numbers were written upon their Helmets in great Characters calling them the first second third and fourth c. And not content with this every Soldier had the number of his File and the number of his place in that File engraven upon his Buckler Your Companies being in this manner made distinguishable by their Colours and accustomed to their Ranks and Files by practice and experience it is no hard matter though they be disordered to rally and reduce them suddenly again for as soon as the Colours are stuck down in the ground they are immediately visible and the Captains and Officers knowing which are their own repair themselves and dispose their Soldiers immediately to their places and when those on the left have placed themselves on the left hand and those which belong to the right hand on the right the Soldiers directed by their rules and the difference of their Colours fall immediately into their Ranks as easily as we put together the Staffes of a Barrel when we have marked them before These things if learned with diligence and exercise at first are quickly attained and hardly forgot for your raw men are directed by the old and in time a Province by these exercises might be made very fit for the War It is necessary therefore to teach them how to turn all together when to face about in the Rear or the Flanks and make Rear and Flank of the first Ranks when occasion is offered And this is no hard matter to do seeing it is sufficient that every man faces to that side he is commanded and where they turn their faces that is the Front True it is when they face to the Flank their Ranks do not hold their proportion because the distance betwixt the Front and the Rear is thereby much lessened and the distance betwixt the extremity of the Flanks is much encreased which is quite contrary to the genuine order of a Battalia for which cause great practice and discretion is required to rectifie it and yet this may be remedied by themselves But that which is of greater consequence and which requires more practice is when an Officer would turn his whole Company together as if it were a single man or a solid and massy body of it self And this requires longer experience than the other For if you would have it turn to the left the left corner must stand still and they who are next them march so leisurely that they in the right may not be put to run if they be it will breed confusion But because it always happens that when an Army marches from place to place that the Companies which are not in the Front are forced to fight in the Flanks or Rear so that one and the same Company is many times compelled to face about to the Flanks and Rear at one and the same time that these Companies therefore may in this exigence hold their old proportion according to what is said before it is necessary that they have Pikes in that Flank which is most likely to be attacked and Capidieci Captains and other Officers in their proper places CHAP. X. To range a Company in such order that it may be ready to face the Enemy on which side soever he comes Fabr. WHen you have marshalled your fourscore Files five in a File you are to put all your Pikes into the first twenty Files and place five of your Corporals in the head of them and five in the Rear The other 60 Files which follow are Bucklers all and consist of 300 men So then the first and last File of every Company are to be Corporals The Captain with his Ensign and Drum is to stand in the midst of the first hundred of Bucklers and every Centurion at the head of his Division When they are in this order if you desire to have your Pikes on the left hand you are to double them Company by Company from the right Flank if you would have them on the right you are to double from the left and this is the way by which a Company turns with the Pikes upon one Flank with their Officers at the Head and the Rear of them and their Captain in the midst and it is the form which is observed in a march But upon the approach of an Enemy when they would make a Front of a Flank they have no more to do but to command that all of them face about to that Flank where the Pikes are and in so doing the whole Battalia turns with its Files and Officers at the same time in the manner aforesaid for unless it be the Centurions they are all in their old places and the Centurions can quickly be there But when a Battalia marches in the Front and is in danger to be engaged in the Rear the Files are to be so ordered that the Pikes may be readily behind and to do this there needs no more but whereas usually in every Battalia every Century has five Files of Pikes in the Front those five Files may be placed in the Rear and in all other places the same order to be observed as before Cosimo If my memory fails not you said that this way of exercise is in order to the uniting these Battalia's into an Army and that this practice is sufficient to direct them in that But if it should happen this Squadron of 450 Foot should be to fight singly and by its self how would you order it then Fabritio He who commands them is to judge where his Pikes are to be disposed and place them as he thinks fit which is not at all consistant with what I have prescribed before for though that be a way to be observed in Battel upon an union or conjunction of several Squadrons yet it may serve as a rule in what ever condition you fall into But in showing you the two other ways which I recommended for the ordering of a Battalia I will satisfie you farther CHAP. XI To draw up a Company with two horns or another with a Piazza or vacuity in the middle TO come to the way of drawing up a Battalia or Squadron with two horns or points I say you must order your 80 Files five in a File after this manner In the midst you must place a Centurion with 25 Files two of Pikes to the left and three of Bucklers to the right when those five are disposed bring up the other twenty with twenty Files and File-leaders all of them to be placed betwixt the Pikes and the Bucklers only those who carry Pikes are to stand with the Pikes After these twenty five Files are so placed draw up another Centurion with fifteen Files of Bucklers after which the Constable or Captain is to draw into the middle with his Drum and his Colours with other fifteen Files of Bucklers This being performed the next to march up is the third Centurion who is to be at the head of 25 Files of 5 in a File three Bucklers to the left
20 files and twenty men in a file This makes two squares or very near for though there be as many men on one side as the other yet towards the head they joyn together so as one flank may touch the other but on the other side their distance is at least two yards one from the other so that the square is longer from the Rear to the Front than from one flank to another And because we are to speak often of the fore part the hinder part and the sides of this Battalia or Company and of the whole Army when joyned you must know that when I say the head or the front I mean the fore part of the Battel when I say the shoulders I mean the hinder part and when I say the flanks I mean the sides The fifty Velites in ordinary do not mingle with the rest of the files but when the Battalia is formed they are disposed by its flanks The other way of drawing up a Company is this and because it is better than the first I resolve to describe it so plain that you shall understand it as well as it were before your eyes I suppose you remember of what number of men of what Officers it is composed and what Arms it is to carry The form therefore of this Battalia is of twenty files twenty men in a file five files of Pikes in the front and fifteen files of Bucklers in the rear Two Centurions in the front and two in the rear which the ancients called Tergiductores The Constable or Captain with his Colours and Drum is to stand in the space betwixt the five files of Pikes and the fifteen files of Bucklers Corporals upon the flank of every file one so that each of them may have his men by his side those who are on the right hand will have them on their left those on the left on their right the fifty Velites are to be drawn up on the flanks and rear Now that your Soldiers may put themselves into this posture in their ordinary march it is to be done in this manner You are first to reduce your Battalia into 80 files five men in a file leaving your Velites either in the front or the rear but they must be sure to be placed without this order Every Centurion is to be at the head of twenty files five of Pikes are to be immediately behind him and the rest Bucklers The Constable or Captain is to stand with his Drum and Colours in the space betwixt the Pikes and the rest of the Bucklers belonging to the second Centurion and may take up the place of three of the Bucklers Of the Capidieci or Corporals twenty are to stand in the flank of the files of the first Centurion upon the left hand and twenty upon the flank of the last Centurion upon the right hand And it is to be observed that every Corporal who leads the Pikes is to have a Pike in his hand and they who lead the Scudi are to have Bucklers in theirs Having put your files into this order and being desirous upon their march to reduce them into a Battalia to make head against an Enemy you must cause the first Centurion with his first twenty files to make a halt and the second Centurion to continue his march to the right all along by the sides of those twenty files which stand firm till he comes cheek by jole with the first Centurion where he also makes his stand and then the third marching on likewise on the right hand by the flank of the said files advances till he be even with the other two Centurions and then he making his stop and so the rest which being done two of the Centurions only are to depart from the front into the rear of the Battalia which by this means is in the same order as I said before The Velites are to be drawn up by the side as they are disposed in the first way which is called redoubling by a right line for the second way redoubles them in the flanks The first way is more easie this is more orderly and useful and may be better corrected and reformed to your mind for in the first you are obliged to conform to your number for five doubled make ten ten twenty twenty forty so that if you would double your files in a right line you cannot make a front of fifteen five and twenty thirty nor thirty five but you must go where the number will carry you And therefore it happens every day upon particular rencounters that it is necessary to make head with 7 or 800 foot and in so doing to double in a right line would undo you For these reasons this way pleases me best and the difficulties therein are easily removed by exercise and practice I say then that nothing is of greater importance than to have Souldiers which can put themselves instantly into their ranks and to learn that it is necessary to exercise them in these Companies at home to teach them the quick and the slow march to advance or retreat and to pass thorow streights and difficult places without disturbing their order For Soldiers that can do that well are good Soldiers and may be called old Soldiers though they never looked an Enemy in the face whereas on the contrary if a man has been in a thousand Battels and understands not that he is but a Novice and a fresh-water Soldier This is only as to closing their ranks upon a march when they are in small files but having closed their files and being afterwards broken by some accident either from the place or the Enemy to rally and recollect themselves then there lies the difficulty and importance which requires great exercise and practice and by the ancients was endeavoured with much industry In this case it is necessary therefore to do two things CHAP. IX The manner of rallying Soldiers after a rout and to make them face about a whole Company at a time Fabr. WHen a Squadron is broken to rally and bring them again suddenly into order two things are convenient first that several Colours or Countermarks be assigned to every Battalia and secondly to observe this rule that the same Foot stand still in the same Files For example if a Soldier 's place was formerly in the second File let him continue in that File and not only in that File but in the same place and in order to that as I said before several Countermarks are necessary And first it is convenient that the Ensigns and Colours of each Company be so handsomly distinguished that being joyned with other Squadrons they may know one another Next that the Captains and Centurions have Plumes of Feathers of Scarfs or something that may make them conspicuous and remarkable and last of all as being of more importance the Capidieci or Corporals are to be so accoutred that they may be known and of this the ancients were so extraordinarily curious that their
and their orders from whence it follows that the better an Army is 〈◊〉 and the closer and stronger it is drawn up the safer it is So that whoâ—â—◠〈…〉 opinion is indiscreet or inconsiderate for if we see that a small part of the 〈◊〉 the ancients which is used at this day as the Pike and a small part of their orâ—â—◠〈◊〉 are the Battalions of the Swissers have been so serviceable and contributed 〈…〉 to our Armies why may we not believe that the other Arms and orders which 〈…〉 might have been as beneficial and useful Again had we no regard to the 〈◊〉 in placing our selves in that straight close order like the Swissers what other orâ—â—â—â—â—uld make us more fearful No order certainly can make us more fearful of the Artillery than that which keeps men firm and close together Besides if I be not frighted by the Artillery of the enemy when I encamp before a Town where they can fire upon me with more security because I cannot come at them by reason of the wall nor hinder them buâ—â—by my own Cannon which will be a business of time if I be not afraid I say whore they can multiply their Shot upon me as they please why should I fear them in the Field where I can run upon them and possess them immediately So that I conclude Artillery in my opinion is no sufficient impediment why we should not use the methods of our ancestors and practise their virtue and courage And had I not discoursed formerly with you about this subject I should have enlarged more but I shall refer my self to what I said then Luigi We have heard or at least it is our own faults if we have not what you have discoursed about the Artillery and that the best course that can be taken against it is to make our selves masters of it with as much expedition as we can if our Army be in the Field and drawing up ready to engage Upon which I have one scruple because to me it seems possible that the Enemy may place his Artillery in the flanks of his Army so as that it might offend you more and yet be more capable of being defended You have made if you remember in the ranging of your Army for a Battel a space of four yards from Company to Company and another space of twenty yards from the Battalia's to the Pikes extraordinary if the Enemy should draw up his Army in your own way and place his Cannon in those intervals I believe from those places they might gaul you exceedingly and with great difficulty because you could not enter into the Enemies body to possess them Fabr. Your scruple is rational and I will endeavour to discuss it or apply a remedy I have told you that those Battalia's are in continual motion either for a battel or a march and do naturally so straighten and close themselves that if you make your intervals narrower where you place your Artillery they will be closed up in a short time so as they will not be able to do any execution If you make your distances large to avoid one danger you incur a greater by giving the Enemy opportunity not only to possess himself of your Cannon but to rout your whole Army But you must understand it is impossible to keep your Artillery among your Squadrons especially those which are upon Carriages because being drawn one way and their mouths lying the other it is necessary to turn them before you can fire upon the Enemy and to turn them takes up so much space that fifty of those Carriages are enough to disorder a whole Army So that it is necessary the Artillery be placed without their Squadrons and being so they may be attacked as is said before But let us suppose it might be placed within the squadrons and that a way might be found out of retaining it in the middle and that it should not hinder the closing of their bodies nor leave a way open to the Enemy I say that even in that case the remedy is easie and that is by making spaces and intervals in your Army for the bullets to pass by which means the fury of their Artillery will become vain and it will be no hard matter to do this because the Enemy being desirous that it may be secure will place it behind in the farthest part of the intervals so that to prevent their shot from doing mischief among their own men it is necessary that it pass always in a right line so that by giving place on your side it is easily avoided For this is a general rule we must give place to any thing that we are not able to resist as the Ancients did to the Elephants and forked Chariots I believe and am assured that you think I have ranged the Armies and won the day yet let me tell you if what I have told you already be insufficient it would be impossible for an Army so armed and ordered not to beat in the very first encounter any other Army that should be arm'd and ordered according to the method of our times which many times affords but one front without any bucklers and so ill arm'd that they are not able to defend themselves against any Enemy that is near them And for their way of drawing up they do it in such manner that if they place their Battalia's in the flank one of another they make their Army too thin if they place them behind one another not having the way of receiving them into one another they are all in confusion and their ranks easily broken And though they give three names to their Armies and divide them into three Bodies the Van-guard Battaile and Rear-guard yet they serve only upon a march and for distinction of quarters but in a Fight they are all at the mercy of fortune and one small charge defeats the whole Army Luigi I have observed by the description of the Battel that your horse were repulsed by the Enemies Horse and retired to your Pikes extraordinary by whose assistance they not only sustained the enemy but beat him back again I believe as you say the Pikes may keep off the Horse in a close and gross body like that of the Swizzers but in your Army you have but five ranks of Pikes in the front and seven in the flank so that I cannot see how your Foot should be able to sustain them Fabr. Though I told you formerly that in the Macedonian Phalanx six ranks of Pikes could charge at one time yet you must understand that if a Battalion of Swizzers should consist of a thousand ranks there could charge at once not above four or five at the most because their Pikes being nine yards long a yard and an half is taken up betwixt their hands so that in the first ranks they have free seven yards and an half In the second rank besides what is taken up betwixt their hands a yard and half is consumed betwixt
has taken his part willingly I do not think Battista will refuse Battista Hitherto I have suffered my self to be governed and am resolved to do so for the future let me desire you therefore Seignor Fabritio to pursue your discourse and hold us excused if we interrupt you with these kind of demands Fabr. As I told you before you do me a very great kindness for this interruption and changing of persons rather refreshes than troubles my fancy But to follow our business I say that it is now high time that we dispose our Army into its quarters for you know every thing desires rest and security for to repose without security is not properly to repose I do fancy you would rather have had me lodg'd my Army first and march'd and fought them afterwards but we have done quite contrary and indeed not without necessity for being to show how an Army in a march was to quit that form and put it self into a posture to fight it was necessary first to show how they were to be drawn up for a Battel But to return I say that if you would have your Camp safe you must have it strong and well ordered The discretion of the General puts it in good order but it is art or situation that makes it defensible and strong The Grecians were so curious in this point that they would never encamp but where there was some River or Wood or Bank or other natural rampart to defend them But the Romans stood not so much upon the strength of the situation as their own ways of fortification nor would they ever encamp but where according to their own Discipline they could draw up their Army For this reason the Romans observed one constant form in their encampments for they would rather make the situation of the place comply with their methods than permit their customs to comply with the situation but with the Grecians it was otherwise because following the condition and form of the place it was necessary that they varied the manner of their encampment and the form of their Camp The Romans therefore where the situation was weak supplyed it by art and industry And because in this discourse I have proposed the Romans for a President I shall not leave them in my manner of encampment nevertheless I shall not follow their practice in every thing but picking and selecting such parts as I think most agreeable with our times I have told you often how the Romans in their Consular Armies had two Legious of Romans consisting of about 11000 Foot and 600 Horse they had moreover about 11000 more Foot sent in by their Friends and Allies to their assistance but this was a rule their Auxilaries never exceeded the number of the Legions unless it were in Horse and in them they were not so curious I have told you likewise how in all their battels their Legions were placed in the middle and their Auxiliaries in the flanks and it was the same in their encampments as you may read in such Authors as make any mention of their History I will not therefore be so exact in my relation I shall content my self only to tell you in what order I would lodge my Army at present and you will understand by that what I have borrowed from the Romans You know that in imitation of their Legions I have taken two Battalions consisting of 6000 Foot and 300 Horse of service for the Battalion you know into what Companies into what Arms and into what names I divided them You know how in ordering my Army to march and to fight I have said nothing of more men only what was to be done was to be done by doubling their ranks not by any reinforcement of men But being now to shew you the manner of encamping I think it not convenient to stick to my two Battalions but to unite our whole Army composed according to the model of the Romans of two Battalions and as many Auxiliaries which I do the rather that the form of our Camp may be the more compleat by the reception of a compleat Army which in my other demonstrations I have not thought altogether so necessary Being therefore to lodge a compleat Army of 24000 Foot and two thousand Horses of service to be divided into four Battalions two of Natives and two of Strangers I would take this way CHAP. II. The form of a Camp Fabr. HAving found a place convenient for my Camp I would set up my Standard in the midst of a square of fifty yards deep The four sides of that square should respect the four quarters of the World and look East West North and South In this square I would set up the Generals Pavilion and because I think it discreet and in part the practice of the Ancients I would divide my men which carry arms from them who have none and those who are free from those who are incumbred All or the greatest part of my arm'd men I would lodge towards the East my men that were disarm'd and incumbred I would lodge towards the West making my front towards the East and my rear towards the West and the North and South should be my flanks To distinguish the quarters of those which bore arms I would take this course I would draw a line from the Standard towards the East of 680 yards long Then I would draw two other lines with the first in the middle of the same length but each of them at a distance of fifteen yards from the first at the end of these lines I would have my Eastern Port and the space betwixt the two outward lines should make a Street which should go from that Gate to the General 's quarters and take up a space of thirty yards in bredth and 630 in length for the General 's quarter would take up fifty and this should be called the General 's street Then I would cause another street to be drawn out from North to South and it should pass by the end of the General 's street not far from the General 's quarter towards the East which should contain in length 1250 yards for it should take up all the bredth of the Camp and be called the Cross-street Having design'd the General 's quarters and these two Streets I would mark out quarters for the two Battalions that were my own Subjects and one of them I would dispose on the right hand of the General 's street and the other on the left And then passing over the Cross-street I would assign 32 lodgments on the left hand of the General 's street and as many on the right leaving betwixt the sixteenth and seventeenth lodgment a space of thirty yards wide as a traverse way to pass thorow all the lodgments of the Battalions I would lodge the Captains of the men at Arms at the front of those two orders of lodgments which joyn to the Cross-street and their men at Arms in the fifteen lodgments that are next
them so as every lodgment should contain ten men at Arms the whole number that I have allotted to each Battalion being an hundred and fifty The Captains lodgments should â—â—orty yards wide and ten in lenght and you must take notice that when I say wide I mean from North to South and when long from East to West The lodgment for the private men at arms should be fifteen yards long and thirty wide In the other fifteen lodgments which follow on both sides of the street which begin at the traverse way and should have the same allowance of ground as I have given to the other I would dispose my light horse And because there are likewise of them belonging to each Battalion 150 I would put ten of them into each of the fifteen lodgments and the sixteenth I would reserve for the Captain with the same space of ground as is allowed to the Captain of the men at arms and so the lodgments of the horse of the two Battalions should come down to the middle of the General 's Street and be a direction to the quartering of the foot as I shall shew You have seen how I have lodged the 300 horse of both Battalions with their Officers in 32 lodgments set up near the General 's Street and beginning at the Cross-street and how betwixt the sixteenth and the seventeenth there was resâ—rved a space of thirty yards to make a cross-way Being therefore to lodge the twenty Battalia's or Companies in the two ordinary Battalions I would appoint lodgments for every two Battalia's behind the lodgments of the horse and they should each of them contain in length 15 yards and in bredth thirty according to the dimensions of the horse-lodgment and they should be so close that they should touch one another In the first lodgment on each side butting upon the Cross-street I would lodge the Captain of each Company over against the lodgment of the Captain of the men at Arms and this lodgment alone should be twenty yards wide and ten long In the other fifteen lodgments which succeed on both sides as far as the traverse way I would quarter a Company of foot which being 450 should be disposed 30 to a lodgment The other 15 lodgments should be set up on each side by the lodgments of the light horse with the same dimensions of ground and on each side I would place a Battalia of foot In the last lodgment on each side I would place the Captain of the Company right over against the Captain of the light horse with a space of ten yards in length and twenty in bredth and so these two first ranks of lodgments would be half horse and half foot but because as I said before these horses are all horses of service which have no proper persons either to dress or to feed them I would have the foot which are quartered behind obliged to look to them and for so doing they should be exempt from other duties in the Camp and this was the method of the Romans After this I would leave a space of thirty yards on each side which should make streets and be called one of them the first Street on the left hand and the other the first Street on the right I would then on each side set up another row of 32 lodgments with their backs one to the other with the same spaces as I assigned to the other and having separated sixteen of them as with the rest to make a traverse way I would dispose in each side four Companies with their Captains at the head of them and other Officers in the rear After I had left on both sides a distance of thirty yards for a way which on one side should be called the second Street on the right hand and on the other side the second Street on the left hand I would set up another rank of 32 lodgments with the same distances and separations where I would lodge on each side four Companies with their Officers and by doing this all the Cavalry and the Companies of both the Battalions would be lodged in three rows of lodgments and the General 's quarter in the middle The two Battalions of Auxiliaries having made them to consist of the same number of men I would quarter on both sides of the two ordinary Battalions with the same number of rows and in the same order as they placing first one order of lodgments consisting half of horse and half of foot distant from the next order thirty foot which distance should make a Street and be called on one side the third Street on the right hand and on the other side the third Street on the left hand And then I would make on each side two more rows of lodgments with the same distances and distinctions as in the lodgments of the other Battalions which should make two other Streets and be called according to their number and the hand on which they are placed so that this whole Army will be lodged in twelve double rows of lodgments and there will be thirteen Streets reckoning the General 's Street and the Cross-street when I have design'd my circumference and appointed my lodgments for my four Battalions I would leave a space betwixt the lodgments and the trenches of an hundred yards broad which should go round my Camp and if you compute all the spaces you will find that from the middle of the General 's lodgment to the East Gate are 680 yards There are two other spaces one from the General 's quarter to the South Gate and the other from the same place to the North Gate each of them 635 yards commencing at the Center Substracting afterwards from each of these spaces fifty yards for the General 's quarter and five and forty more on each side for a Piazza and thirty yards for a Street that divides each of the said spaces in the middle and an hundred yards round betwixt the lodgments and the trenches there remains on all sides for lodgments a space of four hundred yards wide and an hundred long measuring the lenght with the space which is taken up by the General 's quarter then dividing the said length in the middle there will be on each side of the General forty lodgments in length fifty yards and twenty wide which in all will be 80 in which the general Officers of the Battalions should be quartered the Trâ—â—surers the Mastres de Campe and all such as have any Office in the Army leaving some spaces empty for strangers or such Voluntiers as follow the Wars meerly out of affection to the General on the back-side of the General 's quarters I would make a Street from South to North thirty yards broad and it should be called Front-street and run along all the 80 lodgments abovesaid From this Front-street by the General 's quarter I would have another Street that should go from thence to the West Gate thirty yards wide answering both for situation and