Galles would despair of all good successe unlesse they brake down the works The Romans if they obtained their purpose might expect an end of their labours The greatest contention was about that place to which Vergasilaunus was sent A small rising in a place doth give much advantage in a shelving descent Some cast weapons others put themselves into a Testudo and came under the works The wearied and over-laboured were seconded by fresh supplies Every man cast earth into the works which raised it so high that the Galles had advantage of ascent and the pikes and sharp stakes which the Romans had cunningly hid under the earth to annoy the enemy were thereby covered It came at last to that passe that our men wanted both strength and weapons Which being known Caesar sent Labienus with six cohorts to relieve those hat were overcharged commanding him if the could not bear out the charge to sally out upon them but not unlesse he were constrained unto it He himself went about to the rest adhorting them not to faint under their labour forasmuch as the fruit and benefit of all their former battels consisted in that day and that hour The enemy within being out of hope of doing any good upon the works made in plain and champain places by reason of the strength of the fortifications tried what they could do in steep and broken places and thither they brought those things which they had prepared With the multitude of their casting weapons they cast out such as fought from turrets they filled their passages with hurdles and earth they brake down the parapet and the rampier with hooks Caesar sent first young Brutus with six cohorts and after him Fabius a Legate with seven more and at length as the fight waxed hot he went himself with a fresh supply The fight being renewed and the enemy beaten off he hasted to that place whither he had sent Labienus and took four cohorts out of the next Castle Part of the horsemen he commanded to follow him and the rest to compasse about the outward works and to set upon the enemy behind Labienus finding that neither rampier nor ditches were able to keep out the enemy having got such forces together as were drawn by chance from the works nearest hand to the number of thirty nine cohorts he acquainted Caesar by messengers what he thought fit to be done Caesar made haste to be at the fight His coming being known by the colour of his garment which he was accustomed to wear in time of battell and the troups of horse and the cohorts being discovered which he had commanded to follow him as the shelving and declining places were subject to the view of higher grounds the enemy begun the fight a great shout was taken up on both sides Our men having thrown their piles betook themselves to their swords Suddenly the horsemen were discovered behind them and other cohorts made their approches towards them The enemy turned his back and fled the horsemen met them as they fled the slaughter was great in that place Sedulius a Captain and Prince of the Lemovici was slain Vergasilaunus was taken alive Threescore and fourteen ensignes were brought unto Caesar and very few of so great a number returned
further order as they should find expedient Gallonius moved with fear dislodged himself and went out of Gades These things being divulged abroad one of the two legions known by the name of Vernacula took up their Ensignes went out of Varro's Camp he himself standing by and looking on and retired themselves to Hispalis and there sat down in the Market-place and in common porches without hurting any man Which the Roman Citizens of that Convent did so well like of that every man was very desirous to entertain them in their houses Whereat Varro being much astonished altered his journey towards Ilipa Italica as he gave it out but soon after was advertised by some of his friends that the gates were shut against him Whereupon being circumvented and fore-closed from all other addresses he sent to Caesar to advertise him that he was ready to deliver up the legion to whomsoever he should please to appoint To which purpose he sent him Sex Caesar commanding the legion to be delivered to him Varro having given up his charge came to Caesar at Corduba there gave him a true account of the carriage of his office The moneys remaining in his hands he delivered up gave an Inventory of the Corn and shipping which were in any place provided Caesar by a publick Oration made at Corduba gave thanks generally to all men As first to the Roman Citizens for the endeavour they used to be Masters of the town Secondly to the Spaniards for driving out the Garrisons To them of Gades that they traversed and prevented the projects of the adversaries and had restored themselves to liberty To the Tribunes of the souldiers and Centurions that were come thither to keep the town for that by their valour and magnanimity the resolution of the townsmen was assured and confirmed He remitted such levies of mony as the Roman Citizens had promised Varro for the publick service He restored the goods confiscated of such as had spoken more freely then was pleasing and gave divers rewards both publick and private the rest he satisfied with hope of good time for the future And having stated there two daies he went to Gades where he gave order that the monies and monuments which were transferred from Hercules Temple to a private house should be carried back again to the Temple He made Q. Cassius Governour of the Province and left with him four legions He himself in a few daies space with those ships which M. Varro and those of Gades by his commandment had made came to Tarraco for there the Embassadours of almost all the hither Province did attend his coming And having received them with private and publick honour in the same fashion as formerly he had used he left Tarraco and came by land to Narbone and from thence to Marseilles where he received first advertisement of the law made at Rome for creating of a Dictator and that himself was named thereunto by M. Lepidus Prator THE FIRST OBSERVATION IT is one of Caesar's peculiars recorded by Suetonius that he never left behind him any spark or suspicion of war least it might be said he did not throughly conquer where he came For he that doth a businesse to halves hath as much more to do before it be done and the remainder in matter of war groweth commonly to a greater head then that which first gave occasion of Arms like fire which is smothered for a time to break out afterwards with greater fury And therefore that he might not be thought to provoke an Enemy rather then subdue him he neglected all occasions how important soever which might draw him into Italy to the end he might settle Spain in a peace answerable to an absolute victory Which he easily effected having over-mastered the chiefest of the party and turned their troups out of the Country as men altogether mistaken in the matter The fame whereof so prevailed with the rest that rather then they would stand out they forsook their Commanders And having thus removed all occasions of force he then proceeded to take away all doubtfulnesse which might accompany a new reconcilement by shewing such respects as well beseemed ancient desert For first he made a publick acknowledgement of their generall love affection towards him and then taking notice of particular services engaged them further with honours and rewards righted such as were oppressed by the adverse party remitted all levies and taxations to shew the difference between his the Enemies favour and filled all men with hope of good times as knowing that fair words accompanied with large promises are powerfull instruments to work out whatsoever is desired And so he took a little more time to settle those Provinces without further trouble as believing in the proverb that What is well done is twice done THE SECOND OBSERVATION M. Varro here mentioned made more profession of knowledge and Arts then any other of his Nation being thereupon stiled by the name of Doctus or Learned yet in the judgement of learned Philosophers was fitter to perswade then to teach Tully being deprived of publick offices handled Philosophy a little in his own language Pliny and Seneca lesse then Varro or Tully But what are these to Aristotle or Plato Or rather what hath learning to do with a Roman Generall whose knowledge consisted in their Military discipline and in the powerfull means of victorious endeavour Wherein Varro was as ignorant as was Don Raimundus the eleventh king of Arragon in managing of Arms who taking his sword in one hand and his buckler in the other held the horse bridle in his teeth Howbeit if Qui minus facit minus peccat he that does least offends least were a good excuse it were fitting to make him blamelesse that deserved so well of learning above all others of that Empire But forasmuch as his actions appear so far inferiour to that which is conceived of his understanding let that be acknowledged which is true that Confiderate agere pluris est quam cogitare prudenter considerate action is more worth then wise thinking This Ilipa Italica was the chief town of the Turdetani in Andaluzia is conjectured by the ruines yet remaining to stand over against Sevill Tarraco is that which is now called Tarragon a Colony of Scipio his planting whereof the Province taketh appellation which is extended as Plinie witnesseth from Catalonia to Navarre and Castile along the Alpes Blaâ—se de Vigenere reporteth that in the year 516 there was a Councell held at Tarraco by ten Bishops wherein it was decreed that Sunday should alwayes begin presently after Evening prayer or their Vespers on the Saturday From whence it is that the Spaniards do not work at all after that time and do eat upon Saturdayes at supper the head the feet and the entralls of such flesh as is killed in the Shambles together with other pretty bits which they call Morsillas without prohibition or scruple of
the Turkish Sultans and confirmed the same by an oath taken upon the holy Evangelist did neverthelesse at the perswasion of Julian a Cardinall who took upon him by power from the Pope to disannull the league and absolve him from the oath break the peace and gave battel to Amurath at Varna where the Infidell took occasion impiously to blaspheme in calling for vengeance on such as in their deeds had denied the Godhead of their most sacred blessed Lord and was there slain to the utter ruine of his kingdome and the reproch of Christian Name Neither did the Cardinall escape the vengeance which his treachery had drawn upon that royall Army but being there wounded unto death was found lying in the high way by Gregory Sanose ready to give up the ghost and seemed but to stay to take with him the bitter curses of such as passed by flying from the battel as the due reward of his perfidious absolution THE SECOND OBSERVATION IN case of difficulty and hazard as Caesar noteth there is alwayes great help in a good courage For whether it be that good hap attendeth a valourous carriage or that vertue be able to remove all opposition or what other cause there is besides but thus it falleth out that such as entertain a noble resolution are ever safest in extremity of perill and instead of losse get honour and renown Brasidas found a Mouse amongst dried figs which bit him so that he let her go thereupon said to those that stood by That there was nothing so little that could not save it self if it had a heart to defend it self against such as assaulted it And herein we may observe that to be true which the Poet hath delivered Seris venit usus ab annis Time and Practise do much avail to perfect this courage in the minds of Men of War as knowing aforehand the weight of such labours and having incountered the like dangers even to the redeeming of themselves from the jaws of death Whence it is that the Comick saith No man can possibly come so well furnished to any course of life but that time and experience do alwaies teach him what he knew not before whereas others that go rawly to work are so daunted with the unusuall looks of war as they forgetting the profession of Arms do run headlong into the danger they seek to avoid being able to give no other account of their service but that they marched many Bodies and but a few Men. THE THIRD OBSERVATION Plutarch Valerius Maximus Appian Suetonius Lucan do all write that Caesar impatient of the slay of his forces at Brundu sium imbarked himself in a small Frigat of twelve oares disguised in the habit of a slave and put to sea to fetch his Legions notwithstanding all the Coast swarmed with the Enemies shipping but meeting with a contrary wind which would not suffer him to get out of the River Anius the Master commanded the Mariners to cast about and get to shore Whereupon Caesar discovering himself incouraged him to go forward for that he carried Caesar and his fortunes The Master forgetting all danger made out again to get to sea but was by force of the tempest driven to return to Caesar's great grief And albeit there is no mention made hereof in these Commentaries yet the authority of so many grave Authours is not to be contemned CHAP. X. Caesar hasteth to meet with Antonius and preventeth Pompey CAesar and Pompey had both intelligence almost at one instant of time of Antonius fleet for they saw them passe by Apollonia and Dyrrachium and directed their journeys along the Coast after them but they understood not for a while where they were landed Howbeit having notice thereof either of them took a contrary resolution For Caesar purposed to joyn with Antonius assoon as possibly he might and Pompey resolved to hinder their meeting and by ambushments if he could to set upon them at unawares The same day either of them drew their Army out of their standing Camps upon the River Apsus Pompey secretly and by night Caesar openly and by day but Caesar had the greater circuit to fetch and a longer journey to go up the River to find a Foord Pompey having a ready way and no River to passe made towards Antonius by great journeys and when he understood that he came near unto him chose a convenient place and there bestowed his forces keeping every man within the Camp and forbidding fires to be made that his coming might be the more hidden Whereof Antonius being presently advertised by the Greeks he dispatched Messengers to Caesar and kept himself one day within his Camp The next day Caesar came unto him Upon notice thereof Pompey left that place least he should be intrapped between two Armies and came with all his forces to Asparagus which appertained to them of Dyrrachium and there in a convenient place pitched his Camp OBSERVATIONS VVHere two Armies are in a Country and one of them hath succours coming to renforce them each of those Parties are by the example of these glorious Commanders caeteris paribus to make towards those succours the one to cut them off and the other to keep them standing And to that end as it suted Pompey's condition to go secretly howsoever Caesar noteth it as a touch to his valour so on the other side it stood not only well enough with Caesar's party to go openly but also was an argument of his courage and magnanimity and might raise him estimation in the opinion of the Greeks The disadvantage which Pompey could take thereby was the danger to be inclosed with Armies which he foreseeing avoided CHAP. XI Scipio's preparation in Asia to come into Greece to assist Pompey ABout this time Scipio having sustained divers losses near the Mount Amanus did neverthelesse call himself by the name of Imperator and thereupon commanded great summs of mony to be levied of the Cities and Potentates of those quarters taking from the generall Receivers of that Province all the Monies that were in their hands for two years past and commanding them to disburse by way of loan the receit for the year to come and required horsemen to be levied throughout all the Province Having gathered these together he left the Parthians being near enemies unto him who a little before had slain M. Crassus the Generall and besieged M. Bibulus and drew the legions out of Syria being sent specially thither to keep and settle that Province much amuzed through fear of the Parthian warre At his departure some speeches were given out by the souldiers that if they were led against an Enemy they would go but against a citizen and Consul they would not bear Armes The Army being brought to Pergamus and there garrisoned for that Winter in divers rich Cities he distributed great largesses and gifts and for the better assuring of the souldier unto him gave
who came with such a 〈◊〉 upon Pompey's horsemen that none of them were able to stand before them but turning their backs did not onely give place but fled all as fast as they could to the highest Hills whereby the Archers and Slingers being left naked without succour were all put to the sword And with the same violence those Cohorts incompassed about the left Cornet notwithstanding any resistance that could be made by Pompey's party and charged them behind upon their backs At the same time Caesar commanded the third Battell which as yet stood still and were not removed to advance forward by means of which fresh and sound men relieving such as were faint and weary as also that others did charge them behind upon their backs Pompey's party were able no longer to endure it but all turned their backs and fled Neither was Caesar deceived in his opinion that the beginning of the victory would grow from those Cohorts which he placed in the fourth Battell against the horsemen according as he himself had openly spoken in his incouragement to the souldiers For by them first the Cavalry was beaten by them the Archers and Slingers were slain by them Pompey's Battell was circumvented on the left Cornet and by their means they began to flie As soon as Pompey saw his Cavalry beaten and perceived the part wherein he most trusted to be amused and affrighted and distrusting the rest he forthwith left the Battell and conveighed himself on horseback into the Camp And speaking to the Centurions that had the watch at the Praetorian gate with a loud voice as all the souldiers might hear he said Keep the Camp defend it diligently to prevent any hard casualty that may happen In the mean while I will go about to the other Ports to settle the Guards of the Camp And having thus said he went into the Praetorium distrusting the main point and yet expecting the event THE FIRST OBSERVATION POmpey so carried himself in the course of this war as he rather seemed a sufferer then a doer never disposing his Army for any attempt or on-set but onely when he brake out of the place wherein he was besieged at Dyrrachium And accordingly he gave order that in the main action point of triall his souldiers should suffer and sustain the assault rather then otherwise But whether he did well or no hath since been in question Caesar utterly disliked it as a thing contrary to reason Est quaedam saith he animi incitatio atque alacritas naturaliter innata omnibus quae studâ—o pugnae incenditur hanc non reprimere sed augere Imperatores debent There is a certain incitation and alacrity of spirit naturally planted in every man which is inflamed with a desire to fight Neither should any Commander represse or restrain the same but rather increase it and set it forward Agreeable whereunto is that of Cato the Great that in cases of battell and Enemy is to be charged with all violence And to that purpose it is requisite to put the souldiers at some reasonable distance into a posture of vaunting and definance with menaces and cries of terrour and then to spring forward in such manner as may make them fall upon their enemies with greater furie As Champions or Wrastlers before they buckle stretch out their limbs and make their flourishes as may best serve to assure themselves and discourage their adversaries according as we read of Hercules and Antaeus Ille Cleonaei projecit terga Leonis Antaeus Libyâ—i persudâ—t membra liquore Hospes Olympiacae servato more Palaestrae Ille parum â—idens pedibus contingere matrem Auxilium membris calidas infudit arenas The one throws by 's Cleoncan Lion's skin The other 's Libyan and ere they begin The one anoints himself from top to toe As the Olympian Gamesters use to do Not sure his foe would let his feet touch ground Himself with sand Antaeus sprinkles round Howbeit forasmuch as all men are not of one temper but require severall fashions to tune their minds to the true note of a battel we shall find severall Nations to have severall usances in this point The Romans as appeareth by this of Caesar were of ancient time accustomed to sound Trumpets and Hoboies in all parts of the Army and to take up a great clamour and shout whereby the souldiers in their understanding were incouraged and the Enemy affrighted Whereas contrariwise the Greeks went alwaies with a close and silent mouth as having more to do then to say to their Enemies And Thucydides writing of the Lacedemonians the flower of Greece for matter of Arms saith that instead of Trumpets and Cornets to incite them they used the sweet harmony of Flutes to moderate and qualify their passions least they should be transported with unbridled impetuesity It is reported that Marshall Biron the Father seemed to dislike of our English march hearing it beaten by the Drums as too slow and of no encouragement and yet it so fitteth our Nation as Sir Roger Williams then answered as we have divers times over-run all France with it Howsoever the event of this battel is sufficient to disprove Pompey's errour herein and to make good what Caesar commanded THE SECOND OBSERVATION THese six Cohorts which made the fourth battel did so encounter Pompey's Cavalry that they were not able to withstand them It is said that Caesar gave them order not to sling their Piles as commonly they did but to hold them in their hands like a Pike or a Javelin and make only at the faces of those Gallants and men at Arms on horseback For the holding of them in their hands I do not understand it and cannot conceive how they could reach more then the next ranks unto them in that manner But for making at the faces of the Cavalry Florus saith that Caesar as he galloped up and down the ranks was heard to let fall bloudy and bitter words but very patheticall and effectuall for a victory as thus Souldier cast right at the face whereas Pompey called to his men to spare their fellow-Citizens Eutropius in his Epitome of Suetonius affirmeth the same thing both of the one and of the other and Lucan seemeth to averre the same concerning that of Caesar Adversosque jubetferro contundere vultus He bids them strike just at the Enemies face Frontinus hath it thus C. Caesar cum in partibus Pompeianis magna equitum Romanorum esset manus eaque armorum scientia milites conficeret ora oculosque eorum gladiis peti jussit sic adversam faciem cedere coegit Pompey having in his army a great company of Roman Knights who being well-skill'd at their weapons made an end of their enemies Caesar commanded his men to make at their faces and eyes and thereby compelled them to turn away their faces THE THIRD OBSERVATION AMongst these memorialls Crastinus may not be forgotten being the first man that began the battel
Councell of the chiefest and wisest men of the Court who had such credit and authority as it pleased him to give them They being assembled he commanded every man in the Kings name to say his mind touching the receiving of Pompey whether the king should receive him or not It was a miserable thing to see Photinus an Eunuch of the Kings and Theodotus of Chio an hired Schoolmaster to teach the young king Rhetorick and Achillas an Aegyptian to consult among themselves what they should do with Pompey the Great These were the chiefest Councellours of all his Eunuchs and of those that had brought him up Now did Pompey ride at anchour upon the shore side expecting the resolution of this Councell in the which the opinions were divers for some would not have him received others consented that he should be received But the Rhetorician Theodotus to shew his eloquence perswaded them that neither the one nor the other was to be accepted For quoth he if we receive him we shall have Caesar our enemy and Pompey our Lord and if we do deny him on the other side Pompey will blame us for refusing him and Caesar for not keeping of him therefore this would be the best resolution he told them to send to kill him for thereby they should win the good will of the one and not fear the displeasure of the other And some say moreover that he added this mock withall A dead man bites not They being determined of this among themselves gave Achillas commission to do it He taking with him Septimius who had charge aforetime under Pompey and Salvius another Centurion also with three or four souldiers besides they made towards Pompey's Gallies about whom were at that time the chiefest of his train to see what would become of this matter But when they saw the likelihood of their entertainment and that it was not in Princely shew nor manner nor nothing answerable to the hope which Theophanes had put them in seeing so few men come to them in a fisher-boat they began then to mistrust the small account that was made of them and counselled Pompey to return back and to launch again into the sea being out of the danger of the hurling of a Dart. In the mean time the fisher-boat drew near and Septimius rose and saluted Pompey in the Roman tongue by the name of Imperator as much as sovereign Captain and Achillas also spake to him in the Greek tongue and bade him come into his boat because that by the shore side there was a great deal of mud and sand banks so that his Galley should have no water to bring him in At the very same time they saw afar off divers of the Kings Gallies which were arming with all speed possible and all the shore besides full of souldiers Thus though Pompey and his company would have altered their minds they could not have told how to have escaped and furthermore shewing that they had mistrusted them then they had given the murderer occasion to have executed his cruelty So taking his leave of his wife Cornelia who lamented his death before his end he commanded two Centurions to go down before him into the Aegyptians boat and Philip one of his slaves infranchised with another slaves called Scynes When Achillas reached out his hand to receive him into his boat he turned him to his wife and son and said these verses of Sophocles unto them The man that into Court comes free Must there in state of bondage be These were the last words he spake unto his people when he left his own Gally and went into the Aegyptians boat the land being a great way off from his Gally When he saw never a man in the boat speak friendly unto him beholding Septimius he said unto him Me thinks my friend I should know thee for that thou hast served with me heretofore The other nodded with his head that it was true but gave him no answer nor shewed him any courtesy Pompey seeing that no man spake to him took a little book he had in his hand in which he had written an Oration that he meant to make unto King Ptolemy and began to read it When they came near to the shore Cornelia with her servants and friends about her stood up in her ship in great fear to see what should become of Pompey So she hoped well when she saw many of the Kings people on the shore coming towards Pompey at his landing as it were to receive and honour him But even as Pompey took Philip his hand to arise more easily Septimius came first behind him and thrust him through with his sword next unto him also Salvius and Achillas drew out their swords in like manner Pompey then did no more but took up his gown with his hands and hid his face manly abode the wounds they gave him onely sighing a little Thus being 59 years old he ended his life the next day after the day of his birth They that rode at anchour in their ships when they saw him murthered gave such a fearfull cry that it was heard to the shore then weighing up their anchours with speed they hoised sail and departed their way having wind at will that blew a lusty gale As soon as they had gotten the main Sea the Aegyptians which prepared to row after them when they saw they were past their reach and unpossible to be overtaken they let them go Then having stricken off Pompey's head they threw his body over-board for a miserable spectacle to all those that were desirous to see him Philip his enfranchised bond-man remained ever by it untill such time as the Aegyptians had seen it their bellies full Then having washed his body with salt water wrapped it up in an old shirt of his because he had no other shift to lay it in he sought upon the sands found at length a piece of an old fishers boat enough to serve to burn his naked body with but not all fully out As he was busie gathering the broken pieces of this boat together thither came unto him an old Roman who in his youth had served under Pompey and said unto him O friend what art thou that preparest the funeralls of Pompey the Great Philip answered that he was a bondman of his infranchised Well said he thou shalt not have all this honour alone I pray thee yet let me accompany thee in so devout a deed that I may not altogether repent me to have dwelt so long in a strange Country where I have abidden such misery and trouble but that to recompence me withall I may have this good hap with mine own hands to touch Pompey's body and to help to burie the onely and most famous Captain of the Romans The next day after Lucius Lentulus not knowing what had passed coming out of Cyprus sailed by the shore side and perceived a fire made for funeralls Philip standing by it whom he knew not at the
the town and to learn what Achillas intended Howsoever he commanded all the souldiers to arme and exhorted the King that of those which were nearest unto him and of greatest authority he would send some to Achillas to know his meaning Dioscorides Serapion being deputed thereunto having been both Embassadours at Rome and in great place about Ptolemey the Father they came to Achillas whom as soon as they were come into his presence and before he would hear or understand what they would have he commanded to be taken away and slain Of whom one having received a wound was carried away by his own people for dead the other was slain out-right Whereupon Caesar wrought to get the King into his own hands thinking that his Name and Title would prevail much amongst his people as also to make it appear that this war was rather moved by the private practice of some seditious thieves then by order and commandment from the King OBSERVATIONS THe multiplicity of occasions and troubles which happen to such as have the ordering of any businesses of import doth make that of Plinie often remembred Veteribus negotâ—â—s nova accrâ—scunt nec tamen priora peraguntur tot nexibus tot quasi catenis majus indies occupationum agmen extenditur New businesses come in the neck of old and yet the first are not dispatched with so many tyes and chains as it were is the troup of businesses every day made longer and longer For albeit Pompey had now spent his malice and was no more to appear in Armes against Caesar yet his hap was by slying to draw him as it were by way of revenge into a place where he was necessarily to be intangled in a dangerous war To thâ—se prodigies here mentioned may be added that of Aulus Gellius that The same day the battell happened there fell out a strange wonder at 〈◊〉 where a certain Priest called Cornelius of Noble race and Holy life suddainly fell into an extasie and said he saw a great battell afarâ—e off Darts and Piles she thick in the aire some slying and some pursuing great slaughter accompanied with many lamentable groans and cries and in the end cried out that Caesar had got the victory For which he was mâ—â—ked for the present but afterwards held in great admiration Plinie maketh the small increase of Nilus to be a fore-teller of Pompey's death Minimumque Pharsalico bello veluti necem Magni prodâ—gâ—â— quodam slumine aversante The least increase of Nilus was at the time of the Pharsaliaâ—â— battell the very river prodigiously shewing as it were a detestation of the murther of the Great Pompey CHAP. XXXVIII Caesar landeth his forces taketh Pharus and causeth Photinus to be slain THe forces that were with Achillas were neither for their number or fashion of men or use and experience in war to be contemned For he had twenty two thousand men in Armes These troups consisted of the Gabinian souldiers which were now grown into a custome of life and liberty of the Aegyptians and having forgot the name and discipline of the people of Rome had there married wives and most of them had children To these were added such as were gathered from the thieves and robbers of Syria the Province of Cilicia and other finitimate Regions besides many banished men and others condemned to die that fled thither And for all our fugitives there was ever a sure and certain receipt at Alexandria and a certain condition of life for upon giving up of his name he was presently inrolled a souldier And if one chanced to be taken and apprehended by his Master he was presently rescued by the concourse of souldiers who being all in the same condition did strive for him as for themselves These required the Kings friends to be slain these were accustomed to rob rich men of their goods to better their pay to besiege the Kings house to expell some out of the kingdome and to send for others home according to an old custome and priviledge of the Alexandrian Army There were besides two thousand horse that had been of ancient continuance in many of the wars held at Alexandria and had brought back Ptolemy the father and restored him to his kingdome had slain Bibulus two sons and had made war with the Aegyptians and this use and knowledge they had of war Achillas trusting to these forces and contemning the small number of Caesar's troups did take and possesse Alexandria and further assaulting that part of the town which Caesar held with his men did first of all endeavour to break into his house But Caesar having disposed the cohorts in the streets and waies did bear out the assault At the same time they sought likewise at the Port and it came at length to a very forcible incounter for having drawn out their troups the fight began to be â—ot in divers streets and lanes and the Enemy in great troups went about to possesse themselves of the Gallies of which there were 50. found there that were sent to serve Pompey and returned home again after the battell in Thessalia These were all Triremes and Quinqueremes rigged and ready to go to sea Besides these there were twenty two which were alwaies accustomed to be the best for the defence of Alexandria and were all furnished with decks which if they had taken together with Caesar's shipping they would have had the Haven and the Sea at their command and by that means hindered Caesar from succours and provision of victuall In regard whereof they fought hard on both sides Achillas expecting victory and our men for their safety But Caesar obtained his purpose and because he was not able to keep so many severall things with so small forces he set them all on fire together with those that were in the Road and presently landed some souldiers at Pharus which is a tower in an Iland of a great height built with strange workmanship taking that name from the Iland This Iland lieth over against Alexandria and so maketh it a Haven But former Kings had inlarged it nine hundred paces in length by raising great mounts in the Sea and by that means had brought it so near to the town that they joyned them both together with a bridge In this Iland dwelt divers Aegyptians and made a Village of the bignesse of a Town and what ships soever had fallen off their course either by tempest or errour were there robbed by those Aegyptians For by reason of the narrow entrance no ships can come into the Haven but by the favour and leave of them that hold Pharus Caesar being afraid of this while the Enemy was busie in fight landed his souldiers took the place and there put a garrison Whereby he brought it to passe that both corn and succours might safely come by sea to supply him for he had sent to all the confining Regions for aide In other places of the town they so fought that they gave over at length upon