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
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
of 10000 men making square Battels and therefore their 10000 men were drawn up a 100 in rank and a 100 in file and a 100 times a 100 makes 10000. And so their Batallion was square of men and might have been also of ground if they allow'd no greater Intervals of ranks than of files which hardly they could do being they were all offensively arm'd with Pikes both long and strong But our Author saith that Cyrus was glad of this wishing Croesus's whole army had been marshal'd a thousand deep for then he had sooner destroy'd it as I have told you in the second Chapter of my Discourses of the Grecian Art of War Yet Xenophon tells us that these Aegyptians fought best of any of Croesus his army yea so long till they had fair quarter given them And withal he informs us that Cyrus his own army his Foot I suppose he means were marshal'd 24 deep and that was eight more than the depth of the Macedonian Phalanx CHAP. XVII Of the Modern way of Embatteling and Marshalling Armies AS all Armies are marshal'd according to the pleasure of those who command them so their pleasure often is and ever should be over ruled by the circumstances of time the posture of the enemy they have to do with the Weather the Sun the Wind and the ground on which they are to fight if the General find by his foreparties or Vancouriers that his enemy is before him drawn up in Battel ready to receive him he will do himself an injury to march forward for it is not to be fancied that his adversary will be so courteous as to permit him to marshal his army but will take his advantage and fall upon him before he can draw up his Van especially if his march have been thorough any close or strait Country and in such a condition as that a Generals A General should have a ready wit own ready wit and resolution must serve him for Counsellors for there will be no time given him to call a Council of War But we speak now of Embatteling Armies when Generals have half the choice of the ground The manner was in many places and still is in some to marshal Armies in three distinct Bodies one behind another the first was called the Vanguard the second the Battel the third the Reer-guard But several times every one Armies marshall'd in three distinct Bodies of those consisted of three Bodies likewise these were two wings of Horse and one Body of Foot and when they march'd these three great Bodies were called the Van Battel and Reer Their proper Title was to be called so when they marched for many times when they drew up in order of Battels it was in one Breast and then the Horse were divided in two wings and the Foot made the Battel This was done when the ground was very spacious and to prevent surrounding otherwise Armies seldom fight but in two Battels if not in three But as I said time ground the power of an enemy minister occasions to a Commander of an Army to alter the ordinary custom and frame a new method of his own to serve him for that opportunity I shall give you one instance and that of a mighty army marshal'd as few before it have been and I believe none since It was that which Charles the fifth and his Brother King Ferdinand had at Vienna when they lookt for Sultan Soliman the ground was very spacious and though their numbers were very great yet those of the Turk were How the mighty Army of the Emperour Charâ—es the Fifth was marshal'd at Vienna very much beyond them and they fear'd to be out-wing'd by his numerous Horse The order of their Battel was to be this if they had fought They had sixty thousand arm'd with Pikes Halberts Partisans and other long Staves these were divided in three great Batallions each of twenty thousand on the right hand stood one of them on the left hand the second and the third in the middle There were about six or seven thousand Harquebusiers on foot to attend each of these great Batallions of Pikes who were to have several little Intervals thorough which these Harquebusiers were to salley and fire incessantly before the grand Batallions till they should be necessitated to retire through these same Intervals to the Reer and then the Pikes were immediately to close and fill up those void places These three great Batallions separated one from another made two great Intervals in each of which stood fifteen thousand Horse Here then you see upon the matter one of the bravest Armies of Christians that ever was marshal'd in one front without reserve only some thousands of men were order'd to guard the Baggage and Munitions scarce read of before or since Here you see the Pikemen make the Wings whereas both before and since they made the Body Here you see the Firemen marshal'd behind and ordain'd to fally from their station and do their service in the Van and then to retire to their place according to the custom of the ancient Grâ—cian and Roman Velites and not marshal'd on the wings of the Pikes And here you see the Horse who before that time and since made the wings of an army make now the Body of it strongly flanked with Pikes this being the inversion of former Ordinances of War was then thought necessary to prevent the surrounding and the impetuosity of the Turks numerous Cavalry Armies for most part now are marshal'd in two distinct Bodies the Vanguard and the Arreer-guard which are commonly called Battel and Reserve But it is not only difficult but purely impossible for any the most experienced General to set down any one certain rule or order whereby he may constantly Battel and Reserve keep one manner of marshalling or one form of Battel as it is called forma aciei though he could be assur'd that his Regiments or Brigades of both Horse and Foot should constantly continue of one strength since the place situation Houses Villages Castles Hills Valleys rising heights hollow grounds Waters Woods Bushes Trees and Marshes do occasion such alterations as make the form or mould of an Army cast in one place change so much as you shall not know the face of it on another piece of ground perhaps not above one or two hours march from the former And in this as I said before the General is to act his part and take such advantages as he may and readily possess himself of such places which being in the enemies power might do him prejudice One of his great cares in Embatteling would be to secure both his Flanks of an Army to be well secur'd in â—attel flanks which are called the right and left hand of his Army with some River Brook Ditch Dike or Retrenchment if these cannot be so readily got then he may do it with the Waggons or Baggage of his Army for in time of-Battel it is almost impossible for a Batallion or
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
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
he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
and thirteen Riders as thus First one behind him three behind them five behind them seven then nine then eleven then thirteen and in the eighth Rank place fifteen from that Rank your number decreaseth for next to fifteen you are to place thirteen behind them eleven then nine then seven then five then three and lastly one This is also a Thessalian Rhombus of Horse a Figure whereof Aelian bestows upon us This Troop I conceive being at open order for it was very requisite it should be so could upon an occasion front any way without wheeling to the Right or Left hand by a half turn of their Horses and to the Rear by two half turns and immediately thereafter serr together either to give or receive the charge This Figure of the Rhombus is call'd by some the Diamond but if so the Diamond which it resembles must be a four-corner'd one Observe here that Aelians number of Horse represented in his Figure of the Simple Rhombus amounts but to forty nine and this I attribute to his neglect for he told us it should consist of sixty four The Wedge Battel which the Latines called Cuneus or Rostrum was a Body The second is the Wedge of men either on Foot or Horse-back drawn up with a sharp point and encreasing in its bigness till it came to that greatness which the maker of it design'd for it and so represented a Wedge from which it hath its denomination or it is like a Dagger sharp at the point growing broader till it come to the haft I told you that Philip of Macedon invented it choosing a Wedge to be the fittest pattern whereby to model his Macedonian Troops by placing his choicest Men and Horses both for strength of body and courage of mind in the formost Ranks the rest behind them serving to bear them forcibly forward Take the description of it thus First one then three then five then seven then nine then eleven then thirteen and lastly fifteen These added together make up Aelian's Macedonian Troop of sixty four Horse-men But in his description of it he oversees himself twice first in A twofold mistake his words for he saith the Wedge is just the half of the number of the great Rhombus but that consists as I just now told you of one hundred and thirteen and the Wedge is of sixty four much more than the half of one hundred and thirteen Next in his Figure which presents us only with thirty six Horse-men twenty eight fewer than King Philips Troop But if you would take a Wedge out of the Rhombus you may do it easily by causing that Rank wherein are fifteen Horse-men with all the Ranks that are before it to stand and all that are behind it to remove and then you have a perfect Macedonian Wedge Troop consisting of sixty four Riders But the manner of embatteling in form of a Wedge was not appropriated Wedge Battels of Foot only to the Cavalry The Infantry both of Grecians and Romans and several other Nations used it in many occasions Epaminondas that famous Theban at the Battel of Mantinea seeing the Lacedaemonians stand stoutly to it after he had routed their Confederates the Athenians chose out a parcel of his gallantest Foot cast them in a Wedge and broke so forcibly in upon their Batallion that he pierc'd it and after brave resistance forc'd them to quit the Field but this prov'd his last action for in it he receiv'd so many mortal wounds that he dyed of them before the next day I shall speak more of this Wedge Battel in my discourses of the Roman Militia Neither it nor the Rhombus have been heard of in the World in many ages since those antient times It is probable the Great Alexander permitted his Thessalians to make use of the Rhombus at Arbela because almost half of their Great Rhombus might face to the Rear and so prevent surrounding by Darius his numerous forces It is also like that his Macedonian Horse might have kept the form of a Wedge both at Issus and Arbela And I find that his great Captains who after his death shar'd his vast Conquests among themselves used it frequently But I believe likewise that both he and they and other Grecians and Asians too made use of the Square Battel The Square form of embattelling was most commonly used by the Grecians The third is the Square in marshalling their Infantry and most of them us'd it in ordering their Cavalry I speak not of an equilateral Square but an oblong one such as we use in our modern Wars Yet I do not deny but the Antients several times used equilateral Square forms of their Batallions as when they made their Ranks and Files consist of equal numbers of men and this we call a Battel Square of men or sometimes Square of ground when the Front was of no greater extent of ground than the Flank but of these I shall speak hereafter when I come to discourse of the Square Root Not only many of the Grecians but the Persians and Sicilians used the Square Horse Battel and many great Preferr'd to the other two Captains preferr'd it to both the Rhombus and the Wedge first because by it the Troops could march with more celerity and convenience and next they could bring more hands to fight at one time As for Example in a Wedge Troop of sixty four the first Rank consists but of one the second of three the third of five and the fourth of seven In these four Ranks there are but sixteen Riders Oppose a Square Battell'd Troop of sixty and marshal it in an oblong fifteen in Rank and four in File you may see that the sixteen Riders in the four first Ranks of the Wedge must fight with all the sixty of the Square Troop this is a very great odds and as much may be said of the Rhombus But Aelian doth not at all tell us how deep the Grecian Square Battels of Horse were This was a great neglect for thereby we might have known how many of Aelian speakâ— nothing of the deepness of Horse Files the Ranks could have reach'd an Enemy with their Lances and whether the rest behind serv'd only to bear forward those before as the ten last Ranks of Pikes did to the six formost Yet as far as I can conjecture by some of his Figures he seems to insinuate that his Countrey-men order'd their Horse to be half as many in File as they were in Rank His Figure of that Phalanx which he calls Quadrata of fifty Horse hath ten in Rank and five in File This manner of Battel whether it be of Horse or Foot is called by the Square Root men a Doubled Batallion of the fashion of which and how it is done I shall shew you in its proper place But I dare not believe that all Grecian Troops were marshall'd so neither indeed doth Aelian aver it I know not then why I may not imagine
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
suitable to so many Guns The Author tells us that King Henry view'd this mighty Army of his near the City of Metz where he saith it was drawn up in Battalia but he forgot A great oversight to inform us here of two very considerable points the one of what altitude or depth both the Foot and Horse were the second what distances were kept or order'd to be kept between the several Files and Ranks both of Horse and Foot and how great the Intervals were between the several Batallions and Bodies as well of the Cavalry as the Infantry for thereby we should have been able not only to have made a probable conjecture but determinately to have known how much ground the whole Army took up in longitude but there are others who are guilty of this neglect as well as this Author of ours who hath fail'd in this With these indeed formidable Forces did the French King intend to defie and fight within the Bowels of the German Empire Charles the Fifth a greater and braver Prince than whom though he had not been elected Emperour of the Romans either for propriety and large extent of Patrimonial Dominions or for personal Courage and Prudence the Western World had not seen since the time of Charles the Great But whilest this Magnanimous King is viewing and exceedingly pleasing himself Henry views his army with the sight of his gallant Army a beggarly and contemptible crew of some Souldiers some Soujats and Grooms and some Countrey Clowns in sight of this great Prince his Nobility in splendid equipage and of his whole Batallions charg'd those who were appointed to guard the Baggage and in spite of the King then in his greatest strength carried a rich and considerable And receives an affront booty into Theonville an Imperial Garrison not far from the place Nor was this affront done so publickly to so powerful an Army at all reveng'd only some Light Horse were sent before the Town to vapour and brave the Imperialists who fail'd not to sally out and skirmish with the French from which bickering neither party carried away any thing but blows And at length Henry's great preparations came to nothing for the two German Princes having not without some stain to their Honour made their Peace with the Emperour without the French Kings privity he was glad to return and defend his own Territories against Charles who was horribly incens'd against him for offering to assist his Rebels for so he call'd those Electors against his Lawful Authority As this French Army which I think so much represented the Phalange Conclusion vanish'd so the Macedonian Phalanx it self on which Aelian bestows the Titles and Epithets of Invincible Inexpugnable and Irresistable after it had in Philips and his Son Alexanders time given the Law to the Eastern World and after their deaths had been kept up by Alexanders Successors and Great Captains the space of one hundred and sixty years yielded to fate and was brought to nothing in Perseus his time and Macedon it self reduced to a Province by the Romans of whose Legions Art and Order of War we are in the next place to take a view PALLAS ARMATA Military Essays ON THE ANCIENT ROMAN ART of WAR BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Ancient Roman Government and Militia in General THE hand of Heaven which cast the Empire of the best part of the known World into the lap of the Romans was the more visible in that before they came to any great progress of Conquest and after too their State was Inward Diseases of the Roman State obnoxious to those difficulties which might have render'd it not only incapable to overcome its Enemies but subject to be a prey to any of its Neighbours And of these any who have perus'd their Histories may if they please with me observe them which follow First Their frequent change of Government as from Kings to Consulâ— First then to Consuls joyn'd with Tribunes of the People from these to a Decemvirate from that to Military Tribunes invested with Consular Authority from them to Consuls again from these to a Triumvirate and from that to Emperours Secondly The almost continual â—arrs and debates between the Senate and Second the People not only concerning the â—ex 〈…〉 and division of Lands but even about the Supreme Power of the Governament it self in which the Commons ever gain'd ground and at the long-run obtain'd the principal points and marks of the Soveraignty those were the 〈…〉 of Magistrates yea of the Consuls making and repeating Laws power of Life and Death and the last Appeal Thirdly The constantly Seditious Orations and Practices of the Tribunes Third of the People whereby they publickly obstructed many times the Levies of Souldiers and the pursuance of many Victories gain'd against their Neighbours Whilest the State was yet in its Infancy all those alterations and contentions proceeding from an inward disease of State could not choose but exceedingly weaken it in the undertaking any great action abroad But Fourthly Their Cruelty and Ingratitude to their own Citizens and Captains Fourth who had done them the best and greatest services some whereof I shall instance in in another place few of them all escaping a severe censure enough to withdraw any generous Spirit from a desire to serve them Fifthly Their frequent making Dictators almost upon every sudden apprehension Fifth of fear or supposed danger an Office so unlimited having power to do and command what they pleas'd without comptrol appeal or â—ear to be question'd after their time expired that it is a wonder none of them prevented Julius Câ—sar in usurping the Soveraignty Sixthly Their making two Consuls of equal authority the very fuel of discord Sixth at home and of most dangerous consequence abroad when a powerful Enemy necessitated them to joyn their Forces Take some Instances In one of the Wars against the Volscians Lucius Furius was joyn'd in equal Command with Marcus Furius Camillus that famous Roman who freed his Countrey from the Invasion of the Gauls in this War young Lucius would needs fight sore against old Camillus his advice and well beaten â—e was and had been utterly routed if the old man had not waited hiâ— opportunity and come to his rescue with the Triariâ— Fabius the Dictator nick-nam'd the Cunctator had Minutius joyn'd in equal command with him who would needs with the half of the Army fight Hanâ—â—bal whether the Dictator would or not The Carthaginian beats him and had made an end of him and perhaps of the War too if old Fabius had not parted the fray But the Romans escap'd not so easily at Cannae for there Terentius Varro in spite of his Colleague Paulus Aemilius fought with the same Hannibal where both of them receiv'd such an overthrow that if he who gave it them had follow'd Maharbal's advice and immediately marched he might in all probability have din'd the fifth day after in the Capitol and for
speed and endeavouring to punish the Mutiniers is himself ston'd to death by them nor was this highest insolence and baseness ever punish'd as both in Justice and Honour it should have been Sulpitius a Dictator thinking to use the Fabian Against Sulpâ—tius way and protract the War against the Gauls is forc'd by his Mutinous Army to fight nor did he ever punish any of the Mutiniers perhaps because he was successful in beating the Enemy yet did not this savour so much of that Roman severity for which they desir'd to be so much cryed up At Capua before Hannibal entred Italy some Roman Legions hatched a dreadful and monstrous Mutiny which portended no less than the ruine and dissolution of the State it self they came to a head at Lentulâ— fortified their Camp and Against the Common-wealth took Titus Quintius who had been a Military Tribune out of his Countrey-House and forced him to be their General Neither was this most dangerous Mutiny appeased by the Authority of either the Senate or the Dictator Valerius but to the advantage of the Mutiniers in so far that the Horse-mens pay was diminished at the instance of the Mutiniers who were all of the infantry and all because the Horse had refused to joyn with the Foot in that detestable design of ruining the Common-wealth So you see the custome of punishing honest men and rewarding knaves is not of a new date Great Scipio the African a person of great authority if ever Rome bred any being Against Scipio the African in Spain eight thousand of his Army lay at a place called Sucro a great way from him they Mutiny chase away their Tribunes and choose Captains of their own before two of whom were carried Axes and bundles of Rods the badges of Soveraign power Scipio by policy and good words making fair weather with them brought them to the rest of the Army and then suddenly laid hold upon thirty five of the Ring-leaders these he whips and beheads the rest he pardons The same Scipio had a Legat one Pleminius who lay at Lâ—ori in Italy his Souldiers and those of some other Tribunes go Against Plâ—minius together by the ears Pleminius composeth the matter but because the Tribunes had not done their duty in parting the fray he will have them whipp'd with Rods their Souldiers Mutiny beat Pleminius and cut off his Nose Scipio hearing of the disorder hastens thither acquits his Legat as having done his duty and for satisfaction to his Noseless face orders the Tribunes to be sent in Fetters to Rome there to receive their punishment and so goes away But when Pleminius put his hand to his Face and missed his Nose he could not be satisfied with the Consuls arbitration and therefore resolved to cut out his own Revenge which he performed with a very bloody Knife for he put all the Tribunes to death with most exquisite torments Let those Modern Writers who so much cry up the Ancient Roman Discipline Not so great disorders in the Modern Wars of War and which of them all doth it not and complain of the slackness of the Modern one tell me of greater Insolencies Mutinies or Contempt of Authority in any age since the decadency of the Roman Empire than these I have mentioned all or most whereof fell out when the Military Laws of Rome were thought to be most strictly observed nor can it be said that the Ancient Discipline was worn out for at the latest of these Mutinies at Locri the Romans were but young Lords being Masters of little more than the half of Italy in one of the best corners whereof Hannibal their sworn Enemy made yet his abode and would have done so longer if his unhappy Countrey-men had not first withdrawn their assistance from him and at length called him home to Africk to support their now decaying and tottering State Notwithstanding all these inward Maladies enough to have consumed the vitals of any State the Romans in time prevailed over all those with whom they made either a just or an unjust War for as the all-powerful God had pre-ordained them to be a mighty people so he had qualified them with parts abilities and endowments to attain to that greatness These were True Fortitude Prudence Abstinence Temperance Equity either real or Roman Vertues pretended Patience with an admirable Toleration of all manner of wants and difficulties inuring their Souldiers to all manner of toyl and fatigue and above all with Magnanimity as never succumbing or yielding to adversity but in their greatest affliction and lowest condition shewing greatest Courage and Confidence which those Senators well witness'd who would needs dye in their Robes with the Ensigns of Majesty when the Gauls had taken and burnt their City And after their total rout at Cannae when Hannibal sent Embassadours with overtures of Peace to them they sent out and discharg'd his Messengers to approach the City And after that when that Great Captain came a little too late indeed and sac'd their City with his Victorious Army they sold that piece of ground on which his Pavilion was erected publickly by the Drum at an over-rate and to shew him that this was not a rant one of their Consuls offer'd him Battel two several days but that great hazzard was hinder'd by fearful Tempâ—sts from Heaven With these and other abilities were the famous Romans fitted for the performance of that which the Almighty had order'd for them and that was to over-master the most part of the then known World and to govern and rule all other Nations with a Rod of Iron They who desire to know perfectly the Ancient Roman Ordinances and Constitutions Most of the Roman Tacticks lost of War have reason to wish that those Authors mention'd by Vegetius were yet extant which were the Treatises of the Emperours Augustus Adrian and Trajan but most of all that of Marcus Porcius Cato who was not only a great Senator and an eloquent States-man but an excellent Captain whereof bear witness his prudent Conduct of Armies his Victories and his Triumphs all yet on Record And yet he professed that he thought he had done the Roman Republick the greatest service in preserving their Military Art from Oblivion and transmitting it to posterity by his Writings There is no question but that Treatise of his if it had not been lost had clear'd us of many of those doubts and difficulties which none that are extant do or ever will do All that is left to give us a glimpse of light in the Roman Art of War are some fragments of Polybius and a Book of Flavius Renatus Vegetius De re Militari Both of them Noble Authors and eminent persons in their several times For the last he is so much cry'd up by most and thought to be understood by all that I do confess it must be my dulness that makes me not understand him in many places wherein I think Vegetius his Defects him so obscure
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
give Conditions and Articles which you may find in the Twenty sixth Chapter of the Modern Art of War I know not whether Amilcar Hannibals father dealt candidly when he Treated and Capitulated with Spendius and Antaritus the Ring-leaders of the Carthaginian Amilcar taxed revolted Mercenaries and made it an Article that it should be in the power of the Senate of Carthage to chuse any ten of the Rebels they pleased and to dispose of them as they thought good and when this was agreed to he immediately seized on them two as two of these ten Sure if they had thought they had been in that danger they had never sign'd a paper tending so directly to their own destruction and therefore that Article was sign'd against the intention of the Capitulators and so perhaps was void in Law Amilcar made also choice of the Ten himself and not the Senate which was against the Letter of the Capitulation The Athenian General Paches had besieged Notium and invited An execrable villany Hippias who was Commander in chief within the Town to come out and speak with him promising faithfully if they did not agree at the Treaty to send him back in safety but did not tell him when The foolish Governour came out Paches immediately storms the secure City takes it and puts most that were within it to the sword but would needs keep his word to Hippias and therefore lends him back to the Town where he was no sooner arrived but by order of the execrable Paches he is shot to death with Arrows This treachery in seeking and laying hold on occasion to break Treaties and Articles was is and ever will be a monstrous crime crying to Heaven for vengeance The Sons of Saul paid dear for their fathers breach to the Gibeonites who with mouldy bread and Joshuah his Piety clouted shooes had cunningly cheated Joshuah to treat with them and give them conditions which notwithstanding he resolved for his Oaths sake Religiously to observe But those examples of Spendius and Antaritus of Carthage and Hippias of No Commanders in chief should Parley in person Notium should teach all Generals and Commanders in chief of whatever quality they are whether in field or Town not to parley in person for if contrary to Parol promise faith Oath or Hostages they be either kill'd or made Prisoners then the Army Town or Castle which they commanded stand for a time amazed which gives a fair opportunity to the deceitful enemy who hath prepar'd himself for it to fall upon them and put them in a fearful confusion if not totally to rout them before they can recollect themselves Julius Caesar I confess had an advantage in his personal parley in Spain with Afranius and Petreius because by his presence and the justifying his cause in his own excellent language and his promises not only of fair quarter but of entertainment he debaucht most of their Army But these very reasons which made his parley with them justifiable render'd their meeting with him in presence of the Soldiers of both Armies which Caesar would needs have altogether inexcusable And indeed Pompey refused on good grounds all parley with Caesar at Dirrachium But there was no such cause of Caesars Personal parley with Ariovistus King of Germany at which I suppose he was made sensible of his error for though he thought he had made the meeting cock-sure on a little hill situated in the midst of a large Plain where no ambushes could be laid and none were to approach that Plain but himself and the barbarous King each of them accompanied with ten Caesars danger by it Horsemen and he had made choice of ten of the gallantest of his Legionaries to be with himself all mounted on good Gallick Horses but notwithstanding all these cautions the Treaty and parley was broke of not without visible signs of treachery And the same Caesar gives a Caveat to all Commanders in chief either of Armies or parts of Armies or of Cities or Castles not to parley in person when he tells us the sad story how he lost one full Legion and five Cohorts of another by the simple folly of his Legate Sabinus first in believing the Intelligence of Ambiorix a profest enemy and next in going in person with his His great loss by it principal Officers to treat and parley with the same Ambiorix upon the bare word or parol of a faithless Barbarian by whom he and his Officers were immediately kill'd and then their forces presently after put to the Sword And take take here a perfidious trick of a Roman at a Parley Comius a Gallick Prince had not been very faithful to Rome Caesars Legate Labienus appoints one Volusenus to Parley with Comius the Gaul having got the accustom'd assurances came to the place where Volusenus by order from Labienus as out of friendship took him by the hand but held it fast till one of his Centurions gave him a deep Perfidy of a Roman Legat. wound on the head but it not proving mortal Comius escaped and swore thereafter never to trust a Roman If Caesar had either cut off his Legates head or according to the Roman custom used in such cases deliver'd him over to the incensed Gauls for this treacherous act then the same Labienus had not afterward perfidiously deserted himself and run over to Pompey Sempronius Gracchus being betray'd by his Host left his command and being Proconsul went in person to Parley with some Carthaginians from the result whereof he expected Gracchus kill'd at a Parley Scipio the African question'd for his Parley with Syphax great matters but he never return'd for he was environ'd and kill'd with all his retinue Scipio the African though an accomplisht Captain no doubt forgot his duty when he left his charge in Spain and went to Africk to treat with Syphax in the midst of an Army and at that time accompanied by Asdrubal a profest enemy to the Roman name and Nation having no assurance for his safety but the word of a Prince whom Scipio himself accounted barbarous And though he escaped that hazard yet did he not escape the severe reproof of Great Fabius who to his face and in full Senate charged him with this inexcusable oversight in very rough and bitter language as you may read in Livies Thirtieth Book Nor do I look on the personal Parley between the same Scipio and the famous Hannibal before their last Battel at Zama but as an extravagant action of two such renowned Chieftains The Enterviews of Kings and Soveraign Princes have seldom prov'd fortunate or gain'd those advantages to either party that were expected But this Discourse belongs to another Chapter To conclude the apprehension of bad quarter and the fear of the breach of Promises and Articles and the suspicion of ill usage hath made many refuse Desperate ways to prevent bad Quarter all quarter reject all Treaties and distrust all Articles and Agreements and by a
Lieutenant Colonel eight dishes eight pound of Bread and six measures of Wine A Major or Captain six dishes of Meat six pound of Bread and six measures of Wine A Lieutenant and Ensign each of them four dishes four pound of Bread and three measures of Wine Every Serjeant three dishes of Meat two pound of Bread and one measure and a half of Wine Every Corporal and every Drummer two dishes of Meat two pound of Bread and one measure and a half of Wine A common Soldier or Trooper so much Flesh Bread and Wine as I spoke of before when I told you what Proviant was allow'd him If the Army be not in a Wine-Country then all those I have spokâ— of have a double allowance of Beer This is besides the Hay Straw and Oats the Country is bound to furnish to the Horses not only of the Cavalry Artillery and General Officers but to those Horses likewise that belong to Foderage the Infantry And this grievance of Foderage proves many times heavier than the free quarter all being often eaten up in a short time wherewith the Inhabitants should maintain their Horses and Beasts In these Countries where the Country-people receive a little money for what the Soldiers spend on their Marches in their transient Quarters as for most part in his Majesties Dominions is more tollerable than where they receive no moneys at all though the Hosts of both Foot and Horse must be considerable losers when they get but a Two-pence or a Groat for a nights entertainment Service is that which every Host is bound to furnish either in Town or Country Service to those that are lodged with them whether they be Officers Troopers or common Soldiers whether they be on free quarter or to pay for their Diet. Service comprehends a Bed Lodging Table and Table-linnen Fire Salt and Vinegar It is a grievance likewise because many times the Soldiers are extreamly extravagant in demanding more of those than they need I find in some Histories of France that ninety years ago or thereby this Service was called French Service Vstence and when they got pay they were to seek no other Vstence or Services but a Bed a Table and a Table-cloth and liberty to dress their Meat at the Hosts fire Nor might they invite one another to their Quarters because that prov'd troublesome to their Landlords But when moneys were wanting then the Soldiers were to have free Quarter which was so well regulated that none might demand any other entertainment than what the Host was pleased to give them provided that was sufficient to satisfie nature And withal five Shillings sterling in money every month wherewith to buy shoos or other small Necessaries And truly this was a better order for free Quarter than any I have yet spoken of A very especial care was taken to punish all such who transgrest any of these Ordinances And about that same time I find that the Protestants pay was very frugal the Foot was paid thus A Captain had every Month a hundred Protestant pay eighty or ninety years ago French Livers the Lieutenant had fifty the Ensign thirty the Serâ—eant fifteen every Corporal Pipeâ— and Druâ—mer twelve and the common Soldier had nine CHAP. IX Of Military Laws and Articles of Courts of War of the Judg-Marshal and Provost-Marshal-General THE Laws of God and Nature would not be sufficient to keep wicked man within the bounds of his duty if the Municipal Laws of the Land were not superadded and those would signifie but little too if the punitive execution of them did not follow the transgressors of them I know not indeed why Souldiers should not be governed by those same Laws whereby other subjects of that same Prince and State are if it be not for two reasons First an Army being in the field and making no long abode in one place Reasons for the severâ—ty of Military Laws Criminals and other guilty persons cannot be so formally and legally conven'd before the ordinary Judges of the Land as the constant Inhabitants may especially when an Army is out of a Prince his own Dominions as many times it is Secondly it is found not only fit but necessary that more severe Laws be made in Camps than in Cities for I know not by what authority for what reason or by what instinct men who follow the War assume to themselves a greater liberty to sin than other Mortals do as if the entering themselves in a Militia did let them loose from all Civil bonds and tyes of humane Society and that which in a Commonwealth is a Capital crime were but a venial Peccadillo in an Army That some Armies are better govern'd than others is easily granted and that fewer gross crimes are committed in some than in others will not be denied being some Generals are more just more exact and more severe than others are and which is more than that some Armies are better paid than others be for Theoderick King of the Goths said well Disciplinam non servat jejunus exercitus A hungry Army observes no Discipline But that the Roman Armies in ancient times and some since their decay were so well govern'd and all the members of them so orderly is but a dream their terrible disorders and extravagant deportments are to be seen in History and some of them I have touched in the beginning of my Discourses of the Roman Militia And if in an Army some offences be not instantly punisht it will be found peradventure within a few hours impossible to punish them at all Hence it is that a Commander in the War is not only permitted to do that which the Civil Judg may not do but is lyable to censure if he does it not as to inflict present death either by his particular order or with his own hand without formal process as in the Soldiers in some cases may be put to death without process case of mutiny to kill one in the beginning of it and so to terrifie others from prosecuting it or in the case of disobedience when the appearance or pursuit of an enemy will not suffer the Delinquent to be legally proceeded against or upon a march when an enemy is either in Van reer or flank a Marshal-General may be order'd to hang all without process whom he finds at such a distance from the Army without his Coloneâ—s Pass and in this last case Officers may kill those Soldiers that stragle or lag behind But I should advise all Commanders not to make themselves Boureaus and to be very sparing to kill with their own hands except in extraordinary cases These reasons have given a just rise to Military Laws which ordinarily are called Articles of War there are or at least should be as many several Military Articles of War Constitutions as there are Princes or States who wage War for every one of them hath his several Laws and Statutes yet all or most agree in these following particulars
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
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 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
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
as the Regiments or Brigades march If any Waggons or Baggage-horses press to be before these behind whom the Waggon-master General hath ordered them to march he may safely make prize of them owe them who will When the Waggons come to a Heath or a Champaign field the Waggon-master should order the Waggons to draw up two four or five in rank and to drive in that order so long as the ground permits them to do so and this saves time and makes dispatch and when they come to strait ground they are to fall off by the right hand in that order wherein they were before The same course he is to take with Baggage horses This Baggage-master General is allowed to have two Lieutenants so that if the Army march three several ways aâ— Waggon-master hath Deputies sometimes it doth himself and his two Deputies serve to marshal the Baggage of all the three If the Army is divided into two or the Cavalry march alone one of his Lieutenants goes along with the Horse the other stays with himself and he is constantly to be there where the General of the Army and Train of Artillery either marcheth or quartereth Many times Waggons are commanded to be burnt and destroyed sometimes all the Women and most of the Baggage are left behind at some Garrison and fortified place or with the Body of the Infantry and Artillery when expedition calls away all the Horse Dragoons and as many Foot as are able to march lustily In some of these occasions Officers go fair to lose their Waggons and some of their moveables Women following an Army divided into three Classes First Women who follow an Army may be ordered if they can be ordered in three ranks or rather in Classes one below another The first shall be of those who are Ladies and are the Wives of the General and other principal Commanders of the Army who for most part are carried in Coaches but those Coaches must drive according to the quality of them to whom the Ladies belong and as the Baggage of their Husbands is appointed to march by the Waggon-master General The second Classe is of those who ride on Horseback Second and these must ride in no other place than where the Baggage of the Regiment to whom they belong marcheth but they are very oft extravagant gadding here and there and therefore in some places they are put in Companies and have one or more to command and over-see them and these are called in Germany Hureweibles Rulers or Marshals of the Whores I have seen them ride keep Troop rank and file very well after that Captain of theirs who led them and a Banner with them which one of the Women carried The third Third Classe is of those who walk on foot and are the wives of inferiour Officers and Souldiers these must walk besides the Baggage of the several Regiments to whom they belong and over them the several Regiment Marshals have inspection As woman was created to be a helper to man so women are great helpers Women helpful to their Husbands in Armieâ— in Armies to their husbands especially those of the lower condition neither should they be rashly banisht out of Armies sent away they may be sometimes for weighty considerations they provide buy and dress their husbands meat when their husbands are on duty or newly come from it they bring in fewel for fire and wash their linnens and in such manner of employments a Souldiers wife may be helpful to others and gain money to her husband and her self especially they are useful in Camps and Leaguers being permitted which should not be refused them to go some miles from the Camp to buy Victuals and other Useful in Camps Necessaries At the long Siege of Breda made by Spinola it was observ'd that the married Souldiers fared better look'd more vigorously and were able to do more duty than the Batchellors and all the spite was done the poor women was to be called their husbands mules by those who would have been glad to have had such mules themselves Among all these kinds of Women in well order'd Armies there are none but those who are married If there be any else upon examination made by the Minister Priest or Consistory they are put away with ignominy at least should be conformable to all Articles of War But a strange story is writ by good Authors of that famous Duke of Alvâ— whose name is yet so hateful to most of the Netherlands They say at that time he marched from Italy to the Low-Countries to reduce them to the obedience of his Master the King of Spain a permission was given to Courtizans to follow his Army but they were to ride in Troops with Banners They had their several A strange story of Courtizans Capitanesses and Alfieras or she-Cornets and other Officers who kept among them an exact Discipline in all points that concern'd their profession They were divided into several Squadrons according to their quality and that was distinguisht no otherwise but by the difference of their beauties faces and features Those of the best sort were permitted only to traffick with men of the highest quality those of the second rank with Commanders of great note those of the third with Officers of a lower condition and those of the fourth degree with Officers who were of the meanest quality and Souldiers whom those of the other three ranks rejected An excellent Commonwealth where it was prohibited under all grievous pains not to suffer themselves to be Courted by any An abominable Common-Wealth either above or below the rank wherein they were placed and that was impartially done according to the Talent nature had bestowed upon them so that every common Souldier inferior person or low Officer Ensign Captain Colonel or General Commander knew to whom they might address themselves and from whom they might buy repentance A practice which I suppose never had a Precedent in either Christian or Pagan Army and which with an impudent face loudly cry'd defyance to both Religion and Moral honesty CHAP. XIX Of the March of an Army IF there be any confusion in the march of an Army or that the right ordering it be neglected by general persons in appointing every Regiment or Brigade its own place with the Train of Artillery and Baggage or that Colonels Majors and Captains be careless to obey their orders in their march A careless march the ruin of an Army and suffer their Souldiers to run straggle and lag behind it not only gives an enemy a wished advantage but is enough of it self to ruin an Army even without the help of an enemy In a march an Army may be surprized in passing a River whether that be by Foord Bridg or Boat or when it marcheth thorough marsh grounds or close Countries when it ascends or descends Hills to all these inconveniences a careful General should advert and according to the Intelligence he hath either
Horse make the Reer-guard behind which at a miles distance follows a strong party of commanded Horse The Baggage may be in the Van or the Reer or May be divided easily into several Bodies if the General appreheâ—d danger in them both it may march immediately after the Train This great Body may be very soon divided into either two or three several ones and may march as many several ways as the General pleaseth But truly with submission to great Commanders I should be of opinion that the Baggage of an Army should never be divided unless the Army it self divides if danger be in the Van let it all stay in the Reer the proper place of Baggage if the enemy be expected in the Reer post away all the Baggage to The proper place of Baggage in a march the Van if in both necessity will force it to be in the middle of the Army But my humble opinion is that without apparent danger it should constantly be in the Reer of the whole Army for the disadvantage is but small that the Brigades or Regiments of the Van have and withal they have but their turns of it that they must wait very long at night till their Baggage come from the Reer It is but small I say if you compare it with the great prejudice the Prince or States service suffers by having the Regiments or Brigades which march in the Reer benighted being hinder'd by the Baggage that is order'd to march before them two three sometimes five hours whereas if that Baggage had not been in their way they might have reach'd their Quarter seasonably enough But there is a worse thing in it than that when upon the unexpected appearance of an enemy in the Van the Brigades that are in the Reer-guard being suddenly call'd up they are not able â—â— advance for the unavoidable Embarras of Baggage that is before them Indeed I think the middle or center of the Infantry a proper place for the great Guns and Train and the Generals Secretaries and Cabinets with his Papers and for most of his and some of the other General Officers Coaches especially if their Ladies be in them and there I think these should constantly march But my judgment is that all other Baggage whatsoever belonging to either Horse or Foot should be in the Reer according to that priority or precedency the Regiments or Brigades have themselves in the march and these should change every day that who is in the Van one day may be in the Reer the next that all may participate equally of the ease or toil of a march Where the sick and wounded should be What is spoke of the place where Baggage should march is to be understood also of the sick and wounded Soldiers who if they cannot be put in some secure or fortified place should be brought forward though Baggage-horses should be borrowed from the owners for that use and in time of danger should be sent as far from it as may be with a good Guard or Convoy When ground will permit the Brigades of an Army whether Horse or Foot to march in one breast or front there is a question what distance or interval should be kept between these Brigades There be some who theoretically argue that the distance between two Brigades both marching in breast but the one behind the other should be of as much ground as a Brigade drawn Distance between Brigades on a march should not be so great as when they are to fight up in front doth possess because say they when one Brigade is drawn up on the right hand of a large field where the whole Army is to be marshal'd the second Brigade which follows cannot draw up in full breast on the left hand of the first unless there be such an Interval between them on their march as that I just now told you of nor can the third draw up on the left hand of the second unless it have that same distance the like is to be said of all the rest To this I answer when an Army is marshal'd in battel-Battel-order that distance is to be kept between Brigades whereof I spoke in the last Chapter and so the second will have the less difficulty to marshal it self on the left hand of the first But that cannot make me allow so much ground between Brigades on a march as I willingly do when they are to fight To the reason produced against it I say to think that a Brigade all in one breast and marching directly behind another though at never so great a distance can draw up in breast on the left The contrary opinion examin'd hand of another without some turning or wheeling is a meer speculation And I say more let a Brigade march in three Squads at as great a distance as you will the second shall not draw up on the left hand of the first without some wheeling And if a smaller body cannot do it much less can a greater And practice will shew the vanity of the other opinion to any who will be at the pains to examine it and observe it in the march of Brigades in the field as I have done oftner than once This opinion then vanisheth unless they who follow it bring a better reason for it which I have not yet heard But be pleased to take notice what an inconvenience and that no small one the observing this rule will bring along with it in a march I speak still when Brigades march all in one front one behind another at that rate there shall be such avast distance between the Van and the Reer that the last Brigade shall not get up though it run which it should not do to the place where it should be marshal'd but in a very long time which you will easily grant to be true if you will with me make this computation We have spoke of eight Brigades of foot in this Chapter to be in our Army each of them shall be no stronger than 1800 men and therefore each of them must be 300 in front allowing four foot to every Leader these 300 Leaders possess in rank 1200 foot of ground as much by this opinion which I combate must be allowed for an Interval between two Brigades marching one after another in breast now in eight Brigades there are seven Intervals seven times 1200 foot make 8400 Every one of the Brigades possess in deepness 36 foot multiply 36 by 8 which is the number of the Brigades the product is 288. Add 288 to 8400 the aggregate is 8688 foot so much distance there is from the Leaders of the first Brigade of Foot to the Bringers-up of the eight and last Take a view of our six Brigades of Horse each whereof shall consist And found inconvenient of no more than 600 being three deep each Brigade hath 200 in front allow but three foot for every Rider the front of each Brigade possesseth 600 foot of ground as much
How guards march to the Parade Companies one two or three sometimes out of a Regiment as the duty seems to require these meet at the several Captains Tents or Huts and after the Drums have done beating the Gathering the Captains march with their several Companies in good order to the Parading place of the Regiment or of the whole Army more ordinarily to the last which is either a place appointed peculiarly for it or is the Forum or Market-place near the Generals Lodging or Pavilion Here they are drawn up according to the antiquity or precedency of the Regiments to whom they belong by either the Major General or Adjutant General of the Foot At this Parade should all the Majors of the Foot be as also one Sergeant out of every Company and most of the Captains of the whole Army The Companies being marshall'd in breast the Major or Adjutant General calls the Majors together to whom he imparts the several orders and directions of the General which may and very oft doth vary every night because they depend on emergencies The Majors stand in a ring on How the Orders and Word are given to the Majors both hands of him according to their dignity the first standing on his left hand in whose ear he whispers the Word and he whispers it to him who standeth on his left hand and so successively till the youngest Major deliver it to the Major General If it be returned right to him there is no necessity to send it about the other way as some would have but if the Word be not deliver'd right to him then he gives it to the Major who stands on his right hand and so it is re-deliver'd to him by the Major who stands on his left hand not without a check to him or them by whose inadvertency it was mistaken This word for most part is the name of a Town a Country or a Castle sometimes it is the proper name of a Man and sometimes it is a Sentence as it pleaseth him who gives it who is still he who commands in chief Men may pass any Sentinel without it in the night time but none should pass the Corps de guards that An abuse i◠making it common are on the Fortification unless they give the Word And from the misunderstanding of this many gross abuses are committed as when Servants or other mean persons are sent in the night time either into Camps or Towns concerning affairs very lawful in themselves and have the Word given them that they may pass the Guards which should not be suffer'd for if the business is necessary and will admit of no delay as the sending for a Physician Apothecary Chyrurgion or Minister for sick or wounded persons in such cases addresses should be made to him who commands over the whole Guards who is obliged to send a Caporal or a Gentleman of a Company along with the person that is sent who should see him pass and re-pass without interruption When the Major General imparts his orders to the Majors the Sergeants of the Parade should make a ring at a good distance about them standing with their Halberts order'd and this both to shew with what respect orders should be given and receiv'd as also to hinder any to come near and hearken to what is said or spoken either to the Majors or among themselves After the Majors have done their business with their Major General they Where Orders should be given by the M 〈…〉 in Fo 〈…〉 fied Camps should give both the orders they have received from their superiours and their own to the several Regiments and many think they should do this at their own quarters beside the Colours which I think is formal enough and may well enough be done but my humble opinion is they should do it at the great Parade and therefore I said before that at it there should be a Serjeant of every Company there and the reason I give for my opinion is this that the several Companies that are to be sent from that Parade to divers places of the Fortification there to keep Watch may carry the Word along with them and so not need to wait so long as for the Major first to go home to the quarter of the Regiment and then give out his Orders and send them to the Companies that are on duty in several Posts And to anticipate that objection which I suppose will be made against my opinion that Majors are to give to the Companies All Commissioned Officers should be present at a Parade the orders of the Colonels as well as of the Major Generals I say that at Parades all Colonels all Field and Commissionated Officers should be present for a Parade is the Exchange of Officers neither should any thing excuse their absence but indisposition or being on present duty and this is incumbent for Officers to do where-ever the Parade be whether in Camp or Garrison when the Major gives orders to his Sergeants he doth it in the same manner as the Major General doth to the Majors and should have a ring of Musketeers about him to hinder any to approach or hearken unless they be Commissionated Officers of that Regiment who may be within the ring and may hear but ought not to speak while the Major is discoursing to the Sergeants After Orders and the Watch-word are given every Captain marcheth How the Posts are divided to that Post that is appointed him and that appointment is made two ways either as the Major General pleaseth in sending Companies several nights to several Posts and not constantly to one or it is done by billets the way thus The names of the several Posts being writ in several Papers they are cast into a Hat and are drawn by the Majors who according to the billets they draw send their Captains to their Posts And this indeed is the best way for it saves the Major General from suspicion of partiality and doth a more general good than that for it prevents Treachery whether it be in Camp Garrison Town or Castle After the Watch is set it should not be permitted to any whether he be No Officer or Common Souldier should go from his Guard Officer or Common Souldier from the highest to the lowest to leave his Post unless sickness occasion it neither indeed should an Officer of what quality soever he be by absenting himself give example for Souldiers to desert their Posts those Officers who do it should be exemplarily censur'd yet for most part this piece of Discipline is neglected which too often encourageth an Enemy to make attempts which perhaps otherwise he would forbear Truly it is a shame to hear what excuses I have heard in more places of the World than one and none more ordinary than for an Officer to say I was no longer from my Guard than I was taking my Dinner and Supper at my Lodging If Officers would dine or sup in their Corps de
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
learn'd and practis'd his Art of Souldiery so happily against the Enemies of Gods people for so Deodati interprets it that his Countrey-men by a solemn Embassie invited him to be their Captain General against the Ammonites which he accepted and wrought their deliverance Here have you a Souldier who knew no other Art or profession but that of Souldiery approved of by the Lord and elected by him and the people at Mispa to fight the Lords Battels against the Enemies of his people and this very Souldier is reckon'd among the elect and faithful by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 2. v. 32. In the Gospel we read that the Souldiers ask'd the Baptist what they should do to he sav'd Be contented with your wages said he and do violence to no man Here he bids them not learn other trades and I am bound to believe that most of those who ask'd him the question if not all of them were Romans who knew no other livelihood but to be Souldiers and were then quarter'd in Judea to keep the Jews under the subjection of the Roman Emperours and whether this was a lawful employment or not shall be spoke to hereafter The Apostle Paul moves the question Who goes to War on his own charges meaning none is bound to do it Hence it will follow that a Souldier may serve for wages or if any will serve without wages as some Volunteers do it is not forbidden them however in these two places nothing being spoke against the profession of Souldiery I may safely conclude that the profession of a Souldier without any other trade is allow'd and authoriz'd by those two great Saints Our blessed Lord bore witness That the Centurion who said he was not worthy that our Saviour should come under his roof had more Faith than he had found in Israel and I make no doubt but if the profession of Souldiery had been unlawful he would have bid him learn some other Art wherewith to gain his livelihood The like may be said of that Centurion who sent to Joppa for St. Peter to come to Caesarea for we find not that the Apostle when he instructed that Captain and his Friends of the means of their Salvation gave him either advice or command to learn any other trade than that of Souldiery and it may not only be probably conjectured but asserted that these two Centurions had learn'd no other trade but that of Souldiery as much may be said of a third Centurion who confess'd our Saviour to be the Son of God even when he saw him suffer on the Cross as a Man who as Church Histories mention dyed a Martyr for the Christian Faith These of whom I speak who know no Art or way of livelihood but by the trade of Souldiery are ordinarily called Souldiers of Fortune though most of them might rather be call'd the Sons of Misfortune From what I have said this argument may be fram'd that That Profession Art or Trade that is neither directly indirectly or consequentially condemned by any Divine Law or Ordidinance mention'd in Holy Scripture is in it self lawful but the Profession or Art of Souldiery without any relation to any other Art is neither directly indirectly nor consequentially discharged in Scripture Ergo the profession of meer Souldiery is lawful If it be objected here That the Apostle writing to the Corinthians orders every man that would eat to work with his hands I answer first That the Corinthians being a people conquer'd by the Romans were not permitted to be Souldiers and next if the command be general for all Nations and in all Ages then Souldiers are included for they work with their hands and very oft a bloody work And if no Divine Law be against this profession as little can it be alledged That any positive Law of man hath forbid it and daily experience teaches us That all Princes and States make use of men who know no other trade but that of Souldiery which they could not do without sin if that profession were unlawful in it self Nay I have known the time thirty years ago when I serv'd in Germany That Princes and States though they bestow'd Levy-shoney very plentifully could not get half so many of that profession as they desired and at this very time when I write this those European Princes who are hot in War with others cannot get men enough of that trade and yet I shall easily grant they get more than they pay well But Hugh de Grot commonly call'd Grotius a very learned and grave Author Grotius's opinion examined towards the end of the Twenty fifth Chapter of his Second Book De fare Belli ac Pacis is a heavy Enemy to the trade of Souldiery for there he says Nullum vitae genus est improbius quam eorum qui sine causa respectu mercede conducti militant No kind of life says he is so godless as of those who without regard to the cause fight for wages and he subjoyns Et quibus ibifas ubi plurima merces And with whom it is a Rule That War is most lawful where greatest Pay is to be got For answer What if I grant all this it will make just nothing against my assertion The abuse of a thing cannot make the thing unlawful I shall confess it is so as he says with very many Souldiers who have another false Maxime which De Grot mentions not and that is It is all one with them whom they serve so they serve faithfully These are great faults in too many Souldiers but all Souldiers not being guilty of them all should not be charged with them nor should the profession suffer for the fault of some of its professors De Grot would have taken it unkindly if I should have argued thus with him No such a Godless kind of life as of those who without any regard to the justice of the cause embrace the quarrels though never so unjust of such Clients who are best able to reward them for though this be true enough in thesi yet Grotius would have thought that by such an expression I reflected on all Lawyers and Advocates and their profession too for it is certain that too many Lawyers do so which Grotius who profess'd Law knew but too well and perhaps practis'd it too much And as Grotius must confess that it is a sin in an Advocate to plead for a Fee in a Clients cause which he knows to be unjust so I shall acknowledge all Souldiers to be sinners who fight in a cause which they know to be unjust But I must tell you there is a great difference between Souldiers and Lawyers in this case for there be but few Advocates â—ho cannot discern between the justice and unjustice of the cause they undertake to defend whereas on the other hand there be but few and very few Souldiers who can discern between a just and an unjust cause for which they are to fight I knew a person abroad who
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