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 Grecian Troop of Horse consisting of sixty four to be marshall'd three deep as most of our Modern Troops now are and so there should have been in it twenty one Files for 21 multiplied by three produceth sixty three and he who shall make the sixty fourth shall be the Trumpeter with whom we could not meet before in Aelian's enumeration of the Officers of a Troop What distances were kept between Ranks or Files between several Troops or yet between greater Bodies of the Horse Aelian tells us not Yet writing of the right ordering of Batallions I think he was obliged to speak of Distances for who can marshal an Army unless those be condescended Nor of Distances on I conceive that assuredly the Rhombus was oblig'd to keep a great Distance both between its Ranks and its Files otherwise it could not turn to either Right or Left hand or to the Rear without Wheeling and this if I mistake not was one of the advantages the Thessalians proposed to themselves by that form of Horse Battel But when either it or the Wedge was to charge they were oblig'd to serr together as close as they could otherwise they could not pierce so home as was expected by those who cast them in those moulds It is probable that the Square Bodies of the Grecian Horse were exercis'd did march and fight at those distances used now in our Modern Militia Our Author makes the number of the Cavalry in a Macedonian Army to be half the number of their Velites or light armed Foot I told you those were eight thousand one hundred ninety two therefore the Horse must be four thousand ninety six The smaller Bodies of which he composeth this Cavalry are shortly these Sixty four Horse-men made a Denominations of the several Bodies of the Horâ—e Troop and were called an Elarchy its Commander Elarchas our Ritmaster Two Troops made an Epilarchy of one hundred twenty eight Horse-men its Commander Epilarchas for whom we have no Officer unless a Major and I find no such man among the Macedonians Four Troops made a Talentinarchy of two hundred fifty six Horse its Commander Talentinarchâ— is represented by our Lieutenant Colonel Two Talentinarchies made one Hipparchy of five hundred and twelve Horse he was called Hipparcha our Colonel Two Hipparchies made an Ephipparchy its Commander Ephipparchâ— had under him one thousand twenty four Riders our Brigadieer may resemble him Two Ephipparchies made a Telos which consisted of two thousand forty eight Horse its Commander was called Telarcha whom if you please our Major General of Horse shall represent Two Telarchies made up an Epitagma and this consisted of four thousand one hundred ninety six Horse-men which compos'd the whole Phalange of the Macedonian Cavalry its Commander was called Epitagmarcha for him our Modern Militia furnisheth us with a Lieutenant General or if you will a General of the Horse Now though our Author hath given us the exact number of both the smaller and greater Bodies of the Macedonian Cavalry Inexcusable omission yet he hath not at all told us how many of them were heavy armed and how many light armed for which he is inexcusably to blame CHAP. VIII Of the Great Macedonian Phalanx of its number and how marshall'd with some Observations on both APhalanx signifieth a number of men great or small Train'd and Instructed The signification of Phalanx in Military Duties and order'd in Ranks and Files By this Definition any Foot Company or Horse Troop is a Phalanx as well as an Army and a whole Army is a Phalanx as well as a particular Company or Troop It is true in Authors the word Phalanx is ordinarily taken for the great Body of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed Foot which formerly I have out of Aelian described to you of which I shall tell you thus much more that he saith it had two Horns for so the Translator renders the word Kâ—ras and those were the Right and Left hand Horn which we either simply call the Right or Left hand or the Right and Left Wing But indeed I wonder why Aelian divides the whole Phalange of Foot into two Horns Right and Left and why so many of our Commanders in the Modern Wars imitate him in dividing a whole Body into the Right or Left Wing never considering that naturally and really there is a Body between two Wings and the same error is committed in dividing a whole Batallion of armed men into two Flanks very ordinarily done by some Drill-masters And here no doubt Aelian forgot himself for the Phalange of the heavy armed Foot was divided as I â—old you before into four lesser Phalanges or Phalangarchies two whereof made the two Wings which he calls Horns and the other two compos'd the Body These four Phalangarchies made three Intervals how great we know not out of Phalangarchies which before the fight issued the light armed and if they prevail'd they pursued their Victory being followed by the Phalange but if they were beaten as for most part they were they retired to the Rear the same way they came and then the four Phalangarchies closed together to give or receive the charge according as they were ordered by their Superiours But now I am to speak of the whole Macedonian Army which was called The great Macedonian Phalanx of both Horse and Foot the Great Phalanx consisting of heavy and light armed Foot and Horse not reckoning their Chariots and Elephants Their heavy armed Foot were sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four the Velites were eight thousand one hundred ninety two the Horse four thousand ninety six Add all these together you will find the Macedonian great Phalanx to consist of twenty eight thousand six hundred seventy two Combatants A Story goes that either the Great Alexander or Julius Câ—sar or both should have said That they desired no more than thirty thousand men to conquer the whole World Certainly if either of them or both said so they meant that that number should still be kept compleat and full for though they should have been constantly Victorious and never have lost one man in Battel or Skirmish yet sickness and toyl would have made all that number to have moulder'd away before they could have march'd over the tenth part of the then habitable World But I do not at all believe that either of them said so for true Histories if there be any truth in Histories assure us that both of them had Armies which far exceeded that number At Arbelâ— Alexander had more than double the number of a Macedonian Army and yet Aelians numbers did noâ— always hold at that same time when he fear'd to be surrounded I suppose he wish'd his forces to be more numerous than they were Neither do I believe that his Father Philip who was the framer of the Phalanx did keep himself precisely within that number for at Cherâ—nea where he routed the Confederated Greeks he exceeded
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
the Macedonian Phalange as Aelian describes it was Defects of Aelians Phalange two-fold First by the exorbitant deepness of its File it took not up ground enough in the Front and next it admitted not of a Reserve Both which inconveniencies other Grecians shunn'd and so did Alexander himself the greatest Macedonian that ever was But I am of opinion that Aelian in his days never saw any thing except in figures so like the other Grecian Phalangarchies as we may see very frequently in our Modern Wars for he wrote his Tacticks to the Emperour Adrian who liv'd some Centuries after the Grecian Phalange was forc'd to do homage to the Roman Legion Our Author tells us that the Velites or light armed foot were half the Velites number of the heavy armed but we shall see hereafter that this held but seldome He will also have them to be eight deep because the heavy arm'd were sixteen in File By this rule the other Grecians who marshall'd their heavy arm'd eight in File should have drawn up their Velites but four deep Aelian doth also appoint them to be drawn up behind the Phalange and Indeed he might make them stand perhaps march where he pleas'd but the manner of their Fight being a la disbandad we may believe they kept but little good order in fighting with an Enemy less in pursuing him and least of all in flying from him CHAP. VII Of the Grecian Cavalry with some Observations upon it IT seems the Greeks did not tye themselves to any precise or certain number of Horse in their Armies as Aelian hath tyed them to a determinate number of Foot some of them using more some fewer as they conceiv'd needful for managing the present War they had in hand augmenting and diminishing the numbers of their Horse Troops as also the number of the men of each Troop as they found their occasions required Aelian tells us that Officers of a Horse Troop every Troop of Horse had a Captain whose place was in the Van a Lieutenant whose station was in the Rear and a Cornet who he saith stood with his Standard in the second Rank next him who was on the Right hand of the Troop All these we have He saith it had likewise two Flank Commanders who if they rode in Rank are represented by our Corporals He tells us nothing of a Quarter-master perhaps one of these Flank-Officers was he or officiated for him But that wherein he is very forgetful is that he makes no mention of a Trumpeter but assuredly since every Foot Company called a Syntagmatarchy that had Colours was allow'd a Trumpeter every Troop of Horse having a Standard had likewise one if not more Nor speaks he of Horn-winders though these were used by the Grecians as other Authors tell us Other Nations used them also The Persians had them for Xenophon in his first Book saith that Cyrus had his Corniciâ—â—s or Horn-blowers as well as Tubicines Trumpeters The Romans had them also whereof we shall speak hereafter Aelian in that Treatise of his De instrâ—â—ndiâ— Aciâ—â—â—â— gives us many figures of Troops of Horse most of which do but represent the several postures of a Body of Horse in doubling Files and Ranks and Countermarching Some of these figures it will be found difficult to imitate and perhaps our Author as ingenious as he was would himself have found it hard to have marshall'd them so in the Field as he hath done in Papâ—r and they are indeed but those Schematismi whereof Lâ—psiâ—â— on another occaâ—ion speaks Three odd figures of Horse Troops Particularly Aelian presents us with an Oval Figure of a Troop another of a Lunar or Crescent and a third which he calls Phalanx Inâ—â—rva not unlike that form of Battel after which the famous Hannibal is said to have drawn up his Mercenaries at Cannae which Body could no sooner move but presently iâ— lost its form and therefore I think it is probable that he marshall'd his Auxiliaries in that fashion to stand before his choice Carthaginians to weary the Romans that so his best Souldiers might have a cheaper Market of them as the Great Turk is said to blunt the Swordâ— of his Enemies with the Interposition of his Asapi between them and his Janizaries If any of the Grecian Troops of Horse were drawn up after any of these three forms that I have mention'd I shall very boldly say that they needed to have kept their ground very tenaciously and to have receiv'd the Enemies charge very â—â—â—â—fastly and couragiously for to my sense it was impossible for them either to march or give the charge without falling immediately into an irrecoverable disorder and this may be obvious to any man that will have the curiosity to look upon them and consider them right I find the Grecians used three kinds of Battels of Horse ordinarily not to Three forâ—â— of Horse Batallions speak of extravagant ones These were the Rhombus the Wedge and the Square The Thessulians who were thought to be the first and perfectest Horse-men in Europe used the Rhombus The invention of the Wedge is given to Philip of Macedon Father of Alexander and the Square was used by them both as also by all the other Grecians who sometimes made use likewise of the other two forms A Rhombus is a Geometrical Figure consisting of four acute Angles and The first is the Rhombus four sides equilateral or if you imagine two equilateral Triangles joyn'd back to back and their Angles equidistant for when two Triangles are joyn'd both of them have but four corners you conceive the figure of a Rhombus right enough To explain the Rhombus Horse Battel let us imagine a Troop to consist of sixty four Riders which number Aelian gives to a Macedonian Troop These sixty four were thus marshall'd Next the Captain stood one Horseman Simple Rhombus behind him two next them three behind them four then five then six then seven then eight That Rank of eight made two Angles where the two Flank Commanders stood for behind that Rank the number decreas'd as thus Behind the eight stood seven then six then five then four then three then two and lastly one Add all these together you will find the aggregate to be sixty four Behind the last one to my sense stood the Lieutenant though Aelian in some of his Figures seems to make the Captain and Lieutenant to be two of the number and if the two Flank Commanders were so too then the Troop consisted only of sixty besides Officers and not of sixty four There is another kind of Rhombus which in some sense may be called a The greater Rhombus double one and it is marshall'd by increasing the number of every Rank after the first by two till you come to the eighth Rank and after that your number is to decrease by two in every Rank till you come to one and then your Rhombus shall consist of one hundred
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
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
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
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
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
the rest resent it as an injury done to the whole fraternity for which they will very readily make him march a whole week without a Trumpeter to sound before him None may sound a Trumpet before a Troop but he who is master of their Art and he must prove himself to be so by producing a Certificate sign'd by a certain number of Master Trumpeters with their Seals annexed to it and this in their Language they call a Lerbrief If any wanting this offer to sound before a Company of Horse the Masters may come and take him away with disgrace in spite of the Ritmaster Those who have not yet got Lerbriefs they call Boys who must serve the Master Trumpeters in all manner of drudgery though they could sound all the points of War never so well They pretend to have got these priviledges from the Emperour Charles the Fifth under his Manual Subscription and Imperial Seal Ask them where this Patent of theirs lyeth some of them will tell you at Augsburg others say at Strasburg and a third will say at Nuremburg I have not seen any of them punished by their Officers and whatever discipline of their own they have I know not but I have not heard of any of their gross misdemeaners I knew one Colonel Boy an ancient Gentleman who for many years had commanded Horse in whose Regiment no sound of Trumpet was heard for none of them would serve under him because in his younger years he had kill'd a Trumpeter with his own hand But it is well these pretended priviledges of theirs are confin'd within the bounds of the German Empire There is another Martial Instrument used with the Cavalry which they call a Kettle-drum there be two of them which hang upon the Horse before the Kettle-drum Drummers Saddle on both which he beats They are not ordinary Princes Dukes and Earls may have them with those Troops which ordinarily are called their Life-guards so may Generals and Lieutenant Generals though they be not Noble-men The Germans Danes and Sweedes permit none to have them under a Lord Baron unless they have taken them from an Enemy and in that case any Ritmaster whatever extraction he be of may make them beat beside his Trumpeters They are used also for State by the Princes of Germany when they go to meat and I have seen them ordinarily beat and Trumpets sound at the Courts of Sweden and Denmark when either of the two Kings went to Dinner or Supper Dragoons are Musketeers mounted on Horses appointed to march with the Dragoons Cavalry in regard there are not only many occasions wherein Foot can assist the Horse but that seldome there is any occasion of service against an Enemy but wherein it is both fit and necessary to joyn some Foot with the Horse Dragoons then go not only before to guard Passes as some imagine but to fight in open Field for if an Enemy rencounter with a Cavalry in a champaign or open Heath the Dragoons are obliged to alight and mix themselves with the Squads of Horse as they shall be commanded and their continuate Firing before the Horse come to the charge will no doubt be very hurtful to the Enemy If the encounter be in a close Countrey they serve well to line Hedges and possess Enclosures they serve for defending Passes and Bridges whether it be in the Advance or a Retreat of an Army and for Serve on foot beating the Enemy from them Their service is on foot and is no other than that of Musketeers but because they are mounted on Horse-back and ride with the Horse either before in the Van or behind in the Rear of an Army they are reckon'd as a part of the Cavalry and are subordinate to the Yet are part of the Cavalry General Lieutenant General or Major General of the Horse and not to those of the foot And being that sometimes they are forced to retire from a powerful and prevailing Enemy they ought to be taught to give Fire on Horse-back that in an open field they may keep an Enemy at a distance till they get the advantage of a closer Countrey a Straight a Pass a Bridge a Hedge or a Ditch and then they are bound to alight and defend that advantage that thereby though perhaps with the loss of the Dragoons themselves the Cavalry may be saved When they alight they cast their Bridle Reins over the necks of their side-mens Horses and leave them in that same order as they marched Of ten Dragoons nine fight and the tenth man keeps the ten Horses For what they have got the denomination of Dragoons Whence they have their denomination is not so easie to be told but because in all languages they are called so we may suppose they may borrow their name from Dragon because a Musketeer on Horse back with his burning Match riding at a gallop as many times he doth may something resemble that Beast which Naturalists call a Fiery Dragon Since then a Dragoon when he alights and a Musqueteer are all one I have The several services of a Musqueteer forborn hitherto to speak of the several ways how the ranks of Musqueteers fire having reserv'd it to this as a proper place Take them then thus If the enemy be upon one of your flanks that hand file fires that is nearest How he fires in the flank and falls off the danger and the next standing still to do the like that which hath fired marches thorough the rest of the files till it be beyond the furthest file of that wing of Musqueteers But if you be charg'd on both flanks then your right and left-hand files fire both and immediately march into the middle of the Body room being made for them and in such pieces of service as these Officers must be attentive dexterous and ready to see all things done orderly otherwise confusion first and immediately after a total rout will inevitably follow If your Body be retiring from an enemy who pursues you in the reer the two last How iâ— the reer ranks stand whereof one having fired it divides it self into two the one half by the right the other half by the left-hand marcheth up to the Van making ready all the while this way is much practised especially in the Low-Countries but with submission to their better judgments I should think it more easie for these ranks that have fired to march every man of them up to their Leaders and then step before them thorough these Intervals of three foot that is between files and this may be done without any trouble either to themselves or their neighbours If the service with the enemy be in the Van as mostly it is Musqueteers after firing fall off two several ways ranks may after they have fired fall off two several ways First the rank which hath fired divides it self into two and the half goes to the right hand and the other half to the left
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
hinder either Prince or State to appoint the depth of their Batallions to be twelve ten eight or six deep as they think fit though by some of them the Bodies cannot be subdivided till they come to one File or one Rank for it was never seen nor do I fansie it can be imagin'd that ever such an emergency of War will fall out that can move a General unless he be to File his Army along a very narrow Bridge or a very narrow way to marshal all his Foot either in one Rank or one File So I conceive the first reason is no reason at all A second Reason is In time of Action an Enemy may charge the Second reason for 16 deep Rear to rencounter whom the Dimaritâ— or Middle-men are commanded with the Half-Files that follow them to face about but without countermarch and sustain the charge By the way observe that in such an occasion the Bringer up or Rear-man hath the command of the Half-File and consequently of the Dimarite or Middle-man himself to whom Aelian gave it before But to the reason it self I give two answers First a Reserve which Aelians Phalange admits not would prevent that danger Secondly I say if they were but twelve in File nay but ten in File they might withstand Answered the charge of an Enemy in both Van and Rear as well as being sixteen deep which I make appear out of Aelian himself thus The Grecian Pikes were all eighteen Foot long except the Macedonians which were twenty one We shall speak of the longest Next Aelian allows one foot and a half of distance between Ranks when they fought which distance he or his Interpreter calls Constipatio Thirdly the same Author allows three foot of the Pikes length for his hands who presents it These grounds being laid which are the Authors own I say that only four Ranks of the Grecian Pikes and five of the Macedonian could do an Enemy any hurt and but hardly so either because between five Ranks there are four distances and for those you are to allow six foot at Aelians account of closest distance next you are by his rule likewise to allow fifteen foot of the Pikes of the fifth Rank to be abated from their length which fifteen being added to six make one and twenty for three foot of the Pikes length of the first Rank being allowed for their hands who hold them you must of necessity grant the like proportion for the rest And so the Macedonian Sarissa did not much advance its point from the fifth Rank beyond the first Rank and therefore the rest behind these five Ranks seem useless But an Enemy attacks the Rear to oppose whom let five Ranks face about and present for if five be sufficient to resist the shock in the Van certainly five may do the same in the Rear And if you will consider it well you will think the points of the Pikes of five Ranks sufficient to give or receive a charge if all the Files be â—err'd together as the Grecians were and as all should be that no interval be given an Enemy to enter between them If then ten Ranks were enough to resist an Enemy in Front and Rear I presume the other six might have been dispos'd of two ways first they might have been bestow'd on the Front and so have extended it to a far greater length which would have brought more hands to fight and not only sav'd the Phalange from being out-wing'd but have put it in a capacity to out-wing the Enemy Secondly these six Ranks might very advantagiously have compos'd a Body apart in the Rear and that should have been a Reserve and then no danger of an Enemy to have troubled the Battel behind But I am afraid you may think I am making up a Grecian Militia of my own unknown to the famous Warriours of that renowned Nation I shall tell you truly and ingenuously my quarrel is only with Aelian because he hath not told us so much as he knew and so much as he was oblig'd to tell us which in this particular is that I am now to tell you and it consists in two things one that Phalanges were not always sixteen deep and secondly that they wanted not always Reserves To prove both be pleased to take the following Instances At Deâ—â—s when the Athenians fought with the Thebans and other Boeotians the Phalanges were all of them eight dâ—â—p and all Phalanges eight deep of them had Reserves At Leuctra Epaminondas his Foot Batallions were all marshall'd in eight Ranks At Siracusa when the Athenian General Niciaâ— was to fight he plac'd his Auxiliaries in the two Wings his Athenians he divided into two great Bodies the half whereof he marshall'd in the Battel between the two Wings the other half he plac'd behind at a distance with And had Reserves command to succour either the Wings or the Battel as they saw them or any of them stand in need of their help and this was a perfect Reserve And observe that his Wings Battel and Reserve were all marshall'd eight deep Take Thucydides a noble Historian and a good Captain for my Author But you will say these were not Macedonian Phalanges true but they were Grecian ones though and the Commanders of them without all peradventure did well enough foresee in what danger their Phalanges of eight deep might be by a sudden charge of an Enemy in the Rear which no question they would have oppos'd by making the last four Ranks face about if their Reserves serv'd not their turn neither could the fourth Rank extend its Pikes being three foot shorter than the Macedonian ones much beyond the first Rank But to take the Objection more fully let us come nearer and view the Great Alexanders Army at Arbela and we shall see he was not at all limited by Aelians rules of a Macedonian Phalange though by it they say he conquer'd the Persian Monarchy Sir Walter Raleigh saith right that in this place Alexander drew up his Forces so that they fac'd to Van Rear and both Flanks but this is not to be understood so that he made his heavy armed Phalange front four several ways for then it should have been immovable and only apt to resist but not to advance which had been both against the intentions of that brave Prince and his actions of that day for he charg'd the Persian Batallions both with his Horse and Foot But the meaning must be that he order'd some Horse and Foot at a distance from his main Battel to face to the Rear for preventing any misfortune there and the like he did on both his Flanks but all these when his main Battel mov'd fac'd to the Van and advanced with it and when it stood they took up their former distances and fac'd as they were appointed And all this was done lest his Army small in comparison of that with Darius should be surrounded If the Army he was afraid to
Principes came back to their assistance but by this argument they needed not have been so many as six hundred because both the Hastati and Principes came back to their assistance and by this Reason the Principes should have been but six hundred because the Hastati came back to their help before they were obliged to fight But his second Reason speaks And why better sense which is That the Consul who ordinarily stood near the Triarii came with the Evocati of the Romans and the Extraordinarii of the Socii or Allies and joyn'd with the Triarii What these Extraordinarii were shall be told you in my Discourse of the Allies and what the Evocati were I shall tell you just now If you will believe Lipsius the Evocati were only of the Roman Nation but Evocati what I think I am obliged rather to believe Caesar who saith he had his Evocatâ— out of Gaule and at that time of his Civil War the Gauls were either Enemies or Auxiliaries at best Those of the Evocatâ— who were Romans were such as had serv'd out their time and by the Laws of their Militia were not bound to follow the War yet upon the Intreaty or Letters of the Consul Pro-Consul or General came without constraint to wait upon him or them in that expedition Some of them sery'd on Horse some on Foot and were put in Troops and Companies and had their Officers and Pay but were exempted from all manner of Military duties except fighting and attending on him who commanded in chief A great many of them went with Scipio to Africk three thousand of them went to Macedon with Titus Flaminius two thousand went with Pompey against Caesar And Augustus in one expedition had ten thousand of them Besides these Evocati there were Volunteers Roman Volunteers who having serv'd out their time were not ordinary Souldiers and not being call'd out by the Consul were not properly Evocati neither had they any pay but went to the War meerly of their own motion and free-will either to do their Countrey service or to acquire Riches or Honour to themselves and families or for all these three respects together Now there were besides all these Foot which I have mention'd some of Proletarâ—i what the poorer sort called Proletarii and Capite censi that were not admitted by Servius Tullius King of Rome to be enrolled for the War but were left to serve at Sea which at that time was esteem'd dishonourable in comparison of the Land service Yet in time of danger they were bound to take Arms which were given them out of the publick Magazines for the defence of the Walls of the City But in process of time they came to be enrolled in Legions particularly with Marius against the Tâ—utâ—nâ—s and the Cimbrians Livius in his eighth Book writing of that War which the Romans had with Rorarii and Accensi the Latines mentions Rorarii and Accensi in two several Bodies and he places them behind the Triarii they were call'd from the Rear according as the Consul or General had use for them They were the light armed Foot and had those names till the Romans besieged Capua in Hannibal's time then and there it seems they got the name of Velites and that they kept They were called Accensi because they were the meanest in the Cense and Rorarii à rore from Dew because in skirmishing they scatter'd themselves as Dew doth on Grass I shall tell you more of them in my Discourses of a Roman Legion Each of these three Classes of the heavy armed Foot was divided into Centuries Two Centuries made a Maniple three Maniples made a Cohort and ten Cohorts made up a Legion A Roman Legion was of greater or lesser Legion number according to the pleasure of the King Senate People or Emperour who was invested with the Soveraignty or as the exigency of the present condition of affairs seem'd to require Romulus ordain'd it to consist of three thousand men one thousand of each Tribe whereof there were but three in his time though afterward they came to be thirty five Whether the Kings who succeeded Romulus kept the Legion at three thousand Foot I know not but after Monarchy was banish'd the City Legions came to be four thousand strong sometimes five thousand and twice if I mistake not six thousand and two hundred Let us now speak of the several Bodies of a Legion and first of a Century A Centuriate and Centurion At the first constitution I doubt not but a Centuriate consisted of one hundred men and its Commander was called Centurion both the words being deriv'd from Centum a hundred But thereafter that band of men called a Centuriate in Legions of four thousand or four thousand two hundred which was most ordinary came to consist but of sixty men in the two Classes of the Hastati and Principes and but of thirty in the third Class of the Triarii In the Class of the Hastati there were twenty Centuriates at sixty men each of them and those were twelve hundred Just as many Centuriates and of that same number for the Principes made twelve hundred more In the Class of the Triarii there were likewise twenty Centuriates but each of these consisted but of thirty men which made six hundred in all three thousand heavy armed The other thousand or twelve hundred were Velites But though each of those Bands were but sixty or thirty strong yet they and their principal Commander kept their ancient denomâ—nations of Centuriate and Centurion There were sixty Centuriates in a Legion though Vegetius speaks of but fifty five which shall hereafter be examin'd The Centurion was chosen by the Tribune as I formerly told you and he had liberty to chuse his own Sub-Centurion A Sub-Centurion whose station was in the Rear and was indeed nothing but ouâ— Bringer up Polybius his Interpreter calls the Centurions Ordinum Dâ—ctores Leaders of Files or of Centuriates if Ordo be taken for a Centuriate as perhaps it was the Sub-Centurion he calls Agminis Coactorem and that is directly our Rear-man This will not make a Centurion and Sub-Centurion to be our Captain and Lieutenant as some would have them to be and if you will be pleas'd to consider that a Roman Centurion commanded but sixty some of them but thirty men and was himself no otherwise arm'd than the rest of the Centuriate only distinguished by his Crest and that he stood in Rank and File with the rest either on the Right or Left hand of the Front of the Maniple I suppose you will think with me that the Roman Centurions for the matter of either Power or Honour were no other than our Corporals Centurions our Corporals and their Sub-Centurions such as Lancespesats especially where Foot Companies are as in our own time they were in several places of Europe three hundred strong and consequently every Corporalship sixty men The Centurions badge was a
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
have discharged their shot even in the hottest Piece of service and without the help of Musquet-rests And I suppose it needs be thought no Paradox in me to say that five ranks of Musqueteers can fire one after another without intermission and Five deep the first of the five be ready to fire again before the last have discharged let any Commander try it with expert Firemen he will find it will be done easily enough And that you may see that this is no new conceit of mine I shall tell you that Giovio informs us that at Vienna the twenty thousand Harquebusiers that were in the Christian Army were all marshal'd five deep and so made four thousand files It is without all peradventure that the best Commanders then in Europe were there who would not have permitted this if they had not known that the first rank could have fired and made ready again before all the other four had discharged neither must you impute this to the ignorance of the Historian as being a Churchman for he is so punctual as to write nothing of any Military action but what he had from the relation of the greatest Captains that were upon the place And truly if you will consider all I have said or all that may be said on this subject Reasons for it you may perhaps think with me that both Musqueteers and Pikemen may be marshal'd five deep with no inconvenience at all to the service I think I hear some speculative persons cry out that this is against the rules of all Tacticks who reject odd numbers as unfit for doubling But stay do you exercise for shew only or for use If only for shew I grant you should neither have odd ranks Objections against it nor files but if for use I say that five deep is better than six deep for those very reasons that made six deep better than eight deep and eight better than ten You say you cannot double your ranks at five deep what then I say you need not for I would have your ranks no fewer than five when you are ten Answered deep why double you your ranks is it not to make them five and thereby to enlarge your front and why then may you not be five ranks at first and thereby save your self the labour of doubling And as it is not at all necessary to double your ranks when your Batallion consists of no more but five ranks so I conceive the doubling of ranks not necessary when your Battel is but six deep for three ranks of Pikes is not strong enough either to give or receive a Charge nor are they numerous enough for Musqueteers to fire one rank after another without interruption it not being feasible for the first rank to fire and be ready before the third rank have discharged so that when six ranks are made three it is only for a parting blow for the Musqueteers to fire kneeling stooping and standing Now you may order the first three ranks of five to fire in the same fashion kneeling stooping and standing and you have by the bargain two ranks in reserve till the first three recover and those two ranks may afterward fire the first rank kneeling and the second standing and then all the five ranks have fired and are as ready either with Buts of Musquets or Swords to receive the enemy if he advance as the six ranks doubled in three and in far better order Either then your doubling of ranks is unnecessary in service or five deep at first is as good if not better as ten ranks to be doubled in five or six ranks doubled in three And though five ranks cannot be doubled the inconvenience of that is not so great as the advantages it hath of a large front and bringing many hands to fight and if upon any emergency which will fall out very seldom you conceive your front too large you may quickly help it The Authors private opinion by causing your files to double and then you are ten deep But I shall quickly part with this opinion when I hear a stronger argument against it than that which says that thereby ranks cannot be doubled for the truth is it is my private opinion that there be many superfluous words in Exercise and though I think doubling of ranks and files too sometimes convenient before the near approach of an enemy yet I hope none will deny that both of them are very improper in the time of service But Loquendum cum vulgo is a Golden sentence Well we have our Foot-Company no stronger than one hundred men and Seventeen Files in a Company of one hundred men divided into three parts whereof two are Musqueteers and Pikemen are glad to be admitted to make the third These must be marshal'd six in one file now seventeen times six is more than one hundred and sixteen times six is less than one hundred Add therefore three Corporals to the hundred Soldiers you shall have seventeen compleat files and one man over whom you may appoint to help the Ensign to carry his Colours for a Furer is not allow'd him in all establishments A Company being thus marshal'd in seventeen files eleven must be Musqueteers and six Pikemen to wit on the right hand of the Pikemen six files of Musqueteers and on the left hand five files The Captain is to teach his Soldiers to keep their just distances between file The several kinds of Distances and file end between rank and rank Distances are ordinarily threefold Order open Order and close Order The first of three foot the second of six the third of one foot and a half to which in some case is added open open order which is of twelve foot At Exercisings both ranks and files should stand at open order in Marches the files at order but the ranks at open order because of the Pikes which must have more ground than Musqueteers require and in service both the files and ranks of Musqueteers must be at order that is three foot distance but the Pikemen both in file and rank at close order that is at the distance of one foot and a half I must tell you in this place of a general mistake Mistakes in reckoning Distances and is the very same I accused Vegetius of in the Roman Militia and it is this All say that the files when they stand in Battel should be at order that is at the distance of three foot as indeed they should But if you ask how many foot of ground seventeen files whereof our Company consists possess in front they will immediately answer you fifty and one And here there is a double Distance of Files error first no ground is allowed for the Combatants to stand on for the distance of three foot between files takes up that one and fifty foot or very near it Secondly they make seventeen files to have seventeen distances whereas they have but sixteen This oversight I
Captains unless he have a Company himself The Swedes of a long time allowed him no company yet allow'd him the command over Captains but it is now many years ago since they were permitted to have companies hence perhaps it is that when they have no companies they may be called Serjeant-Majors as when they have companies the Germans call them Captain-Majors but the English use frequently the words of Serjeant Major and Serjeant-Major General none of them are used either by German Swede or Dane A Lieutenant-Colonel is that in a Regiment that a Lieutenant is in a company Lieutenant-Colonel and therefore when the Colonel is present the Lieutenant-Colonel hath no command and since in the Colonels absence the other commands the Regiment I think he should be endued with all those qualifications that are required to be in a Colonel and what these are I shall tell you as others have told me with my own sense of them A Colonel say some should be a Gentleman of great experience in Military Colonel Affairs bold and resolute courteous affable liberal judicious and religious But such descriptions of Military Officers seem to proceed from those Philosophers who teach men to conform their lives and actions to the strict and severe rules of Moral vertue for my part I would not only have a Colonel to be pious and religious but his whole Regiment likewise but because this may rather be wisht than expected I say if he be not exemplarily pious he may notwithstanding be a Colonel good enough so he be not a profest Atheist I would have a Colonel to be affable and liberal but though His Qualifications he be both churlish and Parsimonious he may be a Colonel good enough I would have a Colonel to be experienced in most of the points of War yet though he be not and hath seen but little if he be of a ready wit and good judgment he may be a Colonel good enough for Princes and States when they raise Armies think it fit to make choice of Colonels who can levy Regiments for which employment without question men of good birth and quality are most proper But courage an aptitude to learn and proneness to follow advice are qualities very essential and requisite in all men of that charge it is little matter how avaritious a Colonel be so he offer not to meddle with any part of the pay of his Regiment except his own It is the less matter though he be ignorant in some points belonging to his command so he be willing to be advised by those of his Officers who understand them But those who fancy that the Title of Colonels entails a right upon them to command what they please and to pay their Regiments as they like and by their wilful ignorance confound matters of Government and Discipline and introduce and frame Customs in their Regiments which no others use should be chac'd out of all Armies as presumptuous arrogant and impertinent if not worse Having spoken now sufficiently of all the Officers belonging to a Company and Regiment of Foot it will be time to put the several Companies in one Body thereby to make a Regiment but I will first tell the Captains that after they have for some time exercis'd their Companies and thereby known the abilities of their several Soldiers they must be careful to put them in ranks and files according as they find they deserve the properest tallest and strongest men they should arm with Pikes the rest with Musquets Next to the Corporal 's the most deserving should be File-leaders the next place of dignity is the To marshal a Company in ranks and files reer the third is the middle or fourth rank the fourth dignity is the second rank as being next the Van the fifth place of dignity is the fifth rank as that which is next the reer the sixth and last place is the third rank All this is meant where all Companies and Batallions of Foot are marshal'd six deep Next to this the Captain should have regard to the right and left hand files and having drawn up his men as he thinks each of them deserves he is to command his Clerk to write down the names of all that are in Arms just as they stand in files and thereafter when he draws out his Company let him constantly put them in Battel according to that Roll this being done four or five days the Soldiers by custom knowing their places their Leaders and their Sidemen will be able without the help of their Officers to marshal themselves When all the Companies are to be join'd in one Body every Captain should cast his odd men in the reer and it is impossible there can be above five odd men in one Company that the Major may make files and so join them to the Regiment in such places as he thinks fitting There be several ways of drawing up Regiments of Foot and they may vary according to the several opinions of men and yet all of them may be good enough But a Major should not marshal the Regiment according to his own fancy or yet that of his Colonels but according to the known practice of the Prince or State in whose Service he is for Uniformity is required in Military Uniformity in Marshalling Regiments in one Prince his Service Customs as much or rather more than in other things The pleasure of the Prince or of his General in matters which depend on their own judgments ought not to be debated or disputed I will not trouble my Reader with the difference of opinions in marshalling the several Companies according to the Precedency of those to whom they belong whether these be Officers of the Field or private Captains when they are to be join'd in one Body But shall lay down three grounds wherein I suppose all our Modern Commanders agree These are First That the Regiment should be marshal'd in a Square front the Wedg Rhombus and Ring-Battels not being now made use of except for show Secondly That the Pikemen make the Body and the Musqueteers the wings Thirdly That the Colonels Company ought to have constantly the right hand whether the Regiment be drawn up in one two or three divisions When Regiments were two or three thousand strong it was thought fit to marshal them in three Batallions or Divisions and these were called the Colonels the Lieutenant-Colonels and the Majors Divisions but being to speak of a Regiment consisting only of one thousand and composed of ten Companies I shall tell you how I have seen such a one marshal'd both in one and in two Divisions the manner whereof pleaseth me better than any other that I have either seen or read of leaving notwithstanding every man free to his own choice for I offer not to impose The Major of the Regiment having either chused the ground himself or got it assign'd to him by the Major-General if he be to draw up in one Division
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
of the Governour he should have good Intelligence He should also have a serious consideration of his own Provisions Considerations before a Siege be formed Money Meat and Munitions and many more particulars of which and concerning which no definite or certain rules can be given And before he form or lay down his Siege he ought to weigh and consider well all the advantages and disadvantages that may accrue to him As whether the gaining the Town or Castle he Besiegeth will counterpoize the loss of men and that vast expence of money meat and munitions that must be hazzarded and bestowed in reducing it how long time his own Provisions will be able to hold out whether he be able with probability of success to withstand or fight any Enemy that dare adventure the relief of the Besieged place And that which concerns most both his Masters service and his own honour is to cast up his account so well that if any unexpected accident or adventure fall out such as are the change of Weather inundations of Waters a mighty and unlooked for Succourse a Pestilence or other heavy disease in his Army he may notwithstanding these and in spight of an Enemy raise his Siege and march away to places of safety and consequently make an honourable Retreat with little or no loss of Men for it is not to be thought that an Army marcheth away from a Besieged place with dishonour because ratio Bâ—lli depending on emergencies and accidents changeth as oft as ratio Status and as in this nothing is thought dishonourable that can save the State so in that nothing can be dishonourable that can save the Army I have not the vanity to prescribe or give rules for what should be done at How to begin the Siege Sieges but I prâ—sume I may be permitted to tell Novices for to them only I write what is done and ordinarlly practised at Sieges After a resolution is taken to Besiege a place diligence and expedition should be used that all Passes High-wayes and Avenues be possest by the Cavalry that no entrance to the Fort be permitted and that all Citizens or Souldiers belonging to it be seized on and made Prisoners that intelligence may be got of all affairs within Many Generals at Sieges entrench their Armies and many do not Those At some Sieges Armies are not entrench'd who do not have no apprehension of an Enemy and therefore upon intelligence of the approach of one they must be ready to march either to meet and fight that Enemy or leave both him and the Besâ—eged place for good and all both which I have known practised Those who Entrench their Armies Armies Entrenched at Sieges take the far surer way though the doing it costs a great deal of time and labour The Entrenchment must be made both against those within the Town and against any without who will hazzard to relieve it The Fortifications of the Camp are properly called the Trenches though the word be frequently taken for approaches and in that word are comprehended the lines of Communication which Lines are divided into several parts Field-sconces whole and half Bulwarks Star-works and Redouts None of these should have a Curtain between them above six or seven hundred foot long for the distance of them one from another should be less than a Musket shot They should be built of black Earth if it can be had but if the ground be sandy it must be knit together with Wit hs fascines Straw or growing Corn and without with a Ditch and Pallisado Of the same matter should the Redouts and Batteries in the approaches be built The Star-sconces having their sides 40 or 50 foot long and their points far distant are ordinarily made in hast when time will not permit better to be made If an Army be numerous enough or that there be store of Pioneers with it a General may fortify his Camp and begin his approaches both together and this will save him much time which in such occasions is very precious But if he cannot do both at once he should Entrench himself and then begin those works which are called Approaches running Trenches and by the Dutch Laâ—fgrabon In making these to break Ground without the range of a piece of To approach to a Forâ— Ordnance will be too far and within Musket shot perhaps too near yet many think 8 or 900. foot from the besieged Fort is passable At this place where the approach begins a Sconce should be made and in it a Court of Guard neither were it amiss here to make a Battery and in it to plant some Culverines and twelve pounders to beat down the nearest Parapets of the Fort from whence those who are to work in the approaches may be infested But before I approach any nearer the Fort I must tell you that I admire how Captain Rud the late Kings Engineer hath left it upon Record That the Romans were the first that used the Spade at Sieges and that Julius Captain Rudd's opinion disputed Caesar was the first that besieged Towns by circumvallation Against the first assertion though we should not speak of prophane Authors yet we find it written in the 15. verse of the 20. Chapter of the second book of Samuel That Jacob cast up a Bank saith our Translation against Abel where the Rebel Sheba was Deodati in his Italian translation calls it Bastione a Bulwark Now these could not be done without the help of a Spade or something like it and this action of Joab was done some ages before Romulus Against the second assertion I object the ten years Siege of Vâ—n which was by circumvallation and that was some Centuries of years before Caesar besieged Alexia And we read in holy Writ that Trenches were cast and Towers built against besieged Towns and that was nothing else but circumvallations and those who made them did so little know Caesar that they did not foresee that ever such a man would be in the world as Caesar But to return to our first Sconce or Battery from it a line or if you please A running Trench a running Trench which upon the matter is nothing else but a Ditch must be digged and run either to the right or left hand 3 4 or 500. foot long a little crooked and oblique for doing which Souldiers are appointed with Pickaxes Spades and Shovels one behind another at the distance of 4 or 5. foot the formost digging 3 or 4. foot deep casting the Earth up either to the right or left hand between him and the Fort and so by him who is first and them that come after him the running Trench is made 6 or 8. foot deep and at first 6. Foot broad and thereafter 10 or 12. broad sometimes more if it be necessary to make use of Waggons in the approaches which falls out sometimes At the end of this first Line a Redout is to be made this is a A Redout