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
of drilling I said that in exercising a Body of Horse whether one Troop or more some allow for order six foot some ten and for open order some allow twelve foot and some twenty others conclude six Distance foot between rank and rank and file and file sufficient but in marching there should be the length of a Horse between rank and rank but so much is not at all needful between files now it seems the Germans allow ten foot for the length of a Horse in marching and exercising as well as in their Castrametation for when Horse are orderly quarter'd in the field ten foot of ground are allowed for a Horse to stand on between his head and his tail But for all this I say six foot are not to be allowed in all motions of exercise as in Wheeling which is the poper motion of the Cavalry you cannot make it till your ranks and files be at close order and in this motion of Wheeling observe that the Wheeling to the left hand being the Bridle hand is more proper than Wheeling to the right Observe also that after your body hath Wheel'd you are to reduce them to their first order by making the ranks open which they must do by advancing and not by stepping back as the foot do The stronger the Troop be it should have the more Corporals who begin now to be qualified with the Title of Brigadeers for it seems not proportionable for a Troop of One Hundred and Twenty to have no more Corporals than a Troop of sixty or seventy yet for most part now all Troops have a like number of Officers and these are the Captain or Ritmaster The Lieutenant the Cornet the Quartermaster three Corporals or Brigadeers two Trumpeters some have three and some four a Saddler and a Smith and some allow a Chirurgion and a Clerk Many Troops have no allowance for the last four though all four Officers of a Troop are very necessary In some places if a Chirurgion be allowed for every Regiment it is thought very fair many Ritmasters entertain a Saddler and a Smith in their Troops allowing them the pay of Troopers and what benefit else they can make by their several Trades But if all who ride in the Troop be Gentlemen they will not permit these two Mechanicks to ride with them yet my opinion is since all who ride now in Troops are not Gentlemen they may without any disparagement suffer a Smith and a Saddler to ride in rank with them being they are profitable members of that little Commonwealth It is I think an oversight that a Clerk is not allow'd for every Company of Horse for a Quarter master hath enough to doth otherwise though he be not bound to officiate for the Clerk to receive the Pay of the Troop and give it out and keep the accounts of it unless you will say that the paying Money to a Troop falls out so seldom that the receiving it will be rather a divertisement than a trouble to the Quartermaster Having spoke to the Duties of a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign-bearer of a Foot Company I have nothing to add to the Duties of a Ritmaster Lieutenant and Cornet but between the Quartermasters of Foot and Horse there is this difference that the first hath no command but the second hath in Quarter-master of Horse other duties there is none But I shall tell the Quatermasters of Horse that they should have skill in Castrametation as much as the Foot Quartermasters have and rather more for the last look only to the regular quartering of Men in the Field the first to the quartering of both Men and Horses A Corporal Corporals of Brigadeers of Horse should have experience for he either assists the Lieutenant in placing and setting the Guards or he doth it himself without his Lieutenant he sets the Sentinels and sees them reliev'd and orders the Patrovils which are Rounds He is to ride in Rank and if the Troop march not in breast but in three several Squadrons then there is a Corporal on the right hand of every Squadron but in absence of higher Officers Corporals lead Divisions so do they those parties which they are to command if there be none to command above them When a Troop is divided into three Squadrons they have not their denominations from the Corporals or Brigadeers but the first is called the Captains Squadron the second the Lieutenants the third the Cornets and if there be a fourth it is called the Quartermasters When a Troop marcheth the March of a Troop Captain leads the first division the Cornet with his Standard the second the Quartermaster leads the third and the Lieutenant brings up yet some will have the eldest Corporal to lead the last division and the Quartermaster to bring up on the Lieutenants left hand for which I see very small reason or rather none at all Some French Troops and ours likewise have besides these Officers whom I have nam'd a Sub-Lieutenant or under Lieutenant who Sub-Lieutenant hath no command in the Lieutenants presence but in his absence he commands over the Cornet the French have likewise a Guidon to whom perhaps may Guidon answer he who in other places is appointed to carry the Standard either in the Cornets absence or when he pleaseth to appoint him to carry it As to the Officers of the Regiment-Staff of the Cavalry they are the same with those of the Foot and their Duties are the same But now methinks I hear a Trumpeter sound a Call Of Trumpets and of Trumpeters I have spoke in my Discourses of the Roman Art of War That which I have now to add is Trumpeters should be skilful to sound all the Trumpeters points of War and in the Fields they should seldom want their Trumpets about them for sudden Alarms And because they are frequently sent to an Enemy they ought to be both witty and discreet and must drink but little that so they may be rather apt to circumvent others than be circumvented they should be cunning and whereever they are sent they should be careful to observe warily the Works Guards and Sentinels of an Enemy and give an account of them at their return to him who sent them One Trumpeter should constantly lodge where the Standard quarters The German Trumpeters assume to themselves a great deal of liberty and have in a manner set up Pretended priviledges of the German Trumpeters a Republick of their own independent of that Discipline by which the Army of which they are members is governed They pretend to have their own Laws whereby they punish crimes very severely especially such faults that any of their number commits against the Articles of War of that Prince whom they serve and endeavour to vindicate themselves from any punishment inflicted by others than those of their own Common-wealth If any Trumpeter be abus'd or disgrac'd whether by his own Ritmaster or any other Officer
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 Grecian Troop of Horse consisting of sixty four to be marshall'd three deep as most of our Modern Troops now are and so there should have been in it twenty one Files for 21 multiplied by three produceth sixty three and he who shall make the sixty fourth shall be the Trumpeter with whom we could not meet before in Aelian's enumeration of the Officers of a Troop What distances were kept between Ranks or Files between several Troops or yet between greater Bodies of the Horse Aelian tells us not Yet writing of the right ordering of Batallions I think he was obliged to speak of Distances for who can marshal an Army unless those be condescended Nor of Distances on I conceive that assuredly the Rhombus was oblig'd to keep a great Distance both between its Ranks and its Files otherwise it could not turn to either Right or Left hand or to the Rear without Wheeling and this if I mistake not was one of the advantages the Thessalians proposed to themselves by that form of Horse Battel But when either it or the Wedge was to charge they were oblig'd to serr together as close as they could otherwise they could not pierce so home as was expected by those who cast them in those moulds It is probable that the Square Bodies of the Grecian Horse were exercis'd did march and fight at those distances used now in our Modern Militia Our Author makes the number of the Cavalry in a Macedonian Army to be half the number of their Velites or light armed Foot I told you those were eight thousand one hundred ninety two therefore the Horse must be four thousand ninety six The smaller Bodies of which he composeth this Cavalry are shortly these Sixty four Horse-men made a Denominations of the several Bodies of the Horâ—e Troop and were called an Elarchy its Commander Elarchas our Ritmaster Two Troops made an Epilarchy of one hundred twenty eight Horse-men its Commander Epilarchas for whom we have no Officer unless a Major and I find no such man among the Macedonians Four Troops made a Talentinarchy of two hundred fifty six Horse its Commander Talentinarchâ— is represented by our Lieutenant Colonel Two Talentinarchies made one Hipparchy of five hundred and twelve Horse he was called Hipparcha our Colonel Two Hipparchies made an Ephipparchy its Commander Ephipparchâ— had under him one thousand twenty four Riders our Brigadieer may resemble him Two Ephipparchies made a Telos which consisted of two thousand forty eight Horse its Commander was called Telarcha whom if you please our Major General of Horse shall represent Two Telarchies made up an Epitagma and this consisted of four thousand one hundred ninety six Horse-men which compos'd the whole Phalange of the Macedonian Cavalry its Commander was called Epitagmarcha for him our Modern Militia furnisheth us with a Lieutenant General or if you will a General of the Horse Now though our Author hath given us the exact number of both the smaller and greater Bodies of the Macedonian Cavalry Inexcusable omission yet he hath not at all told us how many of them were heavy armed and how many light armed for which he is inexcusably to blame CHAP. VIII Of the Great Macedonian Phalanx of its number and how marshall'd with some Observations on both APhalanx signifieth a number of men great or small Train'd and Instructed The signification of Phalanx in Military Duties and order'd in Ranks and Files By this Definition any Foot Company or Horse Troop is a Phalanx as well as an Army and a whole Army is a Phalanx as well as a particular Company or Troop It is true in Authors the word Phalanx is ordinarily taken for the great Body of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed Foot which formerly I have out of Aelian described to you of which I shall tell you thus much more that he saith it had two Horns for so the Translator renders the word Kâ—ras and those were the Right and Left hand Horn which we either simply call the Right or Left hand or the Right and Left Wing But indeed I wonder why Aelian divides the whole Phalange of Foot into two Horns Right and Left and why so many of our Commanders in the Modern Wars imitate him in dividing a whole Body into the Right or Left Wing never considering that naturally and really there is a Body between two Wings and the same error is committed in dividing a whole Batallion of armed men into two Flanks very ordinarily done by some Drill-masters And here no doubt Aelian forgot himself for the Phalange of the heavy armed Foot was divided as I â—old you before into four lesser Phalanges or Phalangarchies two whereof made the two Wings which he calls Horns and the other two compos'd the Body These four Phalangarchies made three Intervals how great we know not out of Phalangarchies which before the fight issued the light armed and if they prevail'd they pursued their Victory being followed by the Phalange but if they were beaten as for most part they were they retired to the Rear the same way they came and then the four Phalangarchies closed together to give or receive the charge according as they were ordered by their Superiours But now I am to speak of the whole Macedonian Army which was called The great Macedonian Phalanx of both Horse and Foot the Great Phalanx consisting of heavy and light armed Foot and Horse not reckoning their Chariots and Elephants Their heavy armed Foot were sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four the Velites were eight thousand one hundred ninety two the Horse four thousand ninety six Add all these together you will find the Macedonian great Phalanx to consist of twenty eight thousand six hundred seventy two Combatants A Story goes that either the Great Alexander or Julius Câ—sar or both should have said That they desired no more than thirty thousand men to conquer the whole World Certainly if either of them or both said so they meant that that number should still be kept compleat and full for though they should have been constantly Victorious and never have lost one man in Battel or Skirmish yet sickness and toyl would have made all that number to have moulder'd away before they could have march'd over the tenth part of the then habitable World But I do not at all believe that either of them said so for true Histories if there be any truth in Histories assure us that both of them had Armies which far exceeded that number At Arbelâ— Alexander had more than double the number of a Macedonian Army and yet Aelians numbers did noâ— always hold at that same time when he fear'd to be surrounded I suppose he wish'd his forces to be more numerous than they were Neither do I believe that his Father Philip who was the framer of the Phalanx did keep himself precisely within that number for at Cherâ—nea where he routed the Confederated Greeks he exceeded
likewise but with this difference that in every Troop of the Allies there were forty Riders but in the Roman Troops there were only thirty Thus was the gross or bulk of the Roman armies Marshalled As to the Evocati of the Romans and the Extraordinarii of the Allies Polybius hath told us no more than Station of the Extraordinaries uncertain what I have told you in my Discourse of the Allies that they were Encamped besides the Consul and were to be near him in the field and to wait on the Treasurer also But we are left by him and others to conjecture how in what particular place or places they were ordain'd to fight And truly I shall be easily induced to believe that sometimes the Consul placed three hundred of the Allies Extraordinary Horse on the right hand of the Roman Horse in the right wing and so made that wing stronger by one hundred than the other for otherwise the left wing had been two hundred stronger than the right The fourth hundred of the Extraordinary Horse Terduzzi will have to stay with the Consul and probably they did so The Allies Extraordinary Foot were divided into two great Squadrons one whereof stood between the first Legion of the Allies and the first Legion of the Romans on the right-hand of the Battel the second Squadron stood on the left-hand of the second Roman Legion between it and the second Legion of the Allies Thus Lipsius and Terduzzi will have it to be and I think it may be probable enough that it was so yet I doubt none of these two can tell me who told them that it was so In another place Lipsius thinks that both the Evocati and Extraordinarii at the Consuls command join'd with the Triarii to reinforce the Battel and truly this is not improbable but the question is where they stood before they were commanded to join with the Triarii for as Lipsius Marshals them in the Intervals of the Triarii they would hinder the Principes and Hastati to join with the Triarii What Terduzzi saith on this subject I suppose he hath out of Lipsius for though they were coetaneous yet I find Lipsius often cited by Terduzzi But I shall wrong none of them if I say that neither of them in this particular had more warrant than their own Leves conjecturâ— fallacia vestigia as Lipsius calls them If you will believe Vegetius in the eighteenth Chapter of his Third Book the Consul should have made use of the Extraordinarii both Horse and Foot to environ and surround the Enemies left wing if you ask me why the Consul might not as well have surrounded the enemies right wing as his left I must answer you that Vegetius hath kept up the reason from us as a secret In that same Chapter Vegetius says that the Commander in chief should stand between the right wing of the Horse and the Foot as a fit place from whence he might take up his measures and encourage and relieve both his Horse and Foot Lipsius and Terduzzi fix him to the Aquila or the Eagle on the right Station of a Roman Consul in Battel hand of the Roman Legion But Polybius saith in that Battel I just now spoke of Scipio gave the right wing to Masanissa and the left to Lâ—lius to command It would seem then that himself staid with the Foot and so indeed he did for he caused a retreat to be sounded to the Hastati that he might advance with the Principes But since I may guess as well as others I suppose he stood between the two Roman Legions and consequently besides the Eagle of the second Legion and assuredly that part being directly the Center of the army it was in my opinion the only proper place for a Captain-General but when two Consuls were joined together it was not so for ordinarily the one commanded the right wing of the Horse and the other the left So it was at Cannae where the Romans were beaten by Hannibal so it was at Vesuvius where Manlius got the Victory over the Latins after the death of his Colleague Decius so it was at Metaurus where Nero and Livy defeated and kill'd Asdrubal But indeed where there was but one Consul or General he seldom tyed himself to one place but rode where he saw his Presence was most needful So did that Manlius I just now mentioned so did Caesar and so did many others of the ancient Roman Captains And it had been no prejudice either to Lipsius or Terduzzi to have suffer'd a Consul in a Consular army to have stood where he pleased either besides the first Eagle or the second or besides none of them Vegetius in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of his Second Book speaks of some more Offices in a Consular army than Polybius doth and these were three Praefectus Legionis Praefâ—ctus Castrorum and Praefectus Fabrorum It is strange we do not read of these three great Commanders among the ancient Romans and yet in my opinion they had the two last as by the description of their Officers the Reader will quickly conceive As to the first Polybius makes no mention of Other General Officers in a Consular Army him and if there had been any such Officer in his time he neither could or would have past him when he gave us the particular description of a Legion and all its Officers and more especially when he tells us that the Tribunes received the word or Tessera from the Consul and gave it to the Centurions and that the said Tribunes took on them to judg and give definitive sentence in their Legions which they could not have done if there had been a Praefectus above them So it seems he hath been a new Officer created after the Emperours came in play This Fraefectus Legionis this Brigadier or this Legionary Colonel for I Praefectus Legionâ— know not how to English it according to Vegetius his description in the ninth Chapter of his Second Book was an Officer of great experience was obey'd by all the Tribunes Centurions and Soldiers the care of Men Horses Clothes Colonel of the Legion and Arms belong'd to him By his order they were drill'd and train'd and by his authority the Soldiers were punisht for their misdemeanors by the Tribunes But mark it he had only this power in the absence of the Legate and as his Deputy Legato absente tanquam ejus Vicario saith Vegetiuâ— Now if every Legion had a Legate I should believe the Legate was Colonel the Praefectus Lieutenant Colonel the Tribunes were Captains and the Centurions Corporals as I observed before in my Discourse of the Infantry Polybius indeed speaks of Legates but of no Praefecti except among the Allies The Praefectus Castrorum saith Vegetius had the care of the Position of the Praefectus Castrorum Camp the ordering the depth and breadth of both Ditch and Rampart the care of the Sick and of the
have observ'd in most Tacticks Lieutenant Colonel Elton is very clear in his definition of a distance which though I told you of it before I shall again give you Distance says he is a place or interval of ground between every rank and rank and every file and file as they stand By this description then three foot of distance being allowed between every file and file there are in seventeen files sixteen distances or intervals which make but forty and eight foot then you are to allow seventeen foot to the Combatants that is one foot for every man to stand on seventeen being added to forty eight make sixty five and so many foot of ground doth a Company possess in front if it consist of seventeen files for the ground of the ranks you are to compute it thus Six ranks take six foot to stand on and thirty foot for five intervals six foot being allow'd for open order in all six and thirty foot which a Distance of Ranks Company Regiment Brigade or Army of Foot constantly possesseth from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up unless you bring the ranks to stand at order which you may frequently do with very good reason and then the five Intervals take up but fifteen foot which being added to the six foot on which the ranks stand make but twenty one foot And when Pikes are to give or receive a Charge you may bring them to close order that is one foot and a half and then the five Intervals take up but 7½ foot these being added to six make 13½ foot Observe that in Exercising this Company of seventeen Files you are to set aside one of the Files because it is odd and so The Colours will hinder the doubling the Files The Colours of the Company are to be on the head of the Pikes neither can they conveniently be between the second and third rank in time of Battel as some would have them to be for you may easily consider what room an Ensign can have with his Colours between ranks when they are at order much less at close order as they should be in the time of Battel It will be fitting before I go further to meet with an objection concerning Objection against my Distances of Files Distances it is this The three foot of distance allowed between Files say they must be reckoned from the Centers that is from the two middle parts of the two File-leaders as from the middle part of the right hand File-leader to the middle part of the File-leader who stands on his left hand I wonder at this notion for hereby two File-leaders take up one foot of ground and so doth the rest of the File and there are but two foot of Interval between the two files and this cannot at all quadrate with the definition of distance for that is an Interval between Files and not betwixt the two middle parts of two mens Bodies And the Authors of Tacticks should have been clearer in their expressions and have said two foot between Files which they knew was too Answered little and have added that every File should have one foot of ground to stand on for what language is this a man shall have half a foot for his right middle part and another half foot for his left middle part for this way of their reckoning of the three foot of distance amounts to just so much and no better language which I conceive is very improper besides by this account the right and left hand Files would have each of them one half foot of ground more than any of the rest of the Files the right hand Filemen hath it by the right middle parts of their bodies and the left hand Filemen by the left middle parts of their Bodies because these two Files on these two hands have no Sidemen which you may easily conceive if you please a little to consider it Let us in the next place see what Officers are appointed to have the command Of Officers of a Company and inspection of this Company and here we may find some difference in the several establishments of Princes and States yet in this we find all agree to have a Captain a Lieutenant an Ensign Serjeants Corporals and Drummers except the Spaniard who rejects the Lieutenant as useless some allow no more Officers than those I have spoken of some allow more to wit a Captain of Armies a Furer a Fourier and a Clerk or Scrivener And besides some allow Lancepesats or Lancpresads as they are commonly called as also Reformado's and Gentlemen of a Company But neither Lancepesats Gentlemen of the Company nor Reformado's are Officers and though Corporals be yet they carry Arms and march in rank and file I shall describe all these and all the Officers of a Foot Company beginning with the Reformado and ending with the Captain Those are called Reformado's or Reformed who have been Officers suppose Reformed Officers Commissionated and those only and are out of charge and bear Arms till they can be prefer'd In some places they are permitted to be without Arms. A Gentleman of the Company is he who is something more than an ordinary Gentleman of a Company Souldier hath a little more pay and doth not stand Centinel In French he is called Appointe and with the Germans he is called Gefreuter They march and watch with Arms they go common Rounds and Patrouills and near an Enemy they are to be the forlorn Centinels whom the French call Perdus Lancespesate is a word deriv'd from the Italian Lance spesata which signifies a broken or spent Lance. He is a Gentleman of no ancient standing in the Militia for he draws his Pedigree from the time of the Wars between Francis the First and his Son Henry the Second Kings of France on the one part and the Emperour Charles the Fifth and his Brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy on the other part in those Wars when a Gentleman of a Troop of Horse in any Skirmish Battel or Rencounter had broke his Lance on his enemy and lost his Horse in the Scuffle he was entertain'd under the name of a Broken-Lance by a Captain of a Foot Company as his Comerade till he was again mounted But as all good orders fall soon from their Primitive Institution so in a short time our Monsieur Lancespesata for so he was called was forc'd to descend from being Lancespesata the Captains Comerade and became the Corporals Companion and assisted him in the Exercise of his Charge and therefore was sometimes called by the French Aide Caporal But when the Caporal grew weary of the Comradeship of his Lancespesata he made him officiate under him and for that had some allowance of pay more than the common Soldier which he enjoys in those places where he is made use of and still keeps the noble Title of Lancespesata though perhaps he was never on Horseback in his life corruptly
A Regiment marshal'd in one Division orders the Colonels Company to draw up on the right hand next to that the Majors thirdly the second Captains fourthly the fourth Captains fifthly the sixth Captains sixthly the seventh Captains seventhly the fifth Captains eighthly the third Captains ninthly the oldest Captain and lastly the Lieutenant-Colonels Company I know some would have the Majors Company to be where I have plac'd the youngest Captains because they think next to the Van and the Reer the middle is the most honourable place But if they take heed they will find it is not so with a middle Company as with a middle man in a file who upon doubling the front by half files becomes a Leader Besides no Company can properly be said to be in the middle of a Regiment unless the Regiment consist of odd Companies which seldom or never is practised for draw up a Regiment of ten Companies in one front the sixth Company which is accounted the middle one or the Company in the middle of the Regiment is not so for it hath five Companies on its right hand and but four on its left Now my reason for Reasons for the manner of it drawing up the Companies in that order whereof I have spoken is this The right hand or the Van is the most honourable place and next to it the left hand or reer Now the honour comes from danger which is for most part expected from the Van or the Reer and hence it will follow that the nearer a Captain and his Company are the danger the more honourable place they have and therefore the nearer they are to the Van and the Reer the more honourable place they have If then the Regiment be attackâ— in the Van where most danger is expected the Majors Company is by much nearer the danger when it is marshal'd next to the Colonels than if it were drawn up about the middle of the Regiment and consequently is in the more honourable place by this same reason the oldest Captain is to be nearest the Lieutenant-Colonel who hath the second place of honour for if the Reer be attackt the Lieutenant Colonel is nearest the danger and next him the first Captain by this same rule of proportion the second Captain is next to the Major it being fit since the first Captain hath the second place of dignity in the Reer that the second Captain have the third place in the Van. And if this rule hold as I hope it will the third Captains Company must be drawn up on the oldest Captains right hand that so he may have the third place from the Reer as the second Captain had the third place from the Van. And to make short I place the fourth Captain in the fourth place from the Van and the fifth Captain in the fourth place from the Reer the sixth Captain in the fifth place from the Van and the seventh and last Captain in the fifth place from the Reer Now because an Enemy is sooner expected in the Van than in the Reer the Van is more honourable than the Reer and therefore I marshal the last Captain in or near the middle of the Regiment where being furthest from danger either in Van or Reer he obtains the place of least dignity for though all places are honourable yet some are more honourable than others I marshal then a Regiment of ten Companies drawn up in one Division thus Order of a Regiment in one Batallion Colonel Major Second Captain Fourth Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fifth Captain Third Captain First Captain Lieutenant-Colonel The Companies standing in this order the Major will have but little trouble How to put them in one Body to Body them one of two ways First he may command all the Pikes to advance twenty or twenty four paces and there join them then let him cause the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the right to advance to the right hand of the Pikes and the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the left hand to march up to the left hand of the Pikes and so his work is done Secondly if he have no other ground than that he stands on he is to command the Pikemen to march thorough the files of the Musqueteers by the right and left hand till they meet in one Body in the middle the Musqueteers being likewise order'd to march by both hands to their due distances so that this motion is a Chorean Countermarch of files This may be done with much ease and a few words if the Major please but some have the vanity to make themselves and their Soldiers more business than they need by crying this and that riding here and there making work to themselves and sometimes sport to the Beholders If the Major be order'd to marshal the Regiment in two Divisions he may do To marshal a Regiment of ten Companies in two Batallions it thus The Colonels Company being to have the right hand of the first division and the Lieutenant-Colonels of the second Division he ought to place the other Companies according to their Dignities and these are the Majors Company in the Reer of the first Division and the first Captains in the Reer of the second Division the second Captain next to the Colonel in the first Division the third Captain next to the Lieutenant-Colonel in the second Division the fourth Captain on the right hand of the Major in the first Division and the fifth Captain on the right hand of the oldest Captain in the second Division the sixth Captain next to the second Captain in the first Division and the seventh and last Captain next to the third Captain in the second Division The ten Companies of a Regiment then drawn up in two distinct Batallions are in this order Order of ten Companies in two Divisions First Division Second Division Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Second Captain Third Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fourth Captain Fifth Captain Major First Captain My reason for this is because the Regiment being now divided into two Bodies or Batallions the two Reers are next in dignity to the two Vans and those that are nearest to the two Reers are next in honour to those who are nearest to the two Vans for this reason I place the sixth Captain just in the middle of the Reasons for that order first Division as furthest from danger of either Van or Reer of that Division having two Companies before him and two behind him or two on each hand of him And I place the last Captains Company in the middle of the second Division as the place of least dignity and that belongs to him all other Captains having the Precedency of him The Pikes of the first and second Divisions are in the middle of their several Batallions and the Musqueteers of the five Companies of each Body equally divided on both hands of the several Bodies of the Pikes which is done in that same way as when the Regiment
Protestant War in France 100 years ago Charles the Ninth and his Brother Henry the Third they managed them at as small an expence as possibly they could yet they obliged every man at Arms to keep three Horses two strong Coursers and one Gelding every Archer and Light-Horse-man two a good Horse and a good Nag And I suppose you will really think it strange how they could keep so many when I tell you what allowance of pay they had Every man of Arms had 45 French Livres in the Month about Three pound fifteen shillings Sterling every Archor and Light-Horse-man had Thirty Livres about Two pound ten shillings A Captain of all three had five Riders pay allow'd him the Lieutenant four the Cornet three and the Quartermaster two very inconsiderable wages but assuredly they had either other shifts or things were at easier rates in France then than they have been since In the times of the Emperours Ferdinand the First Maximilian the Second Rodolph the Second and Matthias I find that the German Establishment was Old German Companies of Horse particularly Curiassiers that no Ritmaster or Captain of Horse should have any Rider in his Troop but Gentlemen and that every Troop of Curiassiers should consist of Three-hundred Riders many whereof were bound to maintan three serviceable Horses and all the rest two at least and every one of these Gentlemen who kept either two or three Horses were to keep a lusty fellow well Hors'd in quality of a servant armed with a long Gun wherewith they rode when commanded before the Troop and fired on the Enemy and immediately retired behind the Troop as I told you the Carabineers did these being equal in number to their Masters made up Three hundred and resembled the French Archers These Dutch Servants had the Emperours pay or that of some German Prince but their Masters received it with their own nor had the Masters power to put away these Servants or the Servants to go from the Masters so long as the War lasted but if any difference arose between them it was voided by the Ritmaster or Marshal of the Army These German Companies of Horse had for Officers a Captain a Lieutenant a Cornet a Quartermaster Their Officers and six Corporals whom they called Ritmasters which is to say File-leaders each whereof had fifty Troops under his command two Trumpeters There was likewise allowed to every Troop a Priest a Clerk a Chirurgion a Dagmaker a Saddler and a Smith All these Curiassiers were armed for offence with two Pistols a Sword and a Lance so long as this last was in fashion so if you will reckon all that belonged to this German Troop both Masters and those who attended them who were all obliged to fight you will find it consisted of six hundred fighting men and of nine hundred Horses at least But since that time I have seen four Regiments in that same Country who were not all of them together so strong In later times Commissions have been given for levying Regiments free Squads and Troops but all Regiments did not nor do not consist of alike Troops and Regiment of those times number of Companies nor all Companies of alike number of Riders nay not under one Prince you shall see a Lieutenant Colonel have four Troops in his Squadron which he calls free because he acknowledgeth no Colonel or other Commander under the Major General and each of these Troops to have fifty or sixty Riders being oblig'd to have no more by their Ritmasters Capitulation You may see in that same Army a Regiment of six Companies each of Seventy men another of eight Troops each of fifty horse so little is an uniformity in equal numbers of Troops or of Horsemen in every Troop regarded or look'd after I saw one Regiment in the Sweedish service I may say one for I saw not such another in any of their Armies in which were according to Capitulation twelve Troops each of them consisting of one hundred Riders effectively but four of the Regiments of that Army were not so strong as that Regiment was alone Troops Squads and Regiments of Horse in our Modern Wars are not cast into Wedges or Rhombs as some of the Ancient ones were at which manner of figures Aelian makes his Grecian Companies to be very dexterous The Square front being now only in use The number of Ranks of either Regiments or Troops whether they be strong or weak are alike in all because the depth of the Battel is determined by the Prince or State to be alike in all and in the matter of this depth there hath been great variance among those who assume to themselves the title of Tacticks who teach the rules of War Many would have the file of Horsemen to be five deep others will not hear of How deep Horse should be marshaled Difference of opinions that because thereby ranks cannot double an objection which I have answer'd already in my discourse of Exercise Others will have six because that admits doubling of ranks but that is rejected because if six deep be enough for the Foot it will be too much for the Horse There be others who would have every Troop of Horse to consist of sixty and four Riders and these being Marshall'd eight deep and eight in front according to the square root make a perfect square of men and Horse and this speculation seems very pretty but I Square Root reserve my answer to it till I speak of the square root it self for the present let it suffice that if six deep be too many for a Cavalry eight deep will be very far out of purpose The late Earl of Strafford as he appointed in his Military Instructions the foot to be eight deep so he order'd his Troops of Horse to be four in File But Universally now for any thing I know unless it be in the Low-Countries the Horse are Marshall'd three deep without Three deep regard to doubling of ranks whereof I have already spoken and assuredly this of all others brings most hands to fight When you have known how deep the Troop is to be drawn up you should cause to be set down in paper in what order you will Marshal your Horsemen whom you ordain to be Leaders and whom Bringers up and whom for the right and left hand files that all your Riders may be placed according to their dignity then it will be an easie matter to draw up your Troop and for the Major to draw up the Regiment for being that all the Horsemen are arm'd alike there is no separation to be made of one part of the Troop from another as there is of separating the Pikemâ—n from the Musqueteers in Foot-Companies the Major giving every Ritmaster his place of dignity according to his antiquity or Commission and those intervals being kept that are appointed the several Troops be they few or many are very soon cast into the mould of a Regiment In my discourse
of the Governour he should have good Intelligence He should also have a serious consideration of his own Provisions Considerations before a Siege be formed Money Meat and Munitions and many more particulars of which and concerning which no definite or certain rules can be given And before he form or lay down his Siege he ought to weigh and consider well all the advantages and disadvantages that may accrue to him As whether the gaining the Town or Castle he Besiegeth will counterpoize the loss of men and that vast expence of money meat and munitions that must be hazzarded and bestowed in reducing it how long time his own Provisions will be able to hold out whether he be able with probability of success to withstand or fight any Enemy that dare adventure the relief of the Besieged place And that which concerns most both his Masters service and his own honour is to cast up his account so well that if any unexpected accident or adventure fall out such as are the change of Weather inundations of Waters a mighty and unlooked for Succourse a Pestilence or other heavy disease in his Army he may notwithstanding these and in spight of an Enemy raise his Siege and march away to places of safety and consequently make an honourable Retreat with little or no loss of Men for it is not to be thought that an Army marcheth away from a Besieged place with dishonour because ratio Bâ—lli depending on emergencies and accidents changeth as oft as ratio Status and as in this nothing is thought dishonourable that can save the State so in that nothing can be dishonourable that can save the Army I have not the vanity to prescribe or give rules for what should be done at How to begin the Siege Sieges but I prâ—sume I may be permitted to tell Novices for to them only I write what is done and ordinarlly practised at Sieges After a resolution is taken to Besiege a place diligence and expedition should be used that all Passes High-wayes and Avenues be possest by the Cavalry that no entrance to the Fort be permitted and that all Citizens or Souldiers belonging to it be seized on and made Prisoners that intelligence may be got of all affairs within Many Generals at Sieges entrench their Armies and many do not Those At some Sieges Armies are not entrench'd who do not have no apprehension of an Enemy and therefore upon intelligence of the approach of one they must be ready to march either to meet and fight that Enemy or leave both him and the Besâ—eged place for good and all both which I have known practised Those who Entrench their Armies Armies Entrenched at Sieges take the far surer way though the doing it costs a great deal of time and labour The Entrenchment must be made both against those within the Town and against any without who will hazzard to relieve it The Fortifications of the Camp are properly called the Trenches though the word be frequently taken for approaches and in that word are comprehended the lines of Communication which Lines are divided into several parts Field-sconces whole and half Bulwarks Star-works and Redouts None of these should have a Curtain between them above six or seven hundred foot long for the distance of them one from another should be less than a Musket shot They should be built of black Earth if it can be had but if the ground be sandy it must be knit together with Wit hs fascines Straw or growing Corn and without with a Ditch and Pallisado Of the same matter should the Redouts and Batteries in the approaches be built The Star-sconces having their sides 40 or 50 foot long and their points far distant are ordinarily made in hast when time will not permit better to be made If an Army be numerous enough or that there be store of Pioneers with it a General may fortify his Camp and begin his approaches both together and this will save him much time which in such occasions is very precious But if he cannot do both at once he should Entrench himself and then begin those works which are called Approaches running Trenches and by the Dutch Laâ—fgrabon In making these to break Ground without the range of a piece of To approach to a Forâ— Ordnance will be too far and within Musket shot perhaps too near yet many think 8 or 900. foot from the besieged Fort is passable At this place where the approach begins a Sconce should be made and in it a Court of Guard neither were it amiss here to make a Battery and in it to plant some Culverines and twelve pounders to beat down the nearest Parapets of the Fort from whence those who are to work in the approaches may be infested But before I approach any nearer the Fort I must tell you that I admire how Captain Rud the late Kings Engineer hath left it upon Record That the Romans were the first that used the Spade at Sieges and that Julius Captain Rudd's opinion disputed Caesar was the first that besieged Towns by circumvallation Against the first assertion though we should not speak of prophane Authors yet we find it written in the 15. verse of the 20. Chapter of the second book of Samuel That Jacob cast up a Bank saith our Translation against Abel where the Rebel Sheba was Deodati in his Italian translation calls it Bastione a Bulwark Now these could not be done without the help of a Spade or something like it and this action of Joab was done some ages before Romulus Against the second assertion I object the ten years Siege of Vâ—n which was by circumvallation and that was some Centuries of years before Caesar besieged Alexia And we read in holy Writ that Trenches were cast and Towers built against besieged Towns and that was nothing else but circumvallations and those who made them did so little know Caesar that they did not foresee that ever such a man would be in the world as Caesar But to return to our first Sconce or Battery from it a line or if you please A running Trench a running Trench which upon the matter is nothing else but a Ditch must be digged and run either to the right or left hand 3 4 or 500. foot long a little crooked and oblique for doing which Souldiers are appointed with Pickaxes Spades and Shovels one behind another at the distance of 4 or 5. foot the formost digging 3 or 4. foot deep casting the Earth up either to the right or left hand between him and the Fort and so by him who is first and them that come after him the running Trench is made 6 or 8. foot deep and at first 6. Foot broad and thereafter 10 or 12. broad sometimes more if it be necessary to make use of Waggons in the approaches which falls out sometimes At the end of this first Line a Redout is to be made this is a A Redout