be out-wing'd as assuredly he was it will easily be granted Alexander at Arbela but eight deep that the more ground he took up in Front the less subject he was to that danger And this Curtius confirms when he tells us that the Commanders of the several Bodies had orders given them to extend their Batallions as far in length as without eminent danger they might lest saith the same Author they should be environ'd I conceive then it cannot be doubted but Alexander studying how to make as large a Front as feasibly he might against so numerous an Enemy he made his heavy arm'd Foot Phalange but eight deep as that which suited best with his present affairs and as he had seen other Grecian Captains do before him for by that means he made himself master of twice as much ground as he had when it was marshall'd sixteen in File That he had Reserves is most clear both from Curtius and others for Nicanor follow'd the Phalange with the Argyraspides or Silver Shields and these were heavy armed observe it and Cenos with a Band of men which And had Reserves saith Curtius was appointed note this to be a Relief Then Horestes Lincerta Polycarpon and Philagus all with several Bodies follow'd the Phalanx And that all these were Reserves Aelian himself nor any for him will not be so impudent as to deny But I shall speak more of the marshalling this Army in the Chapter following the next I come now to the third Reason which is pretended for sixteen deep of Third reason for 16 deep the heavy armed Phalange And it is this Though the Pikes of all those Ranks that stand behind the fifth or if you will the sixth be useless in regard they can reach but little or nothing beyond the File leader and you will remember these Ranks are not fewer than ten if not eleven yet being at close order with their Pikes advanc'd they bear forward with the weight and force of their Bodies those five or six Ranks that are before them and so make the Impression the greater and stronger they take all occasion of flight from them and impose a necessity on them to overcome or dye I answer first that this pretended advantage if it was any at all was very oft dear Answered bought Secondly I say five Ranks having their Pikes presented to the Enemy three Ranks behind them might have serv'd sufficiently to bear forward the five before them or if Aelian thought six Ranks might present all their Pikes with advantage then let four Ranks be allowed behind them to bear them forward to the charge and hinder them to fly and this will make in all but ten Ranks and so still six Ranks might have been disposed of either to enlarge the Front or make a Body in the Rear for a Reserve And thirdly I say when Aelian's six formost Ranks were busie in fight the ten behind them who were to bear those six forward were at their closest distance which he calls constipation and so not able to open very suddenly and face about in so good order and so soon as was requisite to receive or beat back the charge of an unexpected Enemy For certainly they must first have open'd backward and then fac'd about both which must have been done by the command of some of their Officers probably the Lieutenant and it is well enough known how confusion and disorder which seldome fails to attend such occasions stops the ears and dulls the judgement of Souldiers that they can neither hear nor understand the words of Command aright I will fetch two instances from History and those I believe will prove all I have said and clear this whole matter pretty well At the Battel of Cynocephalae or Dogs heads fought by Philip the last King Battel of Cinocephalae of Macedon except one against Titus Flaminius a Roman Consul the half of Philips heavy armed Phalange on the right hand bore down all before it and trod over the Legions gaining ground so far that the Macedonian thought the day his own But Flaminius having observ'd that the left Wing of the Phalange could not draw up in any close order because of the unevenness and knottiness of the Mountain whose little hillocks represented the heads of Dogs sent a Tribune with a Legion and some Elephants up the Hill to charge that Left Wing which he smartly doing easily routed it and immediately fell on the Rear of the victorious Right wing and without opposition cut it in pieces Now if the Left Wing of the Phalange which had no convenient ground whereon to draw up had plac'd it self on the top of the Hill at a distance behind the Right Wing as a Reserve the Romans durst never have hazarded to have come between them or if the last ten Ranks of the Right Wing who serv'd for nothing but to bear forward the other six Ranks had fac'd about according to Aelians rule they could not so easily have been broken But the close posture or constipation of these last ten Ranks to bear forward the formost six Ranks made them uncapable to do that quickly which the present necessity required or else the sudden charge of an unlook'd for Enemy did so appal them that they knew not what they were doing nor who commanded or who obeyed which as I have said frequently falls out in such cases So this Phalanx cast in Aelian's Macedonian mould cost King Philip very dear but another modell'd after the same fashion cost his Son Perseus much dearer At Pidna a Town of Macedon King Perseus fought with Lucius Aemilius Battei of Pidna a Roman Consul and the ground for his Phalange being as good as his own heart could wish the Roman Legions were not able to resist its furious charge but gave ground in several places insomuch that the Consul seeing Fortune look with so grim a countenance upon him began to despair of the Victory and to tear his Coat of Arms but being of a ready judgement he quickly espied his advantage for he saw the Phalange open its constipation some small Bodies of it pursuing those who gave ground and others fighting loosely with those of his Romans who made stouter opposition and therefore order'd some of his Legionaries to fall into those void and empty places of the several Phalangarchies and these getting entrance at those intervals came upon the sides of the Macedonian Pike-men and so without much trouble made most of them dye on the place If but a third nay a fourth or fifth part of this Phalange had been standing at a convenient distance in Reserve ready to have charg'd the weary and disorder'd Legions will any man doubt but that in all humane probability Perseus had been Master of the Field But the want of that lost him in the twinkling of an eye his Wife and Children his Kingdom his Riches which he lov'd too well his Honour and at last his Life The Defect then of
the Velites of the third and fourth Batallions since they were all light armed and if it be said the Slingers could cast their stones over the heads of the two Batallions of heavy armed I answer first their stones would do less hurt at that distance Secondly the Archers in the third and fourth rank could have done as much Thirdly the keeping their station and place in the fifth Batallion hinder'd the Triarii to advance Now if these of Vegetius his third and fourth Batallions were obliged to go to the Van and fight or skirmish there why did he not appoint the light armed of his fifth Batallion to do so too since they were all lyable to one Duty But I hinder him to Marshall his sixth Batallion The sixth order or body saith he consisted of and now welcome Triarii Warriors furnisht with all manner of Triarii Arms and Weapons whom the Ancients called Triarii These saith he used to sit then they kneeled not behind all the other Batallions that being whole and sound and in breath they might with more vigour attack the enemy for if any thing fell out otherwise than well with the Batallions that stood before them all hopes of recovery depended on them Now if our Author hath spoken well of the ancient Roman Legion I am sure he hath spoken enough of it He hath been at much pains to make up that Legion but that you may the better see the defects of it I shall be at the trouble to take it down in pieces in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. XII Vegetius his Legion reviewed and examined WHoever hath read or shall be pleased to read Vegetius his Treatise De re Militari will believe with me that he intended nothing less than to write the Military constitutions and customs of Levies Arms Exercising Marshalling Embattelling Marching or other Laws and Points of the Art of War used in his own days but in the contrary the Roman way and method of War of the ancient times And this he professeth all along not only in his Prologues to his Master the Emperour Valentinian but almost in every Book of his Treatise In the Prologue of his second Book he says the Emperour had commanded him to set down the Antiqua the ancient customs In the Prologue to Vegetius obligeth himself to write of the old Roman Militia his third Book he avers that the Emperour had commanded him to abbreviate in one Piece all the ancient Military Customs and Constitutions which were dispersed and scattered in several Books and Authors And in one word he Entitles his Epitome Institutions of Military matters out of the Commentaries of Cato Celsus Trajan Adrian and Frontinus Now none of these wrote or could write of any Military Customs practised in Vegetius his time as having liv'd several ages before him and he acknowledgeth himself that the Art of War of his days was but a shadow and scarce that of the ancient one But by the way I must tell you that Steuechius thinks Adrian wrote no Military Constitutions since at his desire Aelian had composed that Piece de Instruendiâ— Aciebus whereof we have spoken But his reason is exceedingly weak for Adrian might very well have written the Roman Military Art and yet have de-desired Aelian to write the Grecian one But to return Vegetius in the twentieth Chapter of his first Book having given us an account of the ancient Roman Not that of his own time Arms acknowledgeth that they were wholly worn out and that in comparison of them the Foot of his time were naked which had given so great an advantage to the Barbarous Nations of the Goths Huns and Allans To the Eighth Chapter of his second Book he gives this title Of those who were leaders of the ancient Centuries and Files And the Seventh Chapter of that Book he begins with these words Having expounded saith he the ancient ordering of a Legion And in many other places he witnesseth that it is the ancient Roman Militia that he is to open to us and no new one which had deviated from that old one This being premised by me to anticipate objections I make bold to charge Vegetius with seven gross Errours in the description of his Legion yet all seven Seven Errors in the Descrition of his Legion will not amount to one mortal sin which they say be likewise seven nay nor to one capital crime But if he be guilty of all these or any of these then I say he is not so good as his word in the fourth Chapter of his Second Book where he promiseth Ordinationem Legionis antiquae secundum norman Militaris Juris exponore To expound to us the right ordering of an ancient Legion according to the Rule of Military Law But I shall endeavour to justifie my charge in this following order First I question the number of his Legionary Foot which he makes to be First Error six thousand one hundred and all heavy armed mark that I read once of six thousand and once more of six thousand and two hundred and in that number were comprehended the Velites but never of six thousand and one hun-hundred The truth is Romulus made his Legion three thousand after him it was augmented and diminished according to the King Senate or peoples pleasure or the necessities of the State to 4000 to 4200 to 5000 to 5200 and sometimes but very seldom to 6000 or 6200 as Regiments are now made stronger and weaker in our modern Levies according to the pleasure of the Prince or State who makes them but for most part the ancient Roman Legion was 4000 or 4200. Livy in his Sixth Book says four Legions were levied against the Gauls each of 4000 Foot In his Seventh Book he says that in the Consulship of young Camillus four Legions were raised each of 4200 Foot In his Eighth Book he tells us that in the War against the Latins every Legion consisted of 5000 Foot In his Ninth Book he makes the Legion to be 4000 Foot in the War against the Samnites In his 21 Book he speaks of six Legions each of them 4000 Foot And not to spend more time in Instances the same Historian out of whom and Polybius I suppose Vegetius borrowed his greatest light of History says in his 22 Book that every Roman Legion was 5000 Foot in the time of their dangerous War with their redoubted enemy Hannibal but after that was ended they were reduced to 4000 till the Macedonian War except that some of them were made 6200 by Scipio Unless then once in Africk and once in Greece we never find a Legion 6000 strong but never at all to be 6100 as Vegetius would have it to be constantly He would have done himself much right and his Reader a great favour to have told who levied these Legions of 6100. if it was so in his own time or yet in the decadency of both the Roman Empire and Militia that makes nothing to his purpose it
Bodies of Foot it is the easiest motion of all the rest and cannot be suddenly done and therefore is dangerous if an enemy be near to take advantage of the disorder of the motion Thirdly If all the three Countermarches Laconian Macedonian and Chorâ—an Third be of very little use and great danger in the Infantry as I have endeavour'd to make appear in one of my Discourses of the Grecian Militia then I suppose it will be easily granted that the use of any of the three is as little and the danger as great in Bodies of Cavalry Fourthly That I conceive Wheeling a more proper motion and more easie Fourth for the Horse than for the Foot it is a motion that hath been much used by Horse in fight for unless in wheeling they are charged in the flank and if so they are ill seconded they are quickly reduced to their first posture but it is not so with the Foot for if the Body be but indifferently great suppose fifteeen hundred men standing at three foot distance in files and six in ranks you must â—irst make them come both ranks and files to their close order before you can wheel your Battel and that requires some time for it is a motion of it self and the greater the Body be the longer time it will have to make that first motion for great Bodies move slowly Next the motion it self of wheeling the Battel is not soon done if well done for if it be not order'd discreetly the Body is immediately in confusion Thirdly when you have wheel'd this Body of fifteen hundred men you must beg yet a Cessation of Arms from your Enemy till you put your Battel in a fighting posture which you cannot do till you reduce them to their first order for at close order your Musqueâ—eers cannot fight and therefore you must cause your Battel to open it is true the ranks will quickly open backward but the files being no less in a Body of fifteen hundred men than two hundred and fifty must have such a time to open though they do it with all the hast imaginable that a resolute Body of Horse will Charge thorough them before you end these three motions But a Body of Horse being in rank and file at that distance at which it is to fight needs no command to close ranks and files before it wheel nor no command to open them after it hath wheel'd being constantly in a posture to receive an enemy And with submission to great Drill masters I should think the motions of Facing and Countermarching of Bodies of Horse whether greater or smaller might be spared in their Exercise because you may face an enemy with a Squadron of Horse either in flank or reer by wheeling either to the right or left hand or by either of the two about a great deal sooner with a great deal of more ease and with a great deal of less danger than you can do by either Facing or Countermarching Fifthly Observe that no man can or will attain to a perfect understanding of Fifth either postures motions or evolutions in the Training particular men or yet Bodies of Horse and Foot by reading the words of command in a Book or Paper or looking upon the figures of them for the Military Art is practical one shall understand what belongs to Drilling and Training more by looking on the real practice of it three days than by the contemplative study of it three years when you see a Countermarch in the Field you will quickly understand what an Evolution it is when you see the figure of it in a Book but you will not so soon know what it signifies when you see the figure before the practice And lastly I avouch it to be the essential duty of a Captain to Exercise his Sixth Troop or company himself whether it be of Foot or Horse nor should it be permitted that his Lieutenant should do it when he is present much less a Serjeant as I have often seen for thereby he Uncaptains himself and changeth places with his Lieutenant And this is too ordinary a Military grievance against which the Earl of Swafford guarded by an express instruction that no Lieutenant should exercise a Company unless the Captain were absent which he might not be without either sickness or that Lords own permission a very just command And by the same reason all Colonels should exercise their Regiments and in their absence their Lieutenant Colonels but when either of them are present the Major ought neither to be commanded nor of himself offer to do it and this is contrary to the opinion of many who will impose so many duties on a Major that they make thereby Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels Cyphers or very insignificant Creatures CHAP. XI Of Compaies Regiments and Brigades of Foot what they have been what they are how they are Marshal'd of all their Officers their Duties and Qualifications I Suppose most Military men acknowledg the Infantry to be the Body of an Army with it the Artillery Munitions and Provisions lodg and so doth he who commands in chief The members of this Body are Regiments or Brigades and the sinews and arteries of these are Companies A Company is a Band of armed men Marshal'd in rank and file a rank and file differ in this that the first consists of men whether on horseback or foot standing in one A Rank and a File front side for side the second of men standing in one row or lane one behind another so they may easily be converted a file into a rank and a rank into a file The number of these ranks and files must be determined by the number of men appointed to be in each Company for which there is no general rule every Prince and State ordering that as they please neither do they restrict themselves constantly to one number but appoint their Companies to be stronger and weaker as the emergency of affairs or the present Ratio Belli seem to require it In former times ever since Gunpowder was invented it has been so likewise for sometimes Companies were more numerous than at other times yet never were the weakest of them of so small a number as generally now they be The first time I remember to have read of a Company of one hundred in the Modern War was in the Civil Wars of France in the Reign of Charles the Ninth about one hundred years since in them I find that the Protestant Foot-Companies Company of one hundred strong were but generally one hundred strong for which I can guess at no reason unless it were that many Gentlemen who were forc'd to take Arms and durst not stay at home might be invested with Charges and Imployments suitable to their qualities yet methinks it had conduced more to the advancement and prosecution of the grand design that Troops and Companies of Gens d'Armes or Curiassiers had been made up of those numbers of Gentlemen a service very
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
Protestant War in France 100 years ago Charles the Ninth and his Brother Henry the Third they managed them at as small an expence as possibly they could yet they obliged every man at Arms to keep three Horses two strong Coursers and one Gelding every Archer and Light-Horse-man two a good Horse and a good Nag And I suppose you will really think it strange how they could keep so many when I tell you what allowance of pay they had Every man of Arms had 45 French Livres in the Month about Three pound fifteen shillings Sterling every Archor and Light-Horse-man had Thirty Livres about Two pound ten shillings A Captain of all three had five Riders pay allow'd him the Lieutenant four the Cornet three and the Quartermaster two very inconsiderable wages but assuredly they had either other shifts or things were at easier rates in France then than they have been since In the times of the Emperours Ferdinand the First Maximilian the Second Rodolph the Second and Matthias I find that the German Establishment was Old German Companies of Horse particularly Curiassiers that no Ritmaster or Captain of Horse should have any Rider in his Troop but Gentlemen and that every Troop of Curiassiers should consist of Three-hundred Riders many whereof were bound to maintan three serviceable Horses and all the rest two at least and every one of these Gentlemen who kept either two or three Horses were to keep a lusty fellow well Hors'd in quality of a servant armed with a long Gun wherewith they rode when commanded before the Troop and fired on the Enemy and immediately retired behind the Troop as I told you the Carabineers did these being equal in number to their Masters made up Three hundred and resembled the French Archers These Dutch Servants had the Emperours pay or that of some German Prince but their Masters received it with their own nor had the Masters power to put away these Servants or the Servants to go from the Masters so long as the War lasted but if any difference arose between them it was voided by the Ritmaster or Marshal of the Army These German Companies of Horse had for Officers a Captain a Lieutenant a Cornet a Quartermaster Their Officers and six Corporals whom they called Ritmasters which is to say File-leaders each whereof had fifty Troops under his command two Trumpeters There was likewise allowed to every Troop a Priest a Clerk a Chirurgion a Dagmaker a Saddler and a Smith All these Curiassiers were armed for offence with two Pistols a Sword and a Lance so long as this last was in fashion so if you will reckon all that belonged to this German Troop both Masters and those who attended them who were all obliged to fight you will find it consisted of six hundred fighting men and of nine hundred Horses at least But since that time I have seen four Regiments in that same Country who were not all of them together so strong In later times Commissions have been given for levying Regiments free Squads and Troops but all Regiments did not nor do not consist of alike Troops and Regiment of those times number of Companies nor all Companies of alike number of Riders nay not under one Prince you shall see a Lieutenant Colonel have four Troops in his Squadron which he calls free because he acknowledgeth no Colonel or other Commander under the Major General and each of these Troops to have fifty or sixty Riders being oblig'd to have no more by their Ritmasters Capitulation You may see in that same Army a Regiment of six Companies each of Seventy men another of eight Troops each of fifty horse so little is an uniformity in equal numbers of Troops or of Horsemen in every Troop regarded or look'd after I saw one Regiment in the Sweedish service I may say one for I saw not such another in any of their Armies in which were according to Capitulation twelve Troops each of them consisting of one hundred Riders effectively but four of the Regiments of that Army were not so strong as that Regiment was alone Troops Squads and Regiments of Horse in our Modern Wars are not cast into Wedges or Rhombs as some of the Ancient ones were at which manner of figures Aelian makes his Grecian Companies to be very dexterous The Square front being now only in use The number of Ranks of either Regiments or Troops whether they be strong or weak are alike in all because the depth of the Battel is determined by the Prince or State to be alike in all and in the matter of this depth there hath been great variance among those who assume to themselves the title of Tacticks who teach the rules of War Many would have the file of Horsemen to be five deep others will not hear of How deep Horse should be marshaled Difference of opinions that because thereby ranks cannot double an objection which I have answer'd already in my discourse of Exercise Others will have six because that admits doubling of ranks but that is rejected because if six deep be enough for the Foot it will be too much for the Horse There be others who would have every Troop of Horse to consist of sixty and four Riders and these being Marshall'd eight deep and eight in front according to the square root make a perfect square of men and Horse and this speculation seems very pretty but I Square Root reserve my answer to it till I speak of the square root it self for the present let it suffice that if six deep be too many for a Cavalry eight deep will be very far out of purpose The late Earl of Strafford as he appointed in his Military Instructions the foot to be eight deep so he order'd his Troops of Horse to be four in File But Universally now for any thing I know unless it be in the Low-Countries the Horse are Marshall'd three deep without Three deep regard to doubling of ranks whereof I have already spoken and assuredly this of all others brings most hands to fight When you have known how deep the Troop is to be drawn up you should cause to be set down in paper in what order you will Marshal your Horsemen whom you ordain to be Leaders and whom Bringers up and whom for the right and left hand files that all your Riders may be placed according to their dignity then it will be an easie matter to draw up your Troop and for the Major to draw up the Regiment for being that all the Horsemen are arm'd alike there is no separation to be made of one part of the Troop from another as there is of separating the Pikemâ—n from the Musqueteers in Foot-Companies the Major giving every Ritmaster his place of dignity according to his antiquity or Commission and those intervals being kept that are appointed the several Troops be they few or many are very soon cast into the mould of a Regiment In my discourse
of drilling I said that in exercising a Body of Horse whether one Troop or more some allow for order six foot some ten and for open order some allow twelve foot and some twenty others conclude six Distance foot between rank and rank and file and file sufficient but in marching there should be the length of a Horse between rank and rank but so much is not at all needful between files now it seems the Germans allow ten foot for the length of a Horse in marching and exercising as well as in their Castrametation for when Horse are orderly quarter'd in the field ten foot of ground are allowed for a Horse to stand on between his head and his tail But for all this I say six foot are not to be allowed in all motions of exercise as in Wheeling which is the poper motion of the Cavalry you cannot make it till your ranks and files be at close order and in this motion of Wheeling observe that the Wheeling to the left hand being the Bridle hand is more proper than Wheeling to the right Observe also that after your body hath Wheel'd you are to reduce them to their first order by making the ranks open which they must do by advancing and not by stepping back as the foot do The stronger the Troop be it should have the more Corporals who begin now to be qualified with the Title of Brigadeers for it seems not proportionable for a Troop of One Hundred and Twenty to have no more Corporals than a Troop of sixty or seventy yet for most part now all Troops have a like number of Officers and these are the Captain or Ritmaster The Lieutenant the Cornet the Quartermaster three Corporals or Brigadeers two Trumpeters some have three and some four a Saddler and a Smith and some allow a Chirurgion and a Clerk Many Troops have no allowance for the last four though all four Officers of a Troop are very necessary In some places if a Chirurgion be allowed for every Regiment it is thought very fair many Ritmasters entertain a Saddler and a Smith in their Troops allowing them the pay of Troopers and what benefit else they can make by their several Trades But if all who ride in the Troop be Gentlemen they will not permit these two Mechanicks to ride with them yet my opinion is since all who ride now in Troops are not Gentlemen they may without any disparagement suffer a Smith and a Saddler to ride in rank with them being they are profitable members of that little Commonwealth It is I think an oversight that a Clerk is not allow'd for every Company of Horse for a Quarter master hath enough to doth otherwise though he be not bound to officiate for the Clerk to receive the Pay of the Troop and give it out and keep the accounts of it unless you will say that the paying Money to a Troop falls out so seldom that the receiving it will be rather a divertisement than a trouble to the Quartermaster Having spoke to the Duties of a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign-bearer of a Foot Company I have nothing to add to the Duties of a Ritmaster Lieutenant and Cornet but between the Quartermasters of Foot and Horse there is this difference that the first hath no command but the second hath in Quarter-master of Horse other duties there is none But I shall tell the Quatermasters of Horse that they should have skill in Castrametation as much as the Foot Quartermasters have and rather more for the last look only to the regular quartering of Men in the Field the first to the quartering of both Men and Horses A Corporal Corporals of Brigadeers of Horse should have experience for he either assists the Lieutenant in placing and setting the Guards or he doth it himself without his Lieutenant he sets the Sentinels and sees them reliev'd and orders the Patrovils which are Rounds He is to ride in Rank and if the Troop march not in breast but in three several Squadrons then there is a Corporal on the right hand of every Squadron but in absence of higher Officers Corporals lead Divisions so do they those parties which they are to command if there be none to command above them When a Troop is divided into three Squadrons they have not their denominations from the Corporals or Brigadeers but the first is called the Captains Squadron the second the Lieutenants the third the Cornets and if there be a fourth it is called the Quartermasters When a Troop marcheth the March of a Troop Captain leads the first division the Cornet with his Standard the second the Quartermaster leads the third and the Lieutenant brings up yet some will have the eldest Corporal to lead the last division and the Quartermaster to bring up on the Lieutenants left hand for which I see very small reason or rather none at all Some French Troops and ours likewise have besides these Officers whom I have nam'd a Sub-Lieutenant or under Lieutenant who Sub-Lieutenant hath no command in the Lieutenants presence but in his absence he commands over the Cornet the French have likewise a Guidon to whom perhaps may Guidon answer he who in other places is appointed to carry the Standard either in the Cornets absence or when he pleaseth to appoint him to carry it As to the Officers of the Regiment-Staff of the Cavalry they are the same with those of the Foot and their Duties are the same But now methinks I hear a Trumpeter sound a Call Of Trumpets and of Trumpeters I have spoke in my Discourses of the Roman Art of War That which I have now to add is Trumpeters should be skilful to sound all the Trumpeters points of War and in the Fields they should seldom want their Trumpets about them for sudden Alarms And because they are frequently sent to an Enemy they ought to be both witty and discreet and must drink but little that so they may be rather apt to circumvent others than be circumvented they should be cunning and whereever they are sent they should be careful to observe warily the Works Guards and Sentinels of an Enemy and give an account of them at their return to him who sent them One Trumpeter should constantly lodge where the Standard quarters The German Trumpeters assume to themselves a great deal of liberty and have in a manner set up Pretended priviledges of the German Trumpeters a Republick of their own independent of that Discipline by which the Army of which they are members is governed They pretend to have their own Laws whereby they punish crimes very severely especially such faults that any of their number commits against the Articles of War of that Prince whom they serve and endeavour to vindicate themselves from any punishment inflicted by others than those of their own Common-wealth If any Trumpeter be abus'd or disgrac'd whether by his own Ritmaster or any other Officer
a Subject of some of the five Kings particularly him of Sodom The Text makes this action of Abraham a surprizal for it is said he smote them in the night We find he Armed three hundred and eighteen of his own Servants but with what kind of Arms either for Offence or Defence we know not and yet it would seem his Servants had learned to handle their Arms for some of our Translations have it He armed his train'd Servants By this place of Scripture it appears that these Kings had fought together before because it is said the five Kings rebell'd against Chaderlaomer whom they had serv'd twelve years now it is more than probable they had fought at least once with him before they offer'd to do homage to him but Moses mentions not that as not being to his purpose his design there being only to give us the Story of Abraham Pharaoh follow'd the Israelites with six hundred chosen Chariots saith Moses and with two hundred thousand Foot and fifty thousand Horse saith Josephus but how these Chariots these Horse and these Foot were arm'd what order they kept in their pursuit or what discipline they had neither the one nor the other tells us But we may suppose well enough that the Egyptians good Warriours Egyptians were well armed and knew the Art of War and that Joshua and other Captains of the people of Israel might have learned from them the contemplative part of their Military skill which afterward they practis'd on those Nations they were ordain'd to root out And if the Kings of Egypt had War with the Ethiopians while the Israelites were under them I make no doubt but many of them serv'd in these Wars Xenophon commends very much both the valour and the skill of those Egyptians who were with Croesus at that Battel which he fought with Cyrus And it is very like that the Grecians themselves got the rudiments of their Art of War in Egypt as well as of other liberal Sciences and it is like Lycurgus taught the Rules of the So were the Spartans Military Art to his Spartans which he had learned from the Egyptians as well as he did other civil constitutions From the Lacedaemonians did the Thebans learn their discipline of War The Theban Epaminondas and Pelopidas taught it to Philip of Macedon and he to his Son the Great Alexander whose glorious acts obscured all the famous exploits of the rest of the Grecians We need not doubt each of these added something of their own to what they had Facilâ— est invâ—ntiâ— addâ—re learned for by such means all Arts come to perfection CHAP. II. Of the Arms and Order of War of the Ancients TO find out the Arms or Art of War of these Ancient Nations whether Jews or Gentiles till the Grecians wrote their own actions we have very little light To begin with the Israelites In the foregoing Chapter I observed that their great Patriarch Abraham fought with four Kings and routed them he was no doubt the first but not the last of the race of Heber who fought a Battel I told you also it is not known how he armed his servants and followers That all or some of them had Swords is no more but a probable Swordâ— conjecture for we do not read of that Weapon in Scripture or any other Book till Simeon and Levi who were Abrahams great Grand-children covering their cruel revenge with the cloak of Religion of so old a date is that mischievous practice destroy'd the Sechemites with Swords for it is said Each man took his Sword That the Israelites had Arms wherewith they fought against Sihon and Og and other people is not at all to be doubted In the Wilderness they could not get them and therefore I think that they brought them out of Egypt with them should be no question but how they came by them to me is a very great question For I think it not at all probable that those Kings or those Pharaohs who so grievously oppress'd them would suffer so many hundred thousands of them to be arm'd no more than afterwards the Philistines when they had the upper hand would suffer a Smith to dwell in Israel For my part I believe at their coming out of Egypt they borrow'd all manner of Arms from the Egyptians as well as they did better movables for they had alike right to all But what kind of Arms they used when they fought with those Nations whom they extirpated what Art or Order they used in their Marches and Battels both before and after they came to the Land of Promise we are yet to learn yet we find mention'd for the Offensive Swords Javelins and Arms of the Israelites Spears and for the Defensive Targets and Shields I suppose Head pieces could not be wanting are recorded to have been in the Magazines of their several Kings nor did they want their great Artillery of Balists and Catapults as shall be declared in its proper place Yet if all the Philistines according to their several Statures were proportionably arm'd as their Champion Goliah was and all the Israelites as well arm'd as their Neighbours the Philistines we may safely conclude they were as well arm'd every jot as the Greciaâ—s or Macedonians were afterwards We find likewise they had Chariots but how many or how arm'd or order'd we know not We may also probably conjecture their Files were ten deep when they marshall'd their Batallions for I find they had Companies and Regiments much Their Order about the number of those of our latest modern Wars for we read of Captains of thousands who were such as our Colonels Captains of hundreds who were Centurions and like our private Captains Captains of fifties such as our Lieutenants It is pity Josephus who was a great Captain himself did not transmit the Military Art of his Countrey-men to posterity it had been worth his labour As little or indeed less light doth any Author afford us to know the Arms Order and Discipline of the Assyrians to whom the first Monarchy is given Assyrians by the universal consent of History But we find that not only they but the Persians Indians and other Nations used Elephants and Chariots The Elephant of India is said to be a far more couragious Beast than that of Africk They are yet made use of in the Wars of that Countrey Of old they carried wooden Towers on their backs wherein were lodged armed men who threw Darts and Javelins among the bands of the enemies through which these dreadful Creatures were furiously driven who of themselves were sufficiently able to break the strongest and best compos'd Squadrons of armed men But when they were gall'd and wounded and turned head then The Elephants they did that mischief to their Masters that was intended for the Enemy The Romans before their Wars in Greece made no use of them and though at first Pyrrhus terrified them with the sight of these indeed terrible
Beasts yet thereafter they found means to wound them or by making lanes and streets for them to render their fury so useless that they got but little hurt by them But for all this I cannot have faith enough to believe what Livy reports that an armed Souldier enter'd into combat with an Elephant and that the Beast grapled him with his Trunk about the middle and cast him up in the air but that the Souldier falling with little or no hurt wounded the Beast with his Sword I should be of opinion that such a hug as that might have crush'd both the Souldiers Corsset and his Bones till the Marrow came out for in his Trunk which the Latines call Proboscis there is such strength that therewith as some write he is able to fell Trees or I think the Elephant might have toss'd his Duellist so high in the air that the very fall should have dash'd him in pieces But Livy did no more see this Romantick combat than he saw showers of Blood and Stones which he writes rain'd frequently among the Territories of the Romans and their Allies Chariots in ancient times had sometimes Scythes on both sides of them sometimes none Xenophon writes that before Cyrus time the Trojans and Assyrians and thereafter the Cyrenians used Chariots drawn with four Horses in every one whereof was only one Combatant and a Driver or Coachman Chariots This fashion seem'd to Cyrus of no greater advantage than to skirmish a little but did not at all help to beat an Enemy rang'd in Battel Therefore he abolish'd it and order'd his Chariots to be made with strong and broad Axle-trees to both sides of which were fasten'd Brass or Iron Scythes next he put armed men within the Chariots who in the charge discharg'd lustily their missile Weapons wherewith he took care that they should be well stored and with these he did not only sometimes skirmish but for most part charg'd furiously the Enemies strongest and closest Bodies and Batallions The Egyptians Arms for the Offensive were great and massy Spears saith Egyptian Arms. Xenophon but how long they were he doth not tell and for the Defensive they had Shields of Brass of such a largeness that therewith they cover'd both their Bodies and their Legs They marshall'd their men one hundred in File and when this was told to Cyrus he made himself merry with it and said he wish'd all his Enemies would draw up a thousand deep for so they should be the more easily surrounded their flanks sooner attack'd and consequently said he I should have the cheaper market of them By what that same Author saith it would seem the Egyptians drew up constantly an hundred deep for when Croesus desir'd them to change they answered They Their Order would not alter their Countrey fashion Yet I conjecture the Egyptian custome hath been to marshal their Batallions by the squaâ—â— root for here I find their Body consisted of ten thousand men and they perhaps being desirous to make a square of men which is to have as many in File as Rank have embattell'd them a hundred in each for a hundred times a hundred produceth ten thousand Of the Square Root I shall speak hereafter The Persians that serv'd on Foot in Cyrus's time carried for the Defensive Arms of the ancient Persians a Head-piece Corslet and a little Target and for the Offensive a Sword and a Curtle-axe besides their Darts and Stones His Cuirassiers and Light-horse were arm'd as the Grecians were whereof I shall speak in the next Chapter In his time the Sacans and Cardusians a people dwelling near Persia were excellent Bow-men on Horse-back whose off-spring in all probability were those Parthians who by their valour and skill in that manner of fight routed the Army of the Roman Consul Crassus and kill'd himself and put Mark Anthony to so shameful a retreat and so near a danger of evident ruine that oftner than once he offer'd to rid himself of that impending disgrace by Self-Murther as Plutarch in his Life relates Cyrus who was the first Persian Monarch did not adhere to one constant number of Ranks for sometimes he drew up his Batallions ten in File and it is like he observ'd Their Order that most for he had Myriarchs who had the command of ten thousand Chiliarchs who were Colonels of thousands and Centeniers who were Captains of hundreds all which may infer ten deep Yet in Xenophons second Book we find Cyrus his Persians to be twelve in File and his Batallions when he fought with Croesus were four and twenty deep and indeed that was deep enough Perhaps in the marshalling his several Bodies he hath sometimes made use of the Square Root But the King of Lydia in that Lydians same Battel which he fought with Cyrus made both his Horse and Foot thirty deep except the Egyptians I spoke of who were an hundred in File as I told you formerly What more I have to say of any point of War used by any other ancient Nation either before or in the time of either the Grecian or the Roman greatness shall be interwoven in the discourses of the Militia of these two famous Nations CHAP. III. Of the Election Levy and Arms Offensive and Defensive of the Grecians SInce we have found out but little of the true Militia of other Ancient Nations let us take a survey of the Grecian Art of War which hath been in many ages and still is so much spoken of And herein we must borrow all our help from Aelian who you will find hath given it us very sparingly For though we have the works of Homer and that he is accounted the first Heathen Author who wrote any thing of formed Battels yet we are not to expect much light from so blind a Lanthorn Polybius though a Grecian and a Captain contributes nothing to our assistance but what we are glad to glean from the scattered drops of his Pen. The rest of the Grecian Tacticks nam'd Grecian Tacticks lost by Aelian in his Treatise are lost except some pieces of Aeneas translated into Latine seventy years ago by Casaubon which Sir Thomas Kellie thought were likewise perish'd But truly we need not much regret that loss if that And no matter which Aelian who perus'd them all tells us be true that they wrote not as if they intended to instruct those who were ignorant and desirous to learn but as to those who were already Proficients who understood the words and terms of Art and who knew the practice of the Grecian War as well as the Authors themselves All Armies and Forces were rais'd by a Levy called ordinarily in ancient times and still very properly an Election And truly I am sorry I should so Aelians omission soon have occasion to expostulate with Aelian who hath forgot to tell us that of which he should have given us a particular information and in the first place too that is how the levies of
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
he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
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
building Temples Theatres Castles Towers and Baths their draining Marishes cutting out Channels Causeying ways and Paving streets all which are the works of Peace Who can read without admiration of their Works and Fortifications in the time of War as particularly either Caesars Circumvallations at Alesia Caesars Circumvallations which he made both exceedingly broad and high wonderfully strong with Towers and Castles well Pallisadoed both before him and behind him the first to besiege Vercengentorix within the Town the second to defend himself against the united force of all the Gauls who he knew were preparing to come and raise the Siege a work of sixteen miles circumference or those works of his at Dirrachium whereby he had almost besieg'd Pompey both stronger and better provided than himself Spinola his Circumvallations at Breda in the years Spinola's 1625 and 1626 gives us ground enough to believe those of Great Caesar to be true But methinks the Nervians far surpass'd them all who as you have it in Caesars Fifth Book of the French War having learned something of Fortification from some Prisoners or Fugitive Romans besieg'd Cicero one of Caesars Legates in his Winter quarter where they made a Circumvallation of fifteen miles circumference the Rampart eleven foot high and the Ditch fifteen foot broad or deep without the help of any Tools except their Swords wherewith they cut the Turf and Sods and their Head-pieces and Hands wherewith they cast up the Earth and all this in the space of three hours An action so far beyond humane strength that it would far surpass all possibility of belief if it were not warranted by the down-right relation and authority of so renown'd an Author and an eye-witness The Roman Novitiates or Tyrones were taught t their Military Exercises properly so called by those who were nam'd Campi Doctores as Vegetius calls them right and not Campi Ductores as Steâ—echius who comments on Vegetius misnames them for they who taught them their Exercises were indeed their Masters so long as they stay'd with them but were not their Officers and Commanders They were as our Drill masters in Towns or Counties and Campi Doctores Drill-masters had twice as much Pay and Proviant as the common Souldier which was indeed as much as the Centurion had After the Legions march'd from Rome every File was Drill'd and Train'd by its Leader who was called Decanus and Caput contubernii because a whole File was lodg'd in one Tent or Hut And Decanus a File leader this Decanus was also to have the inspection of their Arms that they were kept bright clear and sharp and of their clothes that they were kept in good order for all which he had some small allowance more than the Common Souldier I shall conclude this Discourse of Exercises with what Josephus says of them The Roman Exercises in Arms are saith he Battels without Blood and their Battels are Exercises with Blood Observe here that Polybius speaks not one word of any of these three kinds of Exercises and Vegetius nothing of the second kind CHAP. VI. Of the Roman Infantry and all its several Bodies and their Officers HOW the Ancient and Illustrious Romans divided their Foot into heavy and light and how both were Arm'd I have sufficiently inform'd you But there are some who say they had no light armed Foot till Hannibal's time I know no authority for this It is true Livius saith in his twenty sixth Book that at the Siege of Capua when it stood for Hannibal was the first time that the Roman light armed Foot were mingled with the Horse but this will not infer that the Romans had no light armed Foot before that Siege of Capua The truth of that affair was this The Capuans at their Sallies ordinarily worsted Velites mixed with Horse the Roman Horse till one Navius a Centurion made a proposition that in such Rencounters the Horse-men should take Darters on the croups of their Horses which was done Now when the Besieged Sallied and came up to the Roman Horse the Velites alighted and run before the Horse-men throwing their Darts whereof they were order'd to have seven at the Enemy and then retir'd to their own Horse having done as may be supposed so much mischief to the Hannibalians and brought them into such disorder that the Roman Horse often had a cheap Market of them Navius might well have been the first Roman that thought of this way of fight of Horse and Foot mixed together but it was practis'd long before his time by the Great Alexander and others And Caesar bears witness that long after Navius Ariâ—vistus King of the Germans used and practis'd it who learn'd it not from Navius or any other Roman in the world Lipsius thinks that in Caesars time there were no Velites and I am content to be of his opinion for though it be certain enough that when Caesar liv'd there were in the Roman Armies Slingers Darters and Archers all which were Velites yet it may be said these were but Auxiliaries for after the Socii or Allies were made Burgesses of Rome and that Rome it self was Mistress not only of all Italy but many other places of the World and so could for her Money get Mercenaries when she pleas'd it is probable the Romans made no election but of heavy arm'd or Legionaries But the reason Lipsius gives for his opinion will not prove the thing it is this Caesar sometimes interlin'd his Cavalry with Antesignani now these were heavy arm'd therefore he had no Velites but this will not follow for why might not the heavy armed Foot fight among the Horse as well as the Horse many times were brought to fight among the heavy arm'd Foot for that depended on the Consuls pleasure to bring some Foot from the Battel to the Wings or some Horse from the Wings to the Battel a thing frequently practis'd These Velites had their denomination a Velocitate from Swiftness In time of Service or Battel they were sometimes imployed in the Rear sometimes Velites where marshall'd in the Flanks but for most part in the Van and when they were over-master'd they retir'd to the intervals of the Legionaries Some apprehend that in their Retreat they divided themselves into three Bodies the first behind the Hastati the second behind the Principes and the third behind the Triarii But assuredly they are mistaken for after the Velites had quitted the field the heavy arm'd began the Combate first the Hastati and they being worsted retir'd to the Principes but this they could not do feasibly if a Body of Velites stood between them and the Principes nor could the Principes retire to the Triarii if another Body of Velites stood between them And therefore I think I have reason to conclude that when the Velites were beaten out of the field they retir'd straight to the Rear of the Triarii through the direct intervals of all the three Classes of the heavy armed
to be these which follow in his observation of the advantages and disadvantages of both The Phalanx being compos'd of sixteen Ranks and of one thousand twenty First advantage of the Phalange four Files of lusty well armed men and at its closest Order or Constipation so long as it is able to preserve its â—orce it bears down all before it for at that posture every Combatant takes up but one foot and a half of ground and suppose their Pikes but eighteen foot long whereas the Sarissas were twenty one of length you may easily compute the points of the fifth Rank or if you will of the sixth Rank to extend three foot before the first Rank of all which I have spoken enough in my Discourses of the Gracian Militia Now though all the Ranks behind the sixth are useless as to the presenting their Pikes or wounding an Enemy yet by the weight and strength of their Bodies they assist the impression of the first six Ranks help the charge to be more forcible and take away all possibility from those that are before them to turn their backs upon the Enemy But this Phalange must have such a Its first disadvantage ground that it may open and close at pleasure and that ground must be plain and even without the encumbrances of Woods Trees Bushes Hedges Ditches Enclosures rising Hills and hollow grounds for any of these is sufficient to disorder it in its parts and that being once done an Enemy with little or no danger may enter at the void places of that great Body when it is disjoyned and Sword-men being once within the points of the Pikes the Pike-men are a prey to them especially to the Roman Legionaries who besides short Swords carried likewise Semispathâ— which I English Daggers Now saith Polybius such a Champaign such a Field as we have described not being to be found every where the Phalange must of necessity stay where it hath meâ— with such a ground and march from it and accept of such as time place or occasion offers as all Armies must do If the first then hath an Enemy free liberty to make himself Master of the Countrey to besiege and force Towns and take all other manner of advantages If the second and that the Field prove improper for the Phalange then the Enemy takes the advantage of the ground enters at the void places and having so dis-array'd it quickly overthrows it Next Polybius grants that the Phalange hath the advantage of the Legion in this that three foot being Its second advantage allowed between two Legionaries whereof I have spoke in my discourse of Intervals and but half so much to two Phalangites When they are both to fight it follows that every Legionary had two Phalangites in front of him and consequently twelve Pikes presented to him for it is already granted that the points of the Pikes of the sixth Rank might be extended before the first Rank so by this account there were twelve men against one an advantage in nature irresistible But on the other part the Phalangites could not fight in Maniples â—ohorts or small Bodies for being Its second disadvantage separated or divided they were quickly broken The Legionaries were so Aâ—med and that they could fight any way either in a great or small Body or Man to Man at any time or in any place let the incumbrances be what they will Let us resume all this and say in one word Polybius prefers the Legion to the Phalange because the essential propriety of the Phalange was to fight close together and so long as it was able to keep so it was able to bear down the Legion but sure it could but seldome keep in one entire body the Legion by its order and constitution being apt to fight in small or little Bodies and to divide according to opportunities and emergencies could readily enter at the void places of the Phalange whether these were in the Van Rear or Flanks and overthrow it as often it did I shall presume to add two other advantages that I think the Legion had of A Legions third advantage over the Phalange the Phalange which Polybius hath not mentioned The first The Phalange fought all in one Body the Legion in three Bodies successively one after another so that if the Hasâ—aâ—â— charged briskly they might put the great Body of the Phalange in some disorder and they retiring the Principes finding it in some discomposure might disorder it so that the Triarii coming fresh to the charge might have a very cheap market of it The second advantage which I conceive the Legion had of the Phalange A Legions fourth advantâ—ge was in its larger Front which I offer to make appear thus The great Phalange consisted of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed these marshall'd sixteen deep and so their Front consisted of one thousand twenty four men to whom you are to allow one thousand twenty four foot for them to stand on when they were to fight they had no more but one foot and a half allow'd between Files and therefore for one thousand twenty four Files allow one thousand twenty three distances and for these fifteen hundred thirty four foot and a half add these the aggregate is two thousand five hundred fifty eight foot and a half thus much ground and no more did the Phalange take up in its Longitude when it was to fight The Legion was composed of three Bodies who were marshall'd one behind another The Hastati had the first Batallion and were divided into ten Maniples in every one of which were one hundred and twenty men these were marshall'd ten deep and so each Maniple was twelve men in Front for whom allow twelve foot to stand on and as both Polybius and Vegetius do allow three foot between Files twelve Files have eleven distances and for them you must have thirty three foot add thirty three to twelve makes forty five so much ground did every Maniple possess in Front â—n every Batallion were ten Maniples multiply then forty five by ten the product will be four hundred and fifty You may remember that I have elsewhere demonstrated that these ten Maniples had nine Intervals and every Interval must have as much ground allowed to it as the Maniple that was forty five foot multiply forty five by nine the product is four hundred and five add four hundred and five to four hundred and fifty the aggregate is eight hundred fifty five foot and so much ground did the Hastâ—ati of one Legion possess In a Consular Army there were four Legions then you are to multiply eight hundred fifty five by four and the product will prove to be three thousand four hundred and twenty and so much ground did the Hastati of a Consular Army take up in Front Now here the Hastati are reckon'd to be but twelve hundred the Legion according to Polybius being suppos'd to be but four thousand two
make not their Captains do their duty in so necessary a point of War I have seen in Germany and Denmark Regiments newly raised and some also sent out of Sweden in the time of the long War before the Peace of Munster only exercised and drill'd three or four times and that was enough for them Supine carelesness of Colonels for the whole time they were to serve for a man would have made himself ridiculous if he had spoken of drilling old Soldiers to keep them in mind of their Postures and Motions this would have been lookt on as a disparagement to them for it would have been presupposed that they stood in need of Exerciseing as in truth most of them did It is a pity and sometimes matter of sport to hear men glory that they are old Soldiers who either never have learned Old Soldiers or have forgot what belongs to their profession and so upon the matter prove themselves to be old fools Nay I have seen in these same Wars many new levied Companies Troops and Regiments never Train'd or Exercised at all nay not so much as one lesson given to a Soldier for the handling his Arms. It is true most of those who were levied in my time had serv'd in those Wars which were before my time but all had not and therefore some were raw and unexperienced and the oldest Soldiers of them needed exceedingly to have had their memories refresht This was the condition of five thousand Foot and three Troops of Horse which the City of Dantzick levied and entertain'd in the time of the late Swedish War against Poland from the year 1656 till the year 1660. I have not seen braver men nor better equipp'd in any Militia than these were but in one whole Summer that I was there I never saw one Company or one man of a Company drill'd or exercis'd Since the Estates of the Vnited Provinces made their Peace with the King of Spain their Officers have been negligent enough of this duty which might have been easily observ'd in most of their Garrisons wherein I have been But I suppose their late alarms have made them resume their ancient care and diligence These Military Exercises were so far worn out of use that I knew Count Koningsmark in the year 1655 when he raised some new Regiments for his Master the King of Sweden take some old Officers to be Drill-masters to the Drill-masters new levied Companies which notwithstanding were provided with all the Officers belonging to them and these Drill-masters he entertain'd with Monthly wages which I thought was not done without some blemish to the reputation of all the Officers especially of the Colonels and Captains That part of Training which teacheth the handling Arms is different to wit that which teacheth a Horseman to manage handsomely and readly his Pistol Carbine and Sword whether he be a Curiassier or Harquebusier and that which teacheth a Foot soldier to handle his Musquet and Pike and his Swedes Feather if he have one And as a Horseman is obliged to learn to Saddle and Drilling of Horsemen Bridle his Horse quickly and well to mount and dismount handsomely to ride decently and carry his body well or as it is called to have a good seat in his Saddle and how to use his voice his hand his leg and his spur so he is obliged to teach his Horse to obey him whether it be in trotting galloping running standing stopping turning or wheeling The Horseman ought to be taught how to keep his Pistols and Carbine fixt and bright without rust how to charge them quickly and prime them how to fire them and readily charge again And he must be especially careful not to ride a shie-horse for such a one may not only bring his Rider in danger and disgrace but disorder the whole Troop Exercise and accustoming his Horse to all feats of Horsemanship especially to see fire to stand when a Pistol or Carbine are discharg'd close by him and to hear the Trumpet will by degrees banish shieness from him and therefore frequent Drilling-troops of Horse teacheth both man and horse their duties Troops should in some points be exercised by sound of Trumpet that Horsemen may know the several points of War by their several names as to the Watch to Saddle to Horse to March to Charge to Râ—tire The particular words of command for Drilling a single Horsemâ—â— that is to teach him the right and true use of his Arms whether he be a Curiaâ—â—â—â—r Harquebusier or Carbiner are too tedious to be set down here and indeed needless for they are vulgarly known and so are those for the Arms of the Infantry whether for the Pike or the Musquet To teach either Horsemen or Foot-Soldiers their Motions and Evolutions Motions or Evolutions of Bodies both of Horse and Foot when they are in Bodies greater or smaller is the second part of Training or Drilling The words of command for both Horse and Foot in these Motions are the very same only the Distances are different Three Foot are allowed between files of Foot and that is order six is open order and twelve is open open order or double double distance and these you may make use of in Exercising Marching or Fighting as you think convenient In Marches the length of the Pike requires six foot of distance between ranks Some allow in Distances exercising Bodies of Horse six foot for single distance between ranks and files and twelve for double distance The Germans ordinarily allow ten for the one and twenty for the other All these Motions and Evolutions may be reduced to four kinds these are Facings Doublings Countermarchings and Wheelings I do not intend to trouble either my Reader or my self with the several words of command ordinary Drill-masters have most of them though not all But he who would have those for Horse exactly may find them in the Supplement to the Compleat Body of the Art Military and both for Foot and Horse in the famous Earl of Straffords Instructions for the Discipline of his Army And those for the Foot alone very well done by Sir Thâ—mas Kâ—lliâ— and compleatly indeed by Lieutenant Colonel Elâ—on in his compleat Body of the Art Observations concerning Training of War Yet I shall desire my Reader with me to observe in Exercises of Foot and Horse these few Particulars First That none of the three ordinary ways used for doubling of ranks in First Observation Bodies of Foot can be made use of in exercising Bodies of Horse as now they are Marshalled in most places of Europe that is three deep or three in file nor can it be where they are five in file as in some places they were all odd numbers being improper for doublings either of ranks or files Secondly That the Facing of a great Body of Horse to either right or left Second hand or about by either right or left hand is a difficult work though with
have observ'd in most Tacticks Lieutenant Colonel Elton is very clear in his definition of a distance which though I told you of it before I shall again give you Distance says he is a place or interval of ground between every rank and rank and every file and file as they stand By this description then three foot of distance being allowed between every file and file there are in seventeen files sixteen distances or intervals which make but forty and eight foot then you are to allow seventeen foot to the Combatants that is one foot for every man to stand on seventeen being added to forty eight make sixty five and so many foot of ground doth a Company possess in front if it consist of seventeen files for the ground of the ranks you are to compute it thus Six ranks take six foot to stand on and thirty foot for five intervals six foot being allow'd for open order in all six and thirty foot which a Distance of Ranks Company Regiment Brigade or Army of Foot constantly possesseth from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up unless you bring the ranks to stand at order which you may frequently do with very good reason and then the five Intervals take up but fifteen foot which being added to the six foot on which the ranks stand make but twenty one foot And when Pikes are to give or receive a Charge you may bring them to close order that is one foot and a half and then the five Intervals take up but 7½ foot these being added to six make 13½ foot Observe that in Exercising this Company of seventeen Files you are to set aside one of the Files because it is odd and so The Colours will hinder the doubling the Files The Colours of the Company are to be on the head of the Pikes neither can they conveniently be between the second and third rank in time of Battel as some would have them to be for you may easily consider what room an Ensign can have with his Colours between ranks when they are at order much less at close order as they should be in the time of Battel It will be fitting before I go further to meet with an objection concerning Objection against my Distances of Files Distances it is this The three foot of distance allowed between Files say they must be reckoned from the Centers that is from the two middle parts of the two File-leaders as from the middle part of the right hand File-leader to the middle part of the File-leader who stands on his left hand I wonder at this notion for hereby two File-leaders take up one foot of ground and so doth the rest of the File and there are but two foot of Interval between the two files and this cannot at all quadrate with the definition of distance for that is an Interval between Files and not betwixt the two middle parts of two mens Bodies And the Authors of Tacticks should have been clearer in their expressions and have said two foot between Files which they knew was too Answered little and have added that every File should have one foot of ground to stand on for what language is this a man shall have half a foot for his right middle part and another half foot for his left middle part for this way of their reckoning of the three foot of distance amounts to just so much and no better language which I conceive is very improper besides by this account the right and left hand Files would have each of them one half foot of ground more than any of the rest of the Files the right hand Filemen hath it by the right middle parts of their bodies and the left hand Filemen by the left middle parts of their Bodies because these two Files on these two hands have no Sidemen which you may easily conceive if you please a little to consider it Let us in the next place see what Officers are appointed to have the command Of Officers of a Company and inspection of this Company and here we may find some difference in the several establishments of Princes and States yet in this we find all agree to have a Captain a Lieutenant an Ensign Serjeants Corporals and Drummers except the Spaniard who rejects the Lieutenant as useless some allow no more Officers than those I have spoken of some allow more to wit a Captain of Armies a Furer a Fourier and a Clerk or Scrivener And besides some allow Lancepesats or Lancpresads as they are commonly called as also Reformado's and Gentlemen of a Company But neither Lancepesats Gentlemen of the Company nor Reformado's are Officers and though Corporals be yet they carry Arms and march in rank and file I shall describe all these and all the Officers of a Foot Company beginning with the Reformado and ending with the Captain Those are called Reformado's or Reformed who have been Officers suppose Reformed Officers Commissionated and those only and are out of charge and bear Arms till they can be prefer'd In some places they are permitted to be without Arms. A Gentleman of the Company is he who is something more than an ordinary Gentleman of a Company Souldier hath a little more pay and doth not stand Centinel In French he is called Appointe and with the Germans he is called Gefreuter They march and watch with Arms they go common Rounds and Patrouills and near an Enemy they are to be the forlorn Centinels whom the French call Perdus Lancespesate is a word deriv'd from the Italian Lance spesata which signifies a broken or spent Lance. He is a Gentleman of no ancient standing in the Militia for he draws his Pedigree from the time of the Wars between Francis the First and his Son Henry the Second Kings of France on the one part and the Emperour Charles the Fifth and his Brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy on the other part in those Wars when a Gentleman of a Troop of Horse in any Skirmish Battel or Rencounter had broke his Lance on his enemy and lost his Horse in the Scuffle he was entertain'd under the name of a Broken-Lance by a Captain of a Foot Company as his Comerade till he was again mounted But as all good orders fall soon from their Primitive Institution so in a short time our Monsieur Lancespesata for so he was called was forc'd to descend from being Lancespesata the Captains Comerade and became the Corporals Companion and assisted him in the Exercise of his Charge and therefore was sometimes called by the French Aide Caporal But when the Caporal grew weary of the Comradeship of his Lancespesata he made him officiate under him and for that had some allowance of pay more than the common Soldier which he enjoys in those places where he is made use of and still keeps the noble Title of Lancespesata though perhaps he was never on Horseback in his life corruptly
A Doubled Batallion men as the file doth The way to marshal it is this The men you have to order their number being known double on paper for you will I suppose find that more easie than to double their number really in the field Then extract the square-root of that double number and that must be the number of men for your rank and the half of that must be the number of men for your file As by example you are to marshal 3200 men the number of ancient Regiments in a Doubled Batallion double them and say you have 6400 extract the square root of 6400 you will find it to be 80 for 80 multiplied by 80 produceth 6400 and so you must marshal your 3200 men 80 in rank and 40 being the half of 80 your file must consist of 40 men for multiply 80 by 40 the Product is 3200. Take an example of a number that is not square and let your men be 2500 double these and so they are 5000 look for the squarefoot of 5000 you will not find it exactly because it is not a square number and therefore you are to take the nearest and that will be 71 for 71 multiplied in it self produceth 5041 and that is 41 more than the double number of your men let therefore your rank be of 71 men the half whereof should be the number of your file this you cannot do exactly because 71 is an odd number you must therefore take 35 and that is the half of 70 and so make your file to consist of 35 men and you will be near right for 71 being multiplied by 35 produceth 2485 which wants but 15 of your number of 2500. We read that the Spaniards used these Batallions in the times of old but now they do not A Batallion of a large front is that in which there are many more men in the rank than in file These Batallions may be form'd easily and they are those Batallions of a large front which are now universally used but the square root men will needs give us a rule for it which is of a harder digestion than the practice of the thing it self Yet I shall tell you what it is you shall divide your whole men by that number of which you intend your front shall consist and the Quotient of that Division shall be the number of your file as by example you are to marshal a 1000 men and you intend they shall be 50 in rank divide the 1000 by 50 the Quotient is 20 and so your 1000 men shall be 50 in rank and 20 in file But if you intend to have a 100 in front you divide a 1000 by a 100 and the Quotient will be 10 and so your Batallion hath a 100 in front and 10 in file for a 100 multiplied by 10 produceth a 1000. We may safely conclude 10000 men may be marshal'd in this form of Batallion with the half of this Arithmetick and is daily practised For at this time all Bodies of Foot drawn up either ten or six deep and Bodies of Horse three deep are Batallions of large fronts and are marshal'd very well by those who neither know or ever did hear of a square-root But let me add to these Theoretical marshallings of a Batallion square both of men and ground let the number of your men be what it will And thus Make first as many men in file as in rank and then you have a Battallion square of men In the next place allow no more distance between your ranks than you do between your files and then your Batallion is square of ground likewise As for example you are to draw up 2500 men extract the root of that number A Batallion square of men and square of ground likewise you will find it to be 50 for 50 multiplied in it self produceth 2500 and therefore your rank must consist of 50 men and your file of 50 men and consequently you have a Batallion square of men then allow as you must do for every Combatant one foot to stand on by that means every rank possesseth 50 foot and every file 50 foot Allow 49 Intervals in the rank for more there are not and for every Interval three foot amounts to 147 foot and allow no more but three foot for every Interval in the file you have likewise 147 foot for the Intervals of files now add 147 to 50 which the fighting men stand on the aggregate will be 197 and so many foot of ground doth every rank possess and so much doth every file possess and consequently your Batallion of 2500 is square of ground as well as of men Would you know how much ground this Batallion so marshal'd possesseth in all multiply 197 by 197 and you will find the Product to be 38809 foot which will be near eight Italian miles But I hear Objection you cry out that six foot are always allow'd for an Interval between ranks But I answer you negatively not always for so many Foot are but allowed in Answered a march because the length of a Pike requires that distance when it is shoulder'd but standing in Battel ready to give or receive the Charge with Pikes either order'd or advanced three foot are sufficient for the Pikemen as well as for the Musqueteers and when they Charge one foot and a half of distance between ranks of Pikemen is enough If you will then make use of this Batallion of mine let it be with Pikes advanced but if you be pleas'd to follow my advice you shall never make use of it at all But all these forms of Battels fram'd by the square-root except the Batallion of a large front which is more easily fram'd without it than by it are of Most of all these useless much trouble and little use they are these which bring fewest hands to fight and renders them apt to be surrounded and so are all Batallions that have deep files Next by that manner of Embatteling you must constantly alter the forms and figures of your Battel according as the numbers of your men increase or decrease and in them there is a daily change Captain Cruso who Englished Du Preissacs Military Resolves in a Marginal Note calls Embatteling by the square-root an impertinent curiosity and to what purpose saith he the square-root since now all Europe marshals their foot ten deep except the Swede for he wrote near forty years ago And to that same sense at this time I say to what purpose the square root since now all Europe marshals their foot six deep and their Horse three deep except the Hollander But I shall bring you a greater authority against deep files and square-root Battels Xenophon tells us when Cyrus fought with Croesus for the Kingdom of Lidia Croesus his army was marshal'd both Horse and Foot thirty deep except his Mercenary Aegyptians who were ten thousand who would not says he abandon their Country custom in Aegyptians square Batallion