Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	front_n	pike_n	rear_n	2,388	5	12.8013	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31706	The commentaries of C. Julius Cæsar of his warres in Gallia, and the civil warres betwixt him and Pompey / translated into English with many excellent and judicious observations thereupon ; as also The art of our modern training, or, Tactick practise, by Clement Edmonds Esquire, ... ; where unto is adjoyned the eighth commentary of the warres in Gallia, with some short observations upon it ; together with the life of Cæsar, and an account of his medalls ; revised, corrected, and enlarged.; De bello civili. English	Caesar, Julius.; Edmondes, Clement, Sir, 1566 or 7-1622. Observations upon Caesars commentaries of the civil warres.; Hirtius, Aulus. De bello Gallico. Liber 8. English.; Edmondes, Clement, Sir, 1566 or 7-1622. Manner of our modern training or tactick practise.; Caesar, Julius. De bello Gallico. English.	1655 (1655)	Wing C199; ESTC R17666	660,153	403

in the rere who as in his proper place seeth all things executed accordingly as the Captain shall command It shall be unpossible to performe any thing herein unlesse first every one do exactly observe his leader and his sideman and to this purpose it is often commanded Keep your files Keep your ranks Of Marches IN champains there needs no great labour to marshall particular troups for their after-marches because they may march either by whole divisions observing onely their course of indifferency that every division may every third day have the vantgard or else in such form and fashion as the Generall hath proposed for a day of battell according as the danger of an expected enemy shall give occasion But because all countries will not afford a champain for the marching of an army and therefore not possible to march far with many troups in front nor many files of any one troup or division by reason of often straights and passages betwixt hills woods or waters It is provided though by long induction the whole army shall be extended into a thin length and few files yet the souldiers well disposed shall be as readily able to defend themselves and offend the enemy on their flanks from whence only in such streights the danger is imminent as if they were to affront an enemy with an entire battallion in a champain country First therefore a division or Battallion being ordered and drawn before the Quarter into one even front of just files ten in depth the musketiers equally divided on the right and left slanks of the pikes all standing in their order that is to ●ay six feet distant in files and ranks the Captain carefully provideth that the first fifth sixth and tenth ranks be alwayes well filled and furnished with his most able and best-armed souldiers Which done he commandeth first the middlemen or half files to come a front with their leaders so that the division becometh but five in depth Next he commandeth to turn faces to the right or left hand as direction shall be to march from that quarter and so the whole division resteth ready in his fashion to march five in front the one half of the musketiers in the vantguard and the other in the rere the pikes in the battell and both flanks well furnished with the ablest best men to offend or defend as there shall be occasion that is to say the right flanks with the first and fifth ranks and the left with the sixth and tenth ranks If occasion afterwards shall be given of a halt in a champain or before the quartering the Captain commandeth first unto all they being first closed into their order Faces as you were next unto the half files Faces about and march out and fall again upon your files By which means the division becometh again reduced into the same front and fashion from whence it was first transformed ready to encounter an enemy or to be drawn into the Quarter When pikes are to charge pikes in a champain it useth to be performed two severall wayes First the whole division being commanded into their close order the five first ranks charging their pikes every follower over his leaders shoulder directeth his pike as equally as he can the first rank shall have three feet of his pike over the formost shoulder The other five ranks with their pikes advanced follow close up in the rere either ready to second the formost or to be employed in the rere as occasion shall be offered Otherwise and most usuall when the whole depth of the files throughout the division shall charge together all fast locked and united together and therefore most able to make the strongest shock offensive or defensive provided alwaies that none mingle their pikes in others files but the whole file one in anothers shoulder In charging with musketiers it is observed no way convenient that there should be too many in a rank or that the ranks should be too long For the first rank is commanded to advance ten paces before the second and then to discharge and wheeling either to the right or left hand falleth into the rere and so the second advancing to the same distance dischargeth and wheeleth as before and likewise the third and so forward as long as the Officer shall be commanded Which shall not so well be performed the ranks being extraordinary long because it will require so long a time to wheel from the front that the second may succeed unlesse by direction the rank may divide it self the one half to the right hand and the other to the left in wheeling to the rere In the retreat the whole ranks having turned their faces about are to march three or four paces forward their chief officer coming in the rere first commandeth the last rank to make ready and then to turn faces about discharge and wheel about to the head or front of the division and being clearly passed the next rank to perform as much and so the rest in order Where the passages are narrow and the division cannot come to charge in front as between two waters or woods the manner of charging is different for there being five or ten files led in the induction that file which flanketh the enemy dischargeth first onely and the rest marching continually forwards it standeth firm untill the last rank be passed and then sleeveth it self on the left flank and makes ready and so the second file and the third so long as the enemy shall continue there being a continuall discharging by files as before by ranks Unlesse it be in the pases of Ireland meeting with an irregular enemy where they use to intermingle their files of shot with pikes that the one may be a defence for the other when the enemy shall come up to the sword as they use there very often How directions are delivered in the warres ALl directions in the wars have ever been delivered either by signes subject to the eye by word of mouth or the sound of a drumme or some such warlike instrument Concerning those visible signes displayed unto the souldiers the falling of mists the raising of dust showers of rain snow the beams of the Sun hilly uneven and crooked passages by long experience have found them to be most doubtfull and uncertain as also because as it was a matter of great difficulty to invent different signes upon all sodain occasions so it is almost an impossibility that the common souldier who oftentimes is found scarce capable of the understanding of plain words distinctly pronounced should both apprehend and understand sodainly and execute directly the true sense and meaning of his Commanders signes The Drum and Trumpet are yet used But because many different sounds are not easily distinguished in souldiers understanding without some danger of confusion we onely command by the inarticulate sounds to arm to march to troup to

to sustain the charge of the Enemy and in the mean time in the midst of the hill made a triple battell of four legions of old souldiers and upon the highest ridge thereof he placed the two legions which he had lately inrolled in the hither Gallia together with the associate forces filling the whole front of the hill with men and stowing the carriages in one place which he commanded to be fenced and guarded by those that were in the uppermost battalions The Helvetians on the other side conveyed their carriages and impediments into one place and having beaten back Caesars horsemen with a thick thronged Squadron they put themselves into a Phalanx and so pressed under the first battell of the Roman legions THE FIRST OBSERVATION COncerning the true sense of this triple battel which Caesar made upon the side of the hill I understand it according to the ancient custome of the Romans who in the infancy of their Military discipline divided their Army into three sorts of souldiers Hastati Principles and Triarii for I omit the Velites as no part of their standing battels and of these they made three severall battels from front to back In the first battel were the Hastati and they possessed the whole front of the Army and were called Acies prima Behind these in a convenient distance stood the Principes in like sort and order disposed and were called Acies secunda And lastly in a like correspondent distance were the Triarii imbattelled and made Aciem tertiam Their legion consisted of ten Companies which they called Cohorts and every Cohort consisted of three small Companies which they named Manipuli a maniple of the Hastati a maniple of the Principes and another of the Triarii as I will more particularly set down in the second book And as these three kinds of souldiers were separated by distance of place from front to back so was every battel divided into his maniples and these were divided by little allies and wayes one from another which were used to this purpose The Hastati being in front did ever begin the battel and if they found themselves too weak to repell the enemy or were happily forced to a retreat they drew themselves through these allies or distances which were in the second battel between the maniples of the Principes into the space which was between the Principes and the Triarii and there they rested themselves whilst the Princepes took their place and charged the Enemy Or otherwise if the Commanders found it needfull they filled up those distances of the Principes and so united with them into one body they charged the enemy all in grosse and then if they prevailed not they retired into the spaces between the Triarii and so they gave the last assault all the three bodies being joyned into one Now if we examine by the current of the history whether Caesar observed the same order and division in his wars we shall find little or no alteration at all for first this triplex Acies here mentioned was no other thing but the division of the Hastati Principes and Triarii according to the manner of the first institution And least any man should dream of that ordinary division which is likewise threefold the two cornets and the battel and in that sense he might say to have made triplicem Aciem let him understand that the circumstances of the division have no coherence with that division for in that he saith of the Helve●●ans successerunt sub Aciem primam they pressed near the first battel or Vangard he maketh it clear that the Army was divided into a triple battel from front to back for otherwise he would have said successerunt sub dextrum aut sinistrum cornu aut mediam Aciem for so were the parts of that division termed Again in the retreat which the Helvetians made to the hill when he saith that the first and second battel followed close upon the enemy and the third opposed it self against the Boii and Tulingi and stood ready at the foot of the hill to charge the legions in the stank and on the back it is manifest that no other division can so fitly be applied to this circumstance as that from front to back But that place in the first of the Civill wars taketh away all scruple of controversy where he useth the very same terms of prima secunda and tertia Acies forbeing to encamp himself near unto Afranius and fearing least his souldiers should be interrupted in their work he caused the first and second battel to stand in Arms and keep their distance to the end they might shroud and cover the third battel which was imploied in making a ditch behind them from the view of the enemy and this kind of imbattelling Caesar observed in most of his fights by which it appeareth that he used the very same order and discipline for imbattelling as was instituted by the old Romans Concerning the ancient names of Hastati Principes and Triarii which Ramus in his Militia Julii Caesaris urgeth to be omitted throughout the whole history I grant they are seldome used in these Commentaries in the sense of their first institution for the Haestati when the discipline was first erected were the youngest poorest of the legionary souldiers and the Principes were the lusty and able-bodied men and the Triarii the eldest and best experienced But in Caesars Camp there was little or no difference either of valour or yeares between the Hastati Principes and Triarii which he nameth Prima Secunda and Tertia Acies and therefore they were never termed by those names in respect of that difference Notwithstanding in regard of order and degrees of discipline that vertue might be rewarded with honour and that time might challenge the priviledge of a more worthy place the said distinctions and terms were religiously observed For in the battel with Petreius at Ilerda in Spain he mentioneth the death of Q. Fulginius ex primo Hastato legionis quart aedecimae and in the overthrow at Dyrrachium he saith that the Eagle-bearer being grievously wounded commended the safety of his Ensigne to the horsemen all the Centurions of the first Cohort being slain praeter Principem priorem And for the Triarii there is no term more frequent in Caesar then Primipilus which name by the rules of the ancient discipline was given to none but to the chiefest Centurion of the first maniple of the Triarii whereby it appeareth that the maniples kept the same names in regard of a necessary distinction although peradventure the Hastati were as good souldiers as either the Principes or the Triarii As touching the spaces between the maniples whereinto the first battel did retire it self if occasion urged them I never found any mention of them in Caesar excepting once here in England where in a skirmish the Britans so urged the court of guard which kept watch before the Roman Camp that Caesar

and wealth termed them by the name of Hastati forasmuch as at their first institution they fought with a kind of Javelin which the Romans called Hasta but before Polybius his time they used Piles notwithstanding their ancient name continued unto the later time of the Empire The third choice which they made was of the strongest lustiest-bodied men who for the prime of their age were called Principes the rest that remain'd were named Triarii as Varro saith Quod tertio ordine extremis sub sidio deponuntur These were alwayes the eldest and best-experienced men and were placed in the third division of the battell as the last help and refuge in all extremitie Polybius saith that in his time the Velites Hastati and Principes did consist of 1200 men apiece and the Triarii never exceeded the number of 600. although the generall number of a legion were augmented whereof L●psius alledgeth these reasons First because these Triarii consisted of the best of the souldiers and so might countervail a greater number in good worth and valour Secondly they seldome came to buckle with the enemy but when the controversy grew very doubtfull Lastly we may well conjecture that the voluntaries and extraordinary followers ranged themselves amongst these Triaries and so made the third battell equall to either of the former but howsoever they never exceeded the number of 600. And by this it appeareth that in Polybius his time the common rate of a legion was 4200. In this division of their men consisted the ground of that well-ordered discipline for in that they distinguished them according to their yeares and ability they reduced their whole strength into severall classes and so disposed of these different parts that in the generall composition of their whole body every part might be fitted with place and office acc●●ding as his worth was answerable to the same and so they made not only a number of grosse but a number distinct by parts and properties that from every accident which met with any part of the Army the judgement might determine how much or how little it imported the whole body besides the great use which they made of this distinction in their degrees of honour and preferment a matter of no small consequence in the excellency of their government The souldiers at their enrollement being thus divided according to their yeares and ability they then reduced them into smaller companies to make them fitter for command and fight and so they divided the Hastat● Principes and Triarii each of them into 10 companies making of those three sorts of souldiers 30 small regiments which they called Manipuli And again they subdivided every maniple into two equal parts and called them Ordines which was the least company in a legion and according to the rate set down by Polybius contained 60 souldiers In every Ordo there was a Centurion or Captain and a Lieutenant whom they named Optio or Tergiductor The maniples of the Triarii were much lesser then the maniples of either the Hastati or the Principes forasmuch as their whole band consisted but of 600 men The Velites were put into no such companies but were equally distributed amongst the other maniples and therefore the Hastati Principes and Triarii were called subsignani milites to make a difference between them and the Velites which were not divided into bands and so consequently had no ensigne of their own but were distributed amongst the other companies so that every Maniple had 40 Velites attending upon it And now I come to the description of a Cohort which the history here mentioneth The word Cohors in Latine doth signify that part of ground which is commonly inclosed before the gate of a house which from the same word we call a court and Varro giveth this reason of the metaphor As in a farm house saith he many out-buildings joyned together make one inclosure so a cohort consisteth of severall maniples joyned together in one body This cohort consisted of three maniples for every legion had ten cohorts which must necessarily comprehend those thirty maniples but these three maniples were not all of one and the same kind of souldiers as three maniples of the Hastati three of the Principes and three of the Triarii as Patricius in his Paralleli seemeth to affirm for so there would have remained an odd maniple in every kind that could not have been brought into any cohort But a cohort contained a maniple of the Hastati a maniple of the Principes and a maniple of the Triarii and so all the thirty maniples were included into ten cohorts and every cohort was as a little legion forasmuch as it consisted of all those sorts of souldiers that were in a legion So that making a legion to contain five thousand men a cohort had five hundred and so these six cohorts which he encamped on the other side of the river under the command of Titurius Sabinus contained three thousand souldiers but if you make a legion to consist but of four thousand two hundred which was the more usuall rate there were two thousand five hundred and twenty souldiers in these six cohorts By this therefore it may appear that a legion consisted of four sorts of souldiers which were reduced into ten cohorts and every cohort contained three maniples and every maniple two orders and every order had his Centurion marching in the head of the troup and every Centurion had his Optionem or Lieutenant that stood in the tail of the troup When a legion stood ranged in battell ready to confront the enemy the least body or squadron that it contained was a maniple wherein the two orders were joyned together making joyntly ten in front and twelve in file and so every five files had their Centurion in front and Lieutenant in the rereward to direct them in all adventures In the time of the Emperours their battalions consisted of a cohort and never exceeded that number how great soever the Army were Polybius distinguishing a maniple into two centuries or orders saith that the Centurion first chosen by the Tribunes commanded the right order which was that order which stood on the right hand known by the name of Primus ordo and the Centurion elected in the second course commanded the left order and in the absence of either of them he that was present of them two commanded the whole maniple And so we find that the Centurion of the first place was called Prior Centuri● in which sense Caesar is to be understood where he saith that all the Centurions of the first cohort were slain praeter principem priorem From whence we gather two specialities first the priority between the Centurions of the same Maniple for a cohort consisting of three Maniples whereof the first Maniple were Triarii the second Principes and the third Hastati and every Maniple containing two orders and

about their head and so to cast out the bullet Virgil speaking of Mezentius saith Ipse ter adducta circum caput egit habera He fetcht the rein three times about his head But Vegetius preferreth that skill which cast the bullet with once turning it about the head In Suidas we find that these Baleares did commonly cast a stone of a pound weight which agreeth to these names in Caesar fundas librales The leaden bullets are mentioned by Salust in the warre with Jugurth and by Livie where he saith that the Consul provided great store of arrows of bullets and of small stones to be cast with slings This weapon was in request amongst divers nations as well in regard of the readinesse and easy reiterating of the blow as also for that the bullet fled very farre with great violence The distance which they could easily reach with their sling is expressed in this verse Fundū Varro vocat quem possis mittere funda Fundum according to Varro is so much ground as a man may sling over Which Vegetius interpreteth to be six hundred foot Their violence was such as the same authour affirmeth in his first book and sixteenth chap. that neither helmet gaberdine nor co●selet could bear out the blow but he that was hit with a sling was slain sine invidia sanguinis as he saith in the same place Lucrece Ovid and Lucan three of the Latine Poets say that a bullet skilfully cast out of a sling went with such violence that it melted as it flew whereof Seneca giveth this reason Motion saith he doth extenuate the ayre and that extenuation or subtilty doth inflame and so a bullet ca●● out of a sling melteth as it flieth But howsoever Diodorus Siculus affirmeth that these Balearean slingers brake both target head-piece or any other armour whatsoever There are also two other sorts of slings the one mentioned by Livie and the other by Vegetius That in Livie is called Cestrophendo which cast a short arrow with a long thick head the other in Vegetius is called Fustibalus which was a sling made of a cord and a staffe But let this suffice for slings and slingers which were reckoned amongst their light-armed souldiers and used chiefly in assaulting and defending towns and fortresses where the heavy-armed souldiers could not come to buckle and present the place of our Harquebusiers which in their proper nature are levis armatur● milites light-armed souldiers although more terrible then those of ancient times Chap. V. Caesar confronteth the Belgae in form of battell but without any blow given the Belgae attempt the passing of the river Axona but in vain and to their losse they consult of breaking up the war CAesar at the first resolved not to give them battel as well in regard of their multitude as the generall fame and opinion conceived of their valour notwithstanding he daily made triall by light skirmishes with his horsemen what the enemy could do and what his own men durst do And when he found that his own men were nothing inferiour to the Belgae he chose a convenient place before his camp and put his Army in battell the bank where he was encamped rising somewhat from a plain levell was no larger then would suffice the front of the battell the two sides were steep and the front rose aslope by little and little untill it came again to a plain where the legions were imbattelled And least the enemy abounding in multitude should circumvent his men and charge them in the flank as they were fighting which they might easily do with their number he drew an overthwart ditch behind his Army from one side of the hill to the other six hundred paces in length the ends whereof he fortified with bulwarks and placed therein store of engines And leaving in his Camp the two legions which he had last enrolled in Lombardy that they might be ready to be drawn forth when there should need any succour he imbattelled his other six legions in the front of the hill before his Camp The Belgae also bringing forth their power confronted the Romans in order of battell I here lay between both the Armies a small Marish over which the enemy expected that Caesar should have passed and Caesar on the other side attended to see if the Belgae would come over that his men might have charged them in that troublesome passage In the mean time the Cavalry on both sides incountered between the two battells and after long expectation on either side neither party adventuring to passe over Caesar having got the better in the skirmish between the horsemen thought it sufficient for that time both for the encouraging of his own men and the contesting of so great an Army and therefore he conveighed all his men again into their Camp From that place the enemy immediately took his way to the River Axona which lay behind the Romans Camp and there finding foords they attempted to passe over part of their forces to the end they might either take the fortresse which Q. Titurius kept or break down the bridge or spoile the territories of the state of Rhemes and cut off the Romans from provision of corne Caesar having advertisement thereof from Titurius transported over the river by the bridge all his horsemen and light-armed Numidians with his Slingers and Archers and marched with them himself The conflict was hot in that place the Romans charging their enemies as they were troubled in the water slew a great number of them the rest like desperate persons adventuring to passe over upon the dead carkases of their fellowes were beaten back by force of weapons and the horsemen incompassed such as had first got over the water and slew every man of them When the Belgae perceived themselves frustrated of their hopes of winning Bibrax of passing the River and of drawing the Romans into places of disadvantage and that their own provisions began to fail them they called a councell of war wherein they resolved that it was best for the State in generall and for every man in particular to break up their Camp and to return home unto their own houses and into whose confines or territories soever the Romans should first enter to depopulate and wast them in hostile manner that thither they should hasten from all parts and there give them battell to the end they might rather try the matter in their own country then abroad in a strange and unknown place and have their own houshold provision alwayes at hand to maintain them And this the rather was concluded for as much as they had intelligence that Divitiacus with a great power of the Hedui approached near to the borders of the Bellovaci who in that regard made hast homeward to defend their country THE FIRST OBSERVATION FIrst we may observe the Art which he used to countervail the strength of so great a multitude by chusing out so convenient a place which was no broader in front then would

his due and proper composition What then is the cause that the Romans do overcome and that those that do use the phalanx are voyd of the hope of victory Even from hence that the Roman Armies have infinite commodities both of places and of times to fight in But the phalanx hath onely one time one place and one kind whereto it may profitably apply it self so that if it were of necessity that their enemy should encounter them at that instant especially with their whole forces it were questionlesse not only not without danger but in all probability likely that the phalanx should ever carry away the better But if that may be avoyded which is easily done shall not that disposition then be utterly unprofitable and free from all terrour And it is farther evident that the phalanx must necessarily have plain and champain places without any hinderances or impediments as ditches uneven places vallies little hils and rivers for all these may hinder and disjoyn it And it is almost impossible to have a Plain of the capacity of twenty stadia much lesse more where there shall be found none of these impediments But suppose there be found such places as are proper for the phalanx if the Enemy refuse to come unto them and in the mean time spoil and sack the Cities and country round about what commodity or profit shall arise by any Army so ordered for if it remain in such places as hath been before spoken of it can neither relieve their friends nor preserve themselves For the convoies which they expect from their friends are easily cut off by the Enemy whiles they remain in those open places And if it happen at any time that they leave them upon any enterprise they are then exposed to the Enemy But suppose that the Roman Army should find the phalanx in such places yet would it not adventure it self in grosse at one instant but would by little and little retire it self as doth plainly appear by their usuall practice For there must not be a conjectur of these things by my words only but especially by that which they do For they do not so equally frame their battel that they do assault the Enemy altogether making as it werebut one front but part make a stand and part charge the Enemy that if at any time the Phalanx do presse them that come to assault them and be repelled the force of their order is dissolved For whether they pursue those that retire or fly from those that do assault them these do disjoyn themselves from part of their Army by which meanes there is a gap opened to their Enemies standing and attending their opportunity so that now they need not any more to charge them in the front where the force of the phalanx consisteth but to assault where the breach is made both behind and upon the sides But if at any time the Roman Army may keep his due propriety and disposition the phalanx by the disadvantage of the place being not able to do the like doth it not then manifestly demonstrate the difference to be great between the goodnesse of their disposition and the disposition of the phalanx To this may be added the necessities imposed upon an Army which is to march through places of all natures to encamp themselves to possesse places of advantage to besiege and to be besieged and also contrary to expectation sometimes to come in view of the Enemy For all these occasions necessarily accompany an Army and oftentimes are the especiall causes of victory to which the Macedonian phalanx is no way fit or convenient forasmuch as neither in their generall order nor in their particular disposition without a convenient place they are able to effect any thing of moment but the Roman Army is apt for all these purposes For every souldier amongst them being once armed and ready to fight refuseth no place time nor occasion keeping alwayes the same order whether he fight together with the whole body of the Army or particularly by himself man to man And hence it happeneth that as the commodity of their disposition is advantageous so the end doth answer the expectation These things I thought to speak of at large because many of the Graecians are of an opinion that the Macedonians are not to be overcome And again many wondered how the Macedonian phalanx should be put to the worse by the Roman Army considering the nature of their weapons Thus far goeth Polybius in comparing the weapons and embattelling of the Romans with the use of Arms amonst the Macedonians wherein we see the Pike truly and exactly ordered according as the wise Gracians could best proportion it with that form of battel which might give most advantage to the use thereof so that if our squadrons of Pikes jump not with the perfect manner of a phalanx as we see they do not they fall so much short of that strength which the wisdome of the Grecians and the experience of other nations imputed unto it But suppose we could allow it that disposition in the course of our warres which the nature of the weapon doth require yet forasmuch as by the authority of Polybius the said manner of imbattelling is tied to such dangerous circumstances of one time one place and one kind of fight I hold it not so profitable a weapon as the practice of our times doth seem to make it especially in woody countries such as Ireland is where the use is cut off by such inconveniences as are noted to hinder the managing thereof And doubtlesse if our Commanders did but consider of the incongruity of the Pike and Ireland they would not proportion so great a number of them in every company as there is for commonly half the company are Pikes which is as much as to say in the practice of our wars that half the Army hath neither offensive nor defensive weapons but onely against a troup of horse For they seldome or never come to the push of pike with the foot companies where they may charge and offend the enemy and for defence if the enemy think it not safe to buckle with them at hand but maketh more advantage to play upon them afarre off with shot it affordeth small safety to shake a long pike at them and stand fair in the mean time to entertain a volley of shot with the body of their battalion As I make no question but the pike in some services is profitable as behind a rampier or at a breach so I assure my self there are weapons if they were put to triall that would countervail the pike even in those services wherein it is thought most profitable Concerning the Target we see it take the hand in the judgement of Polybius of all other weapons whatsoever as well in regard of the divers and sundry sorts of imbattelling as the quality of the place wheresoever for their use was as effectuall in small bodies and centuries as in grosse troups and great

lain in garrison past eighteen dayes he draweth the fourteenth and sixteenth Legions out of garrison from the river Arar where he had placed them for the speedy purveiance of corn and victuall as was shewed you in the last book and with those two Legions went to prosecute the Carnutes When our enemies heard of the coming of our army the Carnutes moved with the calamity of others left their towns and villages that they dwelt in which they had made upon the sudden with little cottages for necessities sake to keep off the winter for since they were conquered of late they had lo●● many of their walled towns and fled scattering abroad Caesar forasmuch as he would not put his souldiers to the abiding of the unseasonable sharp storms which chiefly at that time fell encamped himself within Genabum a town of the Carnutes and housed his souldiers partly in the buildings of the Galles and partly in such buildings as being unfinished they thatched in haste with the straw that was brought in to cover their tents and cabines Neverthelesse he sendeth abroad his horsemen and auxiliary footmen into all parts whither he heard his enemies resorted and that was not in vain for commonly our men returned ever with a great booty The Carnutes being put to it with the hardnesse of the winter and the terrour of the danger being driven out of house and home and not daring to stay any where any long time the woods being not able to defend them from the bitternesse of the storms were scattered abroad and with the losse of a great part of them dispersed into the next cities CHAP. II. The Bellovaci and other States under the leading of Corbeus and Comius invade the Suessiones Caesar marcheth against them CAesar at that hard time of the year thinking it enough to disperse the powers that were assembling to the intent no beginning of warre might spring up and weighing how much it concerned him to prevent any open warre from breaking out the beginning of the next summer he placed G. Trebonius in garrison at Genabum with those two Legions that he had there about him and forasmuch as he was by often messages certified from the men of Rhemes that the Bellovaci who excelled all Galles and the Belgae also in military fame and the States adjoyning unto them under the conduct of Corbeus of Beanvoys and Comius of Arras levied men of warre and assembled them into one place to the intent with their whole power to invade the borders of the Suessiones which were appertaining to the men of Rhemes thinking it stood not only upon his honour but also tended to his own security for the future to save his allies which had deserved well of the Commonweal from displeasure and damage he called the eleventh legion again out of garrison Moreover he wrote to C. Fabius to bring the two legions that he had into the confines of the Suessiones and sent for one of those two legions that were with T. Labienus So according as his garrisons lay for the purpose and as the slate of the warre required to his own continuall trouble he put sometimes one of his legions and sometimes another to march from their quarters With this power that he had assembled he went against the Bellovaci and encamping himself in their countrey sent abroad his horsemen into all quarters to glean up some of them by whose means he might learn what his enemies purposed to do His horsemen doing their duty brought word how few were found in the houses and those not such as had stayed behind to till the ground for they were purposely removed out of all places but such as had been sent back again to spie Of whom Caesar enquiring in what place the forces of the Bellovaci were and what was their intent found that all the Bellovaci were gathered together into one place and that the Ambiani Aulerci Caletes Velocasses and Attrebates had chosen a very high ground to encamp in enclosed with a troublesome marish and had conveyed all their stuff into woods that were farther off Of the which warre there were many Noblemen that were ringleaders but the multitude obeyed Corbeus chiefly because they understood that he hated most the name of the people of Rome And that Comius of Arras was a few dayes before gone to fetch aid of the Germans who were their next neighbours and swarmed in multitude of people He learned moreover at their hands that the Bellovaci by the consent of all the Noblemen at the earnest instance of the Commons were determined if Caesar came as it was said he would but with three legions to offer him battell lest afterward to more disadvantage and hinderance they should be compelled to encounter with his whole host And if he brought a greater power with him then to keep themselves still in the same ground that they had chosen and by ambushes to keep the Romans from forrage which by reason of the time of the year was scarce and also lay scattering and from corn and other victuals and things necessary for their army The which things when Caesar understood by the concurring report of many considering how still of wisdome this project was and how farre from the rashnesse that the barbarous people are wont to use he determined to make the best advantage of all things to the intent his enemies disdaining his small company should make the more haste to come into the field For he had three old practised legions the seventh eighth and ninth of singular valour and prowesse and the eleventh which was of chosen young men of great hope and towardnesse which having at that time received eight yeares wages was notwithstanding look'd upon as not comparable to the other three either for standing or for valour and courage Wherefore summoning an assembly and there declaring all things that had been reported unto him he confirmed the hearts of the common souldiers if peradventure with the number of three legions he might draw out his enemies to fight with him in the field He set his battel in this order the seventh eighth and ninth legions went before the carriages and the eleventh closed in the rere thereof the which notwithstanding was but small as it is wont to be in such expeditions and this he did lest the enemies should find a greater number then they expected By this means in a square battel almost he brought his host in sight of his enemies sooner then they looked for him When the Galles beheld these legions so suddenly set in order marching toward them apace as it had been in a pitched field whereas it was reported to Caesar that they intended to carry on their businesse with confident boldnesse whether it were for the perill of the encounter or the suddennesse of our coming or that they looked to see what we intended to do they set themselves in order of battel before their camp and would not descend from the higher ground Albeit that Caesar was

may be furnished with the next most sufficient men both because of their nearnesse unto danger as also that if their leaders or bringers up shall either be slain or disabled by wounds they may presently succeed in their places and make them good There is also a good decorum to be observed in the middlemen or fifth and sixth ranks both for the men themselves and their armes that in our marches when the middlemen or sixth ranks shall be called up to front with their leaders they may in some sort and proportion answer their places as also when we double our front by calling up middlemen to fight in a greater breadth they may not be unsutable but especially in marches that they may be able to make the best resistance when they shall become the flanks of the Battallions As these respects ought to be observed in ranks so the files also are not without their different degrees of dignity As the leader of the right-hand file is accounted to have the first place of honour in the Battallion for he doth not onely lead the rest in his own file but he is the author and beginner of the motions of the whole Battallion The leader of the left-hand file hath the next place because that he with the leader of the right-hand file do alwaies in their marching and imbattelling rectifie or rank the whole front of the battallion and so consequently all the next of their files as they stand in order even untill the middle who are accounted the last in dignity The Battallion being thus disposed into files and ranks and each file and rank according to his worth and experience rightly advanced it followeth that there should be a just distance proportioned between either that at all times upon all occasions they might be found ready and in comeliest fashion either to offend their enemy or defend themselves These distances which every follower must observe in respect of his leader and every leader and follower in respect of the sidemen may be reduced unto three severall Orders as followeth The first is called open Order the distance whereof is twelve foot between every follower and his leader or between every rank and six foot between them and the sidemen or between every file This order is commonly used upon marches when the enemy is known to be farre off as also in private exercising of souldiers for their severall managing of their armes It differeth somewhat from the Ordinatus Miles amongst the Romans who alwayes observed but four cubits in files and ranks The second distance is called Order when we contract the battallion both in length and breadth and gather the souldiers within a nearer scantling both in files and ranks that is by observing six feet in their files between the follower and leader and three feet between the ranks or sidemen This distance is used when we march toward an enemy near at hand or in marches by reason of the opportunity of the place suspiciously dangerous This is also near unto Densatus ordo but onely that that was but two cubits in both files and ranks The third and last order is when either we attend the enemy his present assault or that we intend to charge him upon our securest and best distance when every follower standeth three feet or his rapier length behind his leader and a foot and a half from the sidemen or files or when every souldier occupieth but one foot and a half for his own station joyning pouldron to pouldron or target to target This differeth from Constipatus ordo because that alloweth but one cubit for files and ranks and this close order alloweth one cubit in the file but two in the ranks This distance doth agree also best with the length of our piles of 15 or 16 feet long For it is thought fit oftentimes that the battallion consisting of ten ranks there should not charge more at one time then the 5 formost so that the pikes of the fifth rank might be three foot over the formost shoulder and the other five ranks should in this close order or nearer if it be possible follow the other charging with their pikes advanced untill some occasion should require their charge In the mean time they should perform their dutie in keeping the five formost ranks from retiring and besides adde strength unto the charge or shock The manner of exercising of composed Battallions with their different motions THe files and ranks being thus understood disposed and ordered and all parts and members of the battallion being joyned in their just proportion and distance able and fit to be altered upon any sodain occasion as if it were but one entire body into severall and divers postures and to make resistance unto what forces soever shall oppugne the same it might be thought needlesse to have made the disposition of the members so exact unlesse by continuall practise and exercise they might be made nimble and ready not onely to defend themselves and their whole body on all sides but also to be able to offend whensoever they shall espie the least occasion of advantage The terms of direction or command which are commonly used in this modern discipline of martiall exercise as they are not many onely answering to the different postures which are required in the Battallion so they are and must be short and perspicuously plain that by this means being sodainly uttered easily apprehended and understood they may as speedily be put in execution by those which shall be commanded First therefore that the Battallion may be commanded into some one fashion or posture from whence it shall be fit to convert it self into all other the Captain or Officer shall bid them stand in front When every particular souldier composing himself after his foremost leader standeth comely in file and rank fronting unto some certain place or to the Captain as shall be thought best for the present In this and all other directions whatsoever it shall be especially observed that every follower attending what is commanded mark his next leader and accordingly move himself as he shall see him move first The Battallion therefore thus fronting if the enemy should suddenly either assault the right or left flank it shall be commanded to turn faces to the right or left hand when every souldier observing his leader shall turn his face and make his flank his front according to the direction There is also a doubled motion or declination to the right or left hand when every souldier observing his leader shall turn their bodies twice to the right or left hand and by that means become turned with their faces where their backs were as if they expected an enemy in the rere or being to perform some other motion that may be offered beginning this alteration from the right or left hand as shall be commanded As every particular souldier in the troup is

thus commanded at sometimes to turn his face to the right or left hand or about the Battallion standing in order that is according to the distance before named so the whole Battallion being reduced into their close order is commanded to turn as one body to the right or left hand It is performed thus Imagine the Battallion stand first in order it shall be commanded that they close their files to the right hand when the right file standing still the rest turning their faces to the right hand march into their close order and return as they were next that they close their ranks from behind when every follower marcheth forward to his leader unto his rapiers point as is said before This done the leader of the right file standing immoveable all the rest as the body of a ship or a great gate turn about that leader as about the hinge or center every one keeping the same distance and order wherein they were first placed as if they were but one entire body When the same Battallion is to be restored into the same station wherein it was first it is commanded Faces about to the left hand and march into your order from whence you were closed Then let your leaders or first ranks stand still and the rest turning faces about march ranks in order as before then turn as you were and you are restored When the whole Battallion being in their close order should turn about and make the Rere the Front it is done by a double turning or declination and commanded to wheel about which is answerable to the former faces about or mutation There is also another wheeling in this sort when the front changeth the aspect thrice for as wheeling about maketh the Front the Rere so this wheeleth from the right hand to the left or contrariwise which fashion is so seldome used that we scarce afford it a name In all such motions and alterations it is most fit that all men perform their directions with their pikes advanced being in that sort most easie to be commanded as also lesse troublesome to their followers and leaders Countermarching Files and Ranks THere is also another means to prevent the enemy his assaulting us in the rere or flank lest he should find our worst men least able to make resistance and this is performed by countermarching both files and ranks three divers wayes apiece The first was used by the Macedonians after this fashion First the leader turneth his face about towards the right or left hand and so the next follower marching behind his leader turneth also and so the third and fourth untill the bringer up have carried himself out into a new place in the rere further from the enemy as he was before next unto him But this neither was nor is accounted safe or secure because it doth somewhat resemble a flying or running away from the enemy which might give him no small incouragement and therefore it is not much in practise Only at some times the bringers up marching throughout beyond the leaders untill they possesse the same space before them which they did behind them all turning their faces about make their leaders to affront the enemy who were before farthest from them The Lacedamonians used the contrary as it were pursuing the enemy the bringer up first being turned face about and so the next marching before him and so the third untill the leader himself became also turned and in the foremost front unto the enemy Which with us is somewhat otherwise but yet both affronting and as it were pursuing the enemy because our leaders first begin this motion and so countermarching through on the right or left hand become in the front in a new space of ground who were before in the rere The third and last was invented by the Persians whom when the place or near approch of the enemy would not suffer to change their ground they were wont to countermarch the front to the right or left hand and being come unto the depth of the bringers up to stand still untill the other half file had likewise marched forth and fallen upon their leaders in every file In all these it is especially commanded to march still in the same distance and by whole ranks to prevent confusion which especially the enemy at hand must needs be most dangerous and therefore carefully to be avoided In like sort the ranks may countermarch when either the right wing would be strengthened by the left or the left by the right alwayes marching by whole files towards the right or left hand according as they shall have the direction either changing the ground or upon the same ground as in the former countermarches There is used also another kind of strengthening both the front and flank when occasion shall be offered viz by doubling either files or ranks And this either by doubling the number of souldiers in the same files or ranks keeping still the same breadth and depth of ground or else by doubling the ground keeping the same number of souldiers The files are doubled when the second file shall insert it self into the first the leader thereof putting himself a follower unto the leader of the first and the next follower follower to the next in the first file and so forwards And likewise the fourth file inserting it self into the third and the sixth into the fifth And this is to be performed when the Battallion standeth in his order To double the place or depth is when the same number of men shall put themselves out of their order into their open order either by advancing forward or by falling backwards as they shall be commanded The ranks are doubled two manner of wayes either by inserting the second into the first to the right or left hand as before in the files or else the enemy being at hand by joyning whole troups together to the right or left wing according as occasion shall be offered and this is held to be the safest when the enemy is near to avoid confusion It is performed either in the same ground or by doubling the ground when either we desire to exceed the front of our enemy his battallion or to prevent lest we our selves be included The terms to both are Double your files or ranks to the right or left hand and when you would have them return again into their proper places it is commanded As you were The ordinary directions which are especially given in these martial exercises are first that no man in the time of exercising or marshalling shall be lowder then his Officer but every one attending to his place when he is commanded shall diligently hearken to such directions as shall be given The Captain in the front shall speak and the Sergeants in each flank shall give the word unto the Lieutenant or Ensigne