were called Tarentines and some had Bows and Arrows and were called Scythae because the Scythians delighted much in the Bow If you will compare the Antient Grecian and the Modern Armies used not half an age ago in the point of Arms you will not find any considerable Grecian and Modern Arms compared difference To the heavy arm'd Grecian Foot answer our Pike-men when they were and still should be armed with Head-piece Back and Breast Greeves and Taslets except in this that ours want Targets and walk not in Brazen Boots To the light armed or Velites of the Greeks do answer our Bowmen or Harquebusiers when we had them and now our Musquetiers To the Grecian Cataphracti on Horse-back correspond our Gens d'Arms or Cuirassiers armed with Lances when they were in fashion and now with Pistols and Carabines To the light armed Horse-men called Sagittarii or Scythâ— you may compare those whom the French call still Archers armed formerly even since Gun-powder was found out with Bows and Arrows and half Lances and now with Pistols or Carabines To the Tarentines answer generally our Light Horse-men armed Offensively now with Hand-guns and Swords and some of them Defensively with Back Breast and Head-piece but most without any of them CHAP. IV. Of their great Engines and Machines of their Training and Exercising THe Ancients had their Artillery as well as we have These were their Rams Balists and Catapults They had also their Vineae Plutei Moscoli and other Engines whereby they made their approaches to the Walls of besieged Towâ—s I think it strange that some attribute the invention of the moving or ambulatory Tower so much admired by Antiquity to Demetrius the Son of Antigonus for to me it is clear enough that his Fathers Master the Great Alexander had one of them at the Siege of Gaza which was rendred ineffectual by the deep Sand through which it could not be brought so The ambulatory Tower near the Walls as was needful for the Wheels on which it was to move sunk down Neither do I think that Alexander himself was the inventor of it Whether the Trojan Horse whose Belly was stuffed with armed men might be such a Machine as this or whether it had only its existency in the Poets brain is no great matter But because the Romans used all these Warlike Engines at the expugnation and propugnation of Towns I shall refer my Reader concerning them to the fourth Chapter of my Discourses of the Roman Militia where I shall also show him the substance of what Aeneas an Ancient Grecian Tactick saith on that subject Here I shall only observe that as the Grecians were very apt to usurp to themselves the invention of many Arts and Sciences which they stole from others So it will be found that many of these Machines were used in the World before the Grecians were so much known as afterwards they came to be We read in the seventeenth Chapter of the second Book of the Chronicles That Ozias King of Judah by the invention of skilful Masters made and planted on the Towers and corners of the Walls of Jerusalem Engines which shot Arrows Darts and great Stones And these were no other than those Machines the Greeks called Catapults and Balists And this was long before the overthrows and defeats of the Persian Monarchs These Machines not invented by the Grecians made Greece famous in the habitable World Some think Moses invented them and I think they may as well fansie he invented the moving Tower of all which hereafter whereof I spoke but just now But the place alledged for this which is the last verse of the twentieth Chapter of Deuteronomy will not justifie that for it is said there as the Italian Translation hath it Thou shalt cut down those Trees which bear no Fruits and make Bulwarks Bastioni of them against those Cities thou art to besiege And though Lipsius and Tâ—rduzzi think that here are only meant Stakes and Pallisadoes for Ramparts and Sconces yet I may without Heresie believe that the Vineâ— and Plutei of which we read in Latin Histories may be meant in the Text and the Ram also wherewith I suppose Joshua may have battered the Walls of those Cities which he had no authority from the Almighty to beat down with the sound of Rams horns as he did the strong Walls of Jericho The Grecians were very exact in Training and drilling both their Horse and Foot and without question they taught their Souldiers very perfectly to handle and manage all the Arms they were appointed to carry whether those were Javelins Darts Stones Slings Swords Pikes Lances Maces or Bows and Arrows And as careful they were to teach them those motions Grecian words of Exercise and evolutions whereby their Bodies whether small or great changed their present posture into another either by Facings Doublings Countermarches or Wheelings And though the European Nations were forc'd to find out words of Command each in their own language to teach the use and handling of the Pistol Carabine Harquebuss Musquet or any other Fire-gun in regard none of those were known to any of the Autients yet the handling of the Pike is the same in all its postures that the Grecians had And all our European words of Command for the motions and evolutions of Bodies are borrowed from the Greek By Example That which they call'd All one with ours Declina in hastam we call To the Right hand That which with them was Declina in Scutum with us is To the Left hand Because they carried their Pike on their right Shoulder and their Target on the left Their Inflectio in hastam aut Scutum was our Right or Left about Jugare with them is to my sense though I know others think not so to Double Ranks Their Intercalatio was our Doubling of Files Reddere in arrectum is As you were It is needless to give you more since most of our Modern words are the same with theirs and are obvious in most languages Yet here I shall take liberty to speak a little of both their and our Counter-marches that hereafter I need not trouble either my self or my Reader with that point of exercise for which I have so small an esteem They called a Counter-march Evolutio per versum and they had three kinds of it which are yet retained in our Modern Exercises and these were the Macedonian the Lacedaemonian and the Persian which was also called the Choraean The Macedonian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Van as it possessed before e're he who was Leader faced Macedonian Countermarch to the Rear It is done thus He who is in the Rear marcheth through or between two Files to the Van and then without an alt so many foot beyond the File-leader as the Body at their due distance possesseth all the rest that were in the File before him following him in order as they stood till
was marshal'd in one Division I know some are of opinion that the Majors Company should be in the Reer Objection against that way of marshalling of the Lieutenant-Colonels Division because the third place of honour in the Regiment belongs to him and the Colonel having the Van of the first Division and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the second the Major should have the Reer of the second Division because it is the Reer of the whole Regiment I should easily subscribe to this if it were not for two reasons First though it be but Answered one Regiment yet being divided it should be lookt on as two distinct Bodies and it is more honourable to have the Reer of the first than of the last Secondly when a Regiment is divided into two parts the Major ought to wait and lodg at the quarter of that Division of the Regiment where the Colonel is because from him he receives his Orders Directions and the Word which he is not oblig'd to carry to the Lieutenant-Colonel if the quarters of the two Divisions be divided as many times they are but the oldest Captain is obliged to come and receive them from the Major at the Colonels Quarter the first Captain in that case officiating as Major for the Lieutenant-Colonels Batallion Now if the Major ought to be where the Colonel is as I think he should then I think the Majors Company should be where himself is The Great Gustavus used another way of marshalling his Regiments and Brigades of Foot which taken altogether was not square of front yet all the four parts or Bodies which composed it were square The manner was this Regiment or Brigade marshal'd a third way Suppose one of his Brigades to be eighteen hundred men as I can assure you he had many weaker whereof twelve hundred were Musqueteers and six hundred were Pikemen the Pikes advanced twenty paces before the two Bodies of Musqueteers who immediately join'd to fill up the void place the Pikemen had possest Then were the Pikes divided into three equal Bodies two hundred to each Batallion the middle Body whereof advanced before the other two so far that its Reer might be about ten paces before the Van of the other two The two Bodies of Pikes that staid behind were order'd to open a little to both hands and then stand still all fronting one way to the Enemy by this means the place which the two hundred Pikes possest in the middle remaining void there were two passages like sally-ports between the Reer of the advanced Body of Pikes and the two Batallions that staid behind out of one whereof on the right hand issued constantly one or two or more hundreds of Musqueteers who before all the three Bodies of Pikes gave incessantly fire on the Enemy and when the word or sign for a Retreat was given they retir'd by the other passage on the left hand back to the great Body of Musqueteers where so many of them as came back unwounded were presently put in rank and file the fire continuing without intermission by Musqueteers who still sallied thorough the passage on the right hand and it is to be observed that the firemen fought thus in small Bodies each of them not above five files of Musqueteers and these for most part but three deep So you may consider that near the third part of the Musqueteers being on service the other two thirds were securely shelter'd behind the three Batallions of Pikemen who were to be compleatly arm'd for the defensive These Pikes had Field pieces with them which fir'd as oft as they could as well as the Musqueteers this continued till the Pikemen came to push of Pike with the Enemy if both parties staid so long as seldom they did and then the Musqueteers were to do what they were order'd to do and the order did depend on emergencies and accidents which as they could not be then seen so no certain rules could be given for them In this order did I see all the Swedish Brigades drawn up for one year after the Kings death but after that time I saw it wear out when Defensive Arms first and then Pikes came Worn out to be neglected and by some vilipended For the March of a Regiment if it can all march in one breast it should The March of a Regiment do so but if not and if the ground permit it let the right hand of Musqueteers march in breast next it the Body of Pikes and after it the left wing of Musqueteers But if none of these can be then as many should march in one petty Division as the way can permit as suppose twelve eight or ten and so soon as you come to open ground you are to march presently in Squadrons or as they are now called Squads or in full Battel that is the Regiment all in one front for by that means your Soldiers are readiest to receive an Enemy they march in a more comely order and straggle far less than when they march few in breast and in a long row The Major appoints Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns to lead Divisions and Serjeants to attend the flanks every one according to their dignities but for my own part I never thought it convenient much less necessary that every small Division of a Regiment should have a Bringer up since he must be as some will have it a Commission'd Officer as well as the Leader of a Division should be For first consider that in a Regiment of one thousand strong there are an hundred sixty and six files and admit that the way will permit eight files to march in breast as that falls not always out by that account you shall have one and twenty Divisions consisting of eight Files apiece multiply twenty one by eight the Product is a hundred and Reasons why every petty Division cannot have a Bringer up sixty eight Files which consists of a thousand and eight men eight more than the number Reckon again how many Commission'd Officers you have in ten Companies besides the three Field-Officers you shall have but twenty nine now of these twenty one must be allow'd to lead the Divisions and by that account you have but nine Officers to bring up so you want thirteen Commission'd Officers for that imployment for Serjeants should neither be permitted to lead or bring up but in case of necessity their duty being to attend the flanks Besides all Commission'd Officers are not always present some frequently being either sick wounded or absent on furloff It will be enough therefore if all these petty Divisions be led by Commission'd Officers which yet cannot be unless you allow some Ensign-bearers to stay from their 〈…〉 ours and by this means you may spare six foot of ground between two Divisions for those who will allow Bringers up allow eighteen foot between two Divisions to wit six foot between the Reer of the first Division and him that brings it up secondly six foot between
injury done whether it be to Princes Subjects or Embassadours and that no satisfaction after it is required can be got And indeed this War should be formally denounc'd otherwise it derogates from the Justice of the cause This to me seems clear from the definition the Civilians give of an Enemy Hostes say they sunt qui nobis aut quibus nos bellum decernimus caeteri Indictio Belli latrones aut praedones sunt Those are enemies who either have denounc'd the War against us or we against them others are Thieves or Robbers And Cicero in his Offices Nullum Bellum est justum nisi quod aâ—t rebus repetitis geratur aut denunciatum ante sit indictum No War is just but what is made for restitution or denounced or indicted before Neither will the War that Joshua made against the seven Nations of the Canaanites impugn what I have said of the just cause of a War for though these Nations had perhaps done no wrong to the Israelites yet Joshua had a particular Warrant from God for what he Joshua his Wars did which few or none but he can pretend to It is true neither he nor Moses were commanded to fight with the Amalekites yet the Lord approved of it afterward The Grecians denounc'd their War by a Caducâ—us The Romans by their Feciales whose custome was to stand on the Roman Territory and throw a Spear or Javelin against the Land of those whom they declared Enemies In these later times besides the denunciation of the War a Declaration ordinarily called a Manifesto is emitted by the Aggressor whereby he either doth make the Justice of his War appear to the world or at least endeavours it And though the persons of Embassadours were wronged and violated against the Law of Nations yet the War should be denounc'd by a Letter or some such way saith Grotius yet we read not that David used any such previous civility to Hanun King of Ammon after he had affronted his Embassadours A Civil War may be likewise two-fold the one sort is of the great men of Civil War twofold a Free State one against another as that of Sylla against Marius Father and Son and Caesar against Pompey Father and Son among the Romans or in a Monarchy of those who are competitors for the Crown as the War was between the Houses of York and Lancaster The other is of Subjects against their Soveraigns which can never be lawful let the pretext be never so specious I mean on the Subjects part for I make no doubt but a Soveraign whether Prince or State not only may but ought by the power of the Sword to reduce their Rebellious Subjects to their Duty when by no other means they can prevail with them Both these kinds of Intestinâ— Wars are called Civil because they are inter Cives unius Reipublicâ— Among the Citizens of one Common-wealth It is the worst of all Wars and that wherein there is not so much as the least shadow of Civility This War arms Brother against Brother for which we need not search History for Examples In this War the Son thinks he doth a meritorious work if he betrays his own Father and the Father conceives he super-erogates if he sheaths his Sword in his Sons Bowels because saith he he did not rise to fight the Lords Battels even It is the worst of Wars perhaps against the Lords anointed for this War extinguisheth all natural affection among the nearest in Blood This sort of War sends Coblers and other Mechanicks to the Pulpits to torture their Audience with Non-sence This converts Souldiers into Preachers who by vertue of their double callings belch out Blasphemies against the great God of Heaven and rebellious and opprobrious Speeches against his Vice-gerents on Earth And on the other hand this War metamorphoseth Preachers into Souldiers and tells them that a Corslet becomes them better than a Canonical Coat and a broad Sword better than a long Gown It whispers them in the ear that Christ would not have bid those of his Disciples who had two Coats sell one of them and buy a Sword if he had not intended to leave War as a Legacy to his followers as well as Peace It tells them they ought in their Sermons to summon Subjects under the pain of eternal damnation to rise in Arms against the Soveraign Power because they are bidden Curse Meroz who would not come out to help the Lord against the Mighty Yet very few of them can tell you whether Meroz was a Prince a City or a Countrey But I dwell too long here Not long after the Flood we find numerous Armies raised by Nimrod and his ambitious Successors to subject others of Noah's race to their lawless dominion And indeed if the Stories of these very ancient times be true as they are very much to be doubted we read not of so great Armies except some in Holy Writ as those which Ninus and the famous Semiramis and the Kings of India whom she invaded brought together It is pity we should not know how they were armed and in what order they fought I suppose there were Wars in the World before there was any to record them The Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphicks and therefore I believe next to Moses we are obliged to the Grecians for giving us a glimpse of Antiquity And truly even they wrote the occasions the causes the beginnings the progress and issues of Wars so confusedly and fabulously that we can Ancient Histories fabulous build but little on their relations till themselves became renown'd by the stout resistance they made against the Persian Monarchy and yet even then they give us but little light how other Nations besides themselves manag'd the War what Art or Order they used in their Battels or how their Combatants were Armed The Sacred Story mentions no Battel fought after the Flood or before it till that of Chaderlaomer and other three Kings against the five Kings of the Plain But we may presume there were many bloody bickerings before that when Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis if Ninus was not Amraphel one of the four Kings whereof I much doubt impos'd the yoke of Slavery on so many Nations In this Battel fought in the plain of Sodom and Gomorrha the five Kings were beaten but how either they or their Adversaries fought with The Battel of Sodom what Arms or in what Order the History tells us nothing The Conquerours carry away a great booty and many Prisoners and among them Lot and the endeavouring his rescue made the War just on his Uncle Abrahams side He follows and overthrows the four Kings and brings back all the Goods and Prisoners Abraham had no particular Warrant for this War but it was approved for thereafter Melchizedec the Priest of the most High God blessed him nor was it needful for the Father of the Faithful to denounce the War because he look'd upon himself there as an Ally if not
a Subject of some of the five Kings particularly him of Sodom The Text makes this action of Abraham a surprizal for it is said he smote them in the night We find he Armed three hundred and eighteen of his own Servants but with what kind of Arms either for Offence or Defence we know not and yet it would seem his Servants had learned to handle their Arms for some of our Translations have it He armed his train'd Servants By this place of Scripture it appears that these Kings had fought together before because it is said the five Kings rebell'd against Chaderlaomer whom they had serv'd twelve years now it is more than probable they had fought at least once with him before they offer'd to do homage to him but Moses mentions not that as not being to his purpose his design there being only to give us the Story of Abraham Pharaoh follow'd the Israelites with six hundred chosen Chariots saith Moses and with two hundred thousand Foot and fifty thousand Horse saith Josephus but how these Chariots these Horse and these Foot were arm'd what order they kept in their pursuit or what discipline they had neither the one nor the other tells us But we may suppose well enough that the Egyptians good Warriours Egyptians were well armed and knew the Art of War and that Joshua and other Captains of the people of Israel might have learned from them the contemplative part of their Military skill which afterward they practis'd on those Nations they were ordain'd to root out And if the Kings of Egypt had War with the Ethiopians while the Israelites were under them I make no doubt but many of them serv'd in these Wars Xenophon commends very much both the valour and the skill of those Egyptians who were with Croesus at that Battel which he fought with Cyrus And it is very like that the Grecians themselves got the rudiments of their Art of War in Egypt as well as of other liberal Sciences and it is like Lycurgus taught the Rules of the So were the Spartans Military Art to his Spartans which he had learned from the Egyptians as well as he did other civil constitutions From the Lacedaemonians did the Thebans learn their discipline of War The Theban Epaminondas and Pelopidas taught it to Philip of Macedon and he to his Son the Great Alexander whose glorious acts obscured all the famous exploits of the rest of the Grecians We need not doubt each of these added something of their own to what they had Facilâ— est invâ—ntiâ— addâ—re learned for by such means all Arts come to perfection CHAP. II. Of the Arms and Order of War of the Ancients TO find out the Arms or Art of War of these Ancient Nations whether Jews or Gentiles till the Grecians wrote their own actions we have very little light To begin with the Israelites In the foregoing Chapter I observed that their great Patriarch Abraham fought with four Kings and routed them he was no doubt the first but not the last of the race of Heber who fought a Battel I told you also it is not known how he armed his servants and followers That all or some of them had Swords is no more but a probable Swordâ— conjecture for we do not read of that Weapon in Scripture or any other Book till Simeon and Levi who were Abrahams great Grand-children covering their cruel revenge with the cloak of Religion of so old a date is that mischievous practice destroy'd the Sechemites with Swords for it is said Each man took his Sword That the Israelites had Arms wherewith they fought against Sihon and Og and other people is not at all to be doubted In the Wilderness they could not get them and therefore I think that they brought them out of Egypt with them should be no question but how they came by them to me is a very great question For I think it not at all probable that those Kings or those Pharaohs who so grievously oppress'd them would suffer so many hundred thousands of them to be arm'd no more than afterwards the Philistines when they had the upper hand would suffer a Smith to dwell in Israel For my part I believe at their coming out of Egypt they borrow'd all manner of Arms from the Egyptians as well as they did better movables for they had alike right to all But what kind of Arms they used when they fought with those Nations whom they extirpated what Art or Order they used in their Marches and Battels both before and after they came to the Land of Promise we are yet to learn yet we find mention'd for the Offensive Swords Javelins and Arms of the Israelites Spears and for the Defensive Targets and Shields I suppose Head pieces could not be wanting are recorded to have been in the Magazines of their several Kings nor did they want their great Artillery of Balists and Catapults as shall be declared in its proper place Yet if all the Philistines according to their several Statures were proportionably arm'd as their Champion Goliah was and all the Israelites as well arm'd as their Neighbours the Philistines we may safely conclude they were as well arm'd every jot as the Greciaâ—s or Macedonians were afterwards We find likewise they had Chariots but how many or how arm'd or order'd we know not We may also probably conjecture their Files were ten deep when they marshall'd their Batallions for I find they had Companies and Regiments much Their Order about the number of those of our latest modern Wars for we read of Captains of thousands who were such as our Colonels Captains of hundreds who were Centurions and like our private Captains Captains of fifties such as our Lieutenants It is pity Josephus who was a great Captain himself did not transmit the Military Art of his Countrey-men to posterity it had been worth his labour As little or indeed less light doth any Author afford us to know the Arms Order and Discipline of the Assyrians to whom the first Monarchy is given Assyrians by the universal consent of History But we find that not only they but the Persians Indians and other Nations used Elephants and Chariots The Elephant of India is said to be a far more couragious Beast than that of Africk They are yet made use of in the Wars of that Countrey Of old they carried wooden Towers on their backs wherein were lodged armed men who threw Darts and Javelins among the bands of the enemies through which these dreadful Creatures were furiously driven who of themselves were sufficiently able to break the strongest and best compos'd Squadrons of armed men But when they were gall'd and wounded and turned head then The Elephants they did that mischief to their Masters that was intended for the Enemy The Romans before their Wars in Greece made no use of them and though at first Pyrrhus terrified them with the sight of these indeed terrible
it far His Son Alexander when he cross'd the Hellespont to invade the Persian Monarchy had thirty two thousand Foot and five In the Macedonian Armies thousand Horse above eight thousand more men than in Aelian's Macedonian Phalange At Issus he was stronger and at Arbela he had forty thousand Foot and seven thousand Horse all Grecians besides very many Asians whom he had subdued So we see that Aelians numbers of Horse or Foot did not hold even in the Macedonian Armies Much less will his rule hold in other Grecian Phalanges who drew up their heavy armed Foot but eight deep and so by our Authors method their light armed but four deep for if you allow their heavy armed Phalange to be one thousand twenty four Files these multiplied by eight which is the number of the File that Batallion consisted of eight thousand one hundred ninety two men Their Velites being half of that number they were four thousand ninety six Give the half of that number to their Cavalry they must have been two thousand forty eight And thus by Aelians rule their whole Phalange Nor in the other Grecian Phalanges of both heavy and light armed Foot and Horse should have amounted to neither more nor less than fourteen thousand three hundred thirty six Combatants But they neither observ'd that number nor his rule in the division of that number At Delos the Thebans and Boeotians had an Army consisting of seven thousand heavy armed Foot ten thousand light armed and one thousand Horse If they had been rul'd by Aelian they should have had more than ten thousand heavy armed five thousand and odd Velites and all the rest should have been Horse in this Pâ—â—lange of theirs When the Athenians sent Alcibiades and Nicias to Sicily they did not dream of any such exact numbers At Mantinea Epaminâ—â—das his Army consisted of thirty thousand Foot and three thousand Horse a number exceeding the great Macedonian Phalange by four thousand three hundred twenty eight men The Armies of the Lacedâ—monians and Athenians that fought against him in that last Battel of his were twenty two thousand Foot and Horse and these were more by seven thousand six hundred sixty four than a Grecian Phalange should have been by Aelians method at four deep the light and eight deep the heavy armed and yet came short six thousand six hundred seventy two of the number of the great Macedonian Phalange By this we see our Authors numbers of Phalanges did not always hold and it is a very great question to me if ever they did exactly hold at all I have already told you how he marshals his Phalange of heavy armed Foot without Reserve I have shown you that was not always done and I have demonstrated and instanc'd the inconveniencies of it when it was done Let us now see where he placeth his Cavalry in time of action To this he saith it was marshall'd according to the Generals pleasure sometimes on the Flanks of the heavy armed Foot sometimes before them and sometimes behind them That they were drawn up according to the Generals pleasure he needed not tell us that was not the question but it was where the Generals pleasure was to place them For marshalling the Horse on the Flanks of the Foot there is reason enough for it it was and still is a common practice To marshal them when they are to fight before the Foot is not in Where Aelian marshall'd the Cavalry my opinion advisedly done some to skirmish doth well but if all the Horse fight in the Van of the Foot and be beaten they may readily rout their own Infantry without the Enemies help for something like that I have seen practis'd And though the Macedonian Foot Phalange had as I said before three Intervals through which the Horse might perhaps if worsted have retir'd in good order and drawn up in the Rear of the Foot yet their Flight or Retreat would have infinitely discourag'd the Infantry which was presently to enter into action nor do I think such a manner of fight hath been oft practis'd To draw up the Horse behind the Foot would be in my judgement yet of less use but Aelian in his Figure of the whole Phalanx marshals the heavy armed Foot formost next them the Velites and the Cavalry behind both If he did not intend the Horse should fight in that place why did he marshal them there and if he conceiv'd they might fight there why did he not tell us how they could do it It is true it may be imagin'd the Velites might bestow their Arrows and Stones cast out of Slings upon an Enemy over the heads of the heavy arm'd Phalange but what hurt Horsemen heavily armed could do an Enemy over the heads of both heavy and light arm'd Foot drawn up in two distinct Bodies one behind the other is not so easie to fansie And with permission of Aelian I doubt it can hardly be made appear that any General before his time whether Macedonian Grecian or Barbarian ever drew up an Army in that fashion if they had ground to do it otherwise Cyrus plac'd his Foot in the Battel and his Horse in the Ordinarily Horse fought in the Wings Wings when he fought with the Assyrians saith Xenophon The Grecians at Delos Leuctra and Syracusa put their Horse in the Wings mixed with light armed Foot their heavy armed Phalange in the middle and some of their Velites skirmishing before it with Reserves behind Alexander used that same custome in all his Battels though at Issus the Streights of the Mountains would not suffer him to put his Army in that order he had design'd till he acquir'd a more spatious ground At Arbela where he totally overthrew Darius he marshall'd his Army nothing after Aelians pattern but so that you may almost say that our Modern Generals draw up their Armies now in imitation of him and according to the Copy he cast them there For his Right Wing consisted of Horse mix'd with light armed Foot the Right hand whereof was commanded by Clitus and the Left by Philotas His Left Wing was likewise Horse mix'd with Velites on the Right hand whereof stood Meleager and on the Left Philip with his Thessalian Cavalry Between these two Wings was ranged his Phalange of heavy arm'd Foot some Velites skirmishing before it and behind all these both Phalanae and Wings were those Reserves under Horestes Lincerta Polycarpon and Philagus whereof I formerly told you The altering a Phalange from one form posture or site to another gave Several forms of a Phalange gave it several denominations occasion to the Grecians to give it some new denomination though it was still that same Phalange it was before the motion or evolution made the alteration which perhaps hath given a rice to Aelian to present us with so many several Figures in his Treatise nor would they be hard to be understood if they were illustrated by either smaller or greater
likewise but with this difference that in every Troop of the Allies there were forty Riders but in the Roman Troops there were only thirty Thus was the gross or bulk of the Roman armies Marshalled As to the Evocati of the Romans and the Extraordinarii of the Allies Polybius hath told us no more than Station of the Extraordinaries uncertain what I have told you in my Discourse of the Allies that they were Encamped besides the Consul and were to be near him in the field and to wait on the Treasurer also But we are left by him and others to conjecture how in what particular place or places they were ordain'd to fight And truly I shall be easily induced to believe that sometimes the Consul placed three hundred of the Allies Extraordinary Horse on the right hand of the Roman Horse in the right wing and so made that wing stronger by one hundred than the other for otherwise the left wing had been two hundred stronger than the right The fourth hundred of the Extraordinary Horse Terduzzi will have to stay with the Consul and probably they did so The Allies Extraordinary Foot were divided into two great Squadrons one whereof stood between the first Legion of the Allies and the first Legion of the Romans on the right-hand of the Battel the second Squadron stood on the left-hand of the second Roman Legion between it and the second Legion of the Allies Thus Lipsius and Terduzzi will have it to be and I think it may be probable enough that it was so yet I doubt none of these two can tell me who told them that it was so In another place Lipsius thinks that both the Evocati and Extraordinarii at the Consuls command join'd with the Triarii to reinforce the Battel and truly this is not improbable but the question is where they stood before they were commanded to join with the Triarii for as Lipsius Marshals them in the Intervals of the Triarii they would hinder the Principes and Hastati to join with the Triarii What Terduzzi saith on this subject I suppose he hath out of Lipsius for though they were coetaneous yet I find Lipsius often cited by Terduzzi But I shall wrong none of them if I say that neither of them in this particular had more warrant than their own Leves conjecturâ— fallacia vestigia as Lipsius calls them If you will believe Vegetius in the eighteenth Chapter of his Third Book the Consul should have made use of the Extraordinarii both Horse and Foot to environ and surround the Enemies left wing if you ask me why the Consul might not as well have surrounded the enemies right wing as his left I must answer you that Vegetius hath kept up the reason from us as a secret In that same Chapter Vegetius says that the Commander in chief should stand between the right wing of the Horse and the Foot as a fit place from whence he might take up his measures and encourage and relieve both his Horse and Foot Lipsius and Terduzzi fix him to the Aquila or the Eagle on the right Station of a Roman Consul in Battel hand of the Roman Legion But Polybius saith in that Battel I just now spoke of Scipio gave the right wing to Masanissa and the left to Lâ—lius to command It would seem then that himself staid with the Foot and so indeed he did for he caused a retreat to be sounded to the Hastati that he might advance with the Principes But since I may guess as well as others I suppose he stood between the two Roman Legions and consequently besides the Eagle of the second Legion and assuredly that part being directly the Center of the army it was in my opinion the only proper place for a Captain-General but when two Consuls were joined together it was not so for ordinarily the one commanded the right wing of the Horse and the other the left So it was at Cannae where the Romans were beaten by Hannibal so it was at Vesuvius where Manlius got the Victory over the Latins after the death of his Colleague Decius so it was at Metaurus where Nero and Livy defeated and kill'd Asdrubal But indeed where there was but one Consul or General he seldom tyed himself to one place but rode where he saw his Presence was most needful So did that Manlius I just now mentioned so did Caesar and so did many others of the ancient Roman Captains And it had been no prejudice either to Lipsius or Terduzzi to have suffer'd a Consul in a Consular army to have stood where he pleased either besides the first Eagle or the second or besides none of them Vegetius in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of his Second Book speaks of some more Offices in a Consular army than Polybius doth and these were three Praefectus Legionis Praefâ—ctus Castrorum and Praefectus Fabrorum It is strange we do not read of these three great Commanders among the ancient Romans and yet in my opinion they had the two last as by the description of their Officers the Reader will quickly conceive As to the first Polybius makes no mention of Other General Officers in a Consular Army him and if there had been any such Officer in his time he neither could or would have past him when he gave us the particular description of a Legion and all its Officers and more especially when he tells us that the Tribunes received the word or Tessera from the Consul and gave it to the Centurions and that the said Tribunes took on them to judg and give definitive sentence in their Legions which they could not have done if there had been a Praefectus above them So it seems he hath been a new Officer created after the Emperours came in play This Fraefectus Legionis this Brigadier or this Legionary Colonel for I Praefectus Legionâ— know not how to English it according to Vegetius his description in the ninth Chapter of his Second Book was an Officer of great experience was obey'd by all the Tribunes Centurions and Soldiers the care of Men Horses Clothes Colonel of the Legion and Arms belong'd to him By his order they were drill'd and train'd and by his authority the Soldiers were punisht for their misdemeanors by the Tribunes But mark it he had only this power in the absence of the Legate and as his Deputy Legato absente tanquam ejus Vicario saith Vegetiuâ— Now if every Legion had a Legate I should believe the Legate was Colonel the Praefectus Lieutenant Colonel the Tribunes were Captains and the Centurions Corporals as I observed before in my Discourse of the Infantry Polybius indeed speaks of Legates but of no Praefecti except among the Allies The Praefectus Castrorum saith Vegetius had the care of the Position of the Praefectus Castrorum Camp the ordering the depth and breadth of both Ditch and Rampart the care of the Sick and of the
Alarm place were lodged the Extraordinaries Extraordinaries of both the Cavalry and Infantry of the Allies for the quarters of their Horse eighty foot in breadth and a hundred sixty seven in length were allowed and for their Fooâ— two hundred foot in length and seventy in breadth Within the Extraordinaries of the Horse was the Market-place which they called Forum Without the Foot of the Extraordinaries and next them was the place of arms or the Alarm-place and this was of one equal breadth in all Alarm-place the four quarters of the Camp to wit two hundred Foot kept yet in our Modern Castrametations Next to this place of arms was the Rampart and that Port which was called Pâ—rta Prâ—tâ—riana the Prâ—tâ—rian Port. Now though the Prâ—torian Port. Roman Consul by this account was not in the middle of his Army as Xenophon would have all Generals to be yet Lipsius thinks it enough that he was in medio Ducum in the middle of his Captains I know not why this was enough but let us see how Behind the Prâ—tor â—â—n on the right hand of it were the Tents of the six Tribunes of the first Roman Legion and upon their right hand the Tents of the six Praefecti of the Allies on the left hand of the Praetorium at some distance behind it were the Tents of the six Roman Tribunes of the second Legion and Tribunes and Praesecti on their left hand the six Praefecti of the second Legion of the Allies were quartered The Sieur de Preissac and his Translator Captain Crusâ— in their delineation of the Roman Camp place the Tents of all the twelve Tribunes and twelve Praefecti as Lipsius doth in his first figure which himself found subject to censure and therefore helpt it in the next Page In the first he makes the left hand Tribune of the first Legion and the right hand Tribune of the second Roman Legion to place their Tents close behind the Praetorium and by that means they took away the mutual prospect of the Consul from his Legions who were quartered behind him and of the Legions from the Consuls Pavilion which was pitcht before them This Preissac did also but Lipsâ—â—â— helped and mended his by â—eaving the Praetorium visible to all quarters and this Preissuck was bound to do likewise but he did it not Besides this error Preissack allows a hundred and fifty foot-square for every Tribunes Tent whereas Polybius allows but fifty and allows enough when he doth so this I conceive to be the Printers fault whereof I thought fit to acquaint the Siâ—â— de Preissacks Reader So you see that the twelve Tents of the Roman Tribunes and the twelve Tents of the Praefecti of the Allies took up twelve hundred foot of ground square fifty foot square being allowed to each of them Observe here that Polybius tells us not at all where or in what place of the Camp the Allies Prâ—fecti lodged and this gives just cause to Lipsius to complain of his carelesness in this point which Lipsâ—â—â— himself hath very well supply'd in quartering them where they should be that is in the front of their Legions as the Roman Tribunes were placed by Polybiâ—â— in the front of theirs as I have told you and in imitation of Lipsâ—â—s Prâ—issâ—ck and Tâ—rduzzi quarter them just so This is all I have to say concerning the Castrametation of the Superior or upper part of the Roman Camp And so I come to the lower one Below the Tents of the Tribunes there was a Street which traversed the Inferior part of the Camp whole breadth of the Camp and divided the superior part of it from that inferior one which I am now to describe This Street was a hundred foot broad and was called Via Principalis the principal Street whether it had that name because Via Principalis it was near the Consuls Pavilion the Tribunes Tents and the Eagles or because if the Camp was of any long continuance they erected their Altars in that Street is no great matter This Street was intersected by another which did run the whole length of the Camp from the Decuman Port to the Praetorian one This Lane divided the right hand Roman Legion from the left hand one and consequently had on each side of it the half of the Consular Army On the right side of it were quartered the Horse and Foot belonging to the first Roman Legion and on the right hand of that Legion the first Legion of the Allies in this following order Nearest to the Street was quartered the Cavalry belonging to the first Legion Quarters for the Roman Horse of the first Legion all in one Row or Street call it as you please for Polybius his Interpreter useth both Striga and Vicus a Row and a Street This Row was divided into ten several quarters each of which was to contain and lodge a Troop consisting of thirty Riders with their Horses Arms and Baggage Every one of these ten Quarters was a hundred foot square and consequently the whole Row was a thousand foot long and a hundred foot broad If you please to multiply a hundred by a hundred you will find the product ten thousand Foot and so much ground had every Troop of thirty Horse allowed to it And that I may tell it you once for all every Maniple of the Principes and Hastati had as much but not the Triarii as you will see anon On the right hand of the Horse were quartered the Triarii who being but half the number of the Hastati and Principes Triaril to wit six hundred they had but fifty foot of ground in breadth but in length as much as the Horse to wit a thousand foot divided equally into ten parts to every one of which parts was assign'd a Maniple consisting of sixty men Multiply a hundred by fifty for every Maniple of the Triâ—â—ii had a hundred foot in length and fifty foot in breadth the product in five thousand foot and so much ground of superficial measure had every Maniple of the Triarii They were obliged to have a care of the Horses belonging to the Cavalry to feed them and see that in the night they strayed not to the disturbance of the Camp and so you may think the Horsemen needed the fewer Grooms Next the Triarii was a Street fifty foot broad on the right hand of it was a Row of Tents in which lodged the Principes who were twelve hundred in number divided Princiâ—eâ— into ten Maniples each censisting of a hundred and twenty men to every Maniple was allowed as much ground as to a Troop of Horse to wit a 100 foot square so to all the ten Maniples a thousand foot in length and a hundred in breadth On their right hand quartered the Hastati all in one Row twelve Hastati of the first Roman Legion quartered hundred in number likewise and had an equal allowance of ground The Hastati were
make not their Captains do their duty in so necessary a point of War I have seen in Germany and Denmark Regiments newly raised and some also sent out of Sweden in the time of the long War before the Peace of Munster only exercised and drill'd three or four times and that was enough for them Supine carelesness of Colonels for the whole time they were to serve for a man would have made himself ridiculous if he had spoken of drilling old Soldiers to keep them in mind of their Postures and Motions this would have been lookt on as a disparagement to them for it would have been presupposed that they stood in need of Exerciseing as in truth most of them did It is a pity and sometimes matter of sport to hear men glory that they are old Soldiers who either never have learned Old Soldiers or have forgot what belongs to their profession and so upon the matter prove themselves to be old fools Nay I have seen in these same Wars many new levied Companies Troops and Regiments never Train'd or Exercised at all nay not so much as one lesson given to a Soldier for the handling his Arms. It is true most of those who were levied in my time had serv'd in those Wars which were before my time but all had not and therefore some were raw and unexperienced and the oldest Soldiers of them needed exceedingly to have had their memories refresht This was the condition of five thousand Foot and three Troops of Horse which the City of Dantzick levied and entertain'd in the time of the late Swedish War against Poland from the year 1656 till the year 1660. I have not seen braver men nor better equipp'd in any Militia than these were but in one whole Summer that I was there I never saw one Company or one man of a Company drill'd or exercis'd Since the Estates of the Vnited Provinces made their Peace with the King of Spain their Officers have been negligent enough of this duty which might have been easily observ'd in most of their Garrisons wherein I have been But I suppose their late alarms have made them resume their ancient care and diligence These Military Exercises were so far worn out of use that I knew Count Koningsmark in the year 1655 when he raised some new Regiments for his Master the King of Sweden take some old Officers to be Drill-masters to the Drill-masters new levied Companies which notwithstanding were provided with all the Officers belonging to them and these Drill-masters he entertain'd with Monthly wages which I thought was not done without some blemish to the reputation of all the Officers especially of the Colonels and Captains That part of Training which teacheth the handling Arms is different to wit that which teacheth a Horseman to manage handsomely and readly his Pistol Carbine and Sword whether he be a Curiassier or Harquebusier and that which teacheth a Foot soldier to handle his Musquet and Pike and his Swedes Feather if he have one And as a Horseman is obliged to learn to Saddle and Drilling of Horsemen Bridle his Horse quickly and well to mount and dismount handsomely to ride decently and carry his body well or as it is called to have a good seat in his Saddle and how to use his voice his hand his leg and his spur so he is obliged to teach his Horse to obey him whether it be in trotting galloping running standing stopping turning or wheeling The Horseman ought to be taught how to keep his Pistols and Carbine fixt and bright without rust how to charge them quickly and prime them how to fire them and readily charge again And he must be especially careful not to ride a shie-horse for such a one may not only bring his Rider in danger and disgrace but disorder the whole Troop Exercise and accustoming his Horse to all feats of Horsemanship especially to see fire to stand when a Pistol or Carbine are discharg'd close by him and to hear the Trumpet will by degrees banish shieness from him and therefore frequent Drilling-troops of Horse teacheth both man and horse their duties Troops should in some points be exercised by sound of Trumpet that Horsemen may know the several points of War by their several names as to the Watch to Saddle to Horse to March to Charge to Râ—tire The particular words of command for Drilling a single Horsemâ—â— that is to teach him the right and true use of his Arms whether he be a Curiaâ—â—â—â—r Harquebusier or Carbiner are too tedious to be set down here and indeed needless for they are vulgarly known and so are those for the Arms of the Infantry whether for the Pike or the Musquet To teach either Horsemen or Foot-Soldiers their Motions and Evolutions Motions or Evolutions of Bodies both of Horse and Foot when they are in Bodies greater or smaller is the second part of Training or Drilling The words of command for both Horse and Foot in these Motions are the very same only the Distances are different Three Foot are allowed between files of Foot and that is order six is open order and twelve is open open order or double double distance and these you may make use of in Exercising Marching or Fighting as you think convenient In Marches the length of the Pike requires six foot of distance between ranks Some allow in Distances exercising Bodies of Horse six foot for single distance between ranks and files and twelve for double distance The Germans ordinarily allow ten for the one and twenty for the other All these Motions and Evolutions may be reduced to four kinds these are Facings Doublings Countermarchings and Wheelings I do not intend to trouble either my Reader or my self with the several words of command ordinary Drill-masters have most of them though not all But he who would have those for Horse exactly may find them in the Supplement to the Compleat Body of the Art Military and both for Foot and Horse in the famous Earl of Straffords Instructions for the Discipline of his Army And those for the Foot alone very well done by Sir Thâ—mas Kâ—lliâ— and compleatly indeed by Lieutenant Colonel Elâ—on in his compleat Body of the Art Observations concerning Training of War Yet I shall desire my Reader with me to observe in Exercises of Foot and Horse these few Particulars First That none of the three ordinary ways used for doubling of ranks in First Observation Bodies of Foot can be made use of in exercising Bodies of Horse as now they are Marshalled in most places of Europe that is three deep or three in file nor can it be where they are five in file as in some places they were all odd numbers being improper for doublings either of ranks or files Secondly That the Facing of a great Body of Horse to either right or left Second hand or about by either right or left hand is a difficult work though with
have observ'd in most Tacticks Lieutenant Colonel Elton is very clear in his definition of a distance which though I told you of it before I shall again give you Distance says he is a place or interval of ground between every rank and rank and every file and file as they stand By this description then three foot of distance being allowed between every file and file there are in seventeen files sixteen distances or intervals which make but forty and eight foot then you are to allow seventeen foot to the Combatants that is one foot for every man to stand on seventeen being added to forty eight make sixty five and so many foot of ground doth a Company possess in front if it consist of seventeen files for the ground of the ranks you are to compute it thus Six ranks take six foot to stand on and thirty foot for five intervals six foot being allow'd for open order in all six and thirty foot which a Distance of Ranks Company Regiment Brigade or Army of Foot constantly possesseth from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up unless you bring the ranks to stand at order which you may frequently do with very good reason and then the five Intervals take up but fifteen foot which being added to the six foot on which the ranks stand make but twenty one foot And when Pikes are to give or receive a Charge you may bring them to close order that is one foot and a half and then the five Intervals take up but 7½ foot these being added to six make 13½ foot Observe that in Exercising this Company of seventeen Files you are to set aside one of the Files because it is odd and so The Colours will hinder the doubling the Files The Colours of the Company are to be on the head of the Pikes neither can they conveniently be between the second and third rank in time of Battel as some would have them to be for you may easily consider what room an Ensign can have with his Colours between ranks when they are at order much less at close order as they should be in the time of Battel It will be fitting before I go further to meet with an objection concerning Objection against my Distances of Files Distances it is this The three foot of distance allowed between Files say they must be reckoned from the Centers that is from the two middle parts of the two File-leaders as from the middle part of the right hand File-leader to the middle part of the File-leader who stands on his left hand I wonder at this notion for hereby two File-leaders take up one foot of ground and so doth the rest of the File and there are but two foot of Interval between the two files and this cannot at all quadrate with the definition of distance for that is an Interval between Files and not betwixt the two middle parts of two mens Bodies And the Authors of Tacticks should have been clearer in their expressions and have said two foot between Files which they knew was too Answered little and have added that every File should have one foot of ground to stand on for what language is this a man shall have half a foot for his right middle part and another half foot for his left middle part for this way of their reckoning of the three foot of distance amounts to just so much and no better language which I conceive is very improper besides by this account the right and left hand Files would have each of them one half foot of ground more than any of the rest of the Files the right hand Filemen hath it by the right middle parts of their bodies and the left hand Filemen by the left middle parts of their Bodies because these two Files on these two hands have no Sidemen which you may easily conceive if you please a little to consider it Let us in the next place see what Officers are appointed to have the command Of Officers of a Company and inspection of this Company and here we may find some difference in the several establishments of Princes and States yet in this we find all agree to have a Captain a Lieutenant an Ensign Serjeants Corporals and Drummers except the Spaniard who rejects the Lieutenant as useless some allow no more Officers than those I have spoken of some allow more to wit a Captain of Armies a Furer a Fourier and a Clerk or Scrivener And besides some allow Lancepesats or Lancpresads as they are commonly called as also Reformado's and Gentlemen of a Company But neither Lancepesats Gentlemen of the Company nor Reformado's are Officers and though Corporals be yet they carry Arms and march in rank and file I shall describe all these and all the Officers of a Foot Company beginning with the Reformado and ending with the Captain Those are called Reformado's or Reformed who have been Officers suppose Reformed Officers Commissionated and those only and are out of charge and bear Arms till they can be prefer'd In some places they are permitted to be without Arms. A Gentleman of the Company is he who is something more than an ordinary Gentleman of a Company Souldier hath a little more pay and doth not stand Centinel In French he is called Appointe and with the Germans he is called Gefreuter They march and watch with Arms they go common Rounds and Patrouills and near an Enemy they are to be the forlorn Centinels whom the French call Perdus Lancespesate is a word deriv'd from the Italian Lance spesata which signifies a broken or spent Lance. He is a Gentleman of no ancient standing in the Militia for he draws his Pedigree from the time of the Wars between Francis the First and his Son Henry the Second Kings of France on the one part and the Emperour Charles the Fifth and his Brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy on the other part in those Wars when a Gentleman of a Troop of Horse in any Skirmish Battel or Rencounter had broke his Lance on his enemy and lost his Horse in the Scuffle he was entertain'd under the name of a Broken-Lance by a Captain of a Foot Company as his Comerade till he was again mounted But as all good orders fall soon from their Primitive Institution so in a short time our Monsieur Lancespesata for so he was called was forc'd to descend from being Lancespesata the Captains Comerade and became the Corporals Companion and assisted him in the Exercise of his Charge and therefore was sometimes called by the French Aide Caporal But when the Caporal grew weary of the Comradeship of his Lancespesata he made him officiate under him and for that had some allowance of pay more than the common Soldier which he enjoys in those places where he is made use of and still keeps the noble Title of Lancespesata though perhaps he was never on Horseback in his life corruptly
A Regiment marshal'd in one Division orders the Colonels Company to draw up on the right hand next to that the Majors thirdly the second Captains fourthly the fourth Captains fifthly the sixth Captains sixthly the seventh Captains seventhly the fifth Captains eighthly the third Captains ninthly the oldest Captain and lastly the Lieutenant-Colonels Company I know some would have the Majors Company to be where I have plac'd the youngest Captains because they think next to the Van and the Reer the middle is the most honourable place But if they take heed they will find it is not so with a middle Company as with a middle man in a file who upon doubling the front by half files becomes a Leader Besides no Company can properly be said to be in the middle of a Regiment unless the Regiment consist of odd Companies which seldom or never is practised for draw up a Regiment of ten Companies in one front the sixth Company which is accounted the middle one or the Company in the middle of the Regiment is not so for it hath five Companies on its right hand and but four on its left Now my reason for Reasons for the manner of it drawing up the Companies in that order whereof I have spoken is this The right hand or the Van is the most honourable place and next to it the left hand or reer Now the honour comes from danger which is for most part expected from the Van or the Reer and hence it will follow that the nearer a Captain and his Company are the danger the more honourable place they have and therefore the nearer they are to the Van and the Reer the more honourable place they have If then the Regiment be attackâ— in the Van where most danger is expected the Majors Company is by much nearer the danger when it is marshal'd next to the Colonels than if it were drawn up about the middle of the Regiment and consequently is in the more honourable place by this same reason the oldest Captain is to be nearest the Lieutenant-Colonel who hath the second place of honour for if the Reer be attackt the Lieutenant Colonel is nearest the danger and next him the first Captain by this same rule of proportion the second Captain is next to the Major it being fit since the first Captain hath the second place of dignity in the Reer that the second Captain have the third place in the Van. And if this rule hold as I hope it will the third Captains Company must be drawn up on the oldest Captains right hand that so he may have the third place from the Reer as the second Captain had the third place from the Van. And to make short I place the fourth Captain in the fourth place from the Van and the fifth Captain in the fourth place from the Reer the sixth Captain in the fifth place from the Van and the seventh and last Captain in the fifth place from the Reer Now because an Enemy is sooner expected in the Van than in the Reer the Van is more honourable than the Reer and therefore I marshal the last Captain in or near the middle of the Regiment where being furthest from danger either in Van or Reer he obtains the place of least dignity for though all places are honourable yet some are more honourable than others I marshal then a Regiment of ten Companies drawn up in one Division thus Order of a Regiment in one Batallion Colonel Major Second Captain Fourth Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fifth Captain Third Captain First Captain Lieutenant-Colonel The Companies standing in this order the Major will have but little trouble How to put them in one Body to Body them one of two ways First he may command all the Pikes to advance twenty or twenty four paces and there join them then let him cause the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the right to advance to the right hand of the Pikes and the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the left hand to march up to the left hand of the Pikes and so his work is done Secondly if he have no other ground than that he stands on he is to command the Pikemen to march thorough the files of the Musqueteers by the right and left hand till they meet in one Body in the middle the Musqueteers being likewise order'd to march by both hands to their due distances so that this motion is a Chorean Countermarch of files This may be done with much ease and a few words if the Major please but some have the vanity to make themselves and their Soldiers more business than they need by crying this and that riding here and there making work to themselves and sometimes sport to the Beholders If the Major be order'd to marshal the Regiment in two Divisions he may do To marshal a Regiment of ten Companies in two Batallions it thus The Colonels Company being to have the right hand of the first division and the Lieutenant-Colonels of the second Division he ought to place the other Companies according to their Dignities and these are the Majors Company in the Reer of the first Division and the first Captains in the Reer of the second Division the second Captain next to the Colonel in the first Division the third Captain next to the Lieutenant-Colonel in the second Division the fourth Captain on the right hand of the Major in the first Division and the fifth Captain on the right hand of the oldest Captain in the second Division the sixth Captain next to the second Captain in the first Division and the seventh and last Captain next to the third Captain in the second Division The ten Companies of a Regiment then drawn up in two distinct Batallions are in this order Order of ten Companies in two Divisions First Division Second Division Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Second Captain Third Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fourth Captain Fifth Captain Major First Captain My reason for this is because the Regiment being now divided into two Bodies or Batallions the two Reers are next in dignity to the two Vans and those that are nearest to the two Reers are next in honour to those who are nearest to the two Vans for this reason I place the sixth Captain just in the middle of the Reasons for that order first Division as furthest from danger of either Van or Reer of that Division having two Companies before him and two behind him or two on each hand of him And I place the last Captains Company in the middle of the second Division as the place of least dignity and that belongs to him all other Captains having the Precedency of him The Pikes of the first and second Divisions are in the middle of their several Batallions and the Musqueteers of the five Companies of each Body equally divided on both hands of the several Bodies of the Pikes which is done in that same way as when the Regiment
then that Captain-General commissionates Lieutenant-Generals to command petty Armies under him but when he joins his forces the Command of the Lieutenant-General seems to cease because he is but the Deputy of him that sent him and a Representative is no more a Representative when he whom he represented is present The Roman Consuls had their Lieutenant Generals who were called Legates who commanded Armies apart Roman Legates when the Consuls thought fit but had no command when the Consul was present Nor doth Caesar give those Legates even in the Consuls absence an absolute power for speaking of one of his own Legates in the French War I believe it was Labienus he commends him for not hazarding a Battel with the Gauls though he seem'd to have the advantage because saith he a Legate hath not that power which he hath who is Imperator or Commander in chief One of the Dukes of Aumale commanded an Army in France against the Protestants with the Title of Lieutenant-General but so soon as he join'd forces with Henry Duke of Anjou who was Captain-General for his Brother Charles the Ninth the Duke resign'd both his Title and Office But notwithstanding all this Lieutenant-Generals continue both in their Title and Office in their Generals presence and I have known Felt-marshals have Lieutenant-Generals under them who have commanded both the Horse and Foot of their Armies even when the Felt-marshals were present as the Earl of Bramford who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Barrier and King who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Leslie I think the great Dukes of Muscovia have a very commendable custom to chuse any of their Colonels who they fancy are qualified for it to be Generals or Lieutenant-Generals of a competent number of forces fit for the expedition they are to be imployed in and so soon as that piece of service is A good custom done the Colonel lays down his Commission and returns to his former Charge without the least thought or imagination that he is disparag'd thereby the frequent practice of this custom banishing such thoughts out of all mens heads Neither would such a practice be fancyed to be a degrading of men from former honours in other places of the world if they were but a little habituated to it The French gives now the Title of Lieutenant-Generals very frequently I suppose they are independent one of another and are the Kings Lieutenant-Generals which is very proper and obey none but such as he commands to give Orders to them A General of the Cavalry commands it under him who is Commander in General of the Cavalry chief of the Army whatever title he bear whether General Felt-marshal Lieutenant Felt-marshal or Lieutenant-General He is to see the Troops and Regiments of Horse kept at that strength that they are appointed to be of and if by Battel long marches great fatigue or other accidents of War the numbers of men be diminisht Horses lost or made unserviceable it is his duty when they come to Quarter to see the Troops made strong the Horses put in good case and the Riders well cloth'd and arm'd In Musters he is obliged to see that no Colonel or Ritmaster wrong the Muster-masters by His Duties making a show of borrow'd men Horses or Arms whereby the Prince may be cheated in his Purse or disappointed in his service He is to take care that the Cavalry be paid and provided with Proviant and Fodderage and good Quarter He should also be a person who understands something of the Foot-service in regard that when the greatest part of the Horse is sent in any Expedition ordinarily some Foot are sent with them and then it is the General of the Cavalries office to command both But it is a pity that all General persons should not make it their study and their work to understand both the Foot and Horse-service for I have seen considerable parties of Foot more harass'd and spoil'd in a-short time under the command of an Officer of Horse than if they had been routed by an enemy so little discretion some have to know the difference between a man and a Horse It seems in the Low-Country service the General of the Horse commanded next the General and in his absence over the Army even when they had Felt-marshals but that custom is not now in other places where Felt-marshals and Lieutenant-Felt-marshals command the Generals of the Horse and it would seem that the Estates of the Vnited Provinces have now voided the difference otherwise since they qualified the two Commanders in chief of their Armies with the Titles of Felt-marshals Prince Maurice and Wurz A Lieutenant-General of the Horse being in his Generals absence to do the Lieutenant General of the Cavalry same duties he should have the same qualifications If the Cavalry be marshal'd in one Body the General is to stand on the right hand of it and the Lieutenant-General on the left But if the Horse be drawn up in two wings the General commands the right and the Lieutenant-General commands the left wing A Major-General of the Cavalry is to receive the word and all other Orders Major General of the Horse from the Commander in chief of the Army he is to impart them to the General and the Lieutenant-General of the Cavalry and after he hath received their commands he is to give all to the Regiment Quarter-masters of Horse which they carry to the several Regiments All complaints and differences between Officers and Horsemen or among themselves are first brought to him which he should endeavour to compose in an amicable way but if he cannot Major-General of Horse he is to proceed according to the Articles and Constitutions of War He hath the inspection of all the Guards of Horse and orders them and keeps lists of Convoys and Parties that the several Officers and Troopers may have their turns in which a Major-General should show himself very impartial for very few or none there be who will not think themselves wrong'd in their reputation His Duties if others be prefer'd to them where either danger may probably be look'd for or profit expected unless it can be made clear to them that it is not their turn to go on that party or with that Convoy It is the Major-General who marshals the Cavalry in Battel having first advised about the manner with the General of the Horse or in his absence with the Lieutenant-General If he be an understanding active stirring and vigilant person a General and Lieutenant-General may be laid aside as in many Armies over Christendom they are though not in all This Officer the English qualifie with the Title of Commissary General of the Horse The Duties of a Lieutenant-General and Major-General of the Foot are the General Officers of the Foot same which I have told you belongs to those of the Horse mutatis mutandis Generals of the Foot are but rare Banier was under Gustavus Adolphus and Lind
not marshalling the Battel and Reserve in this order at the Battel of Woodstock fought in the Error aâ— Woodstock Battel year 1636 was either the Swedish error or mistake for Banier who commanded the right wing of the Swedish forces being overlaid with numbers had been undoubtedly beaten if the Battel and left wing had not prevail'd so soon as he saw the danger he sent Post after Post to Lieutenant General Vizthumb who commanded the Reserve commanding him to advance instantly to his succour but he made no great haste the Swede having obtain'd the Victory Vizthumb next morning is question'd for his slow advance he justified himself by making it appear that if he had advanc'd immediately those who were running away in Troops would have routed him at least have so disorder'd him that he could have done no service and therefore he stood firm in his first ground till all the runnaways were past him and then march'd up in good order Most of this was known to be true but if Battel and Reserve had been marshal'd in the manner I spoke last of there had been no danger of that whereof Vizthumb was afraid for there had been room enough for him to have advanc'd and for those who fled to have run away But it seems it was order'd otherwise But we shall marshal an Army both ways first with the lesser and next with the greater Intervals and we shall suppose our Army to consist of sixteen thousand Army of 16200 Horse and Foot divided into seven Brigades of Foot and six of Horse Horse and Foot and a few more We shall draw them up in a fair Campaign or Heath which hath very few or no encumbrances of Houses Trees heights or hollow places and the right hand of it shall be fenced with some unfordable water and the left with the Waggons of the Army The Army it self shall consist of seven Brigades of Foot and six of Horse Each Brigade of Foot shall consist of 1800 men in all 12600. The six Brigades of Horse shall consist of 3600 which being divided into six parts gives 600 Horsemen besides Officers to every Brigade in all 16200. In the first way of marshalling I shall allow as I should do one foot of ground for every Foot soldier to stand on and three foot distance between files but because some think this too much have patience and at my second marshalling of the army I shall allow them less though no less belongs to them To every Horseman I allow four foot of ground for himself and the distance between him and his sidemen Some will think it too much but Bockler allows him six this is too much at next marshaling I shall allow him less than four On the right wing of the Van guard or Battel shall stand two Brigades of Horse and on the left wing as many and between the wings the Body shall be Marshal'd in Battel and Reserve with lesser Intervals composed of four Brigades of Foot On the right wing of the Reer-guard or Reserve shall stand one Brigade of Horse and on the left wing another Brigade of Horse and between the two wings the Body shall be composed of three Brigades of Foot The length of the Battel you may compute thus every Brigade of Horse being six hundred and drawn up three deep consists of two hundred Leaders for each of these four foot are allowed that is eight hundred Multiply eight hundred by four which is the number of the Brigades of the Battel the product is 3200. Three Streets or Distances each of eight foot-broad must be allow'd in every Brigade inde twelve Streets in four Brigades these make 96 foot then you have two Intervals on the right hand one between the two Brigades of Horse and another between the Horse and the right hand of the Foot and as many you have on the left hand of the Battel in all four great The Longitude of the Battel computed Intervals each of them of 24 foot for more some will not allow inde 96 foot add 3200 to 96 and both to 96 you will find the aggregate to be 3392. And so much ground doth the four Brigades of Horse possess with their Intervals Each Brigade of Foot consisting of 1800 men being six deep hath 300 Leaders these possess 1200 foot 1200 being multiplied by four which is the number of the Foot-brigades of the Battel produceth 4800. There must be a distance of six foot between the right hand of the Pikemen and the right wing of the Musqueteers and another on the left hand these two Distances take 12 foot and therefore four Brigades require 48 foot Now four Brigades have three Intervals each of 24 foot inde 72. Add then 72 for greater Intervals to 48 allow'd for lesser Distances the aggregate is 120 add 120 to 4800 the aggregate is 4920 so much ground doth four Brigades of Foot possess with their Intervals Be pleased to add 4920 to the 3392 Foot which the four Brigades of Horse possest you will find the aggregate to be 8312 foot which being divided by five to make paces the Quotient is 1662 and two foot so much ground do our four Brigades of foot and four Brigades of Horse take up in front the Intervals between Brigades being allowed to be no greater than 24 foot According to this allowance the Reader may easily calculate the longitude of the three Brigades of Foot and two Brigades of Horse which make the Reer-guard or Reserve if he conceive it worthy of his pains To marshal our Army of 16200 men another way in order to Intervals I shall in the first place allow no more ground to either Foot-soldier or Horseman Marshal'd in Battel and Reserve with greater Intervals for himself and distance from his sidemen but three foot in all But for the great Interval between two Brigades I shall allow as much ground as a Brigade may stand on that the Brigade in the Reserve may possess it when order'd to advance You will remember we agreed that four Brigades of Foot and four of Horse should make the Battel and three Brigades of Foot and two of Horse should make the Reserve which I marshal thus On the right hand of the Battel two Brigades of Horse but between them an Interval of as much ground as one of the Brigades possesseth On the left hand of the second Brigade of Horse an Interval of 24 foot on the left hand whereof four Brigades of Foot marshal'd in one front these four must have three Intervals each of them capable to contain a Brigade of Foot on the left hand of them an Interval of 24 foot and then two Brigades of Horse with such a distance between them as that the two Brigades on the right wing had The Reserve I marshal thus One Brigade of Horse drawn up at a convenient distance directly behind the Interval between the two Brigades of Horse on the right wing of the Battel Then on its
Speeches Couragious looks and gestures and with Promises of noble Rewards Harangues he should enflame the Spirits of his Souldiers with a desire to fight and withal he should assure them that the honour of their Prince and their own safety depends only on their courage and gallant behaviour all hopes of Retreat being taken away But this commendable custome of haranguing Armies by Generals is much worn out in our late Wars and I shrewdly suspect most of those Orations we read are the fine fictions of Historians who are better at that than the describing the manner how Generals marshall'd their Armies If a General be strong in Cavalry he should shun fighting in a strait or close Countrey if his Infantry be numerous he should shun Heaths and Champaigns yet it is but seldome in his power though sometimes it be to chuse either the one or the other He should advise well with the Master of The planting the Ordnance the Ordnance how to plant his Artillery whether on the Flanks in the great Intervals or upon some heighth and ascent whether that be before or behind the Army or if his train be great in all these places this should be done before the beginning of the fight that accordingly Batteries and Beds may be readily made and the Gunners ready to fire when they are commanded Our Army being marshall'd either in one two or three Bodies as our General 's own reason and experience will direct him or the ground permit of which I have spoken in the seventeenth Chapter All these things being done the Word and the Sign should be given and these are quickly carried through the Army by the Major Generals and the Adjutants At suce a time the Word The Word is ordinarily a Sentence for Souldiers are no Grammarians as God with us For God and the King Our trust is in God and Vivat such a Prince and the like The Sign may be a Handkerchief on the Hat or a piece of Linnen The Sign on the right or left arm a twig of a Birch an Elme an Oak or a Sycamore or it may be a Fur or what else the Prince or his General pleaseth The Word and Sign are given both to Officers Common Troopers and Souldiers and sometimes they are alter'd in the time of Battel if there be any ground or Both many times alter'd suspicion that the Enemy hath got them or any of them I remember when the Iâ—perialists had lost the Battel at Oldendorpe in Germany in the year 1633. the Prisoners who were all Roman Catholicks pretended they had been beaten by the just Judgement and Revenge of the Blessed Virgin in regard before the Battel began the Word was Sancta Maria and in the time of the Fight it was changed for the reason I spoke of to Viva Ferdinando Being ready to advance to the Charge the General takes his place having The Battel assign'd before a Station to all his General Officers of the Field Many have reason enough to think that the General himself should stand in the middle of the Infantry of the Battel where he useth to march but that is not constantly practis'd yea and but seldome in our late Wars for many times he A Generals station in time of it who commands in chief takes his station in the right Wing of the Cavalry so did the Great King of Sweden at the first Battel of Leipsick and so he did at Lutsen likewise So did Count Tili at that same Battel at Leipsick and so did Banier at Woodstock I told you formerly in my discourse of marshalling Armies That Charles the Fifth intending to fight Sultan Solyman at Vienna drew up all his Cavalry in the two great Intervals which his three great Batallions of Foot made fifteen thousand Horse were in each of the two Bodies and in that on the right hand stood the Emperour himself and with that on the left his Brother King Ferdinand Nor was nor is this custome of a Generals standing in the right Wing of the Horse or between it and the Infantry a new thing the Roman Consuls using it frequently when two of them joyn'd together Sometimes in our late Wars when the Army was marshall'd in Battel Should be where he pleaseth and Reserve five General persons have commanded in five several places as thus In the Right Wing the Commander in chief in the Body of the Infantry which makes the Battel he who hath the command next to the General in the Left Wing stood the third person in dignity in the Right of the Reserve the fourth and in the Left hand of it the fifth So the Suedish Generals order'd their business at Woodstock where two of their Armies were joyn'd against an Imperial and a Saxish Army Banier the first Felt-Marshal commanded the Right Wing of the Cavalry Leslie the second Felt-Marshal commanded the Battel of the Avant-guard Lieutenant General King the Left Wing of the Horse Lieutenant General Vitsdrun the Right hand of the Reserve and Major General Ruthven the Left But in ancient times a General of an Army chose to stand where he pleas'd and where he thought his presence could be most steadable so Pompey made his station in the Right Wing of his Army at Pharsalia which Caesar observing chose to stand on the Left Wing of his that he might be opposite to his Grand Competitor And I know nothing can tye a General in our times to take a station or no station to himself but as he pleaseth For my own part I think he should tye himself to no particular place but should ride where he sees or hears the greatest danger to be Indeed he ought to appoint particular stations to all his general Field-Officers from which they should not budge upon any pretence whatsoever without express command from the Commander in chief and these places should be given them according to the honour and precedency they enjoy by their several charges As let us suppose he hath under him a Lieutenant General of the whole Army a General and Major General of the Horse and a General and Major General of the Foot he may place his Lieutenant General Stations of the general Field-Officers on the Right Wing of the Avant-guard the General of the Cavalry on the Left and the General of the Foot in the Battel the Major General of the Horse on the Right Wing of the Reserve and the Major General of the Foot on the Left And keep himself free from any one station to ride with his Adjutants and Guards where he thinks his presence is most necessary and shortly to be an Ubiquitary that being restricted to no place he may be every A General an Ubiquitary where If he have more General Field Officers than these just now mention'd he may place three more one on the left hand of the Right Wing the second on the Left hand of the Left Wing and the third on the left
hand of the Battel Before the Battel begin there use to be fore-parties of both Horse and Forlorn Hopes Foot sent out to skirmish these are called Forlorn Hopes and Enfans Perdues Those of the Foot should advance one hundred paces before the Body those of the Horse further But I find at the Battels fought both at Dreux and St. Dennis between the Protestants and Roman Catholicks of France none of those Forlorn Hopes were made use of at all and as few were used at Lutsen where Gustavus Adolphus lost his life When an Enemy is marshalling his Army your Artillery should incessantly To advance on an Enemy play upon him to hinder him all you may to order his affairs and if your Battel be already marshall'd under the shelter of your Ordnance you should advance and take your advantage of him before his Batallions or Squadrons be drawn up but in so good order that the Scene be not changed that by your precipitation you give not him an opportunity to take advantage of you Your advance on an Enemy in what posture soever he be should be with a constant firm and steady pace the Musketeers whether they be on the Flanks or interlin'd with either the Horse or the Pikes firing all the while but when you come within Pistol-shot you should double your pace till your Pikes closely serr'd together charge these whether Horse or Foot whom they find before them It is true the business very oft comes not to push of Pike but it hath and may come oft to it and then Pike-men are very serviceable If a misfortune fall out that a Brigade Regiment or other part of an Army be beat or begin to run and quit the Field this should be conceal'd from the rest of the Army and the Souldiers told that the Enemy in other places is beaten and if they fight but a little the Victory will be instantly theirs I shall not speak here of what advantage a large Front is having done it so often before but if a General perceive that the business may be quickly decided To marshal the Foot in three Rankâ— I think he should double the Front of his Foot and make but three Ranks where formerly they were six and so being able to out-wing his Enemy he may fall on his Flank for at no extraordinary march an Army may be brought to push of Pike before three Ranks of Musketeers have fired successively if they do not begin to fire till they be within distance less than Musket-shot and after they have given their three Volleys then they may give the fourth which will signifie as much if not more than all the three by kneeling stooping and standing whereof I have spoke in the eleventh and twelfth Chapters When any Regiment or Brigade runs or offers to quit the Field the Reserve behind should be order'd immediately to advance and encounter the Victorious Enemy who will hardly be able to withstand that fresh charge for it may be almost received as a Maxime That a Troop Regiment or Brigade A good Rule but not Infallible how strong soever it be which hath fought with and beaten that Body of equal number that stood against it may be easily routed by a Troop Regiment or Brigade that hath not fought though far inferiour in number If any part of an Army get the Victory of those who stand against it he who commands that part ought to send some Troops in pursuit of the routed Enemy and Not to fall on the Flank of an Enemy a great neglect with the rest fall on the Flank of that Batallion which stands next him and yet keeps ground The neglect of this duty lost the famous General Count Tili the Battel of Leipsick for himself being on the Right hand of the Imperial Army beat the Duke of Saxe and his Army out of the Field whom Tili hotly pursuing did not fall on the Left Flank of the Swedish Army left naked Inflanced by the flight of the Saxons But at that same time the King of Sweden who was on the Right hand of his own Army had routed Count Pappenheim who The doing it contributes to the Victory commanded the Left Wing of the Imperialists upon which that martial King did not fail to charge the Flank of the Imperial Battel which was left naked by Pappenheim's Flight and this help'd to procure the Victory to the Sweed As I told you in another place Banier's Right Wing was well near beaten at Woodstock nor did the Reserve come so soon to his succours About that same Instanced time Lieutenant General King had routed the Right Wing of the Imperial Army and with it bore down the Right hand of their Reserve and â—â—ll on the Right Flank of their Battel which yet disputed their ground with Felt-Marshal Leslie who thereupon cast down their Arms and yielded the Victory to the Swedes And the mentioning this Victory puts me in mind to advertize all Officers of Foot not to teach their Musketeers to neglect the use of their Rammers a lesson too often taught and practis'd for at this Bartel I speak of the Imperial Foot were on a Hill up which Leslie advanced with his Infantry but neither his nor the Imperial Musketers made use of Rammers only as the common custome is when they charg'd with Ball they knock'd the Buts of their Muskets at their Right foot by which means most of the Bullets of the Imperial and Saxish Fire-men fell out at the mouths of their Musket when they presented them down the Hill upon the Sweeds whose Bullets could not run that fortune being presented upward And for this reason it was observ'd that few of the Sweedish Foot fell When a Reserve or a part of it advanceth those who fled have a fair opportunity to rally and in a short time to second the Reserve and though To rally rallying at so near a distance is not frequently seen yet it is not banish'd out of the Modern Wars or Armies At Dreux both Armies rallied twice or thrice with various success the Generals of both Armies being both made Prisoners And at Lutsen both Armies rallied often for they fought from morning till night most of the Imperial Cannon being twice taken was as oft retaken Fresh succours in time of Battel discourage an Enemy Some Great Captains have thought it fit in time of Battel to make a show of their Waggon-men Carters and Baggage-men at a distance as if they were succours newly arrived and certainly nothing terrifies an Army more in time of equal sight than an unexpected Enemy as Robert Duke of Normandy's fortunate arrival in the time of Battel between Godfrey of Bouillâ—n and Instance the Saracens in the Holy Land deliver'd the Victory to the Christians But these feigned Musters of Baggage-men and Carriage-horses produce not always False shews sometimes happy the wished effects Sulpitius a Roman Dictator being to fight with the Gauls order'd
of any part of it but all of them and every one of them had the command of the whole Legion but to shun both confusion and contention they commanded about a month by turns for Polybius in his fifth Book informs us that two Tribunes had the command for one month alternatively his meaning certainly was two Tribunes in a Consular Army in which there were two Legions of Romans besides Allies and Military Tribunes that is still one Tribune for every Legion and so the Tribunes had their turns if it be true what Polybius supposes that the Army staid in the Field but six Months and ordinarily they staid no longer and sometimes not so long yet we find that sometimes they staid abroad all the Winter over the first practice whereof was at the Siege of Vâ—ii and then no doubt the Tribunes took their turns of command as they did in the Summer time Here now you see we have six Tribunes in a Legion and but one Tribune in a Legion The other five had that same respect service and obedience paid them with him who commanded and sate in the Council of War with the Consul as well as he The power and authority of the Tribunes was great enough they judged of all causes Civil Criminal and Military but the last appeal was reserved for the Consul or General They might impose pecuniary mulcta and fines and Their Power punish by defalcation of Pay or Proviant and by whipping likewise yea Polybius says they might pass a sentence of Death others say not without the Council They received the Tessera or Watchword from the Consul whereof I shall give you a more perfect account in another place They went Their Duties before to see the Camp measured out according to the form of the Roman Castrametation whereof hereafter But where these Tribunes had their Stations in the time of Battel for sure the other five were not idle then neither Polybius nor Vegetius tells us one Their station in Battel word Doubtless they are to blame for concealing that and many other considerable points of the Roman art of War And here again I am forced to engage with Lipsius who very frankly offers his conjecture which is this That all the six Tribunes stood beside or near the Consul and that was saith he beside the Eagle on the right hand of the Triarii but if he had remembred of some things that no question he knew he would not have vented this opinion of his For first the Consul could not be beside two Eagles and Lipsius erres in his conjecture therefore the Tribunes of both Legions could not be beside him Secondly The Consul as all History witnesseth was so far from being constantly at the Eagle that he was but very seldom beside any of the Eagles except when he was to lead the Triarii up to the assistance of the other two Classes and many times he did this by a sign and not in Person Thirdly it had been great shame for a knot of Colonels to have stood all of them beside the Triarii when the other two Batallions of Hastati and Principes were at hot work with an Enemy Now the reason which Lipsius gives for this guess of his is as extravagant as the conjecture it self and I pray you hear it Because saith he the Tribunes in the Roman Camp quarter'd all very near the Praetorium or And in the reason of it Consuls Pavilion and therefore that in time of Battel they should all be beside or near the Consul is an Inference not worthy the youngest Novitiate in Logick for if this reason were valid then all the Horsemen should have been embattell'd in the rear beside the Triarii because in the Camp they quarter'd all beside them as you shall hear afterwards But since guessing is in fashion why may not I guess too yes by Lipsius his permission I think I may I shall lose but little My conjecture then shall be grounded on two undeniable truths the first is that the Tribunes had the command of the The Authors conjecture Horse as well as of the Foot The second that the Roman Horse were almost constantly marshall'd in one Wing and for the most part in the right Wing the left one being ordain'd for the Cavalry of the Allies add a third truth to the other two that the Horse had no Officers to command them but Decurions and these were Independent one of another Let us then allow one of the six Tribunes to command the Horse In the next place let us order two experimented Tribunes to stay with the Triarii and the other two to command the Principes and the sixth with my consent shall fight with the Hastati If this conjecture of mine please the Reader as little as that of Lipsius pleaseth me I shall not break my heart for the matter for I have met with greater disappointments As to any other Officer of the Infantry in the old Roman Militia I find none Vegetius tells us in the seventh Chapter of his second Book of some mean Office bearers who perhaps in his time had some small allowance of pay more than ordinary But in Polybius's time and before it they were nothing but Gregarii Milites common Souldiers and we are now speaking of the ancient constitutions of the Roman Militia But with Vegetius I shall speak a word of these meaner Office-beaters Tesserarii who received the word from the Tesserarii what Metatores what Mensores what Clerks Tribunes Metatores went before with the Tribune to measure out the Camp Mensores who in the Field gave the Souldiers ground for their Huts and Tents and their several Lodgings in Towns and Villages as our Quartermasters and Fouriers do Librarii were petty Clerks and Scriveners who kept the accounts of Pay proviant and donatives all these in ancient times were appointed and chosen by the Centurions remaining still common Souldiers and changed at their pleasure In that same Chapter Vegetius speaks of Ordinarii Qui in pralio primos ordines ducunt who in Battel saith he led the first orders But here to me he is very obscure for Ordines may signifie Estates Ordinares what which is not meant in this place Ordines signifies Centuriates and so Casaubon in his translation of Polybius useth it and Ordines is very often taken for both Ranks and Files If Vegetius had used Ordines here for Centuriates then assuredly he would have said the Ordinarii were the Principes or of them for according to his account the Principes made the first Batallion and so were Primi ordines that is the first Centuriates But if by Ordines he meant Ranks as all along he seems to do then his Primi ordines or first ranks were nothing but File-leaders whereof indeed the Centurion himself was one and the Dignity he had was that he marched and fought either on the right or left hand of his own Centuriate as when two were joyned
in a Maniple the oldest Centurion stood on the right hand of the Maniple and the youngest on the left It is there also where the same Author tells us of some who were called Augustales that were joyned to these Ordinarii but he makes it not Augustals what clear to us what duty they did nor could they at all belong to the Ancient Roman Militia having been but ordain'd by Augustus from whom they had their Denomination The Flaviales he saith were tanquam secundi Augustales Flavials what the second Augustals being Instituted by the Emperour Flavius Vespasian from whom they had their name What shall I say of these Augustals and Flavials but that these two Emperours have bestow'd it may be a little more allowance of Pay or Bread upon some common Souldiers than upon others and as a mark of their favour have perhaps appointed the second or third Rank to be next in honour to the Front or the Rear and those who march'd in them to be call'd by their names Augustals and Flavials Vegetius his Torquati Torquati what Simplares and Duplares were such as had received gold Chains or Bracelets single or double as rewards of their Valour Vertue and good service who besides had many times given them a double allowance of Bread Flesh and Wine All these were nothing but common Souldiers who enjoy'd such benefits as these we have spoke of and perhaps were not priviledged All of them common Souldiers from the Duties of those Souldiers who were called Munifices whereof I spoke formerly As to Vegetius his Trumpeters and Horn-winders whereof he speaks in that same place I shall have a Discourse of them in a Chapter apart It is there likewise where Vegetius speaks of the Creation of Tribunes Tribunes who he saith were chosen by the Emperors after they were vested with the Soveraign Power and had their authority given them per Epistolam sacram which I may english by an Imperial Patent or Commission But in my Discourse of Election I have shown you who used to chuse the Tribunes after the Ancient Roman way And in the same Chapter it is that our Author qualifies those whom Livy calls Subcenturiones and Casaubon out of Polybius Agminis Coactores with the name of Optiones they signifie all one thing and I think Options what Bringers up yet among these Rear-men there was one who was chosen by the Centurion to assist him and this was the Sub-Centurion our Lancespesate if he was so much But I pray you take notice how Vegetius describes these Persons Optiones ab optando appellati quod antecedentibus agritudine prapeditis Vegetius his description of them tanquam adoptati eorum atque Vicarii solent universa curare Options saith he they were called from wishing or adopting because those who marched before them being hindred by sickness they as their adopted and Vicars used to have a care of all things By this description they were nothing but Bringers up and all Bringers up could not be Sub-centurions And at best the Sub-Centurion had all his power from his Centurion and was as his adopted Child to succeed him in his charge after his death whether that happen'd by a natural or a violent way But so far as I can yet perceive this Sub-Centurion this Agminis Coactor this Optio this adopted Child signified nothing nor could officiate any way till his Father the Centurion dyed or at least till he either fell sick or chanced to be wounded and then this Adopted Son of his might supply his place as his Deputy I find in some Authors that every Legion had a Physician but whether every Physicians Chirurgions Centuriate Maniple or Cohort had a Chirurgion I know not for I find nothing of it in any Author I have read But since nothing is more certain than that the Roman Souldiers and Officers were frequently wounded and that we read of Consuls and Dictators who have made it a part of their work as indeed it was to visit comfort and cherish the sick and hurt in their Tents and Hutts I think we need not doubt but their Armies were well provided of these Artists without whose help the comfortable words of a General nay of a Prince to a heavily diseased Person could signifie but little The Eagle was the Ensign or Banner of every Legion it being the Arms The Eagle of the Roman State as it continues to be to the German Roman Emperours to this day It was carried on the top of a long Pole or Spear and was entrusted to the care and keeping of the first Centurion of the Legion and that was he who commanded on the Right hand of the Triarii but whether he carried it himself or had only the inspection of it and was to answer By whom carried for the loss of it I have read no Author who clears me nor doth Lipsius offer me any help And therefore I shall be of the opinion that the Centurion who had the Command of the Legion next to the Tribunes ought not to have been hinder'd in the exercise of his function especially when he was both to fight himself and teach others how to fight with so great a burthen as was the Eagle with its long Pole and till I get better information I shall think that he had some other strong lusty fellow to bear it for the defence whereof many Centurions at several occasions lost their lives I told you before that in ancient times the whole Batallion of the Triarii was called Pilus and themselves Pilani hence it is that the first Centurion of that Class to whom the Eagle was recommended was called Primipilus and Primipilus and his priviledges was the first of the whole Legion to which degree of honour as being then capable to be a Tribune he ascended by many steps as having been a Centurion of and in all the other two Classes before He had some priviledges more than other Centurions had one whereof was that he might sit in Council with the Consul Legates and Tribunes He who carried the Eagle was called Aquilifer or Eagle-bearer who still I think could not be the Primipilus of whom Vegetius in the eighth Chapter of his second Book says only Aquilae praecrat He had the care of the Eagle The other Ensigns or Banners of which I said every Centuriate had one Ensigns and consequently every Maniple two were called Signa Signs or Ensigns for anciently Vexillum belong'd properly to the Horse and was that which we now call a Standard though some Authors in later times have confounded Vexillum and Signum and make them both signifie one thing In these Ensigns of old were drawn the Pictures of their Heathenish Gods as likewise of some Beasts and Birds as of a Lion a Tyger or a Dragon to stir them up to courage fury revenge and bloodshed particularly the Wolf was not forgot in their Colours to denote I think that the
divided by a Street fifty foot broad from the Allies who constantly quartered on their right hand You will remember that in my Discourse of the Allies I told you that the third part of their Horse and fifth part of their Foot were taken out to wait on the Consul and were called Extraordinaries whom accordingly I have quartered in the upper part of the Camp near the Consul Their Horse at first were six hundred for every Legion whereof two hundred being lodged in the upper part we have but four hundred to quarter in the lower part of the Camp These being by one third stronger than the Roman Cavalry had of ground a Horse of the Allies first Legion lodged third more in breadth allowed but alike length the quarter then for the Horse of the first Legion of the Allies was a thousand foot in length and 13â—½ foot in breadth which contained them well enough this quarter was equally divided into ten parts for ten Troops each consisting of forty Riders Upon the right hand of these Horse were quartered the Foot of the Allies first Legion remember every one of their Legions at their first coming forth was three thousand heavy armed as the Romans were but the fifth part of that number to wit six hundred being taken away by the Consul and lodged besides him we have now but two thousand four hundred to quarter for whom as much ground was allowed as to both the Principes and Hastati as to the breadth so they had a thousand foot in length and two hundred in breadth multiply the one by the And their Foot all in one Row other the product is two hundred thousand foot which superficial measure of ground contain'd them well enough I must tell you of an oversight I have observed in my Lord Preissack's Roman Castrametation which is that he allows to the Allies Foot as much ground as I have done now but no more ground to their Horse than to the Roman Cavalry which was not fair being the one was stronger by one third than the other It is of little or no consequence to us to know nor is it worth our curiosity whether the Allies quarter'd their Foot by Maniples or by Cohorts concerning which Lipsius to me seems to be very needlesly solicitous Upon the right hand of the Allies Foot was the alarm-place constantly two hundred foot broad and next to it was the Rampart We are in the next place to quarter the second Roman Legion and the second Legion of the Allies which is soon done by allowing to every part and member of them the like quantity of ground for length and breadth as we did to those of the two Legions on the right hand as thus On the left hand of that Street which I told you run from the Decuman to the Prâ—tâ—rian Port and intersecteth The other two Legions quartered the Via principalis were the ten Troops of Horse belonging to the second Roman Legion lodged all in a Row next them the Triarii upon their left hand a Street fifty foot broad on the left hand of which lodged the Principes next them the Hastati on their left hand another Street of fifty foot broad upon the left hand whereof were quarter'd the Horse of the Allies and on the left hand of them their Foot on whose left hand was the Alarm-place and next to it the Rampart and Ditch And now we have our whole Consular Army very formally quarter'd in a Camp of an aequilateral square figure as Lipsâ—â—â— du Prâ—issack and Terduzâ—â— The figure of the Roman Camp will needs have it to be though hereafter upon strict examination we shall find it not to be exactly so And what needs the whole be so where all the parts neither are or can be aequilateral In the upper part of the Camp the Prâ—toâ—â—â—â— and the Tribunes quarters with those of the Prafecti of the Allies were â—quilateral square but so were not the quarters allotted to the Questor Legates Evocati or Extraordinarii In the lower part of the Camp the quatters ordain'd for the several Troops of Horse and for the Maniples of the Roman Hastati and Principes were aequilateral but so were neither the quarters of the Triarii nor of the Allies Horse and Foot In the next place before I go further I shall tell you that in this Camp there were four Ports these were the Praetorian Decuman and the right hand principal Port and the left hand principal Port. The two first were at the two ends of the Camp and the other two at the two sides The first had its name because it was nearest the Praetorium and out of it the Consul marched The Decuman serv'd for bringing in provisions and â—odder for taking Beasts out to Four Ports in the Roman Camp water as also out of it were carried the Soldiers that were ordain'd to be punished from whence some think it hath the name Decumana from the Decimating Soldiers alike guilty and punishing the tenth But we read in Livies thirty fourth Book that the Gauls assaulted Consul Sempronius his Camp and enter'd it at the Port Quâ—storia and committed great slaughter till they were beat out We read also oâ— a Port called Quintana which some think was all one with that called Quâ—storia and had this name from the Questor or Treasurer who lodged neer it and the other from the Street Quintana near which that Port was but the Questors quarters being afterward remov'd to the superior part of the Camp to be near the Consul that Port was shut up Observe next that in the Roman Camp there were eight Streets five whereof went in the length of the Camp from the one end of it to the other and were Eight Streets in the Roman Camp called Viâ— Directâ— or direct and straight Streets the other three traverst or crost the Camp in the breadth of it and were called Viâ— transversâ— or cross Streets Of the five direct Streets one divided the length of the Camp equally into two halves and on each side of it as I told you lay the half of the Consular Army Encamped Between the Triarii and Principes of the first Roman Legion was the second direct Five direct ones Street between the Roman Hastati of the first Legion and the Allies first Legion was the third direct Street Between the Triarii and Principes of the second Roman Legion was the fourth direct Street and between the Roman Hastati of the second Legion and the Allies second Legion was the fifth direct Street All these five Streets were each of them fifty foot broad But all five of them Three â—raverse Streets either never had names or have lost them The three cross Streets traversed the latitude of the Camp The one of them was in the upper part of the Camp and divided the Praetorium from the quarters of the Extraordinaries and was of one hundred foot broad and hath lost its name The second cross