since their first footing in Germany have had Swedish Train of Artillery the reputation to be the most exactly composed and conducted by the most experimented Artists of any in Christendom And no doubt but their Artillery helpt them much to take so deep a footing in Germany that they have not been since expell'd out of it though that hath been much endeavour'd When the late King of Sweden invaded Poland in the year 1655 the perfidy of the Polonians was such that they deliver'd almost that whole Kingdom into his hands But after they had returned to their Duties and that the Swede was at Zamoiskie in the year 1657. it was by the help of his Artillery whereof John Casimir was destitute that the Swedish King traversed much of the length of Poland in spite of eighty thousand Polonians crost the Weichsell and join'd with Ragoski and after he was forc'd to part with the Transylvanian being invited to come nearer home by the King of Denmarks unseasonable declaration of a War against him he came out of Poland and Prussia too with a very inconsiderable ill appointed and harass'd Army without any loss at all meerly by the advantage he had of his Train of Artillery Sweden furnisheth abundance of both Copper and Iron whereof great Guns Sweden abounds in all things necessary for a Train and Hand-guns are made and by art and industry that Country hath as much Saltpeter as any Kingdom can have and it being full of Woods it cannot want Coal for making Powder whereof they make such abundance as they are able not only to serve themselves but to help their neighbours and friends They also make within the Kingdom greater store of Arms both for offence and defence than they have use for I have seen some little Towns in Sweden wherein few other Artificers were to be found but Armourers and Gunsmiths These advantages encourage them to entertain full and well appointed Trains of Artillery He who commands in chief over the Artillery is called by the English General or Master of the Ordnance by the French Grand Maistre del Artillerie Great Master of the Artillery by the Germans General fetz Eugmeister which is General Overseer and Master of the Munitions for the Field a term very proper because he hath not only the inspection of the Ordnance but of the Munitions of War such are the Guns greater and lesser all manner of Arms A General of the Artillery and Weapons all Materials belonging to Smiths and Carpenters Powder Match Bullets Granado's for pot-Pot-pieces and to be cast by the hand store of Instruments and Utensils for Artificers Shops Bridges or Materials for them Boats or Materials for them to be made and join'd quickly for passing unfordable waters all kind of Instruments for working in Fortification or Approaches such as Spades Mattocks Pickaxes and Shovels In Scotland we call this great Officer the General of the Artillery The Ancients though they wanted Fire-guns yet they had their great Artillery those were their great Machines and Engines whereof I have formerly spoken and they had likewise a Master of their Artillery who had the inspection of it which I have also made appear in the fourth Chapter of the Roman Militia But since the Invention His Trust of Gunpowder the Charge of General of the Artillery hath been look'd on as most honourable as it indeed deserves to be and with none more than with us in Scotland and was always confer'd by our Kings on persons of eminent note and quality James the Fifth King of Scotland made the Gentleman who had married his Mother Margaret Daughter to Henry the Seventh King of England Lord of Meffen and General of the Artillery of Scotland As Lesly Bishop of Rosse that active and loyal servant to his Mistress Queen Mary tells us in the Ninth Book of his History in these words In hisce Comitiis Rex His Charge honourable in Scotland Henricum Stuartum Reginae Maritum confirmavit Dominum Meffensem ac eundem omnium bellicorum Tormentorum praefectum quod munus apud nos est longe honorificum munifice constituit The King saith he in this Parliament confirmed Henry Stuart the Queens Husband Lord Meffen and bountifully made him General of the Artillery which Charge with us is most honourable He who bears this Office in either Kingdom Republick or Army ought to His Qualifications be a person of good Endowments but if you take his description from some notional writers you may justly conclude there is not such a man below the Moon Indeed I shall tell you there are two qualifications absolutely necessary for him these are to be a good Mathematician and to be something if not right much experimented in all the points of the Gunners Art he must be of a good judgment and a very ready dispatch The rest of his parts and abilities which some require in him alone I think he may divide among those who are under his His great Command command and authority who truly are right many as the Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance two Colonels if not more Lieutenant-Colonels Captains and Gentlemen of the Ordnance Master Gunner and all inferior Gunners Conductors and Comptrollers Engineers the Clerk of the Fortification Master of the Mines and Mineers under him Master of the Artificial Fires and his Conductors and Petardeers those who have a care of the Tools for Fortification for intrenching and approaching the Master of the Pioneers in some Armies and all his Pioneers the Master of the Batteries and all under him for to the General of the Artilleries direction and inspection belongs the Entrenching the Camp the making the Approaches Redoubts Batteries Zaps Galleries and Mines and other works at Sieges of Towns and Castles He hath also his own Commissary Quarter-master Waggon-master Minister and Chyrurgeon If then you will consider that he and all those under him are to have pay and wages and what a â—ast sum of money is spent in maintenance of this Train and how much Powder match and Ball may be spent in an active War you may conclude that Achilles Terduzzi the Italian Engineer The vast expence of a Train whom I have often mention'd spoke within bounds and but modestly enough when he said he conceiv'd the fourth part of the Treasure of an Army was spent on the Train of Artillery I think it something strange to read in Bockler the German Architect that it is of late condescended on by the greatest Practitioners of Artillery in Germany that for an Army of forty thousand men whereof thirty two thousand should Thirty Pieces of Ordnance thought lately a sufficient Train for an Army of forty thousand men be foot and eight thousand Horse thirty Pieces of Ordnance are enough either to besiege a strong place or to attack an enemy though never so advantageously lodged For the last I shall be easily induced to believe it but for the first part of his affirmative I
fellows will be hir'd with Money to go through the strictest closest and best guarded approaches and this is ordinarily done in time of a Sally made for that purpose and if the Intelligencer have agreed with the Governour concerning the precise time of his return another Sally is made for his reception At the time of a desperate Sally at the reparation of a dangerous breach at the work of Retrenching in time of a furious Cannonade or when an Assault is assuredly expected a largess of Money with large promises of more hath a wonderful influence upon the hearts of Souldiers Nor should a Governour spare in time of want to A Governour may borrow from the Inhabitants borrow from the Inhabitants for if they be disaffected he may force them to lend and if they be friends it will not be time for them to hoard up their Moneys when they are in danger to lose all as the unhappy Constantinopolitans did when Sultan Mahomet took their City by assault The fourth and fifth things requisite for a Garrison are Munitions of War Ammunitions and Arms. Powder Match and Ball should be frugally husbanded or freely spent according to the quantity and store wherewith the Fort is provided It should not be lavished away in the beginning of the Siege nor should it be spared in the time of Zaps Batteries Galleries and Assaults but no needless waste should be made of it in all or any of these for this purpose a considerable Magazine of Ammunitions should be put in all Forts especially in frontier Garrisons where the attack of an Enemy is soonest expected for many times to supply this want great hazzards are run to convoy Horse men into the besieged place who carry leather bags full of Powder on the croups of their Horses Our Fort should likewise be provided with all manner of Arms Defensive and Offensive Pikes Half-Pikes Halberds Partizans two-handed Swords Hangmens Arms. Swords Morning-Stars with all manner of Fire-works and Hand-Granadoes for resisting a storm against which there should be prepared also huge balks and logs of Timber tyed to Posts with Ropes or Chains to let fall over and pull up again for these as likewise a great number of greater and lesser Stones do good service in time of Assaults when an Enemy is mounting either the Curtain or Bulwark and cannot be reach'd by shot unless from the Flanks which for most part are made useless by the Enemies Cannon before the Assault We read even since the invention of Powder what use our Ancestors made of molten Lead scalding Water and boyl'd Oyl in time of Assaults at which Louis de Montgomery in his French Milece makes good sport and says the Defendants had as good throw handfuls of Ashes at their Enemies But I am nothing Louis de Montgomery his opinion of his opinion for though experience were silent both reason and sense do teach us that Fire doth more hurt than Ashes and is not burning fire in all these I speak of Scalding Water no question doth mischief and may be us'd with no other expence than fire but Lead and Oyl are chargeable and may I think be employed for better and more proper uses The sixth and last but not the least requisite and necessary thing for a besieged Munitions for the mouth place is Munitions for the mouth without which all the rest signifie nothing What several provisions of meats and drinks presupposing there be Water enough in the Fort are necessary for a Garrison I have told you in the eighth Chapter where I have discoursed of Proviant The question is now what quantity of them should be stored up in a Garrison that apprehends a Siege There be some who think that six months provision is enough and For how long time a Town should be provided with meat and drink of these Louis de Montgomery is one because say they in that time either the Winter season will force the Besieger to remove or the relief of the place will be attempted by him to whom it belongs But we have seen in our own times the contrary of both though we had never heard of the Siege of Troy Others speak of three years provision and this doth well but the Governour when he is not besieged should every year lay in one years fresh provisions causing the Souldiers to eat and pay for that which is oldest I believe none will deny but a Garrison should be provided with meat and drink for one whole year at least And no sooner should a provident Governour foresee or apprehend a Siege whereof he may have many grounds for a probable conjecture but he should command all the Inhabitants to provide themselves of a Citizens to provide a years â—â—â—â— whole years food and maintenance that his publick stores may be preserv'd for the Souldiery and all Citizens who are either unable or unwilling to do so as also all unnecessary people should be commanded to remove out of the Town or Fort. But after a place is invested and the Siege formed it is I think an act of inhumanity to thrust out the Inhabitants especially if they have not had time to provide themselves yea I think it is more mercy to cut their throats within than to send them out for it is not to be thought that an Enemy will suffer them to pass but will force them back to the Town-Ditches where they may lamentably languish and starve to death Such an action as this in my opinion was an eternal blemish to the reputation of Monluc that famous Marshal of A merciless act of Marshal Monluc France who after Sienna whereof he was Governour had been strictly besieged shut out of the City four thousand Inhabitants Men and Women young and old The Marquess of Martignan who commanded the Emperours and Cosmo di Medici's forces caused all these miserable wretches to be chaced back to the Ditches Monluc would receive none of them within the Town Some lusty strong fellows broke through Martignan's Trenches and escap'd many Women and Maids were privately contrary to the Marquess his command taken into Tents and Huts to satiate the lust of the Spaniards but there dyed of them of meer hunger near three thousand Upon this woful occasion the same Monluc in his Commentaries hath this expression These are says he the merciless laws of War we must be many times cruel to disappoint our Enemies God be merciful to us for doing so great mischief Indeed he had reason to cry for Gods mercy for committing so horrible a wickedness But in what Codex did he read of such a Law of War Nay where did he hear of such a custome of War Strange it was in him to expel and expose those to a merciless death whom he nor none else had appointed to provide for a Siege and whom he might have expell'd before the Siege was form'd that they might have shifted for themselves or begg'd through Italy for bread If ever
Vera Effigies Jacobi Turner Equitis Aurati Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S. t Pauls Church Yard PALLAS ARMATA Military Essayes Of the ANCIENT GRECIAN ROMAN AND MODERN ART of WAR Written in the Years 1670 and 1671. By Sir JAMES TURNER Knight LONDON Printed by M. W. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIII TO HIS Royal Highness JAMES Duke of ALBANY and YORK His MAJESTIES only Brother May it please your Royal Highness THE Dedication of Books hath been so old and still is so universal a custome that to disallow it would be perhaps look'd upon as affecting Singularity a little too much yet I could never learn any convincing reason for that Practice The greatest Monarch that ever liv'd could not protect Books from Censure and I think it were against reason they should for except in matters of Faith and State and not in them neither where the Almighty and his Vicegerents have set no limits no restraint should be laid on Men to hinder their embracing and enjoying their own Opinions and arguing against those of others Wherefore I shall not be guilty of so high a presumption as to beg from your Royal Highness the Patrociny of this Work of mine in which I have not the Vanity to doubt but that there may be many more Errors than I can well help Nor shall I carry my Presumption to so extravagant a pitch as to desire your Royal Highness to cast your Princely Eye on any thing contain'd in this Treatise You have given the World too publick demonstrations how great a Master you are in the Art of War to go to those Schools again especially to learn from such as I am And now in this happy calm under his Majesties most merciful Government You are giving signal proofs of your great desire of Peace notwithstanding your abilities and skill in War I could enlarge my self much on this Head without coming within the suspicion of Flattery a sordid Vice in all Men more especially in those who profess Arms. But my only design in this Humble Address is with most submissive thankfulness to acknowledge the Princely favours you have so Nobly but I am afraid undeservedly bestowed upon me and to declare how ready I am to venture what remains of a Life now almost worn out in making all those dutiful returns that become May it please your Royal Highness Your most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Servant JAMES TURNER TO THE Generous Reader IF the Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland live in so profound a repose that they scarce hear the woful crys of their Neighboâ—rs harass'd and opprest by that dreadful Monster War that great Boar of the Forest which makes desolate Cities and Provinces so that their Sleep is not broke by the unseasonable sound of Trumpets and the rattling of Drums nor are they frighted out of their Houses I had almost said out of their Wits by the sudden Infalls and Attacks of a fierce Enemy they have good reason to bless and praise the God of Peace for so great a happiness and with a thankful acknowledgement pray for his Vicegerent the King underr whose auspicious raign they enjoy these Halcyon days and under whose Government if they cannot sit under their own Fig-trees and Vines at least they may eat the Fruit of the one and drink the Juice of the other in Peace and Quiet Yet let them remember that War follows Peace as naturally as Night does follow Day and that after a sweet calm a dreadful storm is to be looked for against which the wary Pilot carefully provides If you think I do hereby invite all Gallant Spirits in time of Peace to provide themselves for War you are not at all deceiv'd I do indeed desire that when War comes unexpectedly as often it does it may not find brave men surpriz'd and to need instruction in those necessary Military things which they might have learn'd before at full leisure If you be one of those who either already knows or imagines you do know all the rules of the Ancient and Modern Art of War Or if you be one of those who desire to know neither of them I shall advise you to save your self the Money to buy and the trouble to read this trifle of mine It is with none of you that it seeks acquaintance it walks in another Stage It is to you Young Lords and Gentlemen it makes its humble address It is to you Generous Souls that it offers its service And it is from you whose birth entitles you to Martial Exercises that it expects a fair welcome and entertainment Most or many of you will not learn these Peaceable Arts and Sciences without which no Principality or Republick can well or long subsist and all of you cannot be admitted to the Stern of Government or permitted to sit at the Kings Council-board It will be therefore for you to consider how you can serve your Prince and Countrey but by Arms. The ancientest of you all derive your Pedegree from those who bore Arms It is by Arms you had your Honour and it is by Arms you are bound now to maintain it I shall not bid you look to those of your own rank and quality in France who glory to learn the Military Art from them and yet their example deserves imitation but I shall entreat you to follow the footsteps of your Martial Ancestors and account it more honour for you by Warlike Exploits to shew you are their Worthy Successors than to pretend to it only by a vain muster of their old Charters Patents and Commissions If this prevail not with you then set before your eyes but at a very great distance the Most Illustrious Prince James Duke of Albany and York no mortal can boast of a higher Birth and Extraction yet that did not hinder him in his younger years to learn the true Art to fight Battels both at Sea and Land which hath made him now so famous all the World over Nor do I desire you to rest satisfied when you know indifferently well to exercise Companies Troops or Regiments of Horse and Foot though that be both good and necessary let there be a plus ultra with you and endeavour to know all that belongs to a compleat Souldier for you are indeed the stock out of which our Soveraign should chuse his Military Commanders and then there will be the less need of such persons as I am whom the World nick-names Souldiers of Fortune Remember it is not your Native Courage and Valour though that be an essential part though every one of you were as stout as ever Hector was said to be that will serve your turn it is knowledge in Martial affairs that you are to learn and though the Art of War be a Practical one yet the Theory is so needful that without it you may be Common Souldiers good enough but not good Commanders you are to know more than
you daily see for it is a sign of a very mean Officer when he tells you he likes not such a thing because he never saw it before I wish with all my heart that this following Treatise may afford you some help to so noble a Study In it I give you few or rather no rules of my own I am not so vain but I go very far back to search for them in all the remains of Antiquity And let it not offend you that I illustrate Rules and Customes of War by several Instances I do it purposely because the Nature of Man is rather led by Example than driven by Precept This seems to impose that only to invite to a Noble Emulation Besides the right or wrong doing of an action with all its circumstances is better clear'd by the first than by the last And if I seem to clash with the old Masters or new Tacticks of the Ancient or Modern Art of War I give my Reasons for it which you may either approve or disapprove as you please without doing me the least injury When I tell my own opinion of Military Customes looking back as far as I could find any glimmering light of History to direct me I give also my Reasons which you may likewise reject if you please for by so doing I shall neither be condemn'd for Heresie nor Schism If any Gentlemans curiosity leads him to enquire Why I Print this Book I shall Answer him first I can sincerely assure him Vanity to make my self known in the World push'd me not to it else I had not let it lye unprinted by me ten whole Years after first I wrote it Next very few could importune me to publish it since very few did know I had writ it Nor did I indeed make it publick to disabuse some gay men by letting them see they knew no more than their Neighbours and yet the doing so had been Charity if my offer had been receiv'd as kindly as I intended it The consideration that induced me to it was in short this When I had ended all I had resolv'd to say of the Grecian and Roman Art of War and durst not hazzard on the vast Ocean of the Modern Art I was encourag'd to proceed to that and to bring all I intended to as great perfection as I could by a great Master and good Judge in those affairs And when I had done so that Noble Person after my concealment of it some years desir'd to peruse it and as he had perswaded me to finish so he prevail'd with me to publish these Essays But be pleas'd to know he was such a one as his Majesty had made choice of in the year 1666. to command his Scottish Army towards the end whereof he routed the Rebels at Pentland The very same Person was again entrusted by his Majesty with the conduct of his Forces in the year 1679. and continues still in that Command and is well enough known by the Name of General Dalyell But I am afraid you may ask me What mov'd me to begin to write these Discourses But for that if I were put to the Rack till I give you my Reason I could give no other than this That being out of employment and not accustom'd to an idle life I knew not how to pass away my solitary and retired hours with a more harmless divertisement THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK BOOK I. Military Essays of the Ancient and GRECIAN ART of WAR CHAP. I. OF the Ancient Militia in General Page 1 CHAP. II. Of the Armies and order of War of the Ancients 4 CHAP. III. Of the Election Levy and Arms Offensive and Defensive of the Grecians 7 CHAP. IV. Of the Great Englines and Machines of the Training and Exercising of the Grecians 9 CHAP. V. Of the Grecian Infantry 12 CHAP. VI. Aelian's Marshalling the Grecian Infantry examined 14 CHAP. VII Of the Grecian Cavalry and some observations of it 19 CHAP. VIII Of the Great Macedonian Phalanx of its number and how marshall'd with some observations of both 23 CHAP. IX Of the Grecian March Baggage Encamping Guards and of their Paean 26 CHAP. X. One of our Modern Armies compared with the Great Macedonian Phalanx 28 BOOK II. Military Essays of the Ancient ROMAN ART of WAR CHAP. I. OF the Ancient Roman Government and Militia in General p. 33 CHAP. II. Of the Military Election and Levy of the Roman Souldiers 40 CHAP. III. Of their Arms Offensive and Defensive and of their Military Oath 42 CHAP. IV. Of Sieges and Defence of Towns and Forts of the Great Engines and Machines used in them by the Romans and other Ancients 49 CHAP. V. Of the Military Exercises Duties Burthens Marches and Works of the Roman Souldiers 57 CHAP. VI. Of the Roman Infantry of all its several Bodies and their-Officers 61 CHAP. VII Of the Roman Cavalry and all its Officers 74 CHAP. VIII Of their Trumpeters Hornwinders and of the Classicum 79 CHAP. IX Of the Roman Pay Proviant and of their Donatives 81 CHAP. X. Of a Roman Legion marshall'd according to Titus Livius with Lipsius his amendments 84 CHAP. XI Of a Roman Legion marshall'd according to Flavius Vegetius 87 CHAP. XII Vegetius his Legion review'd and examin'd 89 CHAP. XIII Of a Roman Legion marshall'd according to Polybius 95 CHAP. XIV Of the Distances and Intervals between the several Bodies and Batallions of the Roman Horse and Foot 96 CHAP. XV. Of the Roman Allies and Auxiliaries and of the mistakes of some Authors concerning them 102 CHAP. XVI Of a Roman Consular Army and of some mistakes concerning it 105 CHAP. XVII Of a Consular Army marshall'd in the Field and of some General Officers belonging to it 108 CHAP. XVIII Of several figures of Armies used by the Ancients in their Battels 112 CHAP. XIX Of some Customes used by the Romans and other ancient Nations before in the time of and after their Battels 115 CHAP. XX. Of the March of a Consular Army 118 CHAP. XXI Of the Quartering Encamping and Castrametation of a Consular Army 121 CHAP. XXII Of the Roman Guards Watches Watch-word and Rounds 133 CHAP. XXIII Of Prisoners of War Treaties Parleys and Articles among the Ancients 136 CHAP. XXIV Of the Military Punishments and Rewards of the Romans and other Ancient Nations 145 CHAP. XXV Polybius his comparison of the Macedonian Phalanx and the Roman Legion review'd 150 BOOK III. Military Essays of the MODERN ART of WAR CHAP. I. OF the Modern Militia in General p. 157 CHAP. II. Of Levies the manner of several Nations in making them of the Duties of Souldiers when they are levied of their Age and how long they are bound to serve 163 CHAP. III. Of Armour or Defensive Arms used by several Nations both for their Cavalry and Infantry 168 CHAP. IV. Of Offensive Arms or Weapons used by the Infantry of several Nations 171 CHAP. V. Of Offenffve Arms or Weapons used by the Cavalry of several Nations 173 CHAP. VI. Master Lupton's Book
against the use of the Pike Dedicated to the Earl of Essex examin'd 178 CHAP. VII Of Gun-powder Artillery its General and Train 187 CHAP. VIII Of Musters and Muster-masters of Pay Proviant and Service of Treasurers Commissaries and Proviant-masters and of the Military Oath 197 CHAP. IX Of Military Laws and Articles of Courts of War of the Judge Marshal and of the Provost Marshal General 203 CHAP. X. Of Exercising Drilling and Training the several Bodies of the Cavalry and Infantry 209 CHAP. XI Of Companies Regiments and Brigades of Foot what they have been what they are how they are marshall'd of all their Officers their duties and qualifications 213 CHAP. XII Of Troops and Regiments of Horse of their Officers and of Dragoons 231 An Appendix to this twelfth Chapter 239 CHAP. XIII Of Felt-marshals Lieutenant Felt-marshals Lieutenant Generals Generals of the Cavalry and Infantry Major Generals and Adjutant Generals 247 CHAP. XIV Of a Captain General or Generalissimo 251 CHAP. XV. Of Intelligence Spys and of a General Scout-master 260 CHAP. XVI Embattelling by the square root examin'd and rejected 266 CHAP. XVII Of the modern way of embattelling and marshalling Armies 269 CHAP. XVIII Of the Women and Baggage belonging to an Army of the General Waggon-master and his Duties 274 CHAP. XIX Of the March of an Army 278 CHAP. XX. Of Quartering Encamping and Modern Castrametation Of the Quarter-master General and of the Quarter-master of the General Staff 284 CHAP. XXI Of Guards Watches Sentinels Parades Rounds and Patrovils 295 CHAP. XXII Of things previous to a Battel of a Battel it self and things after a Battel 303 CHAP. XXIII Of Retreats 308 CHAP. XXIV Of several ways to take fortified places particularly of Sieges Trenches Approaches Redouts Batteries Zaps Galleries Mines Storms and Assaults 313 CHAP. XXV Of the Defence of fortified places against all manner of Expugnation of all things necessary for Forts of Governours of his duties and qualifications 323 CHAP. XXVI Of Prisoners Parleys Treaties and Articles in our Modern Wars 335 CHAP. XXVII Of our Modern Military Punishments and Rewards 347 CHAP. XXVIII The Comparison made by Justus Lipsius of the Ancient and Modern Militia examined 353 CHAP. XXIX Whether the profession of Souldiery be lawful 362 ERRATA PAg. 27. l. 24. and in other places r. Goujats p. 56. l. 17. r. Absueid p. 77. l. 5. r. fight p. 85. l. ult r. Maniples p. 103. l. 27. r. cense p. 104. l. 19. r. who trusts not p. 110. l. 29. â—r Officers p. 124. l. 53. r. 1000 foot broad ib. l. 60 r. 100 foot p. 125 l. 11. r. 1000 in breadth p. 162. l. ult r. De la Gaya p. 173. l. 26. r. patroun ib. l. 34. r. Dunder p. 192. l. 21. for charge r. pierce p. 194. l. 59. r. Felizeug-meister p. 196. l. 43. for times r. hours p. 197. l. 29. r. Tâ—n pasvolants p. 199. l. 50. r. Royelets p. 206. l. 46. r. lâ—se Majeste PALLAS ARMATA Military Essays ON THE ANCIENT AND GRECIAN ART of WAR CHAP. I. Of the Ancient Militia in General PEACE is the choicest of all Earthly Blessings One Peace is better than innumerable Triumphs It is that Blessing â—â—ich carries all other external oneâ— in its Bosome without it no man can say he either enjoyâ— himself or any thing he might call his own The terrible Ware which our Passions raise within our Breasts against our Reason make us cry to Heaven for that inward Peace whereof neither Man nor Devil can bereave us Even so those people among whom Peace a choice Blessing the seat of War is send up their frequent Petitions to the God of Peace to remove that dreadful Scourge from them but the pity is when their Prayers are heard and that they have obtain'd the so much desir'd and long'd for Peace few or none of them study to preserve so inestimable a Jewel Many Nations have and do this day enjoy a quiet Peace but seldome or never had the whole habitable World a general Cessation of Arms but when Augustus shut the Temple of Janus And it was fit that it should be so then when the Prince of Peace was to descend from the Mansions of Peace to enter the Womb of the Immaculate Virgin But it is not my Work to descant of Peace the Elogies whereof have been loudly enough proclaimed many Ages ago If Peace be so great a Blessing it will follow that War must be a very heavy Curse and so no doubt it is It carries all evils and all plagues in the Belly of it it extirpates Families destroys Nations and drains Provinces of both Men and Money it breaks up and dissolves Humane Societies and War a horrible Curse it tramples on all Laws both Divine and Humane except that of the longest Sword or it makes them run all after it like Lacqueys I believe if the Prophet Gad had spoke nothing of Pestilence but given David his choice of War or Famine the Psalmist had undoubtedly chosen the last as the less Plague For though all the three be from God for there is no evil in the City which is not from the Lord yet War is but mediately from God and immediately from Man And the King of Israel chose rather to fall into Gods hands than Mans. Besides both Pestilence and Famine have been and undoubtedly will be in the World without War but it is almost impossible that War can be of any continuance in a Land but it will draw after it both Pestilence and Famine as its inseparable concomitants Yet Companions of War this dreadful and devouring Plague of War is not only permitted but commanded by the Almighty to dwell among the Sons of Men. Gods own chosen people were by his own appointment afflicted by it and did also by that same authority afflict others with it Enmity and feud had its beginning in the World soon after its Creation not only between the seed of the Woman and the Serpent but between Man and Man yea Brother and Brother Cain and Abel neither doth it Private War matter much with what Weapon the one kill'd the other since experience teacheth us that man can be sent to his Grave a thousand ways without the help of a Sword This was a Private War which still continues and will lâ—st till time be no more between Man and Man and sometimes Family and Family A Publick War is twofold a Foreign and a Civil War Publick War The Foreign is of one or more Nations against one or more Nations if undertaken to encrease Dominion conquer or enslave others or yet to hinder the growth of a neighbour Potentate it is unjust Of the justifying causes of a Foreign War Authors are to be consulted that write purposely on Foreign War that subject particularly Hugo Grotius De jure Belli Pacis let it be enough to say in this place with Augustin that there can be no cause of a just War When just but an
injury done whether it be to Princes Subjects or Embassadours and that no satisfaction after it is required can be got And indeed this War should be formally denounc'd otherwise it derogates from the Justice of the cause This to me seems clear from the definition the Civilians give of an Enemy Hostes say they sunt qui nobis aut quibus nos bellum decernimus caeteri Indictio Belli latrones aut praedones sunt Those are enemies who either have denounc'd the War against us or we against them others are Thieves or Robbers And Cicero in his Offices Nullum Bellum est justum nisi quod aâ—t rebus repetitis geratur aut denunciatum ante sit indictum No War is just but what is made for restitution or denounced or indicted before Neither will the War that Joshua made against the seven Nations of the Canaanites impugn what I have said of the just cause of a War for though these Nations had perhaps done no wrong to the Israelites yet Joshua had a particular Warrant from God for what he Joshua his Wars did which few or none but he can pretend to It is true neither he nor Moses were commanded to fight with the Amalekites yet the Lord approved of it afterward The Grecians denounc'd their War by a Caducâ—us The Romans by their Feciales whose custome was to stand on the Roman Territory and throw a Spear or Javelin against the Land of those whom they declared Enemies In these later times besides the denunciation of the War a Declaration ordinarily called a Manifesto is emitted by the Aggressor whereby he either doth make the Justice of his War appear to the world or at least endeavours it And though the persons of Embassadours were wronged and violated against the Law of Nations yet the War should be denounc'd by a Letter or some such way saith Grotius yet we read not that David used any such previous civility to Hanun King of Ammon after he had affronted his Embassadours A Civil War may be likewise two-fold the one sort is of the great men of Civil War twofold a Free State one against another as that of Sylla against Marius Father and Son and Caesar against Pompey Father and Son among the Romans or in a Monarchy of those who are competitors for the Crown as the War was between the Houses of York and Lancaster The other is of Subjects against their Soveraigns which can never be lawful let the pretext be never so specious I mean on the Subjects part for I make no doubt but a Soveraign whether Prince or State not only may but ought by the power of the Sword to reduce their Rebellious Subjects to their Duty when by no other means they can prevail with them Both these kinds of Intestinâ— Wars are called Civil because they are inter Cives unius Reipublicâ— Among the Citizens of one Common-wealth It is the worst of all Wars and that wherein there is not so much as the least shadow of Civility This War arms Brother against Brother for which we need not search History for Examples In this War the Son thinks he doth a meritorious work if he betrays his own Father and the Father conceives he super-erogates if he sheaths his Sword in his Sons Bowels because saith he he did not rise to fight the Lords Battels even It is the worst of Wars perhaps against the Lords anointed for this War extinguisheth all natural affection among the nearest in Blood This sort of War sends Coblers and other Mechanicks to the Pulpits to torture their Audience with Non-sence This converts Souldiers into Preachers who by vertue of their double callings belch out Blasphemies against the great God of Heaven and rebellious and opprobrious Speeches against his Vice-gerents on Earth And on the other hand this War metamorphoseth Preachers into Souldiers and tells them that a Corslet becomes them better than a Canonical Coat and a broad Sword better than a long Gown It whispers them in the ear that Christ would not have bid those of his Disciples who had two Coats sell one of them and buy a Sword if he had not intended to leave War as a Legacy to his followers as well as Peace It tells them they ought in their Sermons to summon Subjects under the pain of eternal damnation to rise in Arms against the Soveraign Power because they are bidden Curse Meroz who would not come out to help the Lord against the Mighty Yet very few of them can tell you whether Meroz was a Prince a City or a Countrey But I dwell too long here Not long after the Flood we find numerous Armies raised by Nimrod and his ambitious Successors to subject others of Noah's race to their lawless dominion And indeed if the Stories of these very ancient times be true as they are very much to be doubted we read not of so great Armies except some in Holy Writ as those which Ninus and the famous Semiramis and the Kings of India whom she invaded brought together It is pity we should not know how they were armed and in what order they fought I suppose there were Wars in the World before there was any to record them The Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphicks and therefore I believe next to Moses we are obliged to the Grecians for giving us a glimpse of Antiquity And truly even they wrote the occasions the causes the beginnings the progress and issues of Wars so confusedly and fabulously that we can Ancient Histories fabulous build but little on their relations till themselves became renown'd by the stout resistance they made against the Persian Monarchy and yet even then they give us but little light how other Nations besides themselves manag'd the War what Art or Order they used in their Battels or how their Combatants were Armed The Sacred Story mentions no Battel fought after the Flood or before it till that of Chaderlaomer and other three Kings against the five Kings of the Plain But we may presume there were many bloody bickerings before that when Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis if Ninus was not Amraphel one of the four Kings whereof I much doubt impos'd the yoke of Slavery on so many Nations In this Battel fought in the plain of Sodom and Gomorrha the five Kings were beaten but how either they or their Adversaries fought with The Battel of Sodom what Arms or in what Order the History tells us nothing The Conquerours carry away a great booty and many Prisoners and among them Lot and the endeavouring his rescue made the War just on his Uncle Abrahams side He follows and overthrows the four Kings and brings back all the Goods and Prisoners Abraham had no particular Warrant for this War but it was approved for thereafter Melchizedec the Priest of the most High God blessed him nor was it needful for the Father of the Faithful to denounce the War because he look'd upon himself there as an Ally if not
the Macedonian Phalange as Aelian describes it was Defects of Aelians Phalange two-fold First by the exorbitant deepness of its File it took not up ground enough in the Front and next it admitted not of a Reserve Both which inconveniencies other Grecians shunn'd and so did Alexander himself the greatest Macedonian that ever was But I am of opinion that Aelian in his days never saw any thing except in figures so like the other Grecian Phalangarchies as we may see very frequently in our Modern Wars for he wrote his Tacticks to the Emperour Adrian who liv'd some Centuries after the Grecian Phalange was forc'd to do homage to the Roman Legion Our Author tells us that the Velites or light armed foot were half the Velites number of the heavy armed but we shall see hereafter that this held but seldome He will also have them to be eight deep because the heavy arm'd were sixteen in File By this rule the other Grecians who marshall'd their heavy arm'd eight in File should have drawn up their Velites but four deep Aelian doth also appoint them to be drawn up behind the Phalange and Indeed he might make them stand perhaps march where he pleas'd but the manner of their Fight being a la disbandad we may believe they kept but little good order in fighting with an Enemy less in pursuing him and least of all in flying from him CHAP. VII Of the Grecian Cavalry with some Observations upon it IT seems the Greeks did not tye themselves to any precise or certain number of Horse in their Armies as Aelian hath tyed them to a determinate number of Foot some of them using more some fewer as they conceiv'd needful for managing the present War they had in hand augmenting and diminishing the numbers of their Horse Troops as also the number of the men of each Troop as they found their occasions required Aelian tells us that Officers of a Horse Troop every Troop of Horse had a Captain whose place was in the Van a Lieutenant whose station was in the Rear and a Cornet who he saith stood with his Standard in the second Rank next him who was on the Right hand of the Troop All these we have He saith it had likewise two Flank Commanders who if they rode in Rank are represented by our Corporals He tells us nothing of a Quarter-master perhaps one of these Flank-Officers was he or officiated for him But that wherein he is very forgetful is that he makes no mention of a Trumpeter but assuredly since every Foot Company called a Syntagmatarchy that had Colours was allow'd a Trumpeter every Troop of Horse having a Standard had likewise one if not more Nor speaks he of Horn-winders though these were used by the Grecians as other Authors tell us Other Nations used them also The Persians had them for Xenophon in his first Book saith that Cyrus had his Corniciâ—â—s or Horn-blowers as well as Tubicines Trumpeters The Romans had them also whereof we shall speak hereafter Aelian in that Treatise of his De instrâ—â—ndiâ— Aciâ—â—â—â— gives us many figures of Troops of Horse most of which do but represent the several postures of a Body of Horse in doubling Files and Ranks and Countermarching Some of these figures it will be found difficult to imitate and perhaps our Author as ingenious as he was would himself have found it hard to have marshall'd them so in the Field as he hath done in Papâ—r and they are indeed but those Schematismi whereof Lâ—psiâ—â— on another occaâ—ion speaks Three odd figures of Horse Troops Particularly Aelian presents us with an Oval Figure of a Troop another of a Lunar or Crescent and a third which he calls Phalanx Inâ—â—rva not unlike that form of Battel after which the famous Hannibal is said to have drawn up his Mercenaries at Cannae which Body could no sooner move but presently iâ— lost its form and therefore I think it is probable that he marshall'd his Auxiliaries in that fashion to stand before his choice Carthaginians to weary the Romans that so his best Souldiers might have a cheaper Market of them as the Great Turk is said to blunt the Swordâ— of his Enemies with the Interposition of his Asapi between them and his Janizaries If any of the Grecian Troops of Horse were drawn up after any of these three forms that I have mention'd I shall very boldly say that they needed to have kept their ground very tenaciously and to have receiv'd the Enemies charge very â—â—â—â—fastly and couragiously for to my sense it was impossible for them either to march or give the charge without falling immediately into an irrecoverable disorder and this may be obvious to any man that will have the curiosity to look upon them and consider them right I find the Grecians used three kinds of Battels of Horse ordinarily not to Three forâ—â— of Horse Batallions speak of extravagant ones These were the Rhombus the Wedge and the Square The Thessulians who were thought to be the first and perfectest Horse-men in Europe used the Rhombus The invention of the Wedge is given to Philip of Macedon Father of Alexander and the Square was used by them both as also by all the other Grecians who sometimes made use likewise of the other two forms A Rhombus is a Geometrical Figure consisting of four acute Angles and The first is the Rhombus four sides equilateral or if you imagine two equilateral Triangles joyn'd back to back and their Angles equidistant for when two Triangles are joyn'd both of them have but four corners you conceive the figure of a Rhombus right enough To explain the Rhombus Horse Battel let us imagine a Troop to consist of sixty four Riders which number Aelian gives to a Macedonian Troop These sixty four were thus marshall'd Next the Captain stood one Horseman Simple Rhombus behind him two next them three behind them four then five then six then seven then eight That Rank of eight made two Angles where the two Flank Commanders stood for behind that Rank the number decreas'd as thus Behind the eight stood seven then six then five then four then three then two and lastly one Add all these together you will find the aggregate to be sixty four Behind the last one to my sense stood the Lieutenant though Aelian in some of his Figures seems to make the Captain and Lieutenant to be two of the number and if the two Flank Commanders were so too then the Troop consisted only of sixty besides Officers and not of sixty four There is another kind of Rhombus which in some sense may be called a The greater Rhombus double one and it is marshall'd by increasing the number of every Rank after the first by two till you come to the eighth Rank and after that your number is to decrease by two in every Rank till you come to one and then your Rhombus shall consist of one hundred
thought Castrametation a subject pertinent to his Castrametation Treatise for he speaks nothing of it and yet it is a very considerable part of the Art of War I find the Grecians did not put their Souldiers to so much fatigue as to fortifie their Camp every night as the Romans did They chose their Castrametation to be in places of advantage on Heights Hills or Rising grounds or where they might have a River or Water as their Back or one of their Flanks and if they had these or any of these they used to cast up but a slight Retrenchment unless they were to encamp some long time Sometimes the Figure of the Grecian Camp was Oval sometimes equilateral Square sometimes Oblong and I have read that Lycurgus appointed his Spartan Camps to be round if they could have none of those advantages I spoke of the defect of that Figure is that it wants Flanks which should not be wanting in any Fortification but it had the advantage of other Figures that it could contain more than any of them because Rotunda est omnium Figurarum capacissima If it be true what some say that the Romans learn'd their Art of Encamping from Pyrrhus King of Epirus then we shall know what his or the Grecian manner was when I come to speak of the Castrametation of the Romans where we shall see if he was their Master he needed not be asham'd of such Scholars This Pyrrhus was Brother-in-law to Demetrius Son to Antigonus who was a great Captain under a far greater Captain the famous Alexander who no question understood the Art of Encamping very well We read that the very day he fought his last Battel with Darius at Arbela upon sight of that numerous Alexanders Camp at Arbela Army he had to deal with he became doubtful how to carry himself in so great an exigent and therefore withdrew his Army to an Hill which Mazeus the Persian had deserted plac'd his Camp on it and order'd it to be fortified which was immediately done for we read in Curtius that after he had caus'd to put up his Pavillion review'd the Enemies Forces and resolv'd to give Battel he commanded the Retrenchment to be cast down that his Batallions might march out in Breast All this being done in a very short time shows that his Army was well acquainted with both Castrametation and Fortifidation To know how the Grecians kept their Watches and Guards we must expect no light from Aelian who speaks nothing at all of that affair Perhaps he hath been of one opinion with that Anabaptist Minister who preaching on that Text Watch and Pray told his Audience He would not trouble them with the various Interpretations of the word Watch for he would assure them in few words that Watch was as much as to say Watch. But because I have not read of any essential differences between the Roman Guards and Watches and those of the ancient Grecians I shall refer my Reader to my discourse of both in the twenty second Chapter of my Essays of the Roman Art of War where I shall inform him of any observable thing concerning them mention'd by Aeneas in those fragments of his which all-devouring time hath left us and those are but few Before the Grecians began their Battels they sung their Paean which was Paean a Hymn to Apollo a Hymn to Apollo after which they had their shout or cry which the Romans with a barbarous word called Baritus If they gain'd the Victory they sung another Paean or Hymn to that same Deity Then they loudly cryed to the God Mars Alala Alala doubling and re-doubling that word Alalâ— â— cry to Mars very often Neither was this custome peculiar to the Greeks for we read in the First Chapter of the Seventh Book of Xenophon that Cyrus the Persian used the very same thing when he fought that great Battel with Croesus wherein he was Victorious for we read not of any Paean any of them sung if they were beaten thinking belike they were not oblig'd to thank their Gods for any misfortune that befel them By what I have said you may easily perceive how little I think we have learn'd of the most essential points of the Ancient Grecian Militia from this great and so much talk'd of Master of the Art of War Aelian And if any say he only undertook to acquaint the Emperour Adrian with the marshalling Grecian Battels I shall say first that he hath but very ill acquitted himself of that undertaking and next that he might have done that great Prince as great a favour to have inform'd hiâ—â—â—â—f all those points of War which he hath neglected as of the manner how to marshal a Phalange and all the several parts of it CHAP. X. One of our Modern Armies compared with the Macedonian Phalanx OUR Batallions of Pikes in the Modern Wars would resemble the Grecian heavy armed Phalange of Foot if they were as well arm'd for the defensive as they should be and as they were one hundred years ago Our Modern Infantry resembles the Grecian one Musquets Harquebusses Fire-locks and Fusees give us an uncontroverted advantage over their light armed or yet the Roman Velites whatever Lipsius say to the contrary as shall be shown in the last Chapter of my Essays of the Modern Art of War A Swedish Company as it was in the time of the Great Gustavus and since being of one hundred twenty six men resembled the Grecian Centuriate which consisted of one hundred twenty eight men And a Swedish Regiment wherein are one thousand and eight men comes very near to the Grecian Chiliarchy wherein according to Aelian there were one thousand twenty four men Since the time that the Switzer Cantons confederated so strongly and Switzers fought with their Masters so fortunately that they got themselves declar'd Free States their great Batallions of ten sometimes twelve sometimes sixteen thousand all arm'd for the Offensive with long and strong Pikes and having their Heads Necks Backs Breasts Bellies and Arms and Thighs well defended with Iron and Steel resembled perfectly a Macedonian Phalange of heavy armed Foot And what great Victories they gain'd with those Batallions shall be spoke of hereafter en passant But one hundred years ago and before that they came short of the Grecians for their Velites for we read not that then they made use of any Musqueâ— or Harquebuâ—s though other Nations did But not long after that time they began to follow the custome of the Germans who then and long after made up their Bodies of Foot of two thirds of Pikes and one third of Fire-men For to arm two parts of a Company of Foot with Musquets and one part with Pikes is a custome of a far later date But of this more in another place Upon the whole matter I say that our Infantry of Musqueteers and Pike-men if they be well arm'd for the Defensive resembles the Grecian heavy and light armed Foot and so
suitable to so many Guns The Author tells us that King Henry view'd this mighty Army of his near the City of Metz where he saith it was drawn up in Battalia but he forgot A great oversight to inform us here of two very considerable points the one of what altitude or depth both the Foot and Horse were the second what distances were kept or order'd to be kept between the several Files and Ranks both of Horse and Foot and how great the Intervals were between the several Batallions and Bodies as well of the Cavalry as the Infantry for thereby we should have been able not only to have made a probable conjecture but determinately to have known how much ground the whole Army took up in longitude but there are others who are guilty of this neglect as well as this Author of ours who hath fail'd in this With these indeed formidable Forces did the French King intend to defie and fight within the Bowels of the German Empire Charles the Fifth a greater and braver Prince than whom though he had not been elected Emperour of the Romans either for propriety and large extent of Patrimonial Dominions or for personal Courage and Prudence the Western World had not seen since the time of Charles the Great But whilest this Magnanimous King is viewing and exceedingly pleasing himself Henry views his army with the sight of his gallant Army a beggarly and contemptible crew of some Souldiers some Soujats and Grooms and some Countrey Clowns in sight of this great Prince his Nobility in splendid equipage and of his whole Batallions charg'd those who were appointed to guard the Baggage and in spite of the King then in his greatest strength carried a rich and considerable And receives an affront booty into Theonville an Imperial Garrison not far from the place Nor was this affront done so publickly to so powerful an Army at all reveng'd only some Light Horse were sent before the Town to vapour and brave the Imperialists who fail'd not to sally out and skirmish with the French from which bickering neither party carried away any thing but blows And at length Henry's great preparations came to nothing for the two German Princes having not without some stain to their Honour made their Peace with the Emperour without the French Kings privity he was glad to return and defend his own Territories against Charles who was horribly incens'd against him for offering to assist his Rebels for so he call'd those Electors against his Lawful Authority As this French Army which I think so much represented the Phalange Conclusion vanish'd so the Macedonian Phalanx it self on which Aelian bestows the Titles and Epithets of Invincible Inexpugnable and Irresistable after it had in Philips and his Son Alexanders time given the Law to the Eastern World and after their deaths had been kept up by Alexanders Successors and Great Captains the space of one hundred and sixty years yielded to fate and was brought to nothing in Perseus his time and Macedon it self reduced to a Province by the Romans of whose Legions Art and Order of War we are in the next place to take a view PALLAS ARMATA Military Essays ON THE ANCIENT ROMAN ART of WAR BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Ancient Roman Government and Militia in General THE hand of Heaven which cast the Empire of the best part of the known World into the lap of the Romans was the more visible in that before they came to any great progress of Conquest and after too their State was Inward Diseases of the Roman State obnoxious to those difficulties which might have render'd it not only incapable to overcome its Enemies but subject to be a prey to any of its Neighbours And of these any who have perus'd their Histories may if they please with me observe them which follow First Their frequent change of Government as from Kings to Consulâ— First then to Consuls joyn'd with Tribunes of the People from these to a Decemvirate from that to Military Tribunes invested with Consular Authority from them to Consuls again from these to a Triumvirate and from that to Emperours Secondly The almost continual â—arrs and debates between the Senate and Second the People not only concerning the â—ex 〈…〉 and division of Lands but even about the Supreme Power of the Governament it self in which the Commons ever gain'd ground and at the long-run obtain'd the principal points and marks of the Soveraignty those were the 〈…〉 of Magistrates yea of the Consuls making and repeating Laws power of Life and Death and the last Appeal Thirdly The constantly Seditious Orations and Practices of the Tribunes Third of the People whereby they publickly obstructed many times the Levies of Souldiers and the pursuance of many Victories gain'd against their Neighbours Whilest the State was yet in its Infancy all those alterations and contentions proceeding from an inward disease of State could not choose but exceedingly weaken it in the undertaking any great action abroad But Fourthly Their Cruelty and Ingratitude to their own Citizens and Captains Fourth who had done them the best and greatest services some whereof I shall instance in in another place few of them all escaping a severe censure enough to withdraw any generous Spirit from a desire to serve them Fifthly Their frequent making Dictators almost upon every sudden apprehension Fifth of fear or supposed danger an Office so unlimited having power to do and command what they pleas'd without comptrol appeal or â—ear to be question'd after their time expired that it is a wonder none of them prevented Julius Câ—sar in usurping the Soveraignty Sixthly Their making two Consuls of equal authority the very fuel of discord Sixth at home and of most dangerous consequence abroad when a powerful Enemy necessitated them to joyn their Forces Take some Instances In one of the Wars against the Volscians Lucius Furius was joyn'd in equal Command with Marcus Furius Camillus that famous Roman who freed his Countrey from the Invasion of the Gauls in this War young Lucius would needs fight sore against old Camillus his advice and well beaten â—e was and had been utterly routed if the old man had not waited hiâ— opportunity and come to his rescue with the Triariâ— Fabius the Dictator nick-nam'd the Cunctator had Minutius joyn'd in equal command with him who would needs with the half of the Army fight Hanâ—â—bal whether the Dictator would or not The Carthaginian beats him and had made an end of him and perhaps of the War too if old Fabius had not parted the fray But the Romans escap'd not so easily at Cannae for there Terentius Varro in spite of his Colleague Paulus Aemilius fought with the same Hannibal where both of them receiv'd such an overthrow that if he who gave it them had follow'd Maharbal's advice and immediately marched he might in all probability have din'd the fifth day after in the Capitol and for
ever have extirpated the City and name of the Romans Here Rome was fav'd not at all by the Senates prudence but by her Enemies negligence Seventhly Their custome to recall their Consuls and Proconsuls at Seventh the end of every year unless by mighty favour or invincible necessity they were continued which made their Generals either desperately hazard Battel or grant an advantagious and honourable Peace to their almost conquered Enemies lest their Successors should have the honour to finish the War Take these instances Sempronius against all reason would needs fight Hannibal at Trebia before his Colleague Publ. Scipiâ— was recover'd of his wound for fear new Consuls should come and rob him of the glory of the Victory The like fear made Titus Flaminius grant an advantagious Peace to Nabis the Tyrant of Lacedaemon when Titus was almost Master of all Greece So did Scipio the African to the vanquish'd Carthaginians after he had beat Hannibal at Zama publickly professing that the ambitious desires of Claudius and Cornelius who aspired to succeed him and put an end to that long War was the cause he did not finish it himself wanting time with the destruction of Carthage Eighthly Their extraordinary superstition beyond all other Nations They Eighth must sacrifice great and small Beasts make Processions Lectisterniums and Supplications to all their Gods and Goddesses who were not a few not only some days but sometimes some weeks before their Generals were permitted to march from the City whereby time and occasion not to be recovered in the matter of War were very frequently lost All this must be done to pease their angry Deities when any prodigies were seen or heard of either within or without the City for some whereof natural reasons might have been given some of them were palpable and ridiculous lyes and not a few of them compos'd either by the State or the Priests to cheat the credulous vulgar and yet with the relation of them Titus Livius even nauâ—eates his Reader insomuch that Boccalini tells us in one of his Raguagli that when Dion was severely reprov'd in Parnassus before Apollo for writing such fabulous Miracles Livius was observ'd to blush as guilty of the same crime yet Boccalini's own Tacitus and Suetonius use us very â—ittle better Livy tells us of several Oxen that spoke particularly of one that said Cave Tibi Roma But I wonder why many more poor mens Oxen did not learn to speak since this Oxe for his seasonable warning in bidding Rome beware of herself was order'd to be fed on the publick charge Suetonius tells us of a Crow which towards the end of Dâ—mitians Reign told the Romans from the Capitol That all should be well If she had not lov'd her liberty better than her meat she had not flown away but stay'd still and been fed at the publick expence of the City and perhaps been worshipp'd as Fatidick for things did indeed grow well after that Monsters death yet methinks she was a very ill natur'd Bird that would not tell so good news in the vulgar language which was Latin for you are to know she spoke in Greek that the poor people of Rome who were oppress'd by that bloody Tyrant might have understood the comfortable Prophecy as well as the fabulous Priests I pray you take the Story in Verse Tarpeio nuper sedit quae culmine cornix Est bene non potuit dicere dixit Erit Vpon the Capitol the Crow Did not say All was well But That things shortly well should go Distinctly she did tell Nor must the Roman Generals go out of Rome till they took their auspices right nor must they fight if the entrails of the Sacrificed Beasts did not fully please the jugling Priests or yet if the Sacred Pulleâ—s did not eat their meat well and it was well enough known how the Chicken masters couzen'd the Consuls oft enough with the eating or not eating of the Chicken it being almost constantly in their power to make the Consuls give Battel or abstain from it when they pleas'd Julius Caesar would not be so cheated for though the Hostia which he was to Sacrifice run away from him which was thought to presage had fortune yet went he on to Africk and at his landing there his foot tripping he fell this his Souldiers thought very ominous but he gave it another interpretation and said He had taken possession of the Countrey Teneo te Africa But contrary to what I have said appear two famous Authors Machiavelli and Polybius The first in his first Book of his Discourses on Titus Livius makes the Romans tenacious adâ—ering to Machiavelli their superstition which he calls Religion to be one of the causes of their aggrandizing their Empire and commends them much for â—uffering no Innovation to be introduc'd in their Holy Rites yet all he doth upon the matter is to shew that the Ancient Romans made a prudent use of their pretended Religion and under the notion of it govern'd their Common-wealth politickly But I say first that is but one of his own conjectures and notwithstanding any thing he saith to the contrary I suppose those Romans were as eally superstitious as they pretended to be even the Senators themselves and himself in the eleventh Chapter of that Book avers that there was never greater fear of God for many ages than in that ancient Republick then by his own account it was no pretended but a real Religion And is not this â—ound Christian Doctrine to aver that the fear of God was where Devils under the notion of Deities were publickly ador'd and worshipp'd Secondly I say if the Roman Senate was to be commended for not suffering any alteration to be made in that Religion which their second King Numa Pompilius had establish'd amongst them then by Machiavell's rule we must approve of all the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours against the Christians for thereby they did but endeavour to banish all new Religions out of their Dominions Truly I think that not any one part of that Florentines Writings smells ranker of Atheism than this doth But Polybius an universally approv'd Author speaks very near Polybius the same language in the sixth Book of his History where he saith that that which with other Nations was accounted a Vice was made useful by the Romans for keeping their Subjects within the bounds of their duty and that was saith he the superstitious veneration of their Gods in an extraordinary way but withal he adds that the Romans did well to restrain the fury and other passions of the Commons with unseen terrours with feign'd and fearful bug-bears and that both they and other Ancient Nations had done prudently to induce in credulous minds the opinion of Deities and of the torments of Hell and though these have no existency yet the Doctrine of them saith he is not to be rashly condemn'd since it over-awes the vulgar Whether this Discourse will not prove Polybius though he knew not
the true God to have been in that Idolatrous age wherein he lived as very an Atheist as Machiavelli was when he wrote his Discourses on Livy and his Book Di Prencipe I shall not determine but leave those who accuse him of that crime and his Translator Casaubon who defends him from that imputation to debate the matter between them Ninthly Their horrible and bloody Civil Wars enough to have destroy'd Ninth ten other Nations as that between Sylla and Marius Father and Son and that between Caesar and the Pompeys and that of the Triumvirate In all which how much the Roman State was at a loss may be conjectur'd by one review the Dictator Caesar made of the Roman Citizens even before he had made an end of the War wherein he found the number to be less by one hundred thousand men than when he began that one Civil War which had continued not full four years But there were other difficulties wherewith the Roman State had to wrestle and those made up likewise an inward disease which came unexpected and unlook'd for and not being foreseen could not well be prevented and those difficulties are most proper for this discourse because of a Military Subject and those were the frequent and terrible Mutinies of the Roman Legions Mutinies in the Roman Armies or Armies Indeed these laid them open to the Attempts and Invasione of all their Enemies and maligning Neighbours and have left beside especially when unpunish'd an eternal blemish on their Discipline of War so much cry'd up by all Nations and in all Ages the like of which Mutinies either for number or danger I do not read to have fallen out in any Army of the World if you except those infamous ones made by the King of Spains Forces in the Netherlands about twenty or thirty years or more after the beginning of the Intestine Wars of those Countreys whereof John Petit Strada and Bentivoglio with other Historians of those times may give the curious Reader a full account Of the Roman Mutinies some whereof were punish'd some never I shall give you these following Instances When Caesar the greatest Captain that ever was made War in Spain against Against Caesar Pompeys Legates because he would not fight when his Legions would they Mutini'd and told him they would not fight when he desir'd them He pacified them with good words as knowing it was not time to use force At Placentia his ninth Legion Mutini'd and â—efus'd to go to Africk with him but desir'd to be dismiss'd and he accordingly disbanded them When Lucullus Against Luculius had gain'd a Victory against Mithridates and Tigranes he could not get it pursued for the Mutâ—â—â— of his Army which would neither be entreated nor commanded to march alledging they had serv'd out their time The Leons which were lest at Corfiniuns by the Senate and Pompey to whom they had sworn Fidelity Mutini'd against their Governour Domitius and deliver'd Against Domitius Against Aâ—â—â—nus both him and the Town to Caesar Aulus Posthumius Albinus a Legat and an Admiral upon a false suspicion of Treachery was barbarously murder'd by his own Army Caius Fimbria with the help of his Mutinous Souldiers murder'd the Consul Valerius Flaccus and thereafter justly fearing Against â—laccus the same measure entreated one of his own Slaves to do him the courtesie to kill him The Consul Cinna because he would have had his Legions to fight Against Ciâ—â—a against Sylla at that time a declar'd Enemy to the State is murder'd by them Lucius Scipio being to fight with the same Sylla is deserted by his Mutinous Against Luciâ—s Sâ—ipio Souldiers who went all over to the Enemy nor were ever any of those Mutinies or Murders punish'd or look'd after But because it may be said most of all these were acted in time of Civil Wars when Authority was â—â—od under foot and every man did that which seemed good in his own eyes I will tell you of some Mutinies and those of the deepest dye that fell out when the Ancient Roman Discipline was in its vigour and was said to be executed with the greatest severity and strictness I shall not speak of the Commons leaving the City and going to Mon's Sacer or the Holy Hill when they were brought back by the witty Parable of Menenius Agrippa that being a Sedition or Secession of the people rather than a Mutiny of the Souldiers But sure those Legions who without Against the Senate liberty given came out of the Fields to the Apennine Hill and made their demands to the Senate in Arms was a Mutiny but so far from being punish'd that the Mutiniers got what they demanded Consul Câ—so Fabius beat the Against Câ—sâ— Fabius Aequians out of the Field with his Cavalry but could not perswade his Legioâ—s to advance or mend their pace or make so much as a shew of pursuit but on the contrary they march'd back to their Tents and offer'd rather their Throats to be cut by the Enemy if he had turn'd head than obey their Consul nor was ever this pernicious and dangerous Mutiny punish'd When Appius Claudius had marshall'd his Legions against the Volscians Against Appâ—us Claudius they Mutini'd refus'd to fight and fled back to their Camp and though many of them were kill'd in the Rear yet neither Honour Duty or which is more Self-preservation could move them to turn their faces to the Enemy their wickedness and obstinacy continued next day when the Consul marching homewards the Volscians again attack'd him and made a carnage of the Rear of his men without any opposition for none would fight but all ran and fled insomuch that the Enemy might have made the whole Roman Army his prey if he could have made use of so favourable an opportunity It is true Appius found his time to punish the execrable Mutiniers and did it to some purpose by whipping first and then beheading all the Centurions as also all the Ensign-bearers that had lost their Colours and the Souldiers that had cast away their Arms all the rest â—e decimated and beheaded every tenth man saith Livy bastinadoed saith Florus What manner of death this bastinadoing was shall be told you in the twenty fourth Chapter of these Discourses A Legion of four thousand Romans was sent to Rhegium to keep Against the State it for the State they Mutiny kill the principal Citizens and keep the Town for themselves full ten years at last being forc'd to yield all that were taken alive were well whip'd and beheaded in the great Market-place of Rome Posthumius a Military Tribune with Consular authority fought fortunately Against Posthumius with the Aequians observe in all these that the Roman Empire was but yet in its Cradle is call'd back to the City in his absence his Army Mutinies against his Treasurer beats him and wounds him The Tribune returns in haste and indeed he made more haste than good
speed and endeavouring to punish the Mutiniers is himself ston'd to death by them nor was this highest insolence and baseness ever punish'd as both in Justice and Honour it should have been Sulpitius a Dictator thinking to use the Fabian Against Sulpâ—tius way and protract the War against the Gauls is forc'd by his Mutinous Army to fight nor did he ever punish any of the Mutiniers perhaps because he was successful in beating the Enemy yet did not this savour so much of that Roman severity for which they desir'd to be so much cryed up At Capua before Hannibal entred Italy some Roman Legions hatched a dreadful and monstrous Mutiny which portended no less than the ruine and dissolution of the State it self they came to a head at Lentulâ— fortified their Camp and Against the Common-wealth took Titus Quintius who had been a Military Tribune out of his Countrey-House and forced him to be their General Neither was this most dangerous Mutiny appeased by the Authority of either the Senate or the Dictator Valerius but to the advantage of the Mutiniers in so far that the Horse-mens pay was diminished at the instance of the Mutiniers who were all of the infantry and all because the Horse had refused to joyn with the Foot in that detestable design of ruining the Common-wealth So you see the custome of punishing honest men and rewarding knaves is not of a new date Great Scipio the African a person of great authority if ever Rome bred any being Against Scipio the African in Spain eight thousand of his Army lay at a place called Sucro a great way from him they Mutiny chase away their Tribunes and choose Captains of their own before two of whom were carried Axes and bundles of Rods the badges of Soveraign power Scipio by policy and good words making fair weather with them brought them to the rest of the Army and then suddenly laid hold upon thirty five of the Ring-leaders these he whips and beheads the rest he pardons The same Scipio had a Legat one Pleminius who lay at Lâ—ori in Italy his Souldiers and those of some other Tribunes go Against Plâ—minius together by the ears Pleminius composeth the matter but because the Tribunes had not done their duty in parting the fray he will have them whipp'd with Rods their Souldiers Mutiny beat Pleminius and cut off his Nose Scipio hearing of the disorder hastens thither acquits his Legat as having done his duty and for satisfaction to his Noseless face orders the Tribunes to be sent in Fetters to Rome there to receive their punishment and so goes away But when Pleminius put his hand to his Face and missed his Nose he could not be satisfied with the Consuls arbitration and therefore resolved to cut out his own Revenge which he performed with a very bloody Knife for he put all the Tribunes to death with most exquisite torments Let those Modern Writers who so much cry up the Ancient Roman Discipline Not so great disorders in the Modern Wars of War and which of them all doth it not and complain of the slackness of the Modern one tell me of greater Insolencies Mutinies or Contempt of Authority in any age since the decadency of the Roman Empire than these I have mentioned all or most whereof fell out when the Military Laws of Rome were thought to be most strictly observed nor can it be said that the Ancient Discipline was worn out for at the latest of these Mutinies at Locri the Romans were but young Lords being Masters of little more than the half of Italy in one of the best corners whereof Hannibal their sworn Enemy made yet his abode and would have done so longer if his unhappy Countrey-men had not first withdrawn their assistance from him and at length called him home to Africk to support their now decaying and tottering State Notwithstanding all these inward Maladies enough to have consumed the vitals of any State the Romans in time prevailed over all those with whom they made either a just or an unjust War for as the all-powerful God had pre-ordained them to be a mighty people so he had qualified them with parts abilities and endowments to attain to that greatness These were True Fortitude Prudence Abstinence Temperance Equity either real or Roman Vertues pretended Patience with an admirable Toleration of all manner of wants and difficulties inuring their Souldiers to all manner of toyl and fatigue and above all with Magnanimity as never succumbing or yielding to adversity but in their greatest affliction and lowest condition shewing greatest Courage and Confidence which those Senators well witness'd who would needs dye in their Robes with the Ensigns of Majesty when the Gauls had taken and burnt their City And after their total rout at Cannae when Hannibal sent Embassadours with overtures of Peace to them they sent out and discharg'd his Messengers to approach the City And after that when that Great Captain came a little too late indeed and sac'd their City with his Victorious Army they sold that piece of ground on which his Pavilion was erected publickly by the Drum at an over-rate and to shew him that this was not a rant one of their Consuls offer'd him Battel two several days but that great hazzard was hinder'd by fearful Tempâ—sts from Heaven With these and other abilities were the famous Romans fitted for the performance of that which the Almighty had order'd for them and that was to over-master the most part of the then known World and to govern and rule all other Nations with a Rod of Iron They who desire to know perfectly the Ancient Roman Ordinances and Constitutions Most of the Roman Tacticks lost of War have reason to wish that those Authors mention'd by Vegetius were yet extant which were the Treatises of the Emperours Augustus Adrian and Trajan but most of all that of Marcus Porcius Cato who was not only a great Senator and an eloquent States-man but an excellent Captain whereof bear witness his prudent Conduct of Armies his Victories and his Triumphs all yet on Record And yet he professed that he thought he had done the Roman Republick the greatest service in preserving their Military Art from Oblivion and transmitting it to posterity by his Writings There is no question but that Treatise of his if it had not been lost had clear'd us of many of those doubts and difficulties which none that are extant do or ever will do All that is left to give us a glimpse of light in the Roman Art of War are some fragments of Polybius and a Book of Flavius Renatus Vegetius De re Militari Both of them Noble Authors and eminent persons in their several times For the last he is so much cry'd up by most and thought to be understood by all that I do confess it must be my dulness that makes me not understand him in many places wherein I think Vegetius his Defects him so obscure
he knew best but the old Romans darted their â—avelines as they were advancing towards the Enemy and were commanded by their Generals to make haste to come to dint of Sword esteemed by them the Prince of Weapons So Caesars Legionaries at Pharsalia were order'd after each man had cast his Javeline to run to the shock which accordingly they did The manner of throwing their Pila was that the first Rank threw first and immediately How they were thrown bowed down that the second Rank might cast over their heads so did the third and fourth and the rest till all the Ranks had thrown When they stood in order of Battel they us'd to stick their Javelines in the ground till the sign was given so it seems they were sharp at both ends and no doubt in time of Battel they might have made a Pallisado of them against Horse as Suedish Feathers have been used in our time yet we read not in History that any such use was ever made of the Roman Pilum Being now to speak of the Roman light armed foot I shall desire my Reader once for all to take notice that Vegetius was desir'd by the Emperour Valentinian to give him the Constitutions Laws and Practice of the Ancient Roman Art of War and not of any customs lately crept in Notwithstanding which he reckons among the light armed Foot Plumbati whom he likewise calls Martiobarbuli and Fustubularii whom I cannot English otherwise than the first to be Lead-casters and the second to be Slingers with Battoons He reckons also Archers but in Ancient History we do not read of any of those three for the old Romans acknowledg'd no other light arm'd or Velites but Slingers Roman Velites and Darters Both these were armed Defensively with Head-pieces of Raw-Hides and a Target four handful long and of an oval form For Offence How arm'd the Darter had a Sword and seven Darts the Slinger had a Sling a Sword and a number of Stones Some allow also to both of them a little Javeline of three or four foot long The Spanish Darts being wing'd at the point could hardly be pull'd out of a Shield or the Body of a man such Arrows are common and are called Barbed But the Sagumine Dart which was called Falarica deserves The Saguntine Falarica to be taken notice of Livius describes it thus in his twenty first Book Falarica was a kind of Dart used by the Saguntines when Hannibal besieg'd their City perhaps they invented it at that siege it had a long shaft round and even every where except toward the end of it and that was headed with Iron three foot long Tow being wrapp'd about it smear'd with Pitch this Tow they fired when they were to lance the Dart the violent motion increased the fire insomuch as when it could not pierce the Body it forc'd the Souldier to cast away his Shield or Corslet and so expos'd him disarm'd to the Darts or Arrows which were shot afterward The Timber of the Roman Dart Roman Darters might be two foot long and the bigness of a mans finger the point of it of Iron one foot long sharp small and subtile that it might pierce and in piercing bow that so an Enemy might not make use of it by throwing it back again but this was the practice of other Nations as well as the Romans yet I pray observe what Livy saith in contradiction of this In that Battel which I mention'd but a little before the Triarii gather'd up all the Darts for they were allow'd to carry none of their own which were strayed all over the field and no doubt had been all cast before and with these they disorder'd the Gauls who had made a Pent-house of their Shields and so put them to flight What shall we then believe And is it not strange too that these Darters would throw their Darts four hundred foot for my part I dare not believe it and if it be true certainly the blow could not be mortal The Roman Slingers used to cast Stones out of ordinary Slings which they Roman Slingers wheel'd about their heads and would hit at the distance of six hundred Foot for no less as Vegetius affirms was allow'd them at their exercise Other Slingers the Ancient Romans had not The Inhabitants of the Balearick Islands which now are called Majorca and Minorca were Balearâ—ans esteemed both the best and the first exercisers of the Sling the Mothers refus'd to give their children meat till they had hit the mark was given them to throw at Livy in his thirty eighth Book crys up the Aegean Slingers of whom one hundred â—â—â—ans not only beat back the stout Samians when they sallied out of their Town but also never missing to â—it them when they appear'd on the Parapets of their Walls forc'd them to render their City to Marcus Fâ—lvius the Roman Consul And yet it is more than probable that neither the one nor the other were skilful â—enjamites or so ancient practicers of the Sling as the Israelites for there were 700 of one Tribe who could hit within an hair-breadth With this Weapon did David obtain the Victory over Goliah of which I shall speak in another place Vegetius hath reason to prefer the Sling to the Bow in this regard that an Arrow cannot wound unless it pierce but a Stone bruiseth though it pierce not and if it be of any weight it killeth notwithstanding the resistance of any Head-piece or Corslet In the times of the Emperours or a little before came the Plumbati or Martioâ—arbuli in fashion with the Romans Vegetius tells us what great services Lead-casters they did in the reigns of Dioclesian and Maximian but doth us not the favour to describe the thing it self They threw Bullets of Lead of one pound weight I do not remember whether Livy mentions any of them to have been among those Roman Slingers who beat the Gallo-Greciant at Olympâ—â— The Fustibalus Battoon-Slingers or Battoon-Sling was a Sling of Leather tyed to a Battoon of four foot long which the Slinger manag'd with both his hands and out of which saith Vegetius he threw Stones as out of an Onagra with so great force that neither Target Head-piece or Corslet could resist it But these expressions are ordinary with him I am of the opinion there was no difference between the Plumbati or Lead-casters and the Fustibalarii or Battoon-Slingers but that the first cast Lead and the last great Stones but how far our Author tells us not Archers were not reckon'd among the Velites till the second Punick War Archers Auxiliaries and even then they were rather Auxiliaries than either Romans or Allies They were however made good use of after Hannibal invaded Italy Vegetius in the fifteenth Chapter of his First Book affirms for which he hath no authority of History that the fourth part of the youth of Rome was train'd to the use of the Bow for
we read of no such custome Scipio Aemilianâ—s who destroy'd Carthage made much use of Bow-men against the Numantines and without them if you will believe Vegetius he thought he could not over-master that Valorous Enemy The Emperour Justinian made a singular good use A good practice of some of his Archers which was this He caus'd them to put on such Defensive Arms as his Legionaries wore and mix'd them together these Bowmen pour'd showers of Arrows on the Enemy before their heavy armed could come within distance either to cast their Javelins or draw their Swords yea the nearer they were the more mischief they did and when they came to a close medley they quit the Bow and took them to their Swords How great use was made of Auxiliary Bow-men by the Romans may be conjectur'd by this that when some of Pâ—mpeys Legions storm'd one of Caesars Castles at Dirrachium and were beat off thirty thousand Arrows were reckon'd to Caesar himself all which had fallen in the Sconce And one Scava a Centurion Shields resist Arrows shewed his Shield to his General wherein were one hundred and thirty holes Observe by the way that Targets resisted the violence of Arrows Some write that Augustus caus'd them to levy Roman Citizens to be Archers both on Foot and Horse-back perhaps he had been taught to do so by the losses his Competitor Anthony and before him Crassus suffer'd by the Parthian Bowmen The wicked Emperour Domitian was said to be so cunning an Archer that Suetonius writes he could direct his Arrows to the mark between the fingers of a Boy stretched one from the other without hitting any of them of such we have heard in later times After the Roman Souldiers were levied and arm'd they were marked in the Hand or some other place of the Body and an Oath of Fidelity taken of them which Vegetius in the fifth Chapter of his Second Book describes to be this as it was impos'd by the Emperour Constantine the Great I Swear by Roman Military Oath God by Christ and by the Holy Spirit and by the Majesty of the Emperour whom I worship that I will do all things that he commands me and that I shall never desert his service nor refuse to dye for the Roman Common-wealth Let us observe some things of this Oath First That in these times Christian Souldiers thought it no sin to pay Civil Worship to their lawful Prince Secondly They took more liberty than they should have done to swear by the Emperour for this being an Oath taken with mature deliberation and in Judgement was a greater sin in them than it was in Joseph to swear rashly by a bad custome he had learnt among the Egyptians by the Life of Pharaoh Thirdly Our Author hath forgot to tell us what manner of Oath the Roman Souldiers swore before the Emperours were converted to the Faith or what Military Oath was made to the State before the Heathen Emperours usurped it though this should have been told us who desire to know the Military constitutions of the Ancient Romans I suppose they swore by Jupiter and all the rest of their Gods to be faithful to the Senate and People of Rome to be obedient to their Commanders and not to desert their Standards or Ensigns This or the like Oath was exacted by the several Tribunes of every man under their Command But I must inform my Reader that this publick and judiciary Swearing Fidelity was not practis'd by the Romans till the Second Punick When first impos'd War For Livy witnesseth in his 22 Book that before that time no Oath was required of the publick Officers either of State or Militia only the Foot Souldiers in every Century and the Horse-men in every Decurio were accustomed to promise and swear one to another not to fly one from another or to desert the service But after Hannibal's Invasion a formal and solemn It s rise Oath was impos'd which I believe had its first rise from the Oath which Publius Cornelius Scipio at that same time both swore himself and forc'd other young Gentlemen who after the rout of Cannae were preparing to leave Italy to Swear in these words I Swear with all my Heart that I shall not desert the Republick nor suffer any other Roman to desert it If willingly I fail in this then may the Greatest and Best Jupiter inflict on Me my House Family and Goods the worst of evils This Swearing and Marking were called the Military Sacraments Sacrament after which the Souldiers were enroll'd and enter'd in pay neither was it lawful for a Roman to fight with an Enemy till he had taken the Oath and if he kill'd an Enemy before he swore Fidelity he was to be punish'd as a Man-slayer The word Sacrament was by the Fathers in the Primitive times borrowed from the Militia to signifie the Initiation and Holy Mysteries of the Militant Church Polybius tells us likewise that the Souldiers at the time of their enrolling swore to obey all the Commands of the Consul and of all Officers under him He says likewise that when they came to be encamped another Oath was Another Oath exacted not only from the Souldiers but all that followed or belong'd to the Camp whether Bond or Free Master or Servant not to steal any thing out of the Leaguer and that if they found any thing by chance they should bring it to one of the Tribunes Other Oaths were likewise sworn sometimes voluntarily by the Souldiers Rash Oaths with mutual consent sometimes impos'd by some of the Commanders most whereof were rash or vain particularly one That they should not return from Battel without Victory as Livy in his Second Book informs us And Caesar in his Seventh Book of the Gallick War says that the Horsemen desir'd that it might be declar'd by a solemn Oath that no man should return either to his Parents Wife or Children who did not charge twice through the Enemy which being agreed on all were forc'd to swear And in his Third Book of the Civil War he tells us how Labienus swore never to desert Pompey but to share with him in all his Fortunes the like did An Oath ill kept the rest of his Army This Oath was sworn at Pharsalia and was ill kept for both Pompey deserted his Army and was deserted by all those who had sworn to stand by him CHAP. IV. Of Sieges and Defence of Towns and Forts and of the great Engines and Machines used in them by the Romans and other Ancients THE several ways by which Towns Castles and Forts in our Modern The Ancients expugned Towns as we do Art of War as they are described in the twenty fourth Chapter of my Discourses of the Modern Militia are taken were all used by the Ancients for Gun-powder hath only augmented the violence and fury of the Battery and furnish'd us with more fearful and mortal Darts than the men of old were acquainted
shot as some say Balist Darts Lances yea Spears of thirty foot long but others say that it threw only great Weights and Stones Vegetius gives it only power to throw Darts nor doth he at all mention the Catapult which some Authors say shot Catapult very great Stones and of it all other Ancient Writers take notice And they are by them clearly distinguished the one from the other Philip the last King of Macedon except one at the Siege of Echinum had Ambulatory Towers and upon them saith Polybius in his Ninth Book he had Catapults and a platform besides for Balists And in his Fourth Book he says that the Sinopians being destitute of all necessaries got abundance of rich gifts sent to them by several and that particularly the Rhodians sent them besides many other necessaries four Catapults with Engineers to manage them and more clearly in his fifth Book he says that at the Siege of Palâ— Philip had both Catapults and Balists The diversity of Judgements of Authors concerning these two great Engines was this Vegetius saith the Balist threw only Darts and Lances Ammianus who was Vegetius his Contemporary and both a great Souldier and a great Engineer speaks only of Stones for that Engine Valerius Maximus and Vitruvius both of them great Architectors affirm that Stones were the proper missiles of Difference among Authors concerning these two Machines Balists and that Catapults threw Darts Lances and Spears Polybius a great Captain in that cited place at Palae says Philips Balists and Catapults threw Stones and so confoundeth them yet in another place he distinguisheth for he saith In that Battel at Mantinea which Mechanidas the Tyrant of Lacedâ—mon fought against Philopoemon the Achâ—an the first had Catapults which he plac'd in the Van of his Army and Waggons laden with Darts for them therefore they shot no Stones But this is downright against a greater Captain than any I have yet mention'd and that was Julius Caesar who besides his other perfections was an excellent Engineer he saith in the First Book of his Civil War that the Catapult threw great Stones In such a diversity of opinions I think Achilles Terduzzi offers a fair expedient of agreement which is that it is An expedient of reconciliation probable in the times of the Emperours the names of Catapult and Balist were confounded so that the one was taken for the other or that by a new Invention not heard of before both the one and the other threw both Darts and Stones The Balist and the Catapult were made and fram'd according to the weight of the Stone and the length of the Dart or other missiles which they were ordain'd to shoot as our Ordnance are founded according to the weight of the Bullet intended for them from whence many of them have their denomination as a three four or six pounder I made mention of Balists and Catapults in the fourth Chapter of the Grecian Militia the Invention of which Of their Invention some would bestow upon Dionysius one of the Tyrants of Syracusa but I have prov'd in that Chapter from Holy Writ that they were used many ages before Syracusa was forc'd to submit to Tyranny Lipsius seems to give it to the Syrians which may be true and though I told you Oziah one of the Kings of Judah had them on the Walls of Jerusalem yet it was no such shame for the two Tribes to borrow the Invention of Military Machines from Heathen Nations as it was sin for the ten Tribes to borrow and follow the pattern of the Altar of Damascus from their Idolatrous Neighbours There were if you will believe Authors some of these Machines which could shoot Stones of one hundred some two hundred and some of them three hundred and sixty pound and those that cast one hundred pound threw their Stones the length of two Stadia or Furlongs and these make the fourth part of an English Mile It was a custome also to cast into Besieged Towns burning Iron Vessels with molten Lead dead Horses and Tubs and Barrels full of excrements or any thing else that could infest annoy or vex the Besieged And some write that out of a Catapult was shot a long Spear or A strange story Lance from one Bank of the River Danubius where it is broadest over to the other This I dare not believe for I suppose that mighty River before he dischargeth himself may be more than two Italian Miles broad and I will suppose likewise that Gunners will confess that no piece of Ordnance will shoot a Bullet so far point-blank especially over a River Vegetius in the fourteenth Chapter of his Third Book allows Carrobalists Carrobalist to march with the Roman Army Terduzzi thinks they were Arcobalists they shot as our Author saith botâ— Darts and Stones Vegetius saith they had many Conductors but in the last Chapter of his Book he says every Century had a Carrobalist this was a Balist mounted on a Carriage and he allows Mules to draw it and eleven Souldiers of the Century to manage it Now observe that in Vegetius his Legion there were five and fifty Centuries and therefore fifty five Carrobalists every one of which had eleven men to manage them Multiply fifty five by eleven the product is six hundred and five and so many of every Legion Vegetius allows for these Engines And A File eleven deep I pray you observe here in passing that Vegetius expressly allows eleven Souldiers for every Tent or Contubernium by which he doth not obscurely insinuate that the Files of the Roman Foot were eleven deep The greater these Carrobalists were the further they carried their Darts neither saith our Author could any Corsâ—et resist their blow The Onager saith Vegetius shoots Stones like Thunder bolts greater or Onager lesser according to the bigness or thickness of its Cords so it is a kind of Catapult or Balist It hath its name as Steuechius says from the Greek word which signifieth a Wild Ass for those Animals when they are hunted fling Stones with their heels at those who pursue them The Scorpion saith Vegetius shoots small and subtile Darts whereby present Scorpion death was procur'd But Animian makes the Onager and the Scorpion to be all one thing and he avers the Onager to be a new word brought in the room of the old one which was Scorpio and in the description he gives of it cited by Steuechius he makes it only to cast great Stones and no Darts so great a difference there is between him and Vegetius who liv'd both at one time Yet several are of Vegetius his opinion and say the Scorpion threw Darts and Arrows and poyson'd ones too and that from thence that Engine had its name But on the other hand this seems not probable if iâ— be true as iâ— seems to be that all or most Nations have with a tacite assent made it their constant practice and custome and so
Fathers Master made use of one of them at Gaza and Curtiâ—s in his Second Book says that Alexander had one of them at the Siege of Mazacus in India which seem'd so wonderful to the Barbarians that they thought some Deity or more than humane strength did assist that Magnanimous Prince One of these Towers which Julius Caesar erected against a Town of the Nervians if I mistake not wrought a contrary effect for the Defendants laugh'd and flouted at it as a thing made to no purpose since it could not hurt them at such a distance till they saw it begin to move towards their Walls and then they began to have other thoughts All these Machines were ordinarily made in the place where they were to be used but if the Generals conceiv'd that at the Towns they intended to besiege they could not be accommodated with things requisite for these Fabricks then they carried all the materials along with them on Camels Mules Horses Carts and Waggons As the Great Turk carrieth his Metal with him till he come where he intendeth to make use of Ordnance and there he causeth them to be founded Besides all these ways spoken of for expugnation of Towns the Ancients made frequent use of Mines this the Romans call'd Cuniculos agere because Mines resemble the digging of Rabbets neither did the Besieged in those Mines times want the knowledge to find out Mines and provide Counter-mines against them The way of Mining they used and we still do is all one except that they wanted the springing of Mines by Gun-powder and therefore the use they made of Mines produced a two-fold effect First The Mine First effect of the Ancients Mine being brought within the Town without taking notice of the Walls Souldiers suddenly issued out and run to the Ports to open them and so make way for the Besiegers to enter and at that time ordinarily Alarms were given to all quarters that the Besiegers might be diverted and not suffer'd to observe the Sally of those who were enter'd the Town by the Mine Such a Mine and the effect of it Hannibal had at Saguntum Secondly When they had made large Second effect Chambers in the Walls they under-propt them with logs of dry Timber and having laid store of combustible matter beside them so soon as the Army was ready to storm Fire was put to the Train and the supporters being burnt the Wall immediately fell over the ruines whereof the Besiegers enter'd And this effect had the Great Alexanders Mine at Gaza Aeneas tells us of a Mines how discovered Shield of Brass used in his time to discover Mines â—or if it were plac'd directly above the place where the Miners were working it would utter a sound later times have found a Drum and Dice upon it or a Basin of Pease or Beans serve the turn as well The same Aeneas an old Grecian Tactick adviseth against all manner of Aeneas his Sails the Ancient approaches to Besieged places to hang up great Sails within the Walls which he will have to serve for three uses First For Blinds that what is done within may not be seen by those without a thing ordinarily practis'd in our Modern Wars Secondly That all the Darts and Arrows that are cast or shot even from the Moving Towers may be receiv'd in these Sails where sticking all the day long they can do no hurt and at night may be taken out and thrown or shot back to the Enemy This would be useless against our Bullets Thirdly They were notable Defences against Fiery Arrows shot ordinarily to fire Houses thatch'd with Straw or Reeds But indeed there is no such solid or sure defence against all manner of Approaches and Mines against all Machines and Engines of the Ancients and Batteries of Modern Artillery as that which the same Author Aeneas speaks of and that is a Double Wall and a Double Ditch For the first being long and well defended the second imposeth a necessity on the Besiegers to begin new Approaches new Batteries and new Mines But if the place be Countermures or Retrenchments not doubly fortified then he adviseth the Besieged to make a Counter-mure within that part of the Wall against which the Assailants make their Battery The same is done still or should be done in all besieged places It is that we call a Retrenchment and the Germans an Absuerd It was by this the Plataeans kept out the long Siege of their Town against the Lacedaemonians till hunger made them yield to their merciless Enemy And hereby did the Samians frustrate all the means the Roman Consul used for the expugnation of their City with Catapults Rams and Moving Towers till Famine forc'd them to submit to his cruel pleasure Concerning Mines Countermures or Retrenchments you may see a little more in the twenty fourth Discourse of the Modern Art of War CHAP. V. Of the Military Exercises Duties Burthens Marches and Works of the Roman Souldiers THE Roman Souldiers being Levied and Armed and having sworn Fidelity we are in the fourth place to see how they were Train'd and Exercised And First We will take all the help Vegetiâ—s vouchsafeth to give us And assuredly you will think he speaks very fully of all manner of Exercise The summ of what Vegetius saith of Exercise when I tell you that he hath bestow'd upon that affair alone eleven full Chapters of his First Book to wit the 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 and 19 Chapters wherein oftener than once he tells us one thing twice over And as if he had forgot that he spent so much Time and Ink on that subject in his First Book he falls to it de novo in the twenty third Chapter of his Second Book which he entitles De Exercitatiâ—ne Militum But for all this he hath not done the third part of the work that might in reason have been expected from him which you will believe to be true when I have told you all he saith of that matter and all I inform you of concerning it out of other Authors That which Vegetius saith of the Roman Exercises in all those Chapters is briefly this That the Latine word Exâ—rcitus an Army is deriv'd ab exercendo from Exercising That the Tyrones or raw Souldiers were Train'd in the Campus Martius Mars his Field which lay near the Tiber in which when they were weary of their Land exercises they wash'd themselves and learn'd to Swim a thing very incumbent for a Souldier to practise because saith Swimming he Armies have not always the conveniency of Bridges and must in that case when they either follow or retire from an Enemy swim Rivers Before Vegetius go further I must remember him of two things First that Campus Martius got but that name after the Tarqâ—â—nes were banish'd out of Rome for it belong'd to them in propriety and at the time of their leaving the City was a Corn-field as Livy tells us Now
for that was left in the Camp with his Legate who stay'd behind with two Legions to maintain the Siege of Gargovia It is written of Galba who was afterwards Emperour that when he was Legate in France he run on foot at the Emperour Caius his Chariot the whole time that his Army march'd their Cursion which as I have said was twenty five miles in the space of four hours Galba being then forty six years old Vegetius saith a Roman Army marched ordinarily twenty Italian miles in one day and this is verified by Caesar who calls it Vnius Diâ—â— justum Iter The just march of one day But The just March of one day if the ground were rocky Woody full of Marishes or otherwise of ill passage then they were necessitated accordingly to take their measures as well as other Nations were In Thessaly four thousand Romans who were sent but as a fore-party and were not troubled with Baggage by the Consul Martius Philippus had much ado to march fifteen miles in two days saith Livy in his Forty fourth Book But Souldiers were undoubtedly â—as'd of those insupportable burthens when this very strict Discipline became neglected and corrupted and that there were almost as many Soujats Drudges or Slaves in the Roman Armies as there were Souldiers in them As when the afterward Emperour Vespasian march'd with sixty thousand men against the Rebellious Jews Being perfectly wearied of those terrible Burthens I return to the exercises of the Roman Souldiers and these I find divided into three kinds The first is of those who were peculiarly and properly called Military Exercises the second of those duties the Souldiers owed to their Superiour Officers and the third of their work and fatigue The Exercises properly called Military were of seven sorts First To march First kind of Military Exercises or run in full Arms twenty or twenty five miles in four or five hours time Secondly To leap over Ditches Thirdly To swim Rivers at which Julius Câ—sar was excellent Fourthly to skirmish or fight with Sword and with Target heavier than ordinary ones Fifthly To lance and throw Darts and Javelines Sixthly To throw Stones at a mark either with the Hand Sling or Batton-Sling Seventhly To mount or dismount a Horse on any side in full Arms with Swords or Maces in their hands and without a Stirrup The last Vegetius forgot yet of all these sorts he hath made mention The Second kind of Exercises was of those Duties and Services the Souldiers Second kind owed and payed to their Officers and Commanders beside the publick duties they owed to the State These were to set up their Tents and Pavillions to make convenient places for their Servants Necessaries and Baggage and sometimes to empale them round about to keep all places about their Lodgings and the Streets likewise clean from mire dirt or dust and if they were to encamp for any time to lay the ground with Sand and much more of this nature These services all Souldiers were bound to perform except such who for some reasons were exempted and freed from all publick duties and were only bound to fight and wait on the Consuls Those who had no exemption were called Munifices Duty-doers There are some who say that the Triarii were free from these duties and particular services to Officers and full well it might be so since they were bound to look to the Horses of the Cavalry and therefore in Encamping were constantly quarter'd beside them as you will see in my discourse of their Castrametation But from other publick works they were not free for they fortified the Camp which both Paulus Aemilius and Câ—sar testified when they made the Triarii fortifie with Spade and Mattock while they fac'd the Enemy with the Hastati and Principes The third kind of a Roman Souldiers Exercise was work and labour which Third kind in our Modern Armies is not so unusual as Lipsius would make it as shall be demonstrated against him in its proper place Indeed there were not such creatures as Pioneers known in the old Roman Armies all was wrought by the Souldiers themselves yea some write that their Velites were not admitted to work as unworthy to be imployed in a service of so much reputation and so it seems it was a Maxime with them diametrically contrary to ours which was The greater Fatigue the greater Honour Of these publick works there were many kinds these were the Cutting Carrying and Squaring Turf and Sods Stakes and Pallisadoes for their Camps Castles Towns Forts and Sconces the fortifying all of these working and digging at the Approaches and expugnation of Forts and Towns the making and managing great Engines Mining Countermining making Retrenchments or Countermures cutting deep Ditches and Channels of a very great length building Magazines Amphitheatres and other huge and vast Edifices and all these with many more not only in time of War but of the calmest Peace when no necessity could be pretended for them and those not so much for the ornament of Countries and Provinces though that was likewise taken into consideration as to inure the Souldiers to toil and to keep them habituated to it that when they were necessitated to fatigue in earnest they might find it easie as that which was no new thing to them and they found that this labour procur'd to the Souldiery both health and strength Suetonius says that Galba before he was Emperour Veteranum Tyronem militem assiduo â—pere corroboravit He strengthen'd both his old and raw Souldiers with daily work and labour And Scipio the lesser kept his Army constantly at hard work at the Siege of Great fatigue Numantia where he frequently told his Souldiers That he who would bathe his hands in the blood of his Enemies must first soil them with dirt and mire It must be observ'd that the Romans fortified their Camps with their Swords at their sides as we read in Sacred History Nehemiah did and made the Jews do when they re-built the Walls of Jerusalem We read that Corbulo a great Captain and Reformer of decay'd discipline put two of his Souldiers Severe Discipline to death because he found them working at a Rampart the one without either Sword or Dagger the other with a Dagger but without a Sword The same Corbulo being commanded by his Tyrannical Master Nero to make Peace with the Germans lest his Army should languish with idleness caus'd them to cut a Ditch three and twenty Italian miles long between the Rivers of the Maes and the Rhine for it was a rule with them That labour hardens and corroborates whereas idleness weakens and effeminates the truth whereof is taught us by experience But truly who will rightly consider the stupendous works of the Romans made by a few men and in a short time may as one observeth say they were those Gyants who as the Poets feign cast one Mountain on another so to climb up to Heaven For not to speak of their
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
cannot be appropriated to the Roman Cavalry But he concludes at eight deep eight hundred Horse would take up in Persian Horse eight deep front one hundred and twenty five Paces which is one Furlong and consequently eight thousand Horse needed to have for their Front twelve hundred and fifty paces that is ten Furlongs And therefore Darius his thirty thousand Horse being eight deep would in Front have possess'd of ground four thousand six hundred eighty six paces more than thirty seven Stadia or Furlongs and these will make more than four Italian miles and a half and as much ground Calisthenes must have allowed to his Mercenaries Observe here that Polybius allows for one hundred Horse in Front one hundred twenty five paces which is more than six foot for a Horse-man to stand on and for distance between him and his side-man But if Polybius his meaning be that the Roman Horse were marshall'd eight We know not how deep the Roman Horse were deep then Vegetius his thirty two Riders will do better than Polybius his thirty in a Troop because thirty two will make four Files compleatly whereas thirty makes but three Files of eight and a broken one of six In such a mist do these two great Masters of the Roman Art of War leave us out of which neither accurate Lipsius or any other of my reading hath offer'd to guide us I conceive according to thirty in a Troop ten deep might havâ— done well and who can tell but Polybius meant so when he appoints three Decurions to be File-leaders and three Agminis or Turma Coactores to be Bringers up But that was indeed too many it making the Longitude or Front so small as render'd it very easie to be environ'd or surrounded In these very ancient times many Nations fought on Horses neither Unbridled Unsaddled Horses Bridled nor Saddled and some had Saddles but no Bridles hence we read that the Africans especially the Numidians divided their Cavalry in Fraenatos Infranatos equos into Bridled and Unbridled Horses And it is a wonder to read in Livy with what dexterity and agility these unbridled Horses were rul'd and manag'd by the Hand the Foot or Rod of a Rider Some again had Bridles for their Horses but no Saddles so had the Germans who laugh'd at the Romans as soft and effeminate for riding on Saddles and yet these very Saddles which the Romans used were nothing but a covering made of some piece of Cloath or Stuff rich or mean according to the quality of the Rider or at best of some bundle ty'd together for the ease of the Horse-man without either Iron or Timber in it as our Saddles have neither had any of them Saddles not ancient any Stirrups to ease the Riders Legs for these came first in fashion in Nero's time if Lipsius his observation holds Any thing of that nature that was used before was but a Ladder of Cords Wood or Iron to help the Horse-man to mount his Horse if he were aged indisposed sick or lame and so soon as he was on Horse-back the Ladder was remov'd perhaps not unlike to those Iron Ladders of two or three steps high used over all the Netherlands for Passengers to get up to their Waggons History tells us that Masinissa King of Numidia when he was fourscore years old or near that age could mount his Horse without the help of any Stirrup or Ladder And certainly not only the Romans but all other Nations were taught to get on Horse-back without any of them as now youths are taught in Academies and did ride inur'd to it by custome with as much ease without Stirrups as we do now with them The Romans sometimes caus'd their Cavalry to unbridle their Horses to To charge with Unbridled Horses make a furious charge which often succeeded well Livy in his eighth Book says it was practis'd against the Volscians with success And in his fortieth Book he gives us the relation of a Battel the Celtiberians fought in Spain against the Roman Praetor Fulvius wherein the Romans were very near worsted the Enemy having cast himself in a Wedge at which manner of fight he was thought almost invincible bore down all before him till the Praetor told his Horse-men that charging desperately on unbridled Horses might recover the Victory for said he formerly such a practice hath produced good effects The Cavalry obey'd his order and by a furious charge with Lances routed the Celtiberians Such a command in our time would be accounted both unpracticable and ridiculous yet we may believe that Horses were so taught and manag'd then that they would obey their Masters without Bridles and this we may suppose not to be impossible the Rider making use of his hands but truly I think it something strange to read that Julius Caesar could ride great Julius Caesar an expert Horse-man Horses without a Bridle at the full gallop with his hands clasped together behind his back Sometimes the Roman Generals when they saw an Enemy prevailing have brought their Cavalry or a part of it to the place of danger and caus'd them to alight from their Horses and fight afoot with their Swords This both reinforced the Battel and mightily encourag'd the Foot by seeing that those who might have sav'd themselves by flight resolv'd to live and dye with them Authors do not inform us how they dispos'd of their Horses when they came to the Foot Combate but I shall imagine they did not let them go whither they pleas'd but either appointed their servants if they had any or some of their own number to look after them and I suppose also they alighted before they came to the place where they were to fight for shunning confusion and putting their own Foot in disorder Caesar before he began his Battel with the Switzers made all his Horse-men dismount and appointed them their Horse-men fight on Fooâ— stations where they were to fight afoot and to shew them a good example he alighted first himself and sent away all the Horses a good way from his Army thereby to encourage his Legionary Foot and make his Horse-men know that their safety depended only on their own valour But I believe he gave order that the Horses should be brought back so soon as the Enemy was perceiv'd to fly for we find he and his Cavalry were soon remounted and follow'd the chace very far And I know no reason why it may not be believ'd also that he kept some on Horse-back by him to carry all the Directions he gave to the several Bodies of his Army in time of the Battel which himself fighting on foot could not perform Gracchus betrayed by his Host being environ'd by an ambush of Hannibalians alighted and fought well for his life though he lost it But I think he should rather have hazarded to break through on Horse-back to get to his own party which was not far off since death would still have been
almost all Nations not long after the deluge and frequently used by a very ancient people and which is more by a people chosen and beloved of him who promulgated his Law to them by sound of Trumpet as well as by the dreadful noise of his Aeâ—hereal Cannon But as it was used in the Temple to sound the praises of the Highest by the Priests who all or most of them had the skill of a Trumpet So was it used in the time of War with their malignant neighbours but which was worse too much made use of by them for Sedition and Rebellion To your Tents O' Israel Words which with the preceding ones have sounded loud enough in our own ears and in our own days The Grecians learned the use of the Trumpet from the Tirenians and these having their name and original from the Tirians had their Trumpets also from them The Tirians being near neighbours to the Jews learned many things of them and probably the Trumpet likewise The Greeks had the use of the Trumpet in Homer's time for he speaks of it in his Poems Yet it seems they knew nothing of it at the Siege of Troy else that Great Poet would have made mention of it in his Verses This famous War of Troy fell out to be in the days of Jephte Judge of Israel and who knows but the fable of Agamemnon's unwilling attempt to sacrifice his Daughter Iphigenia to Diana in whose room came a Hart to be a voluntary offering was borrowed by Antiquity from the true Story of Jephte's vowing to sacrifice the first thing met him without the doors of his house which chanc'd to be his only Daughter But be that as it will certain enough it is that the Israelites made use of Trumpets three hundred years before either Jephte fought with the Ammonites or the Grecians besieg'd Troy The use of the Trumpet is still retain'd and in probability will till the last Trumpet summon proud man to arise from the dust and give an account to his great Creator why he made so much use of that Martial Instrument for the destruction of his fellow Creatures Vegetius says in the twenty second Chapter of his second Book that the Trumpet was sounded by the Romans when they went out to War and when they were commanded to retire as also when the Souldiers were called out to any work or labour imposed upon them whether it were to fortifie themselves by Ditch or Rampart or to make their marches either Ambulatory or Cursory Briefly The Trumpet required the Souldiers to move but not the Ensigns Standards or Baggage The Cornicines or Horn-winders were those who sounded on Instruments Horn-winders made in the fashion of Horns and I doubt not but in the Infancy of that Empire they were no other but real Horns such perhaps nay without all peradventure such as Swine-herds sound to gather together their herds Yet these Horns we must confess gather'd these men together who overcame Armies subdued Nations subverted Kingdomes and destroyed Cities but the honour over all Horns was given to that of the Ram by the miraculous sound whereof the Walls of Jericho were laid equal with the ground At the sound of these Horn-winders the Ensigns Colours and Standards moved But in time of Battel both Trumpeters and Horn winders sounded Pariter canunt says Vegetius in that same place he might have said the Buccinatores too if he had pleased But what difference was between the Cornicines and Buccinatores these Buccinatores I know not for both sounded on Instruments of loud Wind-Musick bowed like Horns unless that in the beginning of the Cities increase they were distinguished by the real Horns of several Animals But Vegetius in the eighth Chapter of his third Book says that all the Roman guards were set by the sound of Trumpet and were relieved by the sound of the Horn Instrument His words are A Tubicine omnes Vigiliae committuntur finitis horis à Cornicine revocantur Now what is this but that both the Trumpet sounded and the Horn blew at the relief of the Guards The Trumpet when four Souldiers went to the Post where they were to keep Sentinel a whole Watch that was three hours and the Horn when those that were reliev'd came from their Post I should in the next place tell you what the Classicum was and should be Classicum what it was glad if any Body would tell me what it was I know Classicum commonly is taken for a Trumpet sounding a charge Classicum canere and this hath its rise from the custome the Roman Consuls had when they were to begin the Battel they caus'd the Classicum to sound which immediately was followed by all the Trumpets and Horn Instruments of the Army But for all this I doubt still whether the Classicum was an Instrument or the sound of an Instrument and to speak according to our words of Art a Point of War or if it was the noise of many Warlike Instruments all sounding one thing at one time Let us hear Vegetius and I am afraid he will make the matter more obscure Vegetius his description of it He describes it thus Classicum appellatur quod Buccinatores per cornu dicunt hoc insigne videtur Imperii quia Classicum canitur Imperatore praesente aut cum in Militem capitaliter animadvertitur That saith he is called the Classicum which the Horn-winders speak by the Horn. And this says he seems to be an Ensign of Soveraign command because the Classicum sounds when the Commander in chief is present or when a Souldier is to be capitally punished What shall we make of all this If we understand not now what the Classicum is Vegetius will say he is not to be blam'd but for all that I am for him still in the dark That which the Horn-winders speak by a Horn is to me very dark language and yet that language of a Horn must be an Ensign of Imperial power and withal if a Souldier be to be hang'd he must have the honour of that Ensign of Imperial power Lipsius who seldome fails to guess Lipsius his conjecture of it and sometimes hits right thinks the Classicum was not one Instrument or yet the sound of one Instrument but the noise of many whether these were Trumpets or Horns or both which was one of the badges of Supreme Power for where there was but one Consul there was but one of them and where two Consuls were together there were two of them and besides other duties they sounded when the Consuls were at Supper for this reason the famous Carthaginian Asdrubal when he began to suspect that he had to do with two Roman Consuls bid his Guards Foragers and Waterers of Horses take heed and acquaint him if they heard two Classicums and having learn'd it was so he concluded that the Consul who he thought was diverted by his Brother Hannibal was joyn'd with the other with whom alone he
conceiv'd his work to be For my part I incline to believe that in History it is promiscuously taken for the sound and sometimes for the Instrument one or many either Trumpets or Horns They were made use of in all Banks and Proclamations The Classicum was an Ensign of Supreme Command for by it all the emergent and occasionary orders of the General were promulgated and by it both Officers and Souldiers were call'd together to hear the Commander in chief's pleasure made known to them And hence it is like it had its derivation because by it the three Classes of Hastati Principâ—s and Triarii were call'd together to Whence â—â—â—â—d â—ts name hear those Harangues and Orations which frequently the Consuls uttered in their Tribunals or Pulpits whether they were for admonition encouragement or punishment and upon the account of this last Vegetius is to be understood of his capital animadversion Lest I forget to do it hereafter I shall in this place take occasion to tell you Badges of Soveraign power that besides this Classicum there were two other badges of Imperial power these were the Praetoriâ—m and the Bundles of Rods and Axes The Praetorium was a fair and a large high Pavilion wherein the Consul lodged and kept his Councils of War The Rods and Axes signified he had power to scourge and behead these were carried by Lictors or Sergeants whereof a Consul had twelve a Proconsul six a Legate as many a Praetor had I know not how many for it makes but little to our purpose When Scipio Pompey's Father-in-law came with his Legions out of Asia and joyn'd with him in Thessaly Pompey order'd a Praetorium to be erected for him and that he should have a Classicum I suppose a knitchel of Rod and Axes too though Caesar doth not mention the last in his Commentary As the Trumpet was of Brass so in process of time the Cornu and Buccina were made of Brass too and all the three who sounded or winded them were called Aeneatores Every Troop of Horse and every Maniple if not Aeneatores every Century of Foot had one either a Trumpet or a Horn or both I find not that these Trumpeters and Horn-blowers had any greater allowance of Wages Proviant or Fodder for either themselves or Horses than other Horse-men and Foot-men had for with the first they rode on Horse-back and with the second they marched on Foot at any time perhaps having spent much of their breath in sounding and blowing they were eased from other works of toil and labour and those were not a few Whether the Buccina was sounded or rather winded at the relief of every guard as Polybius says it was shall be spoke of in my Discourse of Guards and Rounds CHAP. IX Of the Roman Pay Proviant and Donatives IT is reported of that brave Athenian Themistocles that he affirm'd whoever would shape or form the great Monster of War rightly must begin with his Belly and therefore before we joyn our Horse and Foot together we must see how they shall be maintain'd The Romans were a frugal people till their successful Wars made their City the Treasure-house of the Worlds riches The Pay they they allow'd their Souldiers was sparing enough but Vegetius tells us not what it was I find that three hundred years after the foundation of Rome the Horse-men serv'd on their own charges they might do it the better for though their atchievements were often honourable enough yet their expeditions were but short for either upon a Victory or a Rout they hasten'd back to the City But after the Senate began to look far beyond their ancient limits wages were allow'd out of the publick Treasury for both Horse and Foot Polybius in his sixth Book informs us that a Foot Souldier Roman Wages and Proviant had the allowance of two Oboli a day both which if I mistake not make but one English Penny and a small measure of Whâ—at A Centurion had a double allowance and a Horse-man the triple of a Foot Souldiers Proviant and Wages and a measure of Barley every month for his Horse They allow'd to the Socii or Allies as much Wheat and Barley as they did to their own Souldiers but they were oblig'd to maintain themselves with their own Monies But he tells us also that what Proviant Clothes yea what Arms were given to the Roman Souldiers had rates set upon them and were defalcated from their wages Truly I should think their pay at two half-pennies a day could hardly furnish them with Meat much less Clothes and Arms Severe usage or if in that cheap world they could be furnish'd with all three at that rate they could not have much Money to seek at least very little to deposite at their Colours for this defalcation would indeed make their Pay very inconsiderable and very unproportionable to the great duty and services exacted from them But Lipsius will mend the matter presently by telling us that many times the State quit the Souldiers freely what they owed for either Arms Proviant or Clothes or if any thing was taken it was so insignificant that the Souldier parted with it pleasantly and without grumbling I do not care much to be of Lipsius his opinion though he hath not told us who were his Informers for Polybius is positively of another judgement in that place which I have cited Nor do I remember that in any other place of his History he speaks any thing of the Roman Wages Here you may observe what I told you before that in the Roman Infantry there were no other Officers properly so called but Centurions and Tribunes because all others had but the allowance of common Souldiers both in Wages and Proviant A Tribune had the quadruple of a Souldiers Pay Nor can I find that the Praefecti or Decurions of the Horse had any more allowance of either Meat or Money than other Troopers had The Grecian Pay as to the proportion of it was like the Roman a Centurion having a Souldiers double allowance a Horse-man triple and a Chiliarch quadruple But the Roman Souldiers had a greater encouragement to endure their hard Pillage fatigue than Pay and that was the Plunder and Pillage of a Countrey a besieged Town Castle or an Enemies Camp This was not due to them and many times they got no share of it in regard for most part it was brought all to the Quaestor or Treasurers quarters and sold and out of the Monies made by that sale the Army was paid their wages and the overplus was sent in to the Treasury of Rome But the Consul or General having the disposing of it all in his power very often gave it as a largess to the Army either for some good service done or to encourage them to undergo some difficult and hard piece of work to be done Neither had any man liberty to take what he could catch but all was brought to a publick heap and
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
is the ancient customs we require of him for it is these he promised to us But if we take in all these three Bodies of light armed Foot which he so frequently mentions in the number of the Legion as Rolybius doth the Velites in his Legion and proportion 400 light arm'd for every 1000 heavy arm'd as the same Polybius doth then Vegetius his Legion shall exceed 8500 of which we read in no story Now if all these Instances I have given out of Livius and in another place shall give out of Polybius be true then Vegetius his assertion that a Legion should have no fewer than 6100 heavy arm'd Foot can have no truth at all in it and that also which he subjoins in that same sixth Chapter of his Second Book must be false Secondly I cannot believe him that either every Troop consisted of 32 Horse Second Error or that 726 Riders belong'd to every Legion If I trust either the one or the other I must give the lye to two more ancient Writers than himself that is Polybius and Livius The last whereof in his Seventh Book saith four Legions were elected and for every one of them 300 Horse In the dangerous War against Hannibal no more but 300 Horse for a Legion Livy in his Ninth Book speaks but of 300 Horse for every Legion in the War with the Samnites In the great battel of Cannae they were but 300 as that Historian witnesseth in his 22 Book In his 29 Book he saith Scipio had no more in Africk but 300 Horse for every Legion the Foot whereof were 6200. And his brother Lucius Scipio had no more in Asia but 300 for every Legion of 5400 Foot Neither had the Consul Aemilius more Horse for a Legion in Macedon than 300 though the Foot were 6000. Once I read in Livy it is in his 40 Book and if I remember right it was against the Ligurians that 400 Horse were ordained for each Legion otherwise according to Livius the number was constantly 300. Polybius all along in his History allots no more Horse to a Legion but 300 except once and I pray you observe it it is in his Second Book where he saith the Senate sent two Legions to Sicily each consisting of 4000 Foot and 200 Horse and as this is the least number I read of so that of Livy's 400 Horse against the Ligurians is the greatest number of Horse for one Legion In the Wars against both the Gauls and Carthaginians Polybius gives but 300 Horse to every Legion In the dividing his 726 Riders Vegetius errs twice first for allowing 22 Turms or Troops to the Cavalry Ten being the ordinary number next for allowing 32 Riders to each Troop whereas there were but 30 Both which assertions of mine are grounded on History and are likewise taken out of Polybius his Sixth Book as I have made it appear in my Discourse of the Roman Cavalry Besides our Authors error in calculo may be charged on him as a Peccadillo for though we should admit 22 Troops in every Legion and thirty two Riders in every Troop the number will not amount to 726 for multiply 32 by 22 the aggregate will be but 704. But in steps Steuechius and lends Vegetius his hand and says the Decurions must be added who being 22 in number one for every Troop makes Vegetius his number 726 compleat But this shall not help him for Decurions Standard-bearers Trumpeters or Horn-winders if Troops had any of the last were all of the number of the 30 and none of them Supernumeraries as I have made it appear out of Polybius in my Discourse of Cavalries and therefore they must be of the number of the 32 likewise And if I should permit Steuechius to make the Decurions supernumeraries he will be obliged to give me leave to reckon the Cornets and Trumpeters not to be of the number of the 32 and these being 44 in number would increase the horse of every Legion to 770 and if he please he may reckon the Turmae Coactores or Bringers up who by Polybius his account were three for every Turme and consequently 66 in 22 Troops and then an addition being made of all we shall find the aggregate of the Horse for Vegetius his Legion to be 836. The third complaint I make is that Vegetius Marshals two Troops of Horse Third Error with every Cohort and four Troops with the first Cohort Observe that here it is not the question whether this way of Marshalling be good or not nor is it the question whether it be not good that Foot Horse should be near one another when they fight but the question is whether the ancient Romans used this way or not or if this be the right way of ordering or Marshalling an old Legion which Vegetius promised to give us I aver it is not and I know no old Author will contradict my assertion It will be lost labour to instance these Battels described by ancient Historians who mention nothing like this manner of Embattelling In my Discourses of both Infantry and Cavalry I have shown how Horsemen have fought on foot how they have fought with horses unbridled and how Foot and Horse have been mingled together in Skirmishes and Battels but I read not in any Author of this method of Marshalling that Vegetius speaks of nay the current of History evinceth the contrary for most part the Horse were drawn up in the wings and the Foot in the Battel So it was at Cannae where the Consul Aemilius fought on the right hand with the Roman Cavalry and Terentius Varo on the left with the Horse of the Allies The like was done at the Battel of Metaurus against Asdrubal In the two Battels which Scipio fought in Africk the very same was practised Sometimes all the Horse were Marshalled in one of the wings as Caesar drew up all his in the right wing of the army and Pompey most of his Cavalry on the left hand of his army at that great Battel of Pharsalia where these two brave Romans fought for no less wager than the Empire of the World At Vzita the same Caesar being to offer Battel to Scipio Pompey's Father-in-law drew up all his Horsemen on the left-wing of his army and mixed Foot with them Polybius in his 14 Book informs us that the Great Scipio being to fight against Syphax Marshalled his Roman Horse in one wing and his Auxiliaries in the other And which is very observable against Vegetius he says in that same place that in doing so Romana Militia consuetudinem simpliciter servavit He simply and purely observed the custom of the Roman Militia Nor will it be one full step out of my way to tell you that I think Horse do not at all belong to a Legion it being as I suppose wholly composed of Foot Horse belonged not properly to Legious for though most Historians tell us that when Legions were levied Horse were also raised and punctually for every
Polybius What Polybius was was a Souldier in Greece and as himself witnesseth in his eleventh Book was a Commander in the Achaean Army under Philopamon at the Battel of Mantinea against Machanidas the Tyrant of Lacedaemâ—n who was there overthrown and kill'd He was long after that a great favourite yea a Counsellour of that Scipio who was sometimes called Africanus Minor and sometimes Numantinus because he ended the Carthaginian and Numantine War with the destruction of both Cities There were some reasons why Scipio should be kind to Polybius because his Natural Father Lucius Aemilius for this Scipio was but the adopted Grand-child of the great Africanus was the Author of carrying many hundred Achaeans Prisoners to Rome for no reason but suspicion among whom Polybius was one who lay full seventeen years Prisoner there where he had leisure enough to learn both the Roman language and customes Scipio was a very great Captain a strict reformer of the old Roman Militia and a severe Disciplinarian from whom Polybius could not but know all the mysteries of the Roman Art of War being a person of so great abilities as those parcels of his History yet extant speak him ta have been and truly we have reason to be sorry that we are robb'd of those Books of his of which all-devouring time hath deprived us Let us hear how he marshals a Roman Legion A Legion in that Scipio Minor's time consisted of four thousand two hundred men as many times it did both before and after him whereof six hundred were Triarii and made the third Batallion obliged to kneel on their Right knee till either the other two Classes retir'd to them or that the General commanded them to rise and advance These he saith were never more than six hundred though the Legion chanc'd to be four thousand two hundred as many times it did And for this we must take his word Before the Triarii stood the Principes men in the flower of their age and before them the Hastati in the Van they were the youngest and rawest of all the heavy armed each of these two Batallions consisted of twelve hundred and all the three were alike arm'd except that the Triarii instead of Pila carry'd short Spears of all which I have spoken sufficiently already So you see all Polybius The Polybâ—â—â— Legion his heavy armed amounted to three thousand The rest which were twelve hundred were saith he Velites and these he says were levied of the poorest and most inconsiderable sort of the people Nor do I find that he divides these twelve hundred Velites into three Squadrons one whereof should stand behind every one of the Classes of the heavy armed of all which I have already spoke in my discourse of the Infantry and yet Terduzzi and the Sieur de Preissack would father this upon Polybius But indeed in my judgement he leaves the light armed to be disposed of in the Flanks Van or Rear as the General conceiv'd they might be most useful He appoints his Legion to be divided into thirty Maniples suppose still the heavy armed each Maniple to consist of two Centuriates to every Century he allows an Ensign and a Centurion whom he permits to chuse his Sub-Centurion of all which I have already spoke The numbers of the Hastati Principes and Velites might alter according to the strength of the Legion but not the Triarii He tells us that three hundred Horse were levied with every Legion but says not that they made a part of every Legion These three hundred Horse he divides into ten Turms or Troops and Officers them as I have shown you in my Discourse of the Cavalry He leaves them to be marshall'd where the Commander in chief thought they might do best service And now we have the Polybian Legion No word here for all this how deep that is how many in File either of Horse or Foot or what or how much ground was allowed for distance between Files or Ranks or yet how great the Intervals were between the several Maniples of every one of the Classes or what between the Classes themselves or between the several Troops of Horse A great over-sight for of all these we are forc'd to hear other mens conjectures and make use of our own as we shall offer to do in the following Chapter CHAP. XIV Of Distances and Intervals of the several Bodies and Batallions of the Foot and Horse BEfore we proceed to our conjectures it will be fit first to know what this word Interval properly signifies and how it is taken In both Ancient and Modern Fortifications Towns Castles and Camps were defended not only with Ramparts of Earth and Walls of Stone but also with great Logs or Stakes of Timber which we call Palliâ—adoes these the Romans in their language called Valli and I suppose thereafter the Rampart it self got the Vallus and Vallum name of Vallus and Vallum hence perhaps our Wall These Stakes were and are of two kinds longer and shorter the first stood straight up from the ground the second had the one end of them fixed in the Rampart and the other lying on it to hinder an approach to it distinguished by the Germans by several names for they call the long Stakes Palliâ—adoes and the short ones Stockadoes both the one and the other sharp-pointed at both ends The Ground Earth or part of the Rampart between two Pallisadoes or Stockadoes is properly called an Interval but it is borrow'd and appropriated to Interval what any distance between Bodies greater and smaller yea to the space that is between one time and another an Interval of time is now language proper enough and Physicians borrow it and call an Intermitting Ague Febris Intervallata an Intervalled Feavor What distance or Intervals there were between Roman Ranks and between Deepness of the File not told Files between several Bodies of either their Horse or Foot no ancient Author hath clear'd to us but left us to grope in the dark Nor can we well guess at them till we condescend how many in File both Horse and Foot were marshall'd I told you before that Vegetius in the twenty fifth Chapter By Vegetius of his second Book seems to make the Foot eleven deep because as I told you he orders a Contubernium of Souldiers to manage a Carrobalist and that he saith consisted of eleven men But this doth not prove that Vegetius his File was precisely eleven no more than what he saith in the fifteenth Chapter of his third Book that ten thousand men drawn up in six Ranks will take up so much ground in Front will prove that the Roman Foot were drawn up six deep And so for Vegetius we know not the deepness of either the Roman Foot or Horse Nor will we be one jot the wiser for Polybius for the discourse he hath in his twelfth Book where he speaks of Horse Nor by Polybius eight in File doth not concern the Roman Militia for
Velites were not to stand in the intervals of the heavy armed but only either to advance to the Van or retire to the Reer through them and he knew too that the intervals between Maniples were principally for the Maniples of the first Class to fall in the intervals of the second Class and the Intervals of the third Batallion for the Maniples of the other two to full back to them and therefore to allow but ten foot for every one of these Intervals is an inexcusable error in him and a conjecture which hath no coherence with sense nor can ever be justified by reason That General never breath'd that could draw up a band of men consisting of twelve Files in ten foot of ground Now every Maniple of the Pâ—â—â—cipes and Hastati according to Polybius whom Lipsius follows consisted of one hundred and twenty men and these being ten deep constituted twelve Files these have eleven Intervals every one of which being three foot make thirty three foot add twelve to that for the twelve Files to stand on the aggregate True Intervals between Maniples is forty five foot and if you allow but two foot for every Interval between Files the Interval between two Maniples must be thirty four foot for it is not possible you can allow less ground for an Interval than that which a Body possesseth that is ordain'd to stand in that Interval Hence I think it is obvious to common sense that all the Intervals between the Maniples of the Hastati and Principes were of forty five foot or thirty four at least And those of the Triarii of ninety foot or sixty eight at least in regard they were to receive the Maniples of both the Hastati and Principes In the clearing this point of Distances I have been perhaps too prolix and have used repetitions which I condemn in others but being it is almost impossible to have so much as a general notion of a Roman Army how it was Marshall'd or of any other Army unless you know the Intervals I have not thought it amiss to spend a little paper on that Subject And indeed we are left as in many other Points necessary to be known so in this to grope in the dark Nor have I been so severe to the learned Lipsius for his extravagant conjectures of Roman Intervals but I shall be ready to accept and desire others to do so too of his own excuse which I shall give you in his own words as I find them in the fourth Book of his Commentary Hâ—◠〈◊〉 as me as â—â— rerâ—â—â—â— veterâ—â—â— quas Lipsius excused revera per leves conjecturas fallacia vestigia 〈◊〉 Ah says he my darkness or that of ancient things which indeed we must hunt after with uncertain conjectures and through fallacious footsteps CHAP. XV. Of the Roman Allies and Auxiliaries and the mistakes of some Authors concerning them YOU may read very frequently in Roman story of Socii Allies and Confederates who were obliged by Covenant and Stipulation to send out such an assistance of men for the City of Rome as the Senate or the Consul required till a little before Julius Caesar's time after that you shall read no more of them for then they were all made Citizens of Rome and reckon'd to be of one Incorporation The difference between Allies and Auxiliaries was the first could only be Italians the second were of any other Nation Hence it is that though we read of no Allies that join'd with Lucullâ—â— Sylla Pompâ—y Caesar Anthony Vespasian and his Son Titus yet we find their Armies mightily strengthened by Auxiliaries But indeed the Romans did but fool some of the Italian Towns and Republicks with the goodly show of Alliance and the honourable title of Socii whereas truly they used them no better than Vassals obliging Roman Allies ill used them to follow them in the pursuance of their ambitious designs with as many Forces of Horse and Foot as the Senate pleased to impose on them and to serve at their own charges except a little Proviant which with the help of these same Allies they took from an enemy Hence came these many grievances of the Confederated Towns mentioned in the Roman Histories and once a total rupture of the Latins from them till after much blood-shed they were reduced to their former condition Till the Romans had over-mastered Hannibal Philip of Macedon and the great King of Syria Antiochus we shall seldom read of any of their Armies that were not puissantly assisted by their Allies the number either as to Foot or Horse Number of the Allies of which that assistance consisted may be collected from the several times of their conjunction but that they were determinately and constantly stinted to such a number can never be prov'd out of ancient story yet I find Vegetius very positive in it and in the first Chapter of his Third Book he offers to assure Mistaken by Vegetius his Reader that neither Allies nor Auxiliaries were ever in one army stronger than the Romans Take his own words Illa tamen ratio servata est ne unquam ampliâ—r multitudo Sociorum Auxiliaxiumve â—sset in Castris quam Civium Romanorum That care saith he was taken that no greater number of Allies or Auxiliaries should be in the Camp than of Roman Citizens And Machiavelli in the Third Mistaken by Machiavelli Book of his Art of War says that every Consular Army consisted of two Legions which were eleven thousand Foot and two Legions of Allies which made also eleven thousand Foot I shall first speak a word to both of them together and then severally to each of them Both of them had read Livy and till they had produced a more Authentick Historian none of them should have given him the lye so broadly This Author in his Twenty first Book tells us that after Hannibal came to Italy Cor. Scipio and Sempronius levied six Legions of Romans each of four thousand Foot and for every one of them three hundred Horse and in that same place he casts up the total of them to be twenty four thousand Foot and eighteen hundred Horse and of Allies saith he forty four thousand Foot and four thousand Horse This wanted but four thousand of the double number of the Roman Foot and four hundred more than double the number of the Roman Horse In his Thirty fifth Book he informs us that in the War against Antiochus the Consul Quintius raised two Legions each of five thousand Foot in all ten thousand and six hundred Horse and of the Allies saith he twenty thousand foot and eight hundred Horse The number of the Foot was double the Roman Infantry and the Horse exceeded Prov'd out of Livius the Roman by two hundred In the Istrian War a little before that of Macedon Livy in his forty first Book says ten thousand Roman Foot and three hundred Horse were levied and of the Allies twelve thousand Foot and six hundred
Officer'd Marshall'd Encamped and Disciplin'd according to the Roman custom only with this difference that those who commanded Roman Legions were called Tribunes but those who commanded the Legions of the Allies were called Prafecti I conceive the reason of the difference of the title was this the Tribune was elected for most part by the Tribes whence he had his name Tribunus but those of the Roman Consuls power over the Allies Allies were nominated by the Roman Consuls for the Allies had no power to appoint or Commissionate their own Praefecti that had intrencht too much upon the Lordly power the Romans still kept in their own hands and were bound most strongly to obey that Consul with whom they join'd So we see how little difference the haughty Romans made between their Confederated friends and their vassals which I hinted in the beginning of this Chapter and in this point the Consuls had more power over the Allies than over the Romans themselves for the Roman people for most part chose the Roman Tribunes and not the Consuls CHAP. XVI Of a Roman Consular army and some Mistakes concerning it I Know not from whence this denomination of a Consular Army is come unless it be that Polybius in his Sixth Book saith that ordinarily every year four Legions were levied for the States service two for every Consul and this Livy doth witness to have been done often But neither the one nor the other hath asserted that a Consul never had more or fewer Legions in his Army than two Polybius means that a Consular Army consisted for most part of two Roman Legions six hundred Horse with two Legions of Allies and twelve hundred Horse But he never said that it was constantly so for then he had contradicted his own History in many places But I rather conceive Authors call that a Consular Army which had in it the above specified number of Horse and Foot by the authority and upon the word of Vegetius who describes both a Pretorian and a Consular Army in the first Chapter of his Third Book I shall Vegetius describes a Pretorian and a Consular army faithfully English his words thus The Ancients saith he having by exrerience learned to obviate difficulties chused rather to have skilful than numerous Armies â— therefore they thought in Wars of lesser moment one Legion with the Auxiliaries that is ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse might suffice which the Praetors as lesser Chieftans often led in Expeditions But if the enemy was reported to be strong then a Consular power with twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse was sent with a greater Captain But if an infinite multitude of the fiercest Nations did rebell then too great necessity forcing them two Chieftans with two Armies were sent with this command that either the one Consul or both should look to it that the Commonwealth should receive no damage In fine saith he since the Roman people was to make War almost And contradicts himself every year in several Countries against divers enemies they thought these forces might suffice because they judged it was not so profitable to entertain great Armies as those that were well exercised and trained in Armes Thus far Vegetius let us take his Discourse in pieces and examine it according to his own writings and no mans else First In the sixth Chapter of his second Book he avers there should be no First in the Pretorian army fewer in a Legion than six thousand one hundred Foot and seven hundred twenty six Horse in this place he saith a Praetorian Army wherein there should be a Legion of Romans and another of Allies should have ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse the Foot two thousand two hundred fewer than in his own account there should be in two Legions and the Horse five hundred forty eight more than himself allows to the Cavalry of two Legions And to let us see that he will keep a proportionable way in contradicting Secondly in a Consular army himself he says against a strong Enemy a Consul was sent with twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse and that is as he explains himself in the fourth Chapter of his second Book two Legions of Romans with the help of the Allies now I beseech you hear him speak for himself and first in the sixth Chapter of his second Book he says that the Legion must consist of six thousand one hundred Foot and seven hundred twenty six Horse Secondly In this first Chapter of his third Book he makes four Legions of the Roman and Allies Foot to be but twenty thousand which by his own rule should have been twenty four thousand four hundred for his words formerly were that no Legion should be under six thousand one hundred and those heavy armed too and whereas by his own appointment in the sixth Chapter of his second Book every Legion should have had seven hundred twenty six Horse more than any other Author allow'd In this Chapter he increased their number to one thousand for he orders the Horse of four Legions to be full four thousand the Foot of a Consular Army four thousand four hundred below and the Horse one thousand ninety six above his own allowance You see how Vegetius clasheth with Vegetius it is not I that quarrel with him In the second place he saith if an infinite multitude of fierce Nations rebelled Rebelled against whom Certainly he means against the Romans but how could they rebel before they profest to be subject Assuredly these fierce Nations he speaks of swore neither fealty nor homage to Romulus nor Rome when His inadvertency he first founded it If they defended themselves so long as they could from the dominion of strangers they did what nature commanded them and were no Rebels He will find Spain it self after long and bloody Wars never reduced to a Province till Augustus's time You see what words his Inadvertency prompts him to utter In this case of a great Rebellion he says two Consuls with the Armies were joyn'd together with a command to look to it that the Common-wealth suffer'd no damage But this command was given many times when two Consuls did not nor needed not bring their forces together Thirdly You have heard him aver that in the great wars which the Roman State manag'd their greatest Army consisted of twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse twenty four thousand in all and that two of those Armies joyn'd together making of both forty eight thousand Combatants did suffice in the greatest danger Truly Vegetius if Hannibal had been alive His contradiction of Roman story when you wrote this he could have inform'd you that he forc'd your Masters the Romans to joyn two such Armies and more before ever they had to do with those fierce Nations you speak of except a few Spaniards and the Cisalpine or Italian Gauls unless you take the Sicilians and Carthaginians to be those fierce Nations with the
first whereof they quarrel'd and invaded them and with the second broke Peace without either regard to Justice or sense of Honour But tell me had the two Consuls at Cannae no more but forty eight thousand Romans and Allies read Polybius his fourth Book you will see they had eight Legions of Romans and as many Allies at five thousand Foot each Legion and three hundred Horse and these extended to eighty thousand Foot and seven thousand two hundred Horse reckoning the Allies Cavalry double that of the Romans Read Livy's twenty second Book you will see Hannibal kill'd at that same Battel forty five thousand Roman Foot and two thousand seven hundred Horse besides Allies and the same Historian will tell you in plain language that the Roman Army at that place consisted of fourscore and seven thousand fighting men And before Hannibal enter'd Italy had the Romans no stronger Armies against the Gauls than forty eight thousand men Yes both Polybius and Livy will tell you of far greater numbers read in other Histories whether Marius had but forty eight thousand Romans against the fierce Nations of the Cimbrians and the Teutones How vain a thing it is then for an Author of Vegetius his reputation to aver that against the mightiest Enemy two Consular Armies each of twenty four thousand men were sufficient against the current of History Fourthly He lays it down for an unquestionable truth that one Consul A bold assertion of Vegetius had never more than two Legions of Romans and as many of the Allies against the most powerful Enemy Be pleas'd to hear his own words in the fourth Chapter of his Second Book In omnibus Auctoribus invenitur singulos Consules adversus Hostes copiâ—sissimos non amplius quam binas duxisse Legiones additis auxiliis seciorum In all Authors saith he it is found that every Consul never led more against the most numerous Enemies than two Legions with the assistance of the Allies And that it should not be said he had writ so manifest an untruth without a reason he adds Tanta in illis erat exercitatio tanta fiducia ut cuivis bello dua legiones crederentur sufficere They were so well train'd and had so great confidence that two Legions were thought to be sufficient for any War Did ever man write so If two Legions were sufficient in any War why were four Legions and two Consuls imployed against the fierce Nations he just now spoke of But I will come nearer him and tell him that it is very often found in Authors that one Consul or General had the Conduct of more than two Legions and therefore Vegetius his words that I cited last must either be false or those Authors whom I shall cite do grossly abuse us I shall not repeat the business of Canna but be pleas'd to take these other Instances When Caesar heard of the dreadful preparations of the Helvetians to stop Instances of later times to the contrary Of Caesar that inundation he posts to Italy and raises two new Legions joyns them with three Veterans brought them to France and with one he had there already he made six in all and with these fought the Helvetians and thereafter Ariovistus all in one Summer This he writes in the second Book of the Gallick War Here were more than two Legions yet but one Consul In his fifth Book he says he invaded England with five Legions besides a vast number of Gauls Numidians and Balearians having left his Legate Labienus in Gaule with 3 Legions and three thousand Horse here a Consuls Legate commanded more Legions than two The most part of the time Caesar stay'd in Gaule he had ten Legions till Pompey and the Senate cheated him of two of them Petreius and Petreius and Afranius Pompey Afranius had seven Legions in Spain Pompey had eleven at Pharsalia besides a world of Auxiliaries and there Caesar had eight and at Brundusium when he was in pursuit of the flying Senate he had twelve Legions Thus we see that Great Caesar the most daring Consul that ever was thought not two Legions sufficient against any Enemy or in any War Before his time the two Consuls Marius and Scipio joyn'd their Armies together against the Cimbrians and Marius and Scipio as Florus tells us lost in the Battel eighty thousand Romans and forty thousand Servants and Baggage-men Sure in these two Consular Armies there were four Legions four times told And the same Author says that Mark Anthony the Triumvir entered Media with eighteen Legions and sixteen thousand Horse all these Consuls and their Legates liv'd long before Vegetius and I doubt not but he hath read all their stories but I shall lead him up to those times when his Of more ancient times Romans were not so powerful as to raise so numerous Legions and yet in them we shall see that the Consuls were not stinted to two Legions a piece as he hath very confidently declared they were Polybius saith that before the second Before the second Punick War Punick War the Romans had several hundred thousands in arms I hope then no man except our Author will say that every Consul had but two Legions allotted him In the Consulship of young Camillus the City being environed Young Camillus with enemies ten Legions were levied two of them were left for defence of Rome four were given to the Prator and Camillus took four to himself each consisting of 4 thousand two hundred Foot and three hundred Horse Thus we see not only that a Consular Army had four Roman Legions in it a thing denied by Vegetius but a Pretorian one had four to which our Author allows but one You may read this in Livy's Seventh Book and in that same place he tells us that the Consul Popilius Lenus marched with four full Legions against the enemy Popilius Lenus leaving a considerable army at Rome to wait on all hazards In his Sixth Book he saith old Camillus who defeated the Gauls marched with four Legions against Old Camillus the Volscians One instance more which may serve to decide the question if there were any the same Historian in his Second Book informs us that the Dictator Marcus Valerius levied and enrolled ten Legions whereof he gave Marcus Valerius three to every Consul and kept four to himself Observe that at that time the Latines were Allies and levied their proportions as many Foot as the Romans did and twice as many Horse if not more of both the one and the other Observe also that in those times the Roman Seignory was of no large extent for Livy speaking of these Levies of Valerius says so many Legions were never levied before he means never at one time These are sufficient enough to prove Vegetius to have been too confident when he said that never Roman Consul conducted more than two Roman Legions even against the most numerous Enemies But he is in no danger for all
Physicians who were ordain'd for their cure He had the oversight of the Chariots Carts Waggons and Pack-horses of all the Mechanick Instruments for cutting and preparing Timber and Wood and Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance other matter for making Warlike Machines and the Engines themselves All this seems to make this Officer to be the Lieutenant-General of the Roman Artillery The Praefectus Fabrorum was he who most resembled our Modern Master of Praefectus Fabrorum or General of the Artillery the Ordnance or General of the Artillery for it was he who had the prime care of the Armamentarium or Magazine in which was ordinarily not only store of all kind of Arms and Engines for Expugnation and Propugnation of Towns and strong Holds but also of all kind of Instruments and Materials for making them and more particularly for the making up and defending their Hibernâ— or Winter-quarters in which were Shops for making all manner of Arms and Weapons both for offence and defence and under his Conduct were also all manner of Materials for making Bridges for which purpose little Boats were carried along with their Armies with Smiths Carpenters Joiners and other Artificers with those who had skill to work in Mines for though the Soldiers not only helpt but also perfected most of those works yet there were some deputed who had skill both to work themselves and to direct others Neither will this prove that the Roman Armies carried Pioniers along with them for these were the Soldiers but only that some Companies were deputed to whose more special care all these works were recommended and these were of a very old Institution in the reign of Serviâ—â— Tulliuâ— King of Rome for he appointed two Companies of Carpenters and Smiths for that purpose We read also frequently of Legates in Roman Armies at the first Institution there was but one and he was sent with the Consul to represent the Senate and people by whom he was chosen and sometime the Consul had power to â—huse his own â—â—gate He sat in Council with the Consul and gave his advice but neither he nor the whole Council might impose on the Consul who constantly kept a Negative voice and the Soveraign command over all In the Consuls absence the Legate commanded absolutely and before him went fix Lictors or Serjeants with Axes and Rods. But when the Consul returned the Legates command ceased In process of time there were two Legates ordain'd Legates for each Army and thereafter as many Legates as there were Legions over which they had the command according as Lipsius in the Second Book of his Commentary declares in which I shall not oppose him though I find no such thing in History I am sure neither Pompey nor Caesar had so many Legates as they had Legions either when they were present themselves or when they were absent Pompey had seven Legions in Spain and with them but two Legates these were Petreius and Aâ—ranius When Caesar was in England he had but one Legate with three Legions and a great Cavalry in Gaul and that was Labienus Nor do I find that either of those two great Captains had a Legate for each Legion that fought at Pharsalia In the time of the Emperours and perhaps in the reign of Augustus there was a Legate for every Province and it may be a Legate or more for every army besides In every Army there was a Questor he was the Treasurer kept the Casâ—â— Questor or Treasurer paid the Army distributed the Wheat to the Men and the Barley to the Hoâ—ses To him was delivered all the Pillage that was taken from the enemy eitherin Villages Towns or Camps He sold it all and out of the money gave either the Army their Wages or Donatives according as he had order from the Consul whose directions he was bound punctually to obey Though the power and command of a Dictator was uncontroulable in matters Dictator both of Peace and War yet in the fields his Authority was no greater than that of a Consul but yet there was this difference the first could not be call'd in question afterwards whereas the second might Where a Dictator was he chose his own Master of the Horse and though this title seems to import Master of the Horse that he who had it had no power over the Foot yet it was not so for under the Dictator he commanded both Horse and Foot and was in effect his Lieutenant-General Thus you have in this Discourse and in those of the Infantry and Cavalry a full account of all the Officers that I have read of in any Author that belonged to a Roman Army Though the Army which we have described in this and the foregoing Chapter had the name of a Consular Army and that Vegetius makes a Praetorian Army to be but half the number of the Consular one yet it is needless to bring Instances from History to prove that greater arâ—â—es than these consisting of four Legions have been commanded not only by Confuls but by â—roâ—â—â—â—uls Prâ—tors and Proprators in several of the Roman Wars The chief Commander of the army when he was to march from the City The Consuls state when he went to any Expedition was obliged to sacrifice in the Capitol and there to take his Auspices the foreboding Omens or as Philemon Holland calls them the Osses of his good fortune in that Expedition and then he rode out of the City in great state and splendor Paludatus in a glorious and rich Embroidered Coat of Arms convoyed by a gallant company of his choicest friends with his Lictors or Serjeants before him with Axes and bundles of Rods the ordinary number whereof if the General was a Consul was twelve These solemn Rites Ceremonies and Customs might not be neglected if they were the Generals had neither the prayers and good wishes of the people nor the willing obedience of their armies Caius Claudius going to Illyria went from Rome in the night-time without any solemnity but so soon as he came to his army he found his Soldiers in a mutiny which though he punisht severely enough yet he found himself necessitated not only to go back to Aquileia but to return to Rome it self there to make his Vows sacrifice and go out of the City in pomp according to the accustomed manner But for all we have said of Roman armies we see not yet where the Velites Velites neglected were marshall'd nor how they fought we must believe that which is most probable that they were marshall'd behind the Triarii and that they marched through the Intervals of the heavy armed to the Van and fought there till they did either beat the enemy or were beaten by him back to the Reer If any desire to see the figure of a Consular army he may meet with one of them in Terduzzi his Book of the ancient and modern Machines and another in Lipsius his Commentary on Polybius each after the fancy
Consul was to storm a Wedg and yet it was a Phalange condensed only smaller at the point than at the rest of its dimensions And he might have call'd it a Testudâ— or Tortoise if he had pleased for they stood all covered with their Shields and great Targets which representing the Tortoise covered with its shell gave that figure of Battel its denomination The Globe-battel was a Batallion that appear'd to be of a round figure and Globe or Ring-figure if it was perfectly round the English have worded it well in calling it a Ring I find it oftner mention'd in modern than in ancient stories I should think those who use it were on the defensive for men standing in a perfect Globefigure can neither pursue nor run away without breaking their order and figure of their Battel and so unglobe or unring themselves Mr. Elton gives us its figure and tells us right ingeniously how it is made but sure it is not feasible for great bodies to cast themselves into that figure I incline to their opinion who think it was but a Wedg of a lesser body and being smaller seem'd more Circular And I the rather think so because Caesar in his Books of the Alexandrinâ— War says that Domitius one of his Legates sav'd a Legion by casting it in a Ring when the rest of his Army was routed at Nicopâ—lis by Pharnaces for if that Legion had been in a perfect round figure it could not have retir'd as it did from him who by his victory was master of the Field The Tenaille Tongs or Shears was nothing but the reverse of the Wedg Tenaille or â—ongs and was to be used only against it for whereas the Wedg was sharp at the point to pierce any Batallion that stood against it so the Tenaille open'd its arms to receive and embrace the Wedg having its bulk notwithstanding behind to oppose it if it could not be broke by the arms of the Tenaille And a Squadron may very soon cast it self in a Tenaille either by advancing its two flanks the Body standing â—ied ferme or yet by making the middle part against which the point of the Wedg prepares retire a little both the flanks standing still either the one or the other way makes the Squadron a Tenaille The Saw was a great Batallion composed of several Squadrons all marshalled The Saw in the form of Wedges the angular points of which Wedges represented the teeth of the Saw and the Bodies of the several Wedges standing in a direct line represented the body of the Saw Some have writ that the several Maniples of a Roman Legion did represent the Saw taking the Bodies of the Maniples for the Teeth and the Intervals for the body of the Saw But how could that be for the Bodies of the Maniples and the several Intervals between these Bodies were all of one equal front and so are not the teeth and body of a Saw and unless these Maniples had been made a little sharper at the front than of either ten or twelve men the resemblance would not have holden We do not read that the Romans used it at all CHAP. XIX Of some Customes used by the Romans and other Ancient Nations before in the time of and after their Battels THe Grâ—cians sung a Hymn and a Paan both before and after their Battels but before they begun unless they were surprized they offer'd Sacrifices Sacrifices to such of their Gods and Goddesses as either they hoped would be for them or feared might be against them The inspection of the Entrails of the sacrificed Beasts was an ordinary thing with the Greeks as all their Historians tell us nor was this custome peculiar to them for the Enemy of Mankind was worshipp'd by the Romans and other Nations as well as by the Grecâ—ans Before the Romans came to the Battel they were somewhat nice in observing how the Sacred Pullets did eat their allowance which furnish'd a fair occasion to the Chicken-masters to usurp a power to perswade or disswade the Consuls from fighting when they pleased Instead of these in our Modern Wars before the Battel the Turk with great devotion attends the sight of the new Moon and both he and other Mahometans howl loud enough to their Impostor who is otherwise so taken up that he hath no leisure to hear their habblings Christiaâ—s either humbly offer or should humbly offer the Sacrifices of their Prayers to the True God who gives Victory to whom he pleaseth In the Primitive times they sung a Paan and a Hymn Crux Vâ—cit After the Heathens thought they had made their Deities propitious their Chieftains labdured to encourage their Armies with good Words Speeches Orations and Promises of Rewards Their Speeches were sometimes premeditated and sometimes extemporary The Roman Generals used to harangue Harangues their Armies when they were to promalgate new Ordinances to punish grievous Crimes or to fight with an Enemy sometimes in the Camp and sometimes in the Field And all this was also done by other Nations though it may be not so well When the Roman Generals resolv'd either to fight or offer Battel they caus'd The Scarlet â—r Purple Coat of Arms. a Scarlet or Purple Coat of Arms to be hung upon the point of a long Spear at their Praetorium or Pavilion and this was Signum Pugna the sign of Battel and then every one prepar'd himself for his proper work But before that for most part the Souldiers had direction to refresh themselves with Sleep and Meat and this indeed was well done of them but they were not the only Refreshment men who did it other Nations used it particularly we read that Hannibal practis'd it at Treâ—ia for there he order'd his Army the night before he fought to take their rest and refreshment and next morning set upon the Romans when they were fasting to which Livy in his twenty first Book mostly attributes his Victory After these things the Army was marshall'd in the Field whereof I have already spoken sufficiently Being ready to come to the shock the Tessera or Word was given which The Tessera or Word all both Officers and Common Souldiers received that by it they might know one another and so discern an Enemy The Tessera was either one Word or one Sentence as Foelicitas Libertas Venus Genetrix one of Julius Caesar's Optima Mater given by Nero The worst of Sons Among the Emperours after their conversion to the Faith Deus Nobiscum God with us was ordinary and so it continues to be often used among the German Danish and Swedish Armies Next to the Word was the Shout and this either was not or should not be raised till the Armies were at that distance that they could immediately come to blows This was done to encourage their own men Baritus or shout and terrifie their Enemies Livius in his fourth Book informs us that where this cry or shout was very loud
shrill and continued without interruption it was interpreted to be a certain sign of Victory but if it was dead cold and unequal often begun and often interrupted it bewray'd fear and discouragement and portended ruine and destruction It was used by all Nations as well as the Romans and the word Baritus whereby Historians express it was borrowed from the Ancient Germans whose cry they say sounded like the pronunciation of that word They cryed no more after they came to the medley else it would have hinder'd them from hearing the Commands of their Officers either by word of mouth or the Trumpet Though the loud noise of Cannon and Musket in our Modern Wars may seem reason enough to suppress this ancient custome of shouting yet it neither ought to be nor yet is it banish'd out of our Armies The Germans French Danes and Swedes in their advance and before they give Fire have their ca ca oâ— And no doubt with an advance a stroâ—t heats and inflames the Blood and helps to encourage The late Usurper and his Armies made but too good use of it These things were previous to a Battel First The Purple Coat of Arms at the Consuls Pavillion Secondly The Exhortation or Harangâ—e Thirdly The Marshalling the Army Fourthly The Word or Teâ—â—â—â—a Fifthly The Classiâ—â—â— And Lastly This Shout or Baritus Of the first five that were ordinarily practis'd Caesar speaks in the Second Book of his Gallick War as necessary for when he was almost surpriz'd by the Nervians he writes thus Caesar saith he of himself had all things to do at once the Standard to be set up that is the Scarlet Coat his Army to marshal his Souldiers to exhort to cause the sign to be given by the Trumpet and to give the Sign this last Sign signifieth the Tessera otherwise the words had been superfluous of which that great man cannot be taxed As to this last Sign which was the Word the Ancients found that same difficulty with which all Armies are still troubled and that was that by the often requiring and giving it the Enemy came to the knowledge of it and then it was useless Lipsâ—â—â— tells us that he reads in Pâ—liâ—â—nus that one Aâ—ues an Arcadian A pretty story Captain being to fall on the Lacedâ—monians in the night time or as we now call it to beat up their quarters instead of a Word he commanded his Army to require no Word at all but to use all those who sought a Word as Enemies so that the demanding the Tessora bewray'd the demander to be a Lacedaemonian who at that time receiv'd a notable overthrow The Roman Consul when Classicum a sign of Battel he was to fall on caus'd the Classicum to sound which was seconded by the nearest and immediately by all the Trumpets Horns and Horn-pipes of the Army And now the Battel begins concerning which an old question is not yet perhaps decided Whether it was better to give or receive the charge The A question whether to give or receive the charge Roman Dictator Cossus as Levy hath it in his sixth Book being to joyn Battel with a powerful Army of the Volscians commanded all his Foot to stand still and fix their Javelines in the ground and so receive the Enemies charge which being violent put them out of breath and then the Legionaries clos'd with them and routed them Great Pompey gave the like order at Pharsalia but not with the like success for he was totally beaten But Machiavelli with Machiavelli's opinion his accustomed confidence to give it no worse name in the fourth Book of his Art of War takes upon him to give the definitive sentence and awards the Victory to him who receives the charge And saith also that most Captains chuse rather to receive than give it yet he instances only one of the Fabii who by receiving the charge of the Sanonites and Gauls was Victorious But we must listen to a greater Captain than any he hath named and himself to boot and that is Julius Caesar who by giving the charge in the Thessalian Plains gain'd the Soveraignty of the Roman Empire and blames Pompey for following the bad advice of Triarius to wait till Caesar charged him His words whereby he seems to void this difference you have in the third Book of his Civil War which are these in English But on the contrary says he I think this was done Caesar's judgement of it by Pompey without any shew of reason meaning his keeping his Souldiers from advancing to the charge because there is saith he I know not what galant vigour and natural inclination to courage born in all men which Captains ought rather to cherish stir up and augment than any way mollifie or restrain Thus far Great Caesar But on the other hand if an Army be drawn up in an advantageous ground suppose a Hill or fenced with Marish River To keep advantages or Rock the quitting of which may prove prejudicial as the loss of all advantages especially in matters of War doth it alters clearly the case and those who have done it either in Ancient or Modern Wars to the irrecoverable loss of their Masters have much mistaken Caesar who never practised it and assuredly those who do it had need of good fortune otherwise they may be sure to be branded in true Histories with either perfidy or inexcusable folly and even in Romances with too much generosity In the time of Battel all both Commanders and Souldiers did their duties by punctually obeying the commands of their Generals though to the certain and inevitable loss of their lives if not they were sure to incur those punishments whereof I shall speak hereafter Nor were they obliged to obey the commands given them before the Battel only but all those orders and signs that were given them in the time of Battel These Vegetius in the fifth Chapter of his third Book calls Signs and divides them into three Signs in time of Battel sorts Vocal Semi-vocal and Dumb. The Vocal were the verbal commands of the Officers especially the Consul and Tribunes The Semi-vocal were the several sounds of Classicums Trumpets and Horns as March Charge Retire The Dumb signs were the Ensigns Standards and Eagles as also the elevation of the Hand of a Colours or a Lance or the shaking of a Spear by a Consul or General But these were agreed on before the fight began and were either given to the whole Army or but to a part of it as when you see such a thing done then you are to do so and so These Dumb signs would not do much good in our Battels where the smoak of Powder would render many of them imperceptible And now the Battel is ended and the Romans are either Victorious or have lost the day If the first they were to pursue the Enemy to his Camp To pursue a Victory or clearly out of the Field and not only so but to follow him
a sight by Proclamation gave them three days to live before their death should be resolved on by him But in vain for an of them dispatched themselves excepâ— such as were by force bonds and chains compelled to live You may read their lamentable Tragedy in Polyâ—â—â— his sixteenth Book and in the thirty first of Titus Livius Nor did the Romans in their Civil Wars give better quarter one to another Romans cruel to Prisoners in their Civil Wars except Câ—sar than they did to strangers Pâ—â—â—â—ius killed those Souldiers of Câ—sar's whom he found in his Camp though Câ—sar spared those of Peâ—â—eiâ—s and sent them back to him Sciplâ— Pompey's Father-in-law put aâ— those of Câ—sar's party to death whom he took Prisoners Syâ—â—â— after all his Victories very cruelly put eight thousand Romans to the Sword in the great hostelery near the City after they had yielded to his Mercy Nor did Aâ—gustus keep himself within the limits of Mercy when he thought it fit at one time to sacrifice three hundred Roman Knights to appease the incensed Ghost of his Great Unkle Julius Câ—sar But it may be said these had that pretence which all Civil War carries along with it and that is that all who oppose either of the two parties are Rebels to the State whether the party be for the lawful and supreme authority or against it And therefore to say no more of their Civil Wars I find them extream cruel in their Wars with Hannibal to their own Souldiers which that great Carthaginian had taken Prisoners Fabiâ—s the Dictator who saved the Roman State made an agreement with Hannibal for the exchange and ransome of Prisoners of a like quality and for every one of those who after the exchange was made were superâ—umerary they were to pay â—eaâ— eight pounds Sterling At one exchange there were two hundred â—orty seven more Romans than Carthaginians Hannibal demands their ransome Fabius sent to Roman â—enates Avarice the Senate for it who basely refused the money and disowned the agreement what could the good old man Fabius do but send his Son to Rome and sell a part of his Patrimony and pay the money to Hannibal which was near two thousand pound Sterling a vast summ in those days But they dealt worse with those of their own men who were taken Prisoners at Cannae whom they It s Cruelty and Injustice would neither ransome out of the publick Pâ—rse nor suffer the Prisoners themselves or their Friends to ransome out of their private fortunes and estates And though the Senate flattered themselves by calling this act of their own Magâ—animous yet since there was no Justice in it it could carry no generosity along with it for if these Captive Romans misbehaved themselves in the Battel the Senate was bouâ—d in honour to ransome them and punish them themselves and not suffer them to rot in prison with their capital Enemy Assuredly this Action wanted for neither Avarice nor Cruelty for strange it was thus to punish common Souldiers and yet to send out some principal Senators to meet and complement their hair-brain'd Conful Teremiâ—â— Vaâ—â— and thank him that he had not despaired of the Common-wealth and yet by his obstinate and inexcusable folly he had brought the Common-wealth to the very brink of Destruction And why might not Hannibal have used these Roman Prisonerâ— as Livy in his seventh Book tells us the Romans used some thousands of the Tarquinian Prisoners A mercâ—â—ess act of the Romans yet not unjust of whom they chose 358 of the prime Noblemen and Gentlemen all these they first whipped well with Rods and then struck off their Heads in the great Market-place of Rome and presently after put all the rest of the Prisoners to the Sword in cold blood Though this was a very merciless act yet by the law of War they might do it and so might Hannibal have done to their Prisoners and truly I do not see how he could be obliged to â—eed those whom their own Masters would not ransome Let us hear what opinion Polybâ—â—s had of Prisoners of War who was a grave Polybius his opinion how Prisoners of War may be used Historian a great States-man and a good Captain In his second Book speaking of Aristomachuâ— who being a Prisoner of War was tortured to death He saith on that subject that neither Antigonâ—â— King of Macedon nor Aratus Praetor of the Achâ—ans could be called cruel for putting a Captive to death with torments for though Aristomachus had not deserved that usage otherwise yet they might have done all to him that was donâ— â—ure Belli for the Law of Nations and War give the Conquerour power to use his Prisoners at his pleasure And the same Author speaking of the Mantimans who were justly punished for their abominable perfidy and ingratitude in slaughtering those Achaans who were sent to preserve them he saith expressly That though they had committed no such wickedness nor any other crime at all yet the Victor in War Jure Belli might have either kill'd them their Wives and Children or sold them for Slaves at his pleasure Thus far he But this power of Victorious Princes or Generals over the Goods Persons and Lives of their Prisoners is limited and restrained by Treaties Parleys Treaties Capitulations and Articles to the strict observance whereof simply and without fraud or ambiguity all men of what Station Rank or Quality whatsoever or of what Religion or Perswasion soever be he Jew or Gâ—mile Grâ—cian or Barbarian Christian or Mahometan are tyed because Faith and Promises Articles and Promises should be faithfully kepâ— No Enemy to be trusted in time of Treaty are the Sacred and Indissoluble Bonds which maintain Humane Society and whosoever breaks them on any pretence should be look'd on as a Monster and not as a Man In the time of Treaty both parties who treat ought to be careful that a Cessation of Arms be agreed on and sign'd by the Commanders in Chief of both Forces whether it be in Field Town Castle or Garrison and not only so but they ought to be on their guard for fear of â—oul play or some unexpected rupture of the Treaty For both in Ancient and Modern times Cities and Forts have been surpriz'd when those within thought themselves secure by a Treaty and Cessation as Histories of all ages bear witness And many times these Surprizes have been made without either the consent or connivence of either the Commander in chief or his Subordinate Officers meerly by the common Souldiers who frequently think themselves defrauded by Treaties of that which they conceive is the price of their Sweat and Blood to wit the spoil and booty of the place besieged or of the persons of those almost beaten and overcome in the Field Nor should any Treaty give the least interruption to the constant keeping of strict Guards and careful Watches nor should those who treat have liberty to view Guards Camps Magazines
voluntary death rid themselves from all fears and dangers and rob their enemies of the glory of their Captivity Thus Saul King of Israel desired his Armour-bearer to kill him and because he would not he did it himself that he might not fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Thus Virius Vibius perswaded seventy Capuan Senators to sup with him and every one of them to drink a draught of Poyson to shun the Rods and Axes of the Roman Conquerours Thus the Great Hannibal poysoned himself that the Treacherous King of Prussia might not deliver him into the hands of his implacable enemies the Romans Thus Brutus and Cassius dispatched themselves that they might not be grateful and welcome spectacles to Anthony and Octavius Caesar Thus Cato made Vtica Victrix caâ—sa Diis placuit sed Victa Catoni famous by pulling out his own Bowels that he might not be beholding for his life to merciful Caesar Thus Scapula to shun the same Caesars just resentment for his sedition caused a huge pile of burnt-wood to be heaped up supped plentifully took Nard or Spikenard and Rosin inwardly and then commanded a slave to kindle the fire and to throw him in it after his freed servant had at his intreaty cut his Throat Thus Mark Anthony and his beautiful and beloved Cleopatra opened to themselves two several doors of death that they might not assist at Augustus his Triumphal Entrance into Rome Thus Vaodicea Queen of the Britons chose rather to poyson her self than be the object of the Romans contempt to whom in restoring to liberty her oppressed Country she had done much mischief What some others who were not Heathens have done like this in latter times moved by the fearful examples of the calamities and inhumane usage of those who have been Prisoners of War before them shall be spoken to in its own place CHAP. XXIV Of the Military Punishments and Rewards of the Romans and other Ancients AS in all well order'd Commonwealths the Vertuous should be cherished and the wicked chastised so in Armies which both in Oeconomy and Policy do not only represent but are indeed either well or ill govern'd Republicks those who in ancient times did signal services were rewarded and those who transgressed Military Laws were punished And if Martial Animadversions Military Laws should be severe and severely executed be more severe than the Civil ones there is reason for it because on the right or wrong managing the War depends the safety or ruin of the State and upon the least mistake of one Military order may follow the loss of that Army to which is intrusted the management of that War The great Master of War Caesar says Fortuna quam in reliquis reâ—us tum praecipâ—e in bello parviâ— momentis magnas commutationes efficit Fortune saith he as in other affairs so more especially in War makes inconsiderable accidents produce vast changes and alterations That which Lamachus in Plutarch says is now common Non licet bis in bello peccare In War one cannot do wrong twice that is in summa rei in the principal points of War as in the loss of an army the ill Marshalling of it the ill fighting a Battel the loss of a considerable Town or Pass by negligence sloth treachery or cowardise Vegetius in the Thirteenth Chapter of his first Book says Praliorum delicta emendationem non recipiunt The errors committed in fighting Battels are not capable of amendment And in the fifth Chapter of his Third Book he tells us Siquidem nulla sit negligentia venia ubi de salute certatur There is no pardon for a neglect where men fight for the common safety Now though it be an unquestionable truth that when subjects do their Prince and Country service they do but their duty and when they do either of them disservice or transgress Laws they deserve punishment yet it is as true that men naturally are much encouraged to vertue by seeing rewards liberally bestow'd on those who are faithful and loyal as they are frighted or terrified from vice by the punishments they see inflicted on the wicked and disloyal I think it was no flash but a remarkable saying of a Noble English General who by an Rewards encourage as well as punishments deter exemplary hanging of some Plunderers in his Army did encourage the Country Gentlemen to intreat him to hang some more for taking Geese and Hens and yet they were making no great haste to bring in either meat or money for the entertainment of the Army Nay Gentlemen said the General all hanging and no money will not keep any Army together a little hanging and a little money will do better And indeed it is so all punishment and no reward proves but one support instead of two to the continuance of either Commonwealth or Armies Many of the ancient Governours of Republicks and Commanders of Armies knew very well how to dispence both rewards and punishments Some Nations whom both Greeks and Romans qualified with the title of Barbarous were extreamly inhumane in their punishments So we read that he who came last to Some ancient Nations inhumane in their punishments the Rendezvouz of the ancient Gauls was either cut in pieces or thrown quick into a fire And Caesar in his Seventh Book of the Gallick War says that for petty faults Vercengentâ—rix caused noses ears and hands to be cut off and the eyes of Delinquents to be put out and in that manner sent them home to their friends but for greater crimes he caused them to be burnt quick or put them to death by some more lingring torture Though the Grecians were severe in their punishments yet we find them not ordinarily cruel in them their Animadversions being for most part rather Ignominious than Capital It is said of the Lacedemonians from whom others had their breeding in the Military Art that they punisht a Coward by clothing him in a Womans apparel and making him stand every third day in their Markets or other publick places which was lookt on by men of spirit as worse than death We find the ordinary death to which the Grecian Delinquents in Armies Grecian punishments were put was that of stoning which perhaps they learned from a more ancient people than themselves the Israelites it being a custom with them to take their Malefactors without the Camp and there stone them to death This punishment was no new invented one in the time of Alexander for Q. Curtius speaking of the Conspiracy against the King says all that were named by Nicomachus so soon as the sign was given were stoned to death More patrio after the custom of the Country Punishments of another sort were inflicted by the Great Alexander after his great Soul began to deviate from the path of Vertue such was his inhumane torturing to death the noble Philâ—tas perhaps with that same justice that he caused his father Parmâ—niâ— to be murthered whose Conduct had so much contributed
hundred But in Aemilius his Army against the Macedonian Phalanx the Legions were of six thousand whereof the Triâ—rii according to Polybius being only six hundred the Hastati and Principes must have consisted each of two thousand and the Velites must have been fourteen hundred And by this account Aemilius his Hastati would have possest in Front above five thousand foot of ground so it is clear that the Hastati of the weakest Consular Army out-wing'd the Macedonian Phalange and thereby was able to fall upon its Flanks supposing still which cannot he deny'd me that the Roman Cavalry gave the Grecian Horse work enough and they carrying short managable Arms might easily disorder the Phalangites being once enter'd within their great Body so that the Principes and Triarii coming up fresh to the medley would not find much difficulty to make that great bulk a prey Observe likewise if you consider the great Intervals of the Roman Maniples all the Phalangites who in Battel met with these Intervals were useless for they had no Enemy to fight with These conjectures of mine I have presum'd to add to Polybius his weightier considerations But notwithstanding all that is said for the Legions advantage over the Reasons why a Phalanx rightly order'd had the advantage of a Legion Phalange I am bold with submission to Polybius to say If the Phalange be order'd as I spoke of in my Discourses of the Grecian Art of War that is not so deep as sixteen and consequently of a larger Front and thereby not so apt to be surrounded or out-wing'd and with Reserves I conceive not only those conjectures of mine but all Polybius his reasons will come to nothing or signifie little Neither indeed can I at all be perswaded to believe that so soon as the Legionaries were enter'd at the void places within the Ranks of the Phalanx that presently they were Masters of it for though the points of those Pikes within which the Romans were come were indeed useless yet so were not the points of all those Pikes that were at a convenient distance from them besides I hope it will be granted that a Legionaries offensive weapon the Sword was no more servicable to him at that close fight than the Sword of a Phalangite was to him that carried it for it is not imaginable that he was bound to keep his Pike longer in his hand than it was useful for him nor his Sword in its sheath longer than it was time to draw it in defence of his life And what I now speak of a Phalange not so deep as sixteen and consequently of a greater Front among the Grecians and of Reserves which the Romans call'd Subsidia is no vain speculation of mine for I have formerly demonstrated the truth of it out of good Authors though I confess I am convinced such Phalanges were not at Cinecephala where Q. Flaminius beat Philip the Father nor at Pidna where L. Aemilius beat Perseus the Son both Kings of Macedon To confirm my opinion that the Legion by its constitution had no advantage Roman Army beat by Xantippus a Grecian over a Phalange rightly order'd I shall use the authority of Polybius against Polybius for he in his first Book relates to us how the Carthaginians in the first Punick War were brought so low that they were ready to accept any reasonable conditions of Peace till they gave the command of their forces to Zantippus a Lacedaemonian that had come out of Greece with some mercenary Laconians and was one of those who in this age are called Souldiers of Fortune who making use of the Grecian Rules which he had learn'd in his own Countrey marshall'd the Carthaginian Army in several Bodies of Horse and Foot each to second another adding the help of his Elephants and chusing the most Champaign grounds he could extended his Front to so great a length that the Romans using their accustom'd order were out-wing'd surrounded and totally routed by him and the Consul Attilius Regulus with five hundred more Romans were led Captive into Carthage Here Xantippus meerly by the Grecian Art of War worsted the Romans who made use of their own Art But I will go a greater length may not we imagine that Amilcar in the And by Amilcar and Hannibal who followed Xantippus his Art pursuance of that first Punick War and his Son Hannibal in the beginning of the second imitated Xantippus and manag'd the War according to that pattern he had left behind him I suppose we may believe it If this do not prove that the difference between the Grecian and Roman Art of War did not always make the one Nation victorious over the other then take more Instances Pyrrhus King of Epirus at his first coming into Italy with a Grecian Army And by Pyrrhus Grecian Arms and Art of War did beat the Romans in Battel so did he the second time A fancy took him to arm his Souldiers after the Roman fashion and then he was beaten by the Romans Hannibal when he came first to Italy beat the Romans in set Battel and I believe with these kind of Arms and that order of War which Xantippus used in Africk and consequently Grecian But Polybius tells us in his seventeenth Book that the same Hannibal To what Polybius attributes Victory armed all his Carthaginians after the Roman manner no doubt with those Arms that he had taken from them now as he had beaten them formerly with Carthaginian and Grecian Arms so he beat them frequently afterward with Roman Arms. Therefore this noble Historian in that place doth not attribute Hannibals Victories to any advantage his Souldiers had either in Arms or Art over the Romans but to his own singular Prudence his Courage and Conduct and extraordinary Qualifications and to use Polybius his own expression His Capital Engine But when saith he a Roman General equal in abilities to him came to command the Roman Armies then Victory flew from Hannibal over to Scipio But let us ask the question Why so Since both Captains were equal in Valour and Conduct and if there was any odds the Carthaginian no question had it because of his long experience and almost matchless policy in feats of Arms and that there was but little difference in their Arms or manner of Militia Here Polybius is at a stand and gives no reason for it but that Fortune would have it so What Fortune was to him that is Providence to us He was ignorant of what the wisest Eccles Ch. 3. and Ch. 9. of men said long before the foundation of Rome was laid That there is a time for every purpose under Heaven a time to kill and a time to heal a time to gain and a time to lose And in another place That the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor favour to the men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all And indeed that happeneth to all and to
every one what the eternal hath ordain'd for them Nor did Polybius know what was reveal'd to Nebuchadnezzar in that dream which Daniel interpreted to him that the Persians Daniel Ch. 2. should subdue the Assyrians the Grecians should ruine the Persians and the Romans should put a period to the Macedonian Monarchy There was no stop to be made to the current of the Victories of the Romans whom the Almighty had pre-ordain'd to become Masters of the World That there is such an All-ruling Providence was not unknown to the wiser Heathens though they being in a mist did not see with so clear eyes as we who are illuminated by the brighter rays of Gods own word and for all that I think few Divines can express in fewer words the omnipotency and unbounded power of the most high than a Pagan Poet did when he wrote Sic ait immensa est finemque potentia coeli Ovid's Met. Non habet quicquid superi voluere peractum est Heav'ns power hath no limits hence we see All done infallibly what Gods decree If Polybius had liv'd in our days he might have seen the hand of Heaven distributing Victory to speak with reverence and submission to the Almighties pleasure more partially than he either heard it was awarded in the Hannibalian or saw it given in the third Punick War of the first whereof he writes when he falls upon this discourse with us He might have seen men of one Nation arm'd alike following one and the same method of War and for any thing I know of equal Courage both parties inflam'd the one with Loyal zeal the other with rebellious rage acting their parts very highly on the bloody stage of War he might have seen I say the best of Soveraign Kings King Charles the First lose his Crown and Life and have his head chopp'd off with an Ax when the worst of Subjects and greatest of Rebels had his deck'd with Bays Or if Polybius had liv'd but one age longer than he did he might have seen the Roman Legions which he so much commends cutting one anothers Throats all Countrey-men all men of equal Courage and Conduct arm'd alike using one and the same Art and Discipline of War embruing their hands in one anothers blood and those who fought for the State and Liberty of their Countrey overthrown kill'd murther'd and massacred and their Enemies almost ador'd for their success in a bad cause and he might have either seen or heard of Pompeys Head ignominiously struck off and Caesars crown'd Caesar and Pompey with Laurels And if Polybius had been an eye-witness of the prodigious success Gustavus Adolphus the Great King of Sweden had in Germany in the year 1630. when he invaded the Roman Empire and how he took Cities Forts and Castles more Emperour Ferdinand the Second for their number and more considerable for their Strength Beauty and Riches in the space of six months and made a greater progress in his Conquests in less than two years time than Hannibal did in Italy the whole eighteen years he stay'd in it If I say he had seen this he had never attributed Victory to the goodness of Arms the cunning of the Art or exactness of the Discipline of War for he would have seen the Emperour Ferdinand the Seconds Generals wise And his Generals couragious experienced vigilant as well and as much as either the King himself or any of his great Captains Besides both Wallenstein Duke of Friedland and Count Tili had that which Polybius himself requires in a General that was they were fortunate Their great Victories over the Kings of Bohemia and Denmark Bethlem Gabor the Duke of Brunswick the Marquesses of Baden and Durlach and the famous Earl of Mansfield being yet fresh in memory And if Polybius had seen any disparity of Arms or Armour or of Horses either for their number or their goodness in this German War he had seen the Emperours Armies have the odds by much neither was the difference of the manner of their War or Ratio Belli so considerable as to cast the Scales so far as that Martial King did in so short a time Nor was Hannibals discent into Italy with few more than twenty thousand men more hazardous than the Kings landing in Germany with eight or ten thousand at most was justly thought to be What was it then would Polybius have said that carried Victory whose wings Ferdinands Generals and Armies thought they had clipp'd over to the Sweed what else but the hand of the Almighty who when that Emperour was very fair to have reduced Germany to an absolute Monarchy said to him and the whole house of Austria Non plus ultra Go no further Titus Livius had read without all question this comparison of Polybius Another comparison of Titus Livius whereof I have spoken enough and it may be hath taken from it a hint to start another question which is this If the great Alexander after his return from India and his subduing so many Nations in little more than ten years time had made a step over to Italy what the issue of the War between him Voided by himself and the Romans would have been And gives his Sentence that infallibly his Countrey men would have beaten that Great Conquerour Paola Paruta a Paruta not satisfied with Livius Noble Venetian and a Procurator of St. Mark refutes Livius his arguments and concludes that the Macedonian would have over-master'd the Romans But in steps a third an Author of no small reputation the renown'd Sir Walter Raleigh Nor Sir Walter Raleigh who will give the prize to neither Macedonian nor Roman but to his own English It will not be denied but the English Nation did admirable feats in France which was indeed the Stage on which Caesar acted his most martial exploits under Edward the Third King of England and his Son the Black Prince as also under Henry the Fifth while he liv'd and after his death under his Valiant Brothers But Paruta refutes Livius yet I have seen none that opposeth Sir Walter and I am sure I shall not because I am not so much beholding to the Grecians and Romans as to the English But those who are curious to read the reasons of all the three may find those of Livy in his ninth Book of his first Decad those of Paruta in the second Chapter of his Political Discourses and those of Raleigh in the first Chapter of the fifth Book of the first part of his History of the World But to return to Livy's question I shall tell my opinion and that is lawful Strong presumptions against Livius his opinion enough for me to do and it is this Since Hannibal as Polybius confesseth carried not much above twenty thousand men over the Alps of all that great Army that he brought out of Spain and with them durst invade the Roman Seignories in Italy it self when Rome was Mistress of Sicily and
Sardinia and of the Sea too when Hannibal I say notwithstanding the Roman power and all the obstructions that Hanno and his party made against him within Carthage durst fight and did beat the Romans so often that if he had pursued one of his Victories he had gone fair to have set up his Trophies in the Capitol When with such a stock Hannibal could do so great things I think in all humane probability Alexander who was master of the best and richest places of the World who was an absolute Soveraign Monarch and so not liable or accountable to a Senate not in fear or jealousie of any Competitor a great and an experienced Warriour of an Invincible Courage Master of prodigious Forces both at Sea and Land his power almost boundless and yet his Ambition more unlimited than his Power If he I say had enter'd Italy and invaded the Roman State then but in its Infancy and shouldering for more room with its neighbour Cities he had made it submit to his uncontrollable pleasure or drown'd the very Roman name in the pit of eternal Oblivion PALLAS ARMATA Military Essays OF THE MODERN ART of WAR BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the Modern Militia in General HE who will rightly shape or form that monstrous Beast that War the wild Boar of the Forrest Bellua that wild Boar of the Forest that plucketh up all Vineyards by the roots War must begin saith Themistocles with the Belly meaning Provisions and Victuals must be prepared to maintain the Armies of those Princes and States who wage War And because meat in an orderly way costs money they say money is the sinews of War yet we have seen and known Armies rais'd and maintain'd with little or no money prepared by those who levied them but some exceptions take not away an universal rule How the ancient Nations as well Grecians Romans as others shap'd this Beast of War how they composed his members and how they entertain'd and fed him both for their own defence and to offend others I have shew'd to my Reader in my former Discourses as far at least as by conjectures rationally grounded on the authority of approved Authors besides Aelian Aeneas Polybius and Vegetius it was possible for me to reach But coming now to speak of the Modern Art of War I find my self more embarrassed than in the delineation of the rest for besides the differences of the manner of War used by several Nations which perhaps might all be digested in one form with some exceptions not very essential I know not of what date age years or Centuries of Modern Militia of an uncertain date years I shall make the Modern Militia If I shall date its Birth from the time the Roman Art of War began to be corrupted I should perhaps make it too old for Vegetius complains that the substance of that was well near spent and no more but a shadow of it left long before his time which mov'd the Emperour Valentinian to command him to compose a Systeme of the ancient Roman Constitutions of War which had been needless if they had been then in vigor and how Vegetius hath acquitted himself of that undertaking I have already told you But if I should date the age of the Modern Art of War from the time that Gunpowder was invented I might perhaps hit right enough at its age because no doubt Gunpowder made a great alteration on the whole face and body of War But I am sure I have but few or rather no helps to write the Series of its History either from the decay of the Roman Militia or from the time that Gunpowder was heard to make so loud and so fearful a noise in the World Though we are told that the ancient Roman customs of War were worn out The Militia of several ages forgot of use yet none tell us when either they were restor'd or yet what others were brought in their room Neither do we find that those who wrote Histories after the decadency of the Roman Empire give us light in it or yet what kind of Militia was used by those Nations who had the confidence with their sharp swords to cut out to themselves very large portions of the great bulk of that almost Universal Monarchy From History we know that the Goths the Vandals the As that of the Goths Vandals and Huns. Huns and the Longobards invaded the Empire and fought many successful Battels with some Roman Emperours and their Lieutenants and that they conquer'd Kingdoms by feats of War and got them confirm'd to them by articles of peace But what order these Nations kept in Modelling their Armies what Discipline to preserve them how they arm'd them what art they us'd in Embatelling fighting or taking Towns none of the Roman Writers that I know of hath either told us or given us ground to conjecture except a few things of one of the Theodoricks King of the Goths And from those Nations who were Barbarians who it may be knew not what it was to read or write we are not in reason to expect any significant account As little do we know what manner of Militia was used in France Germany Batavia and England when they first emancipated themselves from the subjection That of the ancient Germans and Batavians of the Roman Empire The Victories the Saracens had in all the three known parts of the World the whole power of the Emperours of Greece in the East with almost innumerable Armies from the West to recover the Holy Land from those Saracens long before the name of a Turk was heard of not being That of the Saracens able to keep Jerusalem long from them demonstrate that they were well arm'd well train'd and had a Discipline of War and that a very exquisite one but what it was we are yet to seek for any thing we find in History and yet those Expeditions are very famous and stand authentically recorded We read that Charles Martel Major of the Palace in France made War with the That of Charles Martel Pepin and Charles the Great Saracens and in one Battel which he fought in Provence laid one hundred thousand of them in the dust His Son Pepin made a successful War against the Lombards in Italy at the instance of Pope Zachary so did his Son Charles the Great against both them the Pagan Saxons in Germany and the Moors in Spain but how the Armies of either the one party or the other were arm'd model'd marshall'd or Embattel'd is wrapt up in the abyss of dark oblivion What shall we say since Fire-guns alter'd many of the ancient customs of War and by piecemeal hath obtained the pre-eminence over almost all offensive weapons and challenges the Prerogative even before and over the Sword the Lance and the Pike much more over the Bow the Arrow Dart Javelin and Sling and yet from History we are no more acquainted with the manner of War since they came in use
than we were before their invention of the truth whereof take a short view What vast Provinces and goodly Countries the Turk since the birth of Gunpowder hath acquired in Asia Africk and Europe is obvious to our sight though the Histories of all Nations were silent And though in the general we are told We have but confused notions of the Turkish Militia that his order is good the Government and Discipline observ'd in his numerous Armies is strict and excellent yet the particulars have been hitherto related to us but very confusedly neither doth Mr. Rycaut in his Book of the present state of the Ottoman Empire Printed a few years ago help us much but rather gives us occasion to think that the Turks have lost their ancient Art of War or if they still retain it we must wonder how these Unbelievers have triumph'd over so many both Christian and Mahometan people with so undisciplin'd and disorderly multitudes as his relation makes them to be for he saith their principal Foot which are the Janizaries reputed to have been the strength and support of that great Monarchy fight confusedly and the Spahies who are the best of their Cavalry fight likewise in little good order he says that sometimes they charge thrice and if they then break not the enemy they fly and withal he makes their Artillery very insignificant in regard that as he writes they have no Gunners but such as either they take Prisoners or are sold to them for Slaves who stay no longer with them than any fair opportunity is offer'd them to run away Though perhaps the Victories which the great Tamberlan obtain'd and the And of Tamberlans order of War celerity he used in making these Conquests which have render'd him so famous be not so vast as Stories make them yet we may believe his Atchievements to have been extraordinary in regard the Great Mogul of India derives his Pedigree in a lineal descent from him and at this day possesseth a vast and a Great Empire which is but a remnant of a far greater acquir'd by Tamberlan whose Discipline is cry'd up to have been exceeding strict his Art of War so exact and orderly that he never went out of the Field without Victory or from a besieged Town without either its submission or destruction It is written of him that the day he fought with Bajazet at Mount Stella his Army consisted of a Million of men and yet he made use of them all in the time of the Battel If this be all true is it not pity that the manner of his Encamping Besieging Embattelling and fighting is not left on record to posterity And to come home the Scottish the English and the French Histories tell us what bloody Engagements have been among them and what Battels have been fought with various success but except that we are told that the French As also of the Scötish French and English Gens de Armes were numerous besides their other Cavalry that the English used the Bow and the Bill and had men of Arms likewise and that the Scots fought on Horseback with Lances and Jacks of Mail and on foot with long Pikes Battel-axes Bows and two-handed Swords what know we more of the Art of War that any of all the three practis'd of the order they kept how strong their several Bodies and Batallions were or what names they gave them how deep they Marshal'd either their Horse or Foot how they Embattell'd how they Encamped and how they form'd their Sieges for all these we have nothing but ill grounded conjectures and very confused notions I know not whom we shall justly blame for this great defect but the several Generals of several Armies belonging to several Nations and in several ages who if either they could not or would not write the History of their own or others actions as Xenophon and Thucydides among the Grecians Julius Caesar and Cato Many Historiographers defective among the Romans Monluc and a few others in our Modern times yet I think they were obliged to cause their Secretaries to keep exact accounts of the manner of these Sieges and those Battels which under their Command were either form'd or fought that so they might have been transmitted to posterity Some have done so but most have neglected it thinking it enough if their actions were generally remember'd recommending the particulars to the information of Historians which many times is such that it looks rather like a Romance than a true story But I had rather you should hear Monluc that famous Marshal of France upon this Subject who in the Third Book of his first Tome says That Historians who write the feats of War describe seldom or never the Particularities Monluc his Complaint of them of the action as how such a Castle was surprized in what order such a Town was assaulted or in what manner defended how such two Armies were Marshal'd before they join'd in Battel how the Horsemen were arm'd and how the Foot with many more circumstances necessary to be known by those who in time coming desire to be instructed and especially such as intend to serve their Prince and Country in Military Employments that from thence they may learn how to demean themselves in the like occasions But says he the whole multitude of Historiographers conceive they do enough if they tell us such a Battel was fought such a Prince or General gain'd the Victory such a City was besieged and yielded and such a one was taken by assault For himself he professeth he wrote his Commentaries to be registers of the actions of his time the particulars whereof might serve to inform those who were to come after him how to carry themselves either in Sieges Assaults Skirmishes Rancounter or Batteâ— for those saith he who think they know not so much as I will be glad to learn of me but those who fancy they know enough already need no Master In another place he says Historians are to be blam'd for not writing particular things and of particular men they think says he they do enough if they name Princes or Captain-Generals and pass over with silence all other persons that are not of so large a Stature Thus far Monluc Marshal of France To this same purpose you may see Polybius his complaint in his Twelfth Book Polybius his complaint of them where he says Historians first err in not writing things truly and as they were done and next that they give no particular account of the manner of Battels Skirmishes Surprisals and Sieges and this he attributeth to their want of skill and therefore wisheth that all great Captains would write the Histories of their own actions themselves These Complaints of Polybius and Monluc are just but I complain of another kind of Historians who take upon them to give us descriptions of all â—hose The Authors complaint of some of them Particularities without having receiv'd particular relations from the principal
how to do it First saith he let the front of your Army be Marshal'd equal with that of your Second enemy then says he let your front retire by little and little and your flanks standing still shall environ your enemy I doubt not but Machiavel thought this a squint device but it is a fancy only beseeming a Gentleman of the long robe If he had said let your Battel stand and your wings extend themselves he had spoke some sense but a front to retire is an improper speech and unintelligible in the Art of War for in strict and proper language a Front and a Reer consists but each of them of one rank whether that be of ten a hundred a thousand ten thousand or twenry thousand Men or Horse so the first rank which is the Front cannot retire further than six or three foot allowed to be between it and the second rank unless all the ranks and consequently the whole Batallion retire I grant there be some who will have the half of the ranks to be the Front and the other half the Reer as in our Foot Batallions which are six deep the three first ranks make the Front the other three the Reer but this as I think is not proper language neither will it help Machiavel for his Front of the three first ranks cannot retire till the three last ranks that are behind them retire first Besides all this I doubt if in Machiavels time Captains might well hazard more Third than now to command a Batallion of men to retire for fear they could not get them to advance again at least not so readily Justus Lipsius had reason to accuse Machiavel of gross ignorance for denying the right ordering of a Militia to be an Art and certainly his conceit to do so Fourth was very extravagant â—esides he contradicts himself for he calls his Treatise of War I sette libri del'arte della guerra di Nicolo Machiavelli Seven Books of the Art of War of Nicol Machiavell Indeed Soldiers are very little bound to him for he says neither Prince nor State should suffer any of those who profess to live by the Art of War to dwell under them nor doth saith he any vertuous or good man use it as an art and adds that those who do so must of necessity be false fraudulent treacherous and violent for they must saith this Doctor either obstruct all peace that the War continuing they may thereby be maintained or they must pill plunder and make spoil of other mens goods in the time of War that thereby they may maintain themselves in the time of peace This is bad enough if it be all true These are his goodly arguments which are but his own idle dreams for it is Fifth Observation no difficil matter to keep men who make profession of Arms within the bounds of their duty even when they but seldom receive their wages and this in this age is visible to the whole world Nor can many Instances be given where men of War obstructed that peace which their Masters desir'd or which both parties were contented to make And if after the conclusion of a peace and disbanding of Armies any exorbitancies chance to be committed by the Soldiers as seldom any such thing falls out they have been occasion'd by too great a defalcation of their pay with the half or moity whereof all Modern Soldiers will be heartily well contented so perfectly have they learn'd the Baptists Lesson in the Gospel to be content with their wages But to conclude I know not whether I shall more cry up the lowliness of spirit of those great Statesmen who are pleased to descend from their high Corollary Spheres to learn their Politicks from Machiavell or commend the generosity of those Captains who disdain to stoop so low as to receive their Lessons of the Military Art from the Town Clerk of Florence I suppose all that can be expected from me in the following Discourses is in some places to set down wherein the ordinances and customs of War in all or What the Author promiseth to do most of the several points or parts of it in divers Countries agree or disagree with the practice of the present times and when I give my own opinion it shall be sparingly and with submission neither shall I decline to go as far back in the â—nvestigation of the Customs and Constitutions of War in former times as I have either probable grounds for conjecture or any glimpse of light to conduct me Since I wrote this Chapter I have seen some Frenchmen who having been Soldiers themselves have given us an account of the present French art and order of War as De la Valiere Monsieur Louis de la Saya and some others CHAP. II. Of Levies the manner of several Nations in making them Duties of Soldiers when they are levied their age and how long they are bound to serve ARmies are properly the members of the great Body of War and men are the sinews of Armies The best choice election or levy of men is of Voluntary Levy the subjects of that Prince or State who maketh the War where the Law of the Land imposeth a necessity on men â—it for service to enroll themselves according to their several ranks and qualities And this Levy alters its nature according to the nature of the War for if that be a Defensive one the Levy is Voluntary for ordinarily men rise willingly in arms for the defence of their Country Lives Wives and Children But if the War be an Offensive one intended to invade a stranger and such as leads Natives from their Countries and Homes and carries them to foreign lands it is not universally voluntary and very oft gets the name of a Press In this kind of Levy most Nations followed the custom of Press the Grecians and Romans and chose most of their Cavalry out of the Gentlemen or the better sort and the Infantry out of the Commons but the substance of that custom is now vanished and we have scarce the shadow of it left with us The Emperours of the High Dutch Nation the German Princes and Imperial Towns by the old Constitutions of the Empire made an Election or Levy of their Subjects according to their Laws sometimes the tenth sometimes the sixth or fifth man or according to their Estates in all their Wars both since Manner of the ancient Levy in Germany the Turk became their unwelcome neighbour and before he had footing in Europe It is not above fourscore and ten years since in the raign of Maximilian the Second all that were Enrolled in the German Cavalry were by birth Gentlemen it is true they brought some of them one some two and some three with them who waited on them well horsed and armed for whom they receiv'd wages and were subject to articles of War but these were called in their language Einspanneers to distinguish them from the Masters who
were of necessity to be all Gentlemen a custom worn clear out most of German Troops being now composed of Einspanneers without Gentlemen unless it be the Officers and not all of them neither The Commission of array in England is an excellent order by which an Army In England Royal may be brought together either for defence or invasion in a very short time The ancient custom of Levy in Scotland as we are told was to command all between sixteen and sixty years of age to appear in every Shire and you need In Scotland not doubt but out of these an Election was made of such a number as the Kings Lieutenants thought â—it But in latter times a far better and more expedient way was found out and that was to impose the raising such a number of Horse and Foot on every Shire proportionably according to the true valuation of the Estates of the Heritors and Proprietaries Assuredly a way very orderly methodical and just provided it never be made use of in an unjust cause The Kings of Sweden have constantly standing forces within the Kingdom to In Sweden prevent both Invasions and Insurrections they consist of Regiments and Troops which have their denominations from the Provinces where they are raised and where they reside they have their Officers and Colours and are appointed at several times to meet muster and exercise but are not in pay only some small thing is given to the Captain and the Ensign who ordinarily are their Drill-masters and upon that account get wages But these Troops and Regiments are sometimes carried out of Sweden to foreign Wars and that in great numbers and others appointed to be raised in their rooms As in the time of Charles the Ninth they were carried to Liefland against both Pole and Muscovy in the time of Gustavus Adolphus and his Daughter Queen Christina to Livonia Prussia and Germany and more lately by Charles Gustavus to Prussia Livonia Pole Germany and Denmark The Kings of Denmark have their Countrey Militia for defence of the Kingdome In Denmark but are neither so orderly nor so numerous as those of Sweden neither do they take them so frequently to foreign expeditions as of old they did when by their mighty Armies they invaded many places of Germany Scotland and England and made an entire conquest of Normandy But these were like the inundations of the Huns Lombards Goths and Vandals which two last both the Sweedes and Danes pretend to be their Ancestors on the Roman Empire The like of such an Election or Levy hath been in former times used in In Spain Spain and may be yet But when we consider that it hath been often drain'd of men in the days of Philip the Second for the maintenance of his Wars in Italy and the Low Countreys but more especially for his Plantations in America which began in his Father Charles the Fifth's time and continued during the Reigns of Philip the Third and the Fourth we must conclude that all the Spanish Levies made within that Kingdome neither were nor could be voluntary The French Levies of old were all made of the Natives the Cavalry consisting of the Nobility and in the number and strength of a Cavalry France surpassed any other European Nation Charles the Seventh took the assistance of Scottish Foot who joyn'd with his own in his long Wars with England In France But his Son Lewis the Eleventh beside the Scots made use of the Switzers who had at that time acquir'd the reputation of a stout and warlike people not only in maintaining their liberties against the house of Austria but in a bloody War against Charles the Warlike Duke of Burgundy whom they defeated in three great Battels in the last whereof they kill'd himself if he be not yet on his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem These Switzers were so much the more highly esteem'd of by Lewis because they had routed and undone his capital Enemy of them his Infantry was mostly compos'd and he appointed some thousands of them to guard his person as his Father had appointed the Scots to guard his but Lewis kept the Scots likewise and it was well for him that he did so for they defended his life valiantly at the Siege of Liege when the Inhabitants by a desperate Sally had pierced through the Burgundian Army even to his lodging as Philip of Comines relates the story Not only while he liv'd but in the reigns of his Son Charles the Eight and of his successor Lewis the Twelfth did the French Infantry consist of Switzers but Francis the first having had some bloody-trials of the Infidelity of these Mercenary Soldiers put on a resolution to stand thereafter on his own legs and not on those of strangers In order to which in the year 1534 in imitation of the Romans he appointed to be levied and enrolled seven Legions of French Foot French Legions six thousand each which made up a gallant Infantry of two and forty thousand men how these were arm'd shall be told you in its own place This Ordinance fell out to be made in the days of Marshal Monluc who seems in his Commentaries rather to disapprove than approve of it but gives not his reasons I suppose these Legions were kept up in the reigns of this Francis who was the instituter of them and of his Son Henry the Second But if I have observed right they began to wear out in the reigns of his Grand-children Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third who in the time of their Civil Wars made use again of the Switzers as also of Germans and so did likewise the Protestants take the assistance of both Horse and Foot of the German Nation as you may find them ordinarily design'd in the French Histories under the name of Reuters and Landâ—sknechts the first in the German Language signifying Riders or Horsemen the second Country fellows For as I told you the Germans composed their Cavalry of Gentlemen and their Infantry except the Officers of Peasants In the Seventeen Provinces both before they became all subject to the Dukes of Burgundy when they were under several Dukes and Earls and after the Levy In the Low-Countries of their Foot was imposed on the Commons to be made of the sixth fourth or tenth man according to the danger of the Country or for most part the pleasure of the Prince The Cavalry was made up of the Nobility according to their several qualities and abilities and they were obliged to keep such a number of serviceable Horses and Arms in the time of peace on their own charges having for that some exemptions and priviledges of no great consideration and in time of War they were paid with some small wages appointed at the first forming their Militia Which Cavalry saith Bentivoglio used to be of a high repute and estimation but now saith he not being composed of the Noblest as formerly it was but of common and ignoble persons it
is fallen extreamly from its ancient honour and dignity And observe that this Cardinal wrote this long ago to wit in the year 1610. and therefore we may conclude that the whole Militia of these Provinces belonging to the King of Spain is now much more degenerated whereof our eyes can bear witness The Great Turks Levies are soon made for the raising his Armies is but as In Turky the Randezvouzing of ours all the members of his forces by land being one way or other in his pay before he wage War his Foot I mean the Janizaries being bred in their several Sâ—rails and Seminaries and in his pay His Spahies and Timariots which compose his Cavalry either possessing Lands for which they are bound to serve or receiving weekly wages in time of peace out of the several Treasuries through his Empire His Neighbour the Sophi of Persia his Militia consists of Cavalry most In Persia whereof if not all are Gentlemen excellently well Horsed and Armed with which he hath oft grapled with the Turks Armies consisting of a more numerous Cavalry besides vast numbers of Foot and a great Train of Artillery of the two last whereof the Sophi is destitute unless it be of very late years The second kind of Levy is when Princes and States impose no necessity on Second kind of Levy their Subjects to rise but for making up their Armies invite by Trumpet and Drum all to take imployment whom either the desire of honour riches booty pay or wages may encourage to undergo their service And this is that kind of Election which now is universally and properly enough called a Levy It is certainly the only Voluntary Election because the parties elect themselves without A Voluntary Levy described the constraint of any Law none being prest to the service but such who of their own inclinations engage themselves and give their names to be Enrolled By this kind of Levy have most foreign Princes and States in our days raised their Armies the manner of it is shortly this The Prince or State makes choice of Colonels both for Horse and Foot to whom they give Commissions or Patents to raise Regiments of such a number of Companies and such a number of men in each Company or Troop as the Prince or State thinks fit to this purpose they give every Colonel a sum of money so much for every Horseman every Dragoon and every Footman as they and that Colonel can agree And these sums vary oft according to the fewness of Soldiers the numbers of Armies and Leviers and the danger of the War or good or bad pay of him who wageth it so that I have known ten Crowns not sufficient for a Foot soldier where four would have serv'd the turn three or four years before The Colonels are limited ordinarily to such a time to have their Regiments ready and for that purpose have a place of Rendezvouz appointed to them The Colonels themselves give Patents to their Lieutenant-Colonels Majors Ritmasters and Captains and they to their Lieutenants Ensigns Cornets Quarter masters Serjeants and Corporals immediately after Trumpets are sounded and Drums beaten and those who present themselves receive levy-moneys and thereafter are entertain'd and their names being Enrolled they are no more free but bound to serve Observe here that the Prince or State make choice of such Colonels as they think most proper to raise men for their service either in their own Countries or foreign ones where Levies are permitted to be made for them by their friends Confederates and Allies The Emperors Ferdinand the Second and the Third and this Emperour Leopold Made use of by most of Princes in later times levied all their great Armies in the time of their long and bloody Wars by sound of Trumpet and beat of Drum So have all the German Princes and mostly the Kings of France and Spain The great King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus his Daughter Christina and the late Swedish King Charles Gustavus made up most of their Armies and so did Christian the fourth King of Denmark except some Regiments of their native Swedes and Danes of Dutch Scots and English raised all by this manner of Levy But hereby you may easily fancy that the ancient distinction and difference between the Cavalry and Infantry as to their birth and breeding is wholly taken away mens qualities and extractions being little or rather just nothing either regarded or inquired after the most of the Horsemen as well as of the Foot being composed of the very scum of the Commons But there is worse than that for where a War is of any long continuance Abuses and Inconveniences of this Voluntary Levy that Armies mouldring away either new Regiments must be levied or the old recruited this kind of Levy is grosly abused and many there are who make a trade of it taking money from one and presently running over to another As I said before scarceness of Soldiers is the cause why Princes are the more liberal of their Levy-moneys he who carries the heaviest purse ordinarily being master of most men and this procures another great inconvenience and mischief the desire to be fingering a beneficial new Levy-money inticeth many to run from their Colours and desert their Masters service In the long German War I have known in one Imperial Town six or seven Captains whereof my self was one all levying for several Masters and some Rogues receive money from most of us and yet go out of Town with none of us If these and many other inconveniences be consider'd we may conclude the Safest way of Levy surest and the safest way of Levy is that a Prince or State makes of their own Subjects or of those whom they receive as Auxiliaries from their Allies as the great stock of the forces of the Estates of the United Provinces of the Netherlands Levies of the Estates of the united Provinces â— was of Regiments of Scots English Germans and French most whereof continue in their service to this day yet have these Estates been many times forced to make use of this Levy by Trumpet and Drum and never more than in this year 1672 being necessitated to levy not so few as fifty thousand Foot and Horse In all kinds of Levies such Officers should be chosen as are men of understanding What Souldiers should be elected and of some experience in Military matters As to the Soldiers whether ther they be to serve on Horse or Foot the stature is not to be look'd to so much whether it be tall mean or indifferent as the proportionable and cleanly connection of all the members of the body which must be compact and strong a manly face with lively vigorous eyes which denote the quickness and vivacity of the mind apt to learn what belongs to his Art If the Souldier be to serve on Foot he ought to be such as hath been inur'd to toil and hardship for which purpose as the Roman
custome was choice should be made of such young fellows who have had their breeding rather in the Countrey than in Towns unless they be Mechanicks that are not of a Sedentary Trade If he be to serve on Horse and that the Levy be not made by the Trumpet but where a right Election may be got only such should be chosen as are of an honest birth for their reputation will make them undergo any fatigue and a little time will inure them to toil though they have been bred with ease and plenty I have formerly shown you what years made a man capable to be enroll'd a Souldier among the Ancients I shall tell you now that though it be not generally Souldiers age look'd to by many yet I find that in our Modern Wars most Captains conceive sixteen years to be too young and if so I swear sixty is too old they need not be twenty for if they be of such Bodies as I have describ'd they may pass muster of eighteen and if they be not infirm wounded or mutilated they may well enough continue Souldiers till they be fifty and upwards though some think they should not serve after the forty sixth year of their age So upon this account of mine those who levy may enrol such as are not under eighteen nor above fifty And this may be easily observed in Countrey Elections where there is choice yet very often it is not done for which the Officers are to be blam'd But in that other Voluntary Levy made by the Drum where Souldiers are hired for Moneys the age is seldome look'd to old and young being promiscuously enroll'd which is an intrinsecal defect of that kind of Levy If men may not be enroll'd after the forty sixth or fiftieth year of their age it follows they should then have their dismission yet that is but seldome practis'd Necessity which is limited by no Law detaining them very often many years beyond that time which is no new thing having been often practis'd by the Romans and How long they should serve other Ancients as I have shown before Some limit the time of a Souldiers service from his Enrolling which is just The Sweedes order their Foot Souldiers of their own Countrey to serve twenty five years strangers fifteen but if they followed the Roman way the Horse-men should serve but half that time The French King is more gracious to Souldiers especially to strangers whom he orders to get their Dismissions if they require them after they have served four or five years But for all I have said I know not why all Kings Princes and Free States in their Election and Levy of Souldiers should not follow the example of the Great King of kings and Lord of lords who as you may read in the first Chapter of Numbers order'd his Servant Moses to muster all Males fit for the War of twenty years old and upwards and therefore we may conclude he thought all under that age unfit to go to the Wars As to the duties and qualifications of Souldiers whether of Horse or Foot there be some who make so many of them that if Princes keep none in their service but such as quadrate with all their properties they will make Duties of Souldiers but very thin musters But you may take all the duties of a Souldier as the Lacedaemonians did to be three First To give exact and perfect obedience to all the lawful commands of Superiours Secondly To endure the fatigue travel and discommodities of War whether it be in Marching or working at Trenches Approaches and Sieges Hunger thirst and cold with an exemplary patience Thirdly In time of Battel Skirmish or Assault to resolve either to overcome or dye But Reader do not you seek Not to be expected to be perfectly in any one all these in every Souldier do not seek any of these exactly in every Souldier nay nor in any Souldier for you will not find them let it be enough if they have some of them in some degree though not in perfection And why may you not comprehend the two last Duties under the first of Obedience For he who can obey his Superiour exactly will when he is commanded endure any fatigue and in any rencounter resolve to be victorious or perish And indeed Obedience is the very life of an Army A All comprehended under Obedience Lacedâ—monian in a Skirmish having overthrown an Enemy was ready to have run him through with his Sword but hearing the Trumpet sound a Retreat he left him lying and alive Being ask'd Why he did not dispatch him Answer'd He was more serviceable to his Countrey by his Obedience than by either his Valour or his Revenge The Sacred Oracles tell us that Obedience is better than Sacrifice CHAP. III. Of Armour or Defensive Arms used by several Nations both for their Cavalry and their Infantry WHat odds there is between a Man arm'd both for Offence and Defence and him who only hath Offensive Weapons may soon be understood though the practice had never been seen Why the same care is not taken now to defend mens Bodies in the time of fight as well and as much as of old there was since the Offensive Weapons of later times by the help of Fire pierce more deeply and more deadly than any of the former ages did Defensive Arms neglected before Gun-powder I suppose cannot well be told If the neglect be imputed to Great Commanders it were well done of Soveraign Princes and States by their authority to order the reformation of so hurtful an oversight But perhaps this reason will be given for it because the long and continuated marches of our Modern Armies not only for many days but for many weeks and months both in the extream heat of Summer and rainy and tempestuous weather of winter require that the Souldiers should be eased of the weight and trouble of their Defensive Arms that with less toyl they may endure and undergo those marches To which I shall answer first that The Reasons why answered we have no such Marches now adays as the Ancients especially the Romans had and if we consider that they in their Ambulatory March walk'd twenty miles in five hours and in their cursory one twenty five and what a vast deal of ground what large and long Countreys and Regions they traced in compleat Arms and burtheâ—'d otherwise as if they had been Beasts of Carriage we must either blame our selves for not imitating them or look upon most of their stories as pure Fables And if our Souldiers from the time of their first Levy were habituated to wear at their Exercises and Drillings constantly their Armour and accustom'd twice a week to march a good many miles in Arms I mean Defensive as well as Offensive suppose the first week five or six the second seven and so continue till they can march fifteen or sixteen miles in one day they would find it then an easie matter to
march every day in Armour for custome is another nature but this point of Exercising is generally neglected But Secondly I say if Ratio belli or the present necessity of affairs requires such a speedy and continuated March then such an Army as ordinarily we call a flying one should be made use of consisting of light Horse Dragoons and Musqueteers and the heavy armed Horse and Foot should be left to march after with as much haste as conveniently they can to whom the light armed in case of necessity may easily make their Retreat for to bring these heavy armed forward as I told you the Romans and Grecians did and then permit them to cast away their Defensive Arms is to denude your self of the strength of your Forces and Army Our Modern Armies as the ancient ones consist of heavy and light armed as well Horse as Foot In the Cavalry the Cuirassier is the heavy armed and the Pike-man in the Infantry The strength of all Armies ever was and is the Infantry and the strength of it is the heavy armed He who is in good Armour-fights with courage as fearing no wounds and frightens him with whom he fights that is not so well armed Pikemen then composing the Body Pike men the Body of the Infantry and it of the Army of the Infantry and the men of Arms the Body of the Cavalry should be armed so that they may appear to an Enemy when they come to the shock as a Brazen or Iron Wall It is true a Batallion of Pikes without Defensive Arms may being serr'd together hinder a Troop of Horse from getting in among them but their Heads and Bodies being naked and having nothing on either of them to resist the force of a Carabine or Pistol-ball except it be a Buff-coat and for most part not that it is not to be fancied but a Volley of shot from a Body of Horse standing without the danger of the points of Pikes will make many of the Pikemen fall which will so disorder their Body that a sudden Charge of Horse will easily break it This is a great defect of our Modern Militia of which most Nations are now guilty for though in all their Constitutions of War there is an appointment for heavy armed Horse and Foot yet when we see Batallions of Pikes we see them every where naked unless it be in the Netherlands where some and but some Companies represent the ancient Militia and we find an Universal deâ—ect in the Cavalry as to the heavy armed there being but few Curiassiers in many Armies and in very many none of them at all to be seen Since the invention of Guns we find till these latter times all Nations did allow defensive Arms to both Horse and Foot according to the nature of the service that was to be required of them The Cavalry was ordinarily divided into Curiassiers and Harquebusiers but I shall speak of that more fully afterward The first was to be compleatly armed Man and Horse and those we call Men Defensive Arms for Horsemen at Arms and the French Gens d'Arms which is the same thing The Harquebusiers had a Head-piece back and breast their Horses no arms at all But now for most part the case is alter'd and instead of Curiassiers we have Harquebusiers and instead of Harquebusiers we have Horsemen only arm'd offensively Here I must answer an Objection which is this if the armour for Horsemen be not Musket-proof either the Bullet pierceth through or beats the Iron into the Horsemans body which is equally dangerous and if it be proof it is exceeding troublesome to both man and horse but I answer that there hath been and are at this day Arms made that are proof and of no considerable weight and it is supposed a Curiassier should be of a strong body and should ride a horse that for heighth and strength should be fit for that service wherein both he and his rider are to be employed as I shall tell you afterward The heavy armed Foot-soldier or Pikeman should have a Head-piece a For Pikemen Back and Breast a Belly-piece Taslets for their Thighs and Greeves for their Arms the Armour for their Heads Breasts and Bellies should be Carrabineproof and that for their Backs Pistol-proof But we shall rarely see a Batallion of Pikes in such harness and no wonder since the Pike it self is not now used so much as it hath been and still should be of which I shall speak at length in its proper place But here it will be fit that I speak of the supine carelesness and inexcusable inadvertency of Officers and Commanders in their Levies who take no notice to make a difference of those who are to carry Muskets and Pikes distributing them promiscuously to the stronger and the weaker whereas without all question the tallest biggest and strongest should be order'd to carry Pikes that they may the better endure the weight of their defensive Arms nay which is worse I have known Muskets given to those of the biggest stature and Pikes to the unworthiest and silliest of the Company as if he who is not worthy to carry a Musket were sufficient to carry a Pike neither have I seen this abuse redressed though often complain'd of to Generals so much have I seen a Pike the Prince of Weapons disparaged Many have thought it fit to give Musketeers some defensive Arms as a Head For Musketeers Back and Breast-piece and truly I wish that custom were continued for though most of the ordinary Armour that is given them be little better than Pistol-proof if it be so good yet it encourages them who wear it and if as I said before they be exercis'd train'd and accustom'd with it it will not at all be troublesome to them either in their march or on service for we find the ancient light armed especially among the Romans pretty well arm'd for defence and from thence they had the name of light armed to distinguish them from the heavy armed Legionaries I think I may in this place reckon the Swedish Feather among the defensive Swedish Feather Arms though it doth participate of both defence and offence It is a Stake five or six foot long and about four finger thick with a piece of sharp Iron nail'd to each end of it by the one it is made fast in the ground in such a manner that the other end lyeth out so that it may meet with the breast of a Horse whereby a Body of Musketeers is defended as with a Pallisado against the rude charge of a Squadron of Horse which in the mean time they gall and disorder with their shot I have seen them made use of in Germany and before I left that War saw them likewise worn out of use When the Infantry by several Regiments or Brigades are drawn up in Battel and the Pikes and those Stakes fixed in the ground they make a delightful show representing a Wood the Pikes resembling the tall
thirds as for one pound and a half of Lead one pound of Powder but if it be fine half will serve as for two pounds of Lead one pound of Powder The Barrel of the Pistol may be two foot for the longest sixteen It s Barrel inches for the shortest The French use Locks with half-bends and so do for most part the English and the Scots the Germans Rore or Wheel-works It s charge of Powder The Hollander makes use of both If the Chamber of a Pistol be loaden three times the Diameter of her bore with Powder which is easily measur'd by her Rammer she hath her due charge But all Horse-men should always have the charges of their Pistols ready in Patrows the Powder made up compactly in Paper and the Ball tyed to it with a piece of Packthred The Carabiners carry their Carabines in Bandileers of Leather about their neck a far easier way than long ago when they hung them at their Saddles Some instead of Carabines carry Blunderbusses which are short Blunderbuss Hand-guns of a great bore wherein they may put several Pistol or Carabine-Balls or small Slugs of Iron I do believe the word is corrupted for I guess it is a German term and should be Donnerbuchs and that is Thundering Guns Donner signifying Thunder and Buchs a Gun CHAP. V. Of Offensive Arms or Weapons used by the Infantry of several Nations I Have said before that the Foot is the body and strength of an Army the Horse being placed on its sides or flanks are called Wings The Infantry was by all the Ancient and is still by all Modern Warriours divided into heavy and light armed In former times as I have told you the Velites or light armed were sometimes order'd to fight in the Rear sometimes on the Flanks but for most part in the Van of the heavy armed Now they are almost constantly embattel'd on the Flanks Both of them have their denominations from the Arms they carry The Defensive Arms of the Foot since the Invention of Guns and long before it were near upon the matter the same among most Nations but the Offensive hath not been constantly alike since the noise of Powder scarce in any Nation The heavy armed carried universally in all Modern Armies besides Swords Long Weapons and Daggers long Weapons such as Pikes Half-Pikes long Javelines Partizans and Halberds all comprehended by the French under the name of long Bois or long Staves And as I have told you in another place with all these were the Foot Batallions of Henry the Second of France provided when he march'd into Germany against Charles the Fifth one hundred and twenty years ago most of all which had Pistols at their girdles His Predecessor Charles the Seventh having had a sad experience how pitifully the English Bow-men had disorder'd both his Foot and his Horse instituted also Archers but those after the use of the Harquebuss came to be known threw away their Bows and Arrows But the English retain'd the use of the Bow much longer and no wonder Bow they were loth to part with a Weapon which had done them so great service For we find that Henry the Eighth made good use of his Bow-men in his Wars in France when he besieged first Terouâ—nne and thereafter Bulloigne and though Marshal Monluc speaking of this last Siege in his Commentaries seems to make a small account of the Bow yet he might have remember'd how much mischief his Countrey-men had received in former times from it The Bow is distinguished in the Long-bow and the Cross-bow the first The long Bow requireth a strong arm either so by nature or made so by habit and long practice It is without doubt a very ancient Weapon and universally used by most if not all Nations Master Norton in his practice of Artillery thinks it was used before the general Deluge his reason is because the Almighty gave the Rain-bow as a sign that he would not destroy mankind again with Rain and he calls it his Bow to distinguish it from that of Men. Since the Flood we read of it in all Histories both Sacred and Prophane The Romans of all Nations used it least for it came not in request with them till the reigns of the Emperours and before that time Bows were used only by their Auxiliaries and not by themselves or their Allies whatever Vegetius seems to say to the contrary whereof I have spoken in another place The Bow is now in Europe useless and why I cannot tell since it is certain enough Arrows would do more mischief now than formerly they did since neither Men nor Horses are so well arm'd now to resist them as in former ages they used to be There are some who bring reasons for bringing the Reasons for bringing back the use of the Bow Bow again into use such as these First Arrows exceedingly gall Horses and consequently disorder their Squadrons because being so hurt they will not be manag'd by their Riders Secondly A Bow-man can shoot many more Arrows than a Musketeer Bullets Thirdly All the Ranks of Archers though twenty may shoot their Arrows over their Leaders heads with equal mischief to an Enemy whereas Musketeers can conveniently but deliver their shot by one Rank after another or by three Ranks at most by kneeling stooping and standing seldome practis'd and only at a dead lift These reasons to me are unanswerable and I think might weigh much with Princes to make the half or at least a third of their Velites to be Archers and by the bargain they might save much money expended on Powder and Lead but to them and Free States belongs only the Reformation of abuses in the Militia And therefore I shall say no more of the Long-bow than that it hath been an Offensive Weapon since Hand-guns were used as well as before The Cross-bow requireth but little strength to manage it a Weapon much The Cross-bow used in France when Fire-guns were rare Monluc whom I look upon as an unquestionable Author informs us that in the beginning of the raign of Francis the First in a Company of two hundred French Foot most of the light armed were Cross-bow men and there were not above six or seven Harquebusses among them all and all along in his Commentaries he frequently mentions Cross-bows In his first Book he tells us how he made a Retreat when he was but a private Captain from some Imperialists and he says when his Cross Bow-men had spent all their missiles he caused them to draw their Swords and hold them in their right hands and their Cross-bows in their left so to use them as Targets and in that posture of defence he says he got off though with some loss whereat we need not wonder I do not directly find the time of the Harquebusses invention but you may The Hâ—rquebass suppose since they were so rare in France a hundred and fifty years ago as appears by Monluc's
not seen Brancatio but Terduzzi his Countrey-man for they were both Italians in his Book of Machines says he hath read him Now if he value neither his opinion nor his reasons I think none should for Tâ—rduzzi himself was so little a friend to the Pike that he writes he would have it broken if he knew what better Weapon to put in its room Out of him I shall give you this short description of Brancatio and his Book His Book describ'd The Title of his Book is this Of the true Art of War whereby any Prince may not only resist another in the Field only with his own forces and with little charge but also overcome any Nation A very gloâ—ious Title I think we need expect small performances from so vain promises This man Himself a great undertaker will prove an Alchimist who promiseth to give us mountains of Gold and hath not a six-pence to buy his own dinner His Preface makes up the fourth part of his Book wherein he tells oftner than once that he studied the Theory of the Military Art fifteen years and practis'd it forty so he hath been no young man when he wrote his Book But he concludes and I pray you mark it that in all these fifteen years he had read no Authors but Casar's Commentaries And thereafter he laughs and scoffs at all those Roman Authors and Histories which mention distinct Maniples in the Roman Legions because he had read no such thing in Câ—sar Not only in this Preface of his but all along in his Book he despiseth the Pike and calls it the enervation the weakening and ruine of War I shall for a while leave Brancatio and return to Mr. Lupton's citations out of this great Italian Tactick that I may answer them And in the first place as it was a reflection on Brancatio Mr. Lupton's citations out of Brancatio first to cite Histories which he had either not read or not understood and next not to be acquainted with the customes of War in his own time so Mr. Lupton's credulity is inexcusable for taking things on Brancatio his report the truth whereof he might have found in Books of which many private Answered Gentlemen are Masters I shall very briefly run through the quotations he cites out of this Italian man of War The King of Portugal says he was ruin'd and overthrown in Africk because First he had Squadrons of Pikes But by his favour he was overthrown because neither his Pike-men nor Harquebusiers were rightly Order'd Train'd nor Commanded Next he says Charles the Eighth of France was the first that brought Pikes Second into Italy Indeed there were Pikes in Italy before France was called France and if that French King brought them first there what lost he by it He travers'd it took and conquer'd the Kingdome of Naples and return'd to France and made his passage good at Fornuovo in spite of all Italy then bandied against him and no doubt his Switzers did him good service and Brancatio knew they were armed with Pikes as to their Offensive Arms. Thirdly he says The Turk these forty years by past reckon them to begin Third at the year 1540 and to continue till 1580 hath been Victorious over the Christians Sempre in Ongaria so writes Mr. Lupton only because great Batallions of Pikes both of the Switzer and High Dutch Nation were oppos'd to the Turkish Troops of Horse well arm'd with Pistol and Harquebuss I answer first Brancatio his assertion is false for the Turk was sometimes beaten in Hungary in the time of these forty years and this Mr. Lupton might have learned by perusing Knolles his History if he could light upon no better Next I say If Pikes could not resist the Turks Cavalry Harqâ—ebusiers on foot of which Brancatio would have all his Infantry to consist would have done it much less But what a ridiculous thing is it to impute the loss of all Battels to one cause since Armies may be undone and overthrown by a thousand several occasions What can either Brancatio or Mr. Lupton say against it if I aver that when ever the Turks were beaten and beaten sometimes they were it was because they had no Pike men to resist the charge of a stout and hardy Cavalry Fourthly he avers That John Frederick Duke of Saxe in Germany and Piter Fourth Strozzi in Tuscany were both beaten because of the multitude of their Pikemen To the first I answer I do not remember that Sleidan gives any such reason for his misfortune neither did ever that Prince fight a just Battel with the Emperour Charles the fifth most of whose Infantry consisted of Pike-men as well as that of the Elector of Saxe did To the second of Strozzi I say he was routed because he made his Retreat in the day time in view of a powerful Enemy contrary to the advice given him by Marshal Monluc Finally he says The Battel of Ceresole gives a good proof of the weakness Fifth of the Pike-mens service and the Battels of Dreux and Moncounter prov'd fatal says he to their Leaders who were despis'd by their Enemies because their Foot consisted most of Pikes Here Mr. Lupton does himself an injury to insert such three ignorant and unadvised citations out of Brancatio which I will clear At Ceresole the famous Alphonso Davalo Marquess of Guast commanded Battel of Cerâ—solâ— the Imperial Army and the Duke of Anguien the French The Imperialists were beaten by the cowardise of a Batallion of their own Horse which fled without fighting which a great Batallion of Imperial Pikes seeing open'd and gave them way the French follow the chace through that same lane they being past the Pikes who were no â—ewer than five thousand closed again and kept their ground Another Imperial Batallion of Pikes some Spaniards some Germans fought with a great Body of Grisons belonging to the French and beat it out of the Field and thereafter fought with the Gascone Batallion of Pikes where both parties stood to it valiantly insomuch that the Duc d'Anguien the French General seeing his Grisons overthrown and his Gascons so shrewdly put to it despair'd of the Victory In this charge of the Imperial Pikes and the Gascons almost all the Leaders fell at the first shock but in the mean time there came a Batallion of Switzer Pikes and charged the Imperial Pikes in the flank and notwithstanding they had to do with two stout and redoubted Enemies one in the Van and another in the Flank yet did they keep their Ranks and the Field too after all the Harquebusiers on foot and all their Cavalry with Guast himself wounded as he was had fled and then and not till then they cast down their Arms and cry'd for Quarter which the Switzers gave them sparingly enough At this Charge was Marshal Monluc on foot in the Head of the Gascons with a Pike in his hand and he it is that gives us this relation Will
draw it This Invention of Count Mansfield hath been assuredly as to Ordnance the best and most profitable these three by-past ages could boast of both to save expence and to further expedition But this good man tells us not how the Earl did all this only he informs us that he knew so well to boil the melted metal in the fire that though it had less thickness yet it had equal hardness with the greater Guns but I thought that not only the hardness but the thickness of the metal should resist the violence of the Powder and therefore Pieces are more fortified at the Touch-hole Trunions and Musle than at any place else But not having heard that this rare Invention was practised afterward in all these long and bloody Wars which have been in Christendom since that famous Siege nor read any thing of it in those who write of that Art I shall suspend my belief of the thing till I hear that it is approv'd by Judicious Gunners An indifferent Train of Artillery especially if there be battering Guns in it The great trouble and retardment a Train of Artillery brings to an Army their Carriages Powder and Bullets with all fitting Instruments will require very many Horses to draw it which may the more easily be conceived if we cast up an account how many one Piece will need Leâ—ns suppose this Piece to be a French Cannon or an English Demi-Cannon any of them weighing 6000 pound of metal let her Bullet be thirty pound of Iron for which she requires twenty pound of common Powder This Piece may be discharged safely ten Demonstrated by what is requisite for one piece of Cannon times in one hour and consequently in twelve hours 120 times 120 being multiplied by thirty which is the weight of the Bullet the product is 3600. You are to multiply again a 120 by 20 which is the weight of the Powder produceth 2400. Add 3600 and 2400 to 6000 the aggregate is 12000 pound In the next place let every Horse be bound to draw For one day only 272 pound weight and divide 12000 by 272 you will find the Quotient 44 with a Fraction of 32 so you see forty four Horses necessary to draw one Piece with Powder and Bullets needful for the service of one day without the addition of the Carriage or of Waggons and Carts Hence you may conclude that a numerous Train must of necessity retard the march of an Army either in pursuing or retiring In the first case all or most of it may be left with conveniency to follow but in the second there is very great difficulty and many times the endeavouring to save it hath occasion'd the loss of Armies There is no doubt but Artillery serves to good purpose to make an Enemy either remove his Camp if it be within the range of the Ordnance or come out and fight That it forceth Towns and Forts to yield we know but we must confess for all that that few Battels have been won by Artillery for as Monluc says of the Cannon Il fait plus de peur que du mal It frightens more Artillery very expensive than it hurts The loss of a Train of Artillery is of exceeding great consequence to a Prince or a State therefore the less the Train is the expence will be the less and the expedition the greater There are some who in their Writings of Trains of Artillery and other essential members of Armies instance the Princes of Orange But I say other Princes and States are not to take up their measures either in their Trains of Artillery or other points of War by the Estates of the Vnited Provinces in regard few or none of them that I know have such advantages of the Situation of their Country as those Estates have who by water for most part may transport their Ordnance their Provisions their Munitions their Instruments and sometimes their Soldiers which other Princes must carry all by land with Horses and Waggons except the men unless they have the benefit of some Navigable River which seldom falls out It is not every Army that either is or can be allowed either a full Train or yet a General of Artillery Many of these called flying Armies have no Guns at all with them and many of them have only some Field-pieces which being drawn with very few Horses need not much obstruct the speedy march of an Army I have known divers Armies at one time in Germany under Christina Queen of Sweden each one whereof had but a petty Train and that order'd by a Colonel or a Lieutenant-Colonel but there was only one General of the A great Train not necessary with every Army Artillery who had the supreme Command of all the Ordnance in all the Armies and he staid constantly with the Felt Marshal of the principal Army I knew the late King of Denmark in the year 1657 have two brave Armies tho' both unsuccessful the one ordain'd for the defence of Holstein and Jutland the other for Schonen the Train appointed for each of them was order'd by a Colonel and there was neither General nor Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance with either of them Whether it be fit for a Prince or a free State to keep one General of the Artillery to have inspection over all the Ordnance all the Munitions of War and all the Armes within that Kingdom or Republick or rather to intrust several persons with the several Magazines shall not be the subject of this Discourse But that all Princes and States should have Store-houses Arsenals and Magazines well stuft with all manner of Arms offensive and defensive with great and small Ordnance with Powder Match and Ball and all the several Materials of their Composition with Mortars Pot pieces Petards and Granado's of all kinds is as I suppose a thing which will be granted as necessary beyond all Controversie In such an Army as passeth under the name of an Army Royal which some Army Royal. think should consist of eighteen thousand Foot and six thousand Horse that takes the Field with a design to fight with any that oppose it and a resolution to do that for which it was levied whether that be to fight Battels pass Rivers or take in Towns and Forâ— in such an Army I say there should be so great a Train of Artillery as is suitable with the greatness of the attempt wherein It s Train nothing must be wanting that can help to carry on the design In it there should be Cannons for Battery Culverines of all sorts Field-pieces Mortars great abundance of Powder Match and Ball and Granado's with all Instruments and Necessaries for all manner of Ordnance for this Train are required a great many expert and ready Gunners and Constables besides the Gentlemen Captains and Conductors as also a huge number of Horses and Oxen Waggons and Carts to draw and transport it from place to place The Swedish Trains of Artillery
every Company of Foot d'en Pasvolants whereof six belong'd to the Captain two for the Lieutenant and two for the Ensign Every one of these had the allowance of half a Rix-dollar every ten days but this custom wore out and there was reason for it because many Captains notwithstanding that Indulgence endeavour'd still to keep void places in their Companies as a mean to make their Purses full These Muster-masters by the Dutch Danes and Swedes are called Commissaries Commissaries over whom the Commissary General of the Army hath the superintendance This difference there is that those Commissaries keep the Purse and so are Pay-masters but our Muster-masters are not so the paying belonging to our Treasurers as among the Romans it belong'd to the Questors They have power to muster as oft as they please acquainting him first who commands in chief either in Field or Garrison And indeed in those Countreys they muster oftner than they pay After the first Muster the Troops and Companies get their Standards and Ensigns and then take the Military Oath which we call to Swear to the Colours I have spoken of the Roman Military Sacrament This Oath we now speak of is the same for Officers Troopers and Souldiers swear with hands lifted up to Heaven To be faithful and loyal to their Prince or his Generals Military Oath never to desert or leave the Service without permission of their Superiors to be stout in time of Battel Rencounter Skirmish or Assault and rather to chuse to dye than desert their Standards or Colours never to turn their backs on an Enemy and to reveal all Conspiracies Treasons and Mutinies intended against the Prince or State or their Generals and other Commanders So help them God in the great day If this Oath were punctually kept all Battels would be so well fought that there would not be such a thing as the slight of an Army to be seen or heard of in the World After this Oath the Articles and Laws of War should be publickly and distinctly read that they may know what punishments for most Articles speak more of them than of rewards they may expect if they commit such crimes as are there mention'd This is a thing most necessary to be done that none may pretend Ignorance for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression Of these Articles I shall speak in the next Chapter Being that most men who follow the Wars over all the World receive wages they justly deserve the name of Mercenaries but if you will consider how their wages are paid I suppose you will rather think them Voluntaries at least very generous for doing the greatest part of their service for nothing It is said of the Switzers that they will not fight unless they be paid duly If other Nations were of their humour Princes and States would be necessitated to agree better than they do because seldome would their Armies fight for them because seldome they are paid by them The Baptist insinuates that Souldiers should be paid their wages because he bids them be contented with their wages and do violence to no man But few or no Evangelick Precepts are obeyed and this as little as any Souldiers get not their wages and violence is done to many men At the first view it would seem strange why Princes pay their Souldiery very well and duly in the time of Peace when they have little or nothing to do with them and very ill and very seldome in the time of War when they have most to do with them But the reason is soon found they need far greater numbers in time of War than Peace and many are not paid with so little money as a few are In the Wars of Europe these last fourscore years and upwards wherein his Majesties Dominions were free except in the late unhappy Civil War we find that the Estates of the Vnited Provinces have payed their Armies better than any other Prince or State this makes the Mercenary Souldier run to their Service and capacitates them to make great levies in a very short time The effects of the bad payment of the Spaniards appeared when their King stood most in need of their service seventy Armies universally ill paid years ago and a little upwards and many times since for that gave a rise to those terrible Mutinies in which they possess'd themselves of Towns and treated with their Generals and Superiours as if they had been Free Estates This incapacitated the Spanish Ministers to prosecute the War against the new Estates in which time it is not to be thought that either they or the Prince of Orange were idle Spectators The most considerable Army the Sweeds had in the year after the death of their Victorious King Gustavus Adolphus lay idle at Donaverth losing the time of Action and treating for their pay Boccalini informs us that once the Gardiners complain'd to Apollo that they Boccalini his Râ—ggâ—aglâ— had no Instruments to make all the weeds of their Gardens run and dance after them as Princes and Free States who could make all the idle and unprofitable members of their Principalities go out of the Gardens of their Common-wealths with the rattling of a Drum and the sound of a Trumpet But I think Princes and States are to be much more admired for another secret art of their own whereby they get these Drones to do them both laborious and hazardous service for very little Money and at a low expence The Pay and Wages for Officers and Souldiers of both Horse and Foot are different according to the establishments of several Princes and States I shall speak a little of some of them for to speak of all though I could were needless The German Emperours establishment during the time of the long War was German Emperour his Pay fair enough for there was promised to every Colonel of Horse 300 Dollars to a Lieutenant-Colonel one hundred and eighty to a Major one hundred and twenty to a Ritmaster one hundred to a Lieutenant sixty to a Cornet fifty besides allowances of fodderage for so many Horses proportionably according to their qualities monthly To a Quartermaster twenty four Dollars to a Corporal twenty two to a Clerk fifteen to a Trumpeter as much and to an Einspanneer or Trooper twelve The Pay for the Officers and Souldiers of Foot was much less But they got not three months Pay of twelve in a whole year But Bockler tells us that in the year 1658. at Frankford on the Maine Pay of the Confederated German Princes An. 1658. the Electors and Princes of the Empire who had joyn'd in a League whereof there are many made in that Countrey had unanimously agreed upon a Pay to be given to their forces so long as the League continued most of their Leagues are broke in shorter time than they are a making and it was this A Rit-master was to have for himself every month sixty Dollars and allowance for six
Horses which amounted to forty eight Dollars so he had in all one hundred and eight Dollars monthly But because all the Officers of Horse had allowance for some Horses beside their own Pay I shall for brevity set down the allowance for themselves and Horses together A Lieutenant had monthly forty four Dollars a Cornet as much a Quarter-master twenty three a Corporal twenty one the Clerk Trumpeter and Chirurgeon each of them eleven and the Smith as much a common Trooper eight Before I speak of the Foot-pay I shall premise that the Kings of Denmark and Sweden and most of the German Princes allow a Waggon with four Horses and two Saddle-Horses for a Captain of Foot and the like number between the Lieutenant and Ensign The Princes then of this German League allowed for a Foot-Captain himself and Horses monthly forty eight Dollars for a Lieutenant twenty one for an Ensign-bearear as much for a Serjeant six for a Fourier Furer Captain at Arms Clerk Drummer Piper and Gentleman of the Company each of them two Dollars and the fourth part of one for the common Soldier every month two Dollars I shall not speak here either of the Danish or the Swedish pay they being Swedish Dâ—nish and French Pay much about one with this agreement except that their allowance is a little more and greater both for the Under-officers and the common Soldiers The French Pay will be much about one with the Swedish And therefore my Reader if he know any thing of his Majesties establishment will quickly All far short of his Majesties perceive that his Pay is greater than any of those I have spoke of and is better paid than all of them How the German Princes paid their Souldiery in their last short War I know not but in the long one I am sure they paid very ill and so did the Sweed Bad Pay in the long German War Those who were in Garrison got sometimes three but for most part but two Lendings in the month every Lending being but a little more than half a Rix-dollar to which was added the assistance of some proviant Bread Why they call this a Lending I know not unless it be to make the Souldiers believe they lend them money when they are but paying them a part of their own But the poorest witted Souldier knows well enough that his Pay masters under the notion of lending them a third part borrow from them to a very long day all the rest of their Pay This is for their Garrisons In the Fields they may happily deceive themselves whether they be Officers or Souldiers that expect any Money but must be contented with Commis Bread till by some Victory any of their Generals be enabled to quarter his Army in a plentiful Countrey and there it is where the common Souldiers may put themselves in Clothes the Officers in good equippage and the Colonels make themselves rich for the German Danish and Swedish Colonels play too often the Roytelets and petty Kings in their several Regiments But some Officers there be who never meet with such opportunities and some are not dextrous enough to lay hold on such occasions when they offer themselves for at such times there is something else required than to receive Pay from the Clerk of the Company I remember a Countrey-man of mine told me once that he had served the Crown of Sweden eight years whereof he had been a Captain three and that in all those years he had never been Master of fourscore Crowns at one time One hundred years ago Armies were better paid than now they are and Officers and Souldiers could tollerably well subsist great care was then taken by a seasonable distribution of money to prevent Mutinies and desertion of the service why it is not so yet perhaps want of Money may be the cause though there is now much greater store of money than was then if Princes and States have other reasons for it they are not to communicate them to Soldiers who are very improper Judges of them I thought it strange to see sixteen Too many weak Regiments cause of bad pay or seventeen years ago the native Spaniards to whose keeping the strong Citadel of Antwerp was intrusted begging publickly in the streets of that City But I thought it a more lamentable sight to see both there and in Germany and elsewhere Lieutenant-Colonels Majors and Captains begging an Alms. In former times Regiments were thrice four or five times stronger than now they are and consequently Troops and Companies were for their numbers as strong if not stronger than now half Regiments are Hence it is that I believe there are hundreds of old men yet living who have seen private Captains in higher esteem than Colonels are now And I suppose if Princes and States thought it â—it to follow the old way and make their Troops and Companies three times stronger than now they are at their first levy they might be as well serv'd and save a vast expâ—nce of Treasure If an army of twenty four thousand men were to be raised whereof eighteen thousand were to be Foot and six thousand Horse six Colonels might as well now command the 18000 Foot divided into six Regiments as six Colonels did the like fifty years ago and four Colonels might command the six thousand Horse divided into four Regiments allowing to each one thousand five hundred Horse The expence that would be saved here of the pay of compleat Officers of twelve Regiments of Foot and two of Horse would exceedingly help to pay the other eight Be pleased to see the truth of this instanced by an observation I made in the year 1649 after the Peace of Munster Christina Queen of Sweden had in her Numbers of Swedish and Hessick Regiments after the Peace of Munster pay in Germany besides her forces in the rest of her Dominions four hundred and twenty Troops of Horse and Dragoons and threescore Regiments of Foot In some Regâ—ments there were twenty Companies in some twelve in some ten and in some eight All the Companies in the whole sixty Foot Regiments were reckon'd to be six hundred and thirty Her Conâ—ederate the Landtgrave of Hessen had a hundred and eight Troops of Horse and a hundred and eighty Companies of Foot all the Horse Troops should have been at their first levy eighty Riders apiece every Foot-Company a hundred and twenty six at least therefore the Queens four hundred and twenty Troops of Cavalry should have been at their first levy thirty three thousand six hundred and her six hundred and thirty Companies should have been at their first levy seventy nine thousand three hundred and eighty men The Landtgrave's a hundred and eight Troops of Cavalry should have been eight thousand six hundred and forty Horse His hundred and eight Companies of Foot should have been at a hundred and twenty six men a piece twenty two thousand six hundred and eighty men Be pleased to add the
First strict Laws are made for the observance of Religious Duties a submission For Religion to Church-Discipline and a due respect to be given to all Ecclesiastical persons against Atheism Blasphemy Perjury and the prophanation of the name of God Secondly for the maintenance of the Majesty and Authority For Loyalty of the Prince or State in whose service the Army is that nothing be done or spoke to the disparagement of himself his Government his Undertakings or the Justice of any of his actions under all highest pains Thirdly for honour respect and obedience to be given to all superior Commanders from the highest For Obedience to the lowest of them and none of their Commands are to be disputed much less are they themselves to be affronted either by gestures words or actions But this is to be understood that the command be not diametrically contrary and prejudicial to the Prince his service but indeed such commands would be so clear that they need no canvasing otherwise any disobedience opens a door to resistance that ushereth in sedition which often is supported by open rebellion To clear which suppose what frequently falls out that the Governour of a well fortified and a well provided place offers to deliver Disobedience to unlawful Commands lawful it up to an enemy without opposition those under him may resist so unjust and so base a command and they not only may but ought to resist him for the disobedience in such a case of the subaltern Officers and Soldiers is a piece of excellent service done to their Master and if they do it not they are lyable to those Laws of War which for giving over a Fort in that fashion sentences the Governour to an Ignominious death the inferiour Commanders to be shamefully casheer'd and the common Soldiers to be disarm'd and made serve as Pioneers to the Army which were acts of great injustice if Inferiors were bound to give a blind obedience to all the Commands of their Superiors whatever they be without exception And such a case it is when an Officer commands those under him to desert their Post whether that be in Town Camp Leaguer or Field and go over with him to the Enemy If they do so and are ever retaken he is punisht for his treachery and they for their obedience to so illegal a command Fourthly Articles of War are made for due and strict keeping of Guards For keeping strict Guards and Watches and Watches and here as in many other points observe the severity of Military Law for he who after tap-too dischargeth any Hand gun be it Pistol Musket Fusee or Carrabine unless against an enemy or he who sleeps on his Centinel or deserts it or he who is drunk on his Watch are all to die these be crimes which the Municipal Laws of most Nations do not punish with death yet in the Laws of War this severity is thought no more than necessary Fifthly Laws are made against those who stay behind or straggle in ordinary Against straglers or extraordinary Marches Sixthly Against Fugitives and Runnaways either such as leave their Colours Against Runnaways when they are in Garrisons or Quarters and desert the Service under any pretence without a Pass or such as run away from their Colours or their Officers in the field in time of Skirmish or Battel or such who in storms and assaults desert their Posts till either they are wounded or have made use of their Swords all these are lyable to death and those who wound or kill any of them in their flight in their going or running away are not to be accountable for it Seventhly Against those who make any Treaty or agreement in the field Against Treaties with an Enemy with an enemy without the command or consent of him who commands in chief And here again observe another case wherein Inferiors are to refuse obedience the Military Law condemns a Colonel for such a Treaty and every tenth Soldier of his Regiment to die with him for giving obedience to so unjust a command Eighthly Against those who surrender fortified places unless extream necessity Against needless Surrender of Forts and several other crimes require it of which I shall speak in a more proper place Ninthly Against those who mutiny burn houses without the Generals command commit robbery murther theft or violence to those who have the Generals safeguards and against those who keep private correspondence unless order'd to do it by the General all these crimes by most Military Laws are punisht with death Tenthly Against private Combats or Duels the Combatants and Against Duels their Seconds are to die and if superior Officers knew of the Combat and did not hinder it they are to be casheer'd with Ignominy a necessary Law enough yet seldom put in execution Eleventhly Against those who sell play or pawn or change their Arms Against sellers or pawners of Arms. either defensive or offensive whether he be a Horseman or a Foot-Soldier he who doth any of these is not only punishable but likewise he who bought won or took them in pawn Twelfthly Against false Musters whether it be of Men Horses Arms Against false Musters Saddles or other Furniture by these Articles not only those who make the false Muster but all those who help to make it are punishable Thirteenthly Against those who detain the pay of either Horsemen or Against those who detain the Princes Pay Foot-Soldiers any Officer guilty of this deserves to die Neither if an Officer have lent money to a Soldier may he pay himself or retain in his hand what he pleaseth but must give him as much of his pay as can entertain him to do his Masters service Fourteenthly Against those Officers whatsoever they be except the General Against those who give Passes who give Passes The Swedish Articles order a Colonel who presumes to give a Pass to lose his life and to lose his charge if he permit any under his command to go home without the Felt-marshals knowledg Other abominable crimes such as Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality Greater Crimes Parricide are examin'd try'd and punisht according to the Municipal Laws of the Prince or State who is Master of the Army And many smaller Smaller faults faults are left to the cognizance discretion and arbitrament of a Court of War A Council of War and a Court of War are commonly by ordinary A Council of War Soldiers confounded as if they were one thing whereas they are very different the first being composed of those persons whom the Prince or his General calls to consult with concerning the managing the War and these are indeed but Counsellors and have in most Armies their President who is nominated by the Prince or State they do but advise for the Prince or his Captain-General have a negative voice and retain a power to themselves to do what they please A Court of War consists of
those Officers who are call'd together to be a Jury in the examining processing and sentencing Delinquents and it is twofold a General or high Court of War and a Regiment or a low Court of War The Causes belonging to the General Court of Wars cognizance are A General Court of War matters of Treason against the Prince or State injuries and affronts done or offer'd to the person or honour of their General differences between the Cavalry and Infantry between one Regiment and another between Officers of one Regiment or between Officers and Soldiers of one Regiment To the decision of a General Court of War belong all Civil affairs and business though they have been determined in the lower Courts for in Cases to be determined by it these cases Appeals are permitted to the higher Court neither can the sentence of the lower Court be executed till the process be fully heard in the superior if the parties concerned have appealed to it When the business concerns the Prince or State or that any General person or Colonel is criminally accused the General or Commander in chief of the Army is obliged to preside himself But in those other cases which I have mention'd The President of it He may appoint a Lieutenant-General or a Major-General to preside I know the Swedes give the Presidency in General Courts of War constantly to the Auditor-General or Judg-Marshal in the General or Felt-Marshals absence But truly I think this is not done without some derogation to those General Officers who assist for though upon the matter the Auditor-General orders the proceedings of the Martial Court yet in point of honour he should not preside in a high Court of War no more than a Regiment-Auditor in the Discipline of these same Swedes presides in a lower Court. The Assessors should be twelve in number at least for they The Assessors may be and ordinarily are more besides the President and in some places fourteen besides the President These be the General of the Artillery the Lieutenant-General of the Army the Generals of the Cavalry and Infantry the Lieutenant-Generals and Major-Generals of Horse and Foot the Quarter-master General and such Colonels as the General or Auditor-General thinks fit to appoint After they are conven'd they take their places thus At the head of the Table the President sits alone upon his right hand at the side of the Table sits the General of the Artillery and under him the General of the Cavalry Upon the Presidents left hand at the side of the Table sits the Lieutenant-General of the Army and under him the General of the Foot Under the General of the Cavalry sits the Lieutenant-General Their Precedency of the Cavalry and under the General of the Foot sits the Lieutenant-General of the Foot and in that same order the Major-Generals and next them the General Commissary and General Quarter-master Next them all the Colonels who are called there take their places according to the time they have served as Colonels in that Prince or States service the right side of the Table which is that on the Presidents right hand being more honourable than the other After they have all taken their seats they rise again and hear an Oath read wherein they swear with hands up to be free Their Oath from all malice envy hatred revenge fear and affection and that they shall judg righteously and impartially according to the Laws Constitutions and Articles of War and their own best judgment and conscience So help them God in the great day The Provost-Marshal General is to be the Accuser The Accuser with the help of the Princes Prolocutor-fiscal and to him belongs also the execution of the sentence The lower Court of War is that which is kept in the several Regiments whether Horse or Foot which the Colonels and in their absence the Lieutenant-Colonels may call when ever they think the necessity of their affairs A Regiment Court of War require it A Regiment Court-Marshal may judg and determine in all causes both Civil and Criminal and of all persons except the three Field-Officers within that Regiment The Colonel presides in his absence the Lieutenant-Colonel The President and in his the Major or if none of these be present the oldest Captain but the Regiment-Auditor never nay not in the Swedish Armies In the Regiments of Horse the Colonels Assessors are his Lieutenant-Colonel His Assessors and Major three Rit-masters as many Lieutenants as many Cornets and as many Corporals or more if the Colonel pleaseth In a Regiment of Foot two Captains two Lieutenants two Ensigns two Serjeants two Furers and two Fouriers where such Officers are allowed where not more of the Serjeants and two Corporals They may be in all more than thirteen Their Number but fewer they may not be The Regiments Provost-Marshal presents the accused party with a Guard to the Court of War after the members have sworn as the General Court of Wat useth to do and formally delivers The Accuser his accusation from this Court there may be as I told you before appellation The sentence to be approved by the General in Civil affairs but not in Criminals yet no sentence of death past by a lower Court of War can be executed till the General approves of it and sometimes he remits the examination of it to a superior Court especially when he hath ground to believe that the Regiment-Court hath past either too rigorous or too mild and favourable a sentence And this superior Court call'd in such cases is commonly call'd a Court of Error because it cognosceth Court of Error of the Errors of the inferior ones The Prince or State still retains power to moderate and mitigate the sentence of either of the Courts or graciously to remit and pardon the offence and in their absence their Generals may do the like except in the cases of Les Majesty But after the sentence of either the one Court or the other is prohounced no man that bears charge or office in the Army is permitted to speak for pardon or mitigation unless it be Ensigns to whom something of that nature by custom is indulged and in some places Officers who transgress in this point are punisht with the loss of their places and such as have done so may be sure none will be so kind as to plead for their restoration These Laws Ordinances and Courts of War the sentences of these Courts and execution of these sentences makes up that part of a Militia which ordinarily Discipline of War is called the Discipline of War for the right ordering and regulating whereof an Auditor-General Inferior Auditors a Marshal-General Inferior Provosts Marshals and their Lieutenants with Executioners or Hangmen are absolutely necessary members in all Armies The Auditor-General is he whom we call Judg Marshal and whom some Judg Marshal call Judg-Advocate He ought to be a grave and judicious person
who fears God and hates vice especially bribery A Lawyer he should be in regard most Articles of War have their rise from Law and many cases chance to His Qualifications and Duty be voided in Courts of War where no Military article is clear but must be determin'd by the Civil or by the Municipal Law of the Prince to whom the Army belongs and the Judg-Marshals duty is to inform the Court what either of these Laws provides in such cases Some Princes remit the whole Justice of the Army so absolutely to the Judg-Marshal that they give him power to punish Soldiers who transgress publick Proclamations of himself without the Colonels consent yea whether he will or not The Provost-Marshal General and all Officers of Justice of the Army whatever name they bear are to obey the Judg-Marshals directions and orders He may cause Delinquents to be apprehended and send them to the Regiments to His Power very great which they belong with direction to the Colonels to call Regiment Courts of War at which he may appoint the Provost-Marshal or his Lieutenant to be present and to appeal from it in case any unjust or partial sentence be pronounced All complaints whether in matters Civil or Criminal use to be brought before him and in many of them he hath power to give judgment himself without any Court and in others he hath authority to oblige Colonels to do Justice wherein if they fail he may bring them before a General Court to answer for their partiality All differences that are among Merchants Tradesmen Mark-tenters and Sutlers who are permitted to frequent the Army or that happen between any of them and the Officers and Soldiers are brought before him and in them all after due examination of the whole fact and witnesses he hath power to judg and give sentence He hath power to call together a General Court of War and to call such Colonels to it as he thinks fit but herein he seldom acts till the General or Feltmarshal advise the matter with him Such Colonels as he cites to be Assessors and do not appear he may fine and by the Fiscal exact the Fines he hath imposes He is bound to examine all Prisoners of War as also all such as frequent the Army and may be suspected to be spies All Testaments Contracts and Obligations between party and party are judged to be in force when they are signed and attested by him He hath power of the Measures and Weights within the Army and may order the Marshals to set fitting Prices on all vendible things that are for Back or Belly And he is to have a care that the Provost-Marshals neither wrong the Soldiers nor the Merchants Victualers or Sutlers and he is Judg in any difference that may arise between any of them A Provost-Marshal General is by those who do not well understand his Office A Provost-Marshal-General taken at best to be but a Jaylor but by some to be a Hangman But no Jaylor ever durst assume the power which all Military Laws and Customs give a Marshal for he may by vertue of his Office without any command or permission of his Superiors apprehend those he finds actually transgressing the Articles of War or in any other gross misdemeanor and according to the quality of the fault either detain them Prisoners with a Guard or yet clap them in Irons But he His Power in an Army may neither dismiss them nor yet impose further punishment on them without order from either the Commander in chief of the Army or the Judg-Marshal General At some times and in some occassons he is permitted yea commanded to hang or shoot to death such as he finds in contempt of late Proclamations stragling robbing burning or Plundering And for that reason a Guard of Horse is allow'd him these the French call Archers Whosoever offers to oppose him in the exercise of his charge be what he will is to die for it All Provost-Marshals of Regiments Troops or Companies whether of Horse or Foot are to swear obedience to the Commands of this Marshal-General and whoever pays it not is by the command of the Auditor-General turn'd out of the Army with the consent of the Colonel or Captain according as he is a Regiment or Companies Marshal All Marshals of Regiments are bound when they are in the field every morning and evening to wait on the Marshal-General to receive his directions according to Emergencies and he who fails in either attendance or obedience is punishable according to the quality of the fact I have told you that in General Courts of War he is the Accuser and is to see the sentence put in execution He is to have a strict eye over his inferior Marshals that they do their Duties uprightly and impartially and that they permit not the Soldiers to wrong the Victualers and Sutlers nor those to wrong the Soldiers by taking greater Prices or selling with less measures or weights than those appointed by the Auditor-General He ought to take pains to learn what the Prices of things His Duty are in these Towns where the Mark-tenters buy their Wine Beer Tobaco Vinegar Oyl Bread Bacon and other Provisions that accordingly the General Auditor may know with the greater justice to impose the Prices But the truth is the Buyers are too often abused and the Prices set too high by the collusion of the Provost-Marshal with Sutlers and the Sutlers bribing the Judg Marshal The Provost-Marshal General hath a Jaylor under him who must be paid by His Jaylor every Prisoner his Jail-money and if Irons be clapt on him he must pay for them besides He is to have a pottle of Wine or Beer of every Hogshead that is brought to the Camp by the Sutlers and the Tongue of every Beast that is slaughter'd in it and for these he agrees with the Regiment-Marshals The same power he hath in the field with an Army the like he hath in all Garrisons though he come to any of them but accidentally or upon some emergency Under the Marshal-General are Hangmen and those are the fellows who glory that all this great show and parad of Justice of Courts of War of Judg-Marshals of Provost Marshals and Clerks would be but a fanfare and signifie nothing at all if it were not for them They avouch that they are the Pillars the props and supporters of Justice for if say they the Executive part of the Law be the life of the Law then Hangmen who are the true and unquestionable Hangmen Executioners of the Law keep life in the Law by taking away the lives of the Breakers contemners and transgressors of it I have known another high Justitiary in Swedish Armies of equal power with the Marshal-General for what power this last hath in Quarters Garrison or Camp the same hath the other in the field on a March he is qualified with the title of Rumor-master General whether he be made use of
enemy than the Foot can it will be answered that they can also ride sooner from an enemy than the Foot can go I shall easily grant that three or fourscore years ago the Curiassiers of Germany and Gens d'Armes of France being all Gentlemen might very well have Precedency at door or board of the Foot-Soldiers but could not thereby pretend to any Superiority or command over them But now the case is altered for in Germany Denmark Sweden the Low-Countries and here with us in Scotland and England for most part the horsemen are levied out of the Plebeians as well as the Foot And I believe the Gens d'Armes of France are much fallen from their Primitive Institution most of their Cavalry being composed of the Vulgar except the Ban and Arreerban which consists of Gentlemen that have Estates in lands who by the tenure of their Lands and Inheritance are bound to serve the King on horseback so many days within and so many days without the Kingdom But before I go further I conceive my self obliged to anticipate an objection which both may and will be made by the great Champions of the Cavalry and it is this that many at least some States and Kingdoms have been and some at this day are whose strength consisted and consists in Horse and not in Foot But though I grant them all they seek which yet I will not do they gain nothing unless they make it appear that a War can and may be managed with horse alone and not with any Foot which they will never be able to do First they say that in the days of Yore the greatest strength of France consisted in Horse that Kingdom indeed gloried much in a noble and couragious Cavalry but examine their stories you will find that the most glorious of their Kings Charles the Great his Father Pepin and his Father Charles Martel their famous atchievements in France Saxony Germany Spain and Italy were done with Foot as well as with horse many of their Kings fought on foot and Orlando Nephew to Charles the Great when he had fought well on foot died of thirst and wounds Those of their Kings who made their Cavalry their greatest strength in the field bought it dear when they were so often worsted by the Spaniards Flemings but most of all by the English whose greatest strength consisted in Infantry This made the French Kings beg and hire Foot from Scotland Germany and mostly from the Switzers These last being discontented with Lewis the Twelfth made all France tremble when with a numerous Army in which not one Horseman was to be seen they were like to fall like an Inundation on that Kingdom and were come the length of Dijon in Burgundy and had reach'd Paris without stroke of Sword if the Duke de Tremouille had not amus'd them with a Treaty in which he was forc'd to grant them all they desir'd and for performance gave them what Hostages they required Francis the First perceiving the error of some of his Predecessors in trusting too much to Horses ordered seven Legions of Foot all French to be levied enrolled and paid each consisting of seven thousand men to stand perpetually in time of Peace and Wars and these he call'd and I think very deservedly the sinews and nerves of France Next they will object that the Mamaluks kept their Empire in Egypt and Syria above two hundred years with Horse and without Foot This is a horrible mistake for their Towns and Forts were taken by Foot and defended by Foot without Horse They also lost their Empire by putting too much trust in their Horse for the Great Turk Selim with his Foot and Cannon beat and kill'd Campson Gaurus in the Field and Tomomby at Cairo and so put an end to that Tyrannical Monarchy Thirdly They will instance the Persian who defends his Kingdom without Foot only with Cavalry but this is a mistake for their Towns are defended with Foot and Ismael in the Calderan Plains payed dear for trusting so much to his Horse when he was chac'd away by Selines Foot and Artillery Since that time the Kings of Persia have endeavour'd but without success to get European Officers to Train their Foot and order their Artillery for my part I can as soon dream that the Persian Squadrons of Horse put themselves in Enchanted Castles as that they defended their Towns against Sieges and Assaults of the Turks with Horse and no Foot And I can as soon fancy that the Sophi rode with forty thousand Persians all on Horseback over the Walls of Babylon as that he took it back from the Turk without an Infantry The Hungarians will come next in play but they never managed any of their Wars without Foot though they pay'd as dearly for trusting too much to their Cavalâ—y as ever any did their Army consisting most of Horse being routed by Solimans Foot and Cannon and their King kill'd and most of their Kingdom made a Province the remainder of it falling into the House of Austria's lap hath been these hundred and twenty years well defended by German Foot It will be in vain to bring Pole on the stage for peruse the Histories of that Nation you will find none of their Wars to have been made either offensively or defensively without Foot to imagin that the Polonians conquer'd the half of Prussia from the Knights of the Teutonick Order and took in so many well wall'd Towns without Foot against that warlike fraternity is a meer speculation Nor have they bought the great trust they repose in a numerous and valiant Cavalry at a cheap rate In the year 1621 Pole was sav'd almost by a miracle for assuredly Prince Vladislaus would not have defended his Fathers Kingdom though he had eighty thousand Horse and some thousands of Foot with him against Sultan Osman who invaded it with three hundred thousand Turks the great Body and strength whereof consisted in the Janizaries who mutinying against the Grand Signior forc'd him back to Constantinople But what a risk did Pole run lately in the years 1655 and 1656 and 1657 where Charles Gustavus overcame that Kingdom with an Army of twenty thousand men most of them Foot and observe what a well train'd and order'd Infantry can do Anno 1656 when the rebellious Polonians had returned to their duty and that their King John Casâ—mir in the head of one hundred thousand Horse and a considerable number of Foot and Cannon assisted and flankt with some Trenches and Redoubts was routed and beat out of the Field by the King of Sweden and the Elector of Brandenburgh both whose forces in Horse and Foot did not exceed thirty two thousand If all this be true that I have said as I believe it is then I may conclude that the Foot-service is more necessary more honourable and of greater trust than the Horse one Since I believe I have made it appear that a War in all its parts points and dimensions may be managed with
Foot without any Horse though I confess not so well but that it can be so without Foot is a pure Speculation why should then Officers of Horse be so overweening as to pretend to a Superiority over Commanders of Foot of equal quality with themselves since they themselves may with less hurt and less inconvenience be spared out of an Army than those of the Infantry Nor do I see with what right an Officer of Horse can pretend to the command of an Officer of Dragoons of the like quality for that Dragoons are reckon'd to belong to the Cavalry though their service be on foot will only entitle the General or Lieutenant-General or Major General of the Horse to command over them but not a Ritmaster to give Orders to a Captain of Dragoons unless he can shew an elder Patent Yet when I serv'd in Germany this Emperours Father order'd a Colonel-General over all his Dragoons but whether he was Independent from the Commander in chief of the Horse I cannot so well tell And if in the field the Commanders of Horse ought not to assume this Superiority much less ought they to do it in Garrisons Towns Castles or yet in Barricaded Villages for these do resemble fortified places On the other hand notwithstanding the opinion of some who understand well enough I think it would be of very hard digestion for an Officer of Horse though within a Fort or walled Town to receive Orders from a Foot-officer of a lower quality than himself Suppose a Colonel of Horse to be under the command of a Lieutenant-Colonel of Foot or a Major of Horse under a Captain of Foot For though there be no Subordination between them yet when an Officer of a higher quality is commanded by one of an inferior degree it brings superior charges in disrespect and disesteem which would carefully be avoided Koningsmark who became a famous General in the German War when he was Colonel of Horse came to lye with some of his Troops in Osnabrug where Lieutenant Colonel Lumsdaine commanded in absence of his Brother Sir James Koningsmark pretended to that Command protesting that if Sir James who was a Colonel had been there he would willingly have submitted to his Command but that either himself or any other Colonel should receive Orders from a Lieutenant-Colonel was a thing he neither could nor would understand A temperament was found out by those who mediated between them and the expedient was that the Lieutenant-Colonel should keep the Keys and exercise all other functions of a Governour except the giving the Word which the Colonel of Horse should give week about this sav'd the Lieutenant-Colonels interest and the Colonels reputation The Great Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden order'd that where two or more Colonels of Horse or Foot were in the Field or Quarter together without any General Officer to command above them the Colonel who had the eldest Commission should command in chief whether he serv'd to Horse or to Foot and so it was to be understood of all other Officers under a Colonel And whereas it might fall out that many several Colonels might have received their Patents all in one day or that otherwise their antiquity might be debateable in that case it was order'd that they should cast lots which is an excellent way for the wisest of men hath leâ—t it on record in the best of Books That the lot causeth contention to cease and parteth between the mighty Now why should any Soldier or why should any General nay why should any Prince be ashamed to follow the rule or example of so famous a King or so renowned a Captain as Great Gustavus was known to have been Having spoken so much to the first question I suppose I need speak but little to the second which you may remember I subdivided into two parts the first was Whether an Officer of Horse may command an Officer of Foot though of a superiour quality as suppose a Lieutenant of Horse command a Captain of Foot a Quartermaster of a Troop of Horse to command a Lieutenant of Foot a Captain of Horse to command a Major of Foot and that only by virtue of their serving on horseback But if it be true what I have asserted and endeavoured to prove that no Officers what ever their service be Horse or Foot of equal quality can with reason pretend to the command of one another then it will assuredly follow that an Inferour can far less pretend to any such authority over a Superiour But there seems to be a greater difficulty in the second question which is Whether an Officer of a King Prince or Generals Guards either of Horse or Foot ought to command over not only his equals in another Regiment or Troop but even over those who in quality are above him As whether a Lieutenant of these Guards may not or should not command over any Captain of another Regiment or a Captain of those Guards over any Major of the Army And truly as the question is stated and so ordinarily it is stated I must answer negatively And yet shall go as great a length with these Officers of Guards as I conceive true Military Discipline and method of War will permit me and perhaps further I say then that a Generals guard either of Horse or Foot much more that of a King or absolute Prince in a march should constantly have the Vaunt of all other Regiments Companies or Troops of the Army both for their honour and that they may be in time at the Head quarter to officiate and do duty I say next that all Officers belonging to these guards have the priority and precedency not only of Door and Table but even in all Courts and Councils of War before any other Officers in the Army of their own rank and quality but not of others of a higher charge nay more though it be a received maxim both in the Civil and Military Law that Par in parem non habet potestatem One equal hath no power over his equal yet I hold when Officers of guards are by some emergency or other or by command to march or quarter with Officers of other Regiments of equal quality the Officer of the guards should have the command over the other Suppose these be either Captains Lieutenauts Majors Lieutenant Colonels or Colonels further than this I cannot go till I get more light than the high demands of some hath yet afforded me Nor can I fancy any reason for this pretence of superiority but the will and pleasure of the Prince his General or his Privy Council and indeed that must neither be contradicted nor controul'd yet I conceive the inconveniences of such an unusual command may be represented to the Prince his General and his Council and I suppose they will be loth to give or to leave any occasions of heart burnings animosities debates or discontents How strange and odd will it be to see a young and raw Captain of the guards who
then that Captain-General commissionates Lieutenant-Generals to command petty Armies under him but when he joins his forces the Command of the Lieutenant-General seems to cease because he is but the Deputy of him that sent him and a Representative is no more a Representative when he whom he represented is present The Roman Consuls had their Lieutenant Generals who were called Legates who commanded Armies apart Roman Legates when the Consuls thought fit but had no command when the Consul was present Nor doth Caesar give those Legates even in the Consuls absence an absolute power for speaking of one of his own Legates in the French War I believe it was Labienus he commends him for not hazarding a Battel with the Gauls though he seem'd to have the advantage because saith he a Legate hath not that power which he hath who is Imperator or Commander in chief One of the Dukes of Aumale commanded an Army in France against the Protestants with the Title of Lieutenant-General but so soon as he join'd forces with Henry Duke of Anjou who was Captain-General for his Brother Charles the Ninth the Duke resign'd both his Title and Office But notwithstanding all this Lieutenant-Generals continue both in their Title and Office in their Generals presence and I have known Felt-marshals have Lieutenant-Generals under them who have commanded both the Horse and Foot of their Armies even when the Felt-marshals were present as the Earl of Bramford who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Barrier and King who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Leslie I think the great Dukes of Muscovia have a very commendable custom to chuse any of their Colonels who they fancy are qualified for it to be Generals or Lieutenant-Generals of a competent number of forces fit for the expedition they are to be imployed in and so soon as that piece of service is A good custom done the Colonel lays down his Commission and returns to his former Charge without the least thought or imagination that he is disparag'd thereby the frequent practice of this custom banishing such thoughts out of all mens heads Neither would such a practice be fancyed to be a degrading of men from former honours in other places of the world if they were but a little habituated to it The French gives now the Title of Lieutenant-Generals very frequently I suppose they are independent one of another and are the Kings Lieutenant-Generals which is very proper and obey none but such as he commands to give Orders to them A General of the Cavalry commands it under him who is Commander in General of the Cavalry chief of the Army whatever title he bear whether General Felt-marshal Lieutenant Felt-marshal or Lieutenant-General He is to see the Troops and Regiments of Horse kept at that strength that they are appointed to be of and if by Battel long marches great fatigue or other accidents of War the numbers of men be diminisht Horses lost or made unserviceable it is his duty when they come to Quarter to see the Troops made strong the Horses put in good case and the Riders well cloth'd and arm'd In Musters he is obliged to see that no Colonel or Ritmaster wrong the Muster-masters by His Duties making a show of borrow'd men Horses or Arms whereby the Prince may be cheated in his Purse or disappointed in his service He is to take care that the Cavalry be paid and provided with Proviant and Fodderage and good Quarter He should also be a person who understands something of the Foot-service in regard that when the greatest part of the Horse is sent in any Expedition ordinarily some Foot are sent with them and then it is the General of the Cavalries office to command both But it is a pity that all General persons should not make it their study and their work to understand both the Foot and Horse-service for I have seen considerable parties of Foot more harass'd and spoil'd in a-short time under the command of an Officer of Horse than if they had been routed by an enemy so little discretion some have to know the difference between a man and a Horse It seems in the Low-Country service the General of the Horse commanded next the General and in his absence over the Army even when they had Felt-marshals but that custom is not now in other places where Felt-marshals and Lieutenant-Felt-marshals command the Generals of the Horse and it would seem that the Estates of the Vnited Provinces have now voided the difference otherwise since they qualified the two Commanders in chief of their Armies with the Titles of Felt-marshals Prince Maurice and Wurz A Lieutenant-General of the Horse being in his Generals absence to do the Lieutenant General of the Cavalry same duties he should have the same qualifications If the Cavalry be marshal'd in one Body the General is to stand on the right hand of it and the Lieutenant-General on the left But if the Horse be drawn up in two wings the General commands the right and the Lieutenant-General commands the left wing A Major-General of the Cavalry is to receive the word and all other Orders Major General of the Horse from the Commander in chief of the Army he is to impart them to the General and the Lieutenant-General of the Cavalry and after he hath received their commands he is to give all to the Regiment Quarter-masters of Horse which they carry to the several Regiments All complaints and differences between Officers and Horsemen or among themselves are first brought to him which he should endeavour to compose in an amicable way but if he cannot Major-General of Horse he is to proceed according to the Articles and Constitutions of War He hath the inspection of all the Guards of Horse and orders them and keeps lists of Convoys and Parties that the several Officers and Troopers may have their turns in which a Major-General should show himself very impartial for very few or none there be who will not think themselves wrong'd in their reputation His Duties if others be prefer'd to them where either danger may probably be look'd for or profit expected unless it can be made clear to them that it is not their turn to go on that party or with that Convoy It is the Major-General who marshals the Cavalry in Battel having first advised about the manner with the General of the Horse or in his absence with the Lieutenant-General If he be an understanding active stirring and vigilant person a General and Lieutenant-General may be laid aside as in many Armies over Christendom they are though not in all This Officer the English qualifie with the Title of Commissary General of the Horse The Duties of a Lieutenant-General and Major-General of the Foot are the General Officers of the Foot same which I have told you belongs to those of the Horse mutatis mutandis Generals of the Foot are but rare Banier was under Gustavus Adolphus and Lind
our first Parents had not rebell'd against their Creator their posterity had enjoy'd an everlasting peace and so such a person as we now speak of had been very unnecessary But I assure my self never man except Adam when he was in the state of perfection was endued with these gifts wherewith some Notional Authors wil have a Captain General to be qualified He must say A Notional description of a Captain General they be pious towards God just towards man and loyal to his Master He must be very affable very wise of a sudden and quick apprehension of a solid judgment and happy memory He must be very severe in his command and yet very merciful He must be liberal and free from all manner of Avarice painful magnanimous and couragious and in one word endued with all the Moral Vertues He ought to be an old Practitioner in the Military Art and well experimented in all its parts and duties Perhaps you may think this enough but Polybius in his Ninth Book requires more for he will have his General to be both an Astrologer and a Geometer If you will tell me where or in what region of the habitable world all these qualifications shall be found in one person Eris mihi magnus Apollo That he who is intrusted with the supreme Command of Royal Armies one or more and with the whole Militia of a State should be an accomplisht person The charge of a Generalissimo is of the highest nature and if it be possible such a one as we have describ'd will not be readily denied since it is a Command of the highest nature the greatest honour and deepest consequence that can be confer'd on any single person of what quality â—r degree soever for he is intrusted not only with the lives of those that are in Arms under his Command but with the defence of the whole Country Towns Forts and Castles with the honour welfare and standing of the Prince and State and with the lives and properties of all their Subjects The loss of his Army or Armies by his negligence inadvertency rashness or cowardice may occasion the loss of all these or make them run a very great hazard by his indiscretion much more by his treachery he may in one moment of time lose the lives and liberties of many thousands make numbers of women widows children fatherless and fathers childless he may lose the honour and beauty of a whole Province yea of a whole Kingdom all which he was bound by his office and charge to preserve The consideration of these things mov'd most of the ancient Kings and Emperours A Prince to manage his Wars in person and those of latter times likewise to manage their Wars and lead their Armies in person Those who laid the foundation of the first four Monarchies did so as in the Assâ—rian Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis and when their posterity did it not their Empire was in the wain and ended with Sardanapalus who hid himself from the sight of men among his women Cyrus led his Armies himself so did some of his Successors but when others of them staid at home and sent their Lieutenants abroad the Persian Monarchy decay'd and became a prey to the Great Alexander who manag'd his Wars in person and so did those great Captains of his who cut out Kingdoms to themselves out of their Masters Conquests but their Successors lost them by sitting idle at home and employing their Generals abroad Many Roman Emperours after Augustus went to their Wars in person whereby they preserv'd their Imperial Dignity but when others imployed their Lieutenants though many of these were excellent men and often victorious the Empire was torn in pieces The Kings of Leon Navarr Castile Portugal and Arragon after the destruction of the Gothish Monarchy in Spain went to the field in person and recover'd Many Instances to prove it those Kingdoms out of the hands of the Saracens When the Kings of France of the Merovingian and Carolomannian race kept within their Palaces and suffer'd the Majors thereof to govern their Armies they lost their Kingdoms and Crowns Our Kings of Scotland and England used mostly to manage their Wars themselves the Emperour Charles the Fifth led his greatest Armies himself and for most part was always victorious for his loss at Algiers occasion'd by the visible hand of Heaven and his forced Retreats from Inspruck and the Siege of Metz were but small blemishes in the beautiful and fair Map of his victorious raign But since his time his Successors the Kings of Spain have sate at home and entrusted their Armies to their Generals and we see that their wide and far stretcht Monarchy has been since that Emperours time in a constant decadency All the Kings and Emperours of the Ottoman race went in person to the Wars till Selimus the second changed that custom and since that time none of them have done actions by their Bashas comparable to those of their Ancestors In our own days the Emperour Ferdinand the Second intrusted the managing his War against Gustavus Adolphus to his Generals Wallenstein Tily and Pappenheim all brave and great Captains yet that Martial King being in person on the head of his Armies prevailed over them all We may perceive the great odds of managing a War by a Prince in his own person and by his Captain General by taking a view of the actions of two Brothers both of them excellent Princes these were the Emperour Charles the Actions of two Brothers compar'd Fifth of whom I but just now spoke and Ferdinand the First King of the Romans Hungaria and Bohemia The first as I have already said led his most considerable Armies himself the second staid constantly at home and sent his Captain Generals to manage his Wars of greatest importance mark the issue Ferdinand lost three Royal Armies each of them composed of a well appointed Cavalry Infantry and Train of Artillery one of them at Esâ—câ—hiâ— under Cazzianer another at Buda under Rocandolf and the third at Pesth under Joachiâ—â— Marquess of Brandenburg all three were wofully and shamefully lost without fighting And if any think that the misfortune of all the three or any one of them could not have been prevented by the Princes own presence I shall answer that undoubtedly it had and my reason is this because that which lost them all was the irresolution of the Generals who durst neither fight nor retire in time as being shie and wary to hazard that which was not their owâ—â— whereas Ferdinand if he had been present would quickly have resolv'd either on the one or the other and consequently would have either retir'd in time and sav'd all his three Armies or have fought and by that means been victorious or would have been beaten with more glory to himself and mischief to his insolent enemy And this is more particularly clear in that Army commanded by Rocandolf who after multitudes of Infidels were already arrived
for the relief of the besieged Queen and City of Buda and that Soliman himself by speedy marches was hastning thither could not be mov'd or perswaded by any intreaties or remonstrances of the principal Commanders of his army to raise the Siege vowing and protesting that he neither could nor would do it without an express warrant from his Master King Ferdinand but before that could come he and his misfortunate Army were both irrecoverably ruin'd The sad History of all these three Armies you may read at length in Paolo Giovio Be pleased to take another instance of a later date In the year 1657 Charles Gustavus King of Sweden invaded the Dutchy of Holstein with a very inconsiderable army his Horsemen and his Soldiers were almost naked and all beaten Actions of two Kings compar'd with a long march from Pole nor was it so strong as eleven thousand of all Frederick the third King of Denmark intrusts a well appointed army of sixteen thousand Horse and Foot to a Feltmarshal and stays at Copâ—nhagen himself by the perswasions of his Privy Council The Swede being in person on the head of his harass'd army prevail'd every where ruined the Danish army without one blow and besieged the reliques of it in Frederichsode a strong Town stormed it and took it with the slaughter of the Danish Feltmarshal and most of his men and got in it above one hundred Brass-guns and much Ammunition After this a vehement Frost being commanded from Heaven to favour him with a Bridg he stept over the Ice from Isle to Isle on the Belt where he forced the Dane to accept of such conditions as he imposed which were both dishonourable and disadvantageous Sure if the King of Denmark had been personally present with his forces he had at least once fought for it To make War in person seems to be one of the essential Duties of a King or Soveraign Prince this was one of those reasons which the people of God gave for their desire to have a King to rule over them To do justice among our selves Kings of Israel and Judah made War iâ— person and to lead out our armies to battel against our enemies and they add after the manner of other Nations So then it is clear that Kings at that time went to the field in person So did Saul the first King of Israel and so did David and most of all his Successors Kings of Judah and Israel And if it be objected that David made Joab his Captain General I give two answers first Joab's authority ceased when David was present which he was almost constantly with his forces The objection of Joab answer'd till he was established King of Israel For Joab's employment where he commanded in chief if I have observed right was first against the Rebel Absalom and this was a Civil War and then against the Ammonites and that was a foreign War both these had their rise from sudden Emergencies In the last the Kings presence till the latter part of it was not necessary and in the first not at all convenient But secondly I answer that David did often repent him of the large Commission he had given to Joab who thereby made himself so strong that the King durst not hazard to punish him for his misdemeanors which he often insinuated in those words You are too strong for me you Sons of Zâ—rviah That oâ— Benajah answer'd As to Solomons making Benajah Captain General it signified but little since there was no War in his time and the Captain of the Host was almost constantly beside him If any War had fallen out probably Solomon would have conducted his forces himself But his reign was peaceable as being the Type of the Prince of Peace yet he might have repented it if he had confer'd that high trust on Jeroboam who if he had been Captain General probably would not have fled to Egypt for fear of King Solomon for his actions against Rehoboam declared afterward that the heart of a Rebel was within his breast whatever his exterior deportment was in the time of that peaceable King But to what I have said That Soveraign Princes should conduct their armies Objections against what hath been said First in person it will be objected That an Infant King cannot manage a War To which I answer that then the Prince nearest in blood should do it as well as he should govern in Civil affairs And if it be said he may usurp I answer Better he do so than a fellow subject who may play the like prank if he be invested with the like power But it is known that many Infant Kings have been carried Answer'd about with their armies to encourage them so great an influence hath the presence of Soveraign power though in a Child over the spirits of Military persons Observe what Henry the sixth of England's valiant Uncles did for him and how faithful they were to him during his Minority Observe also that Roxanâ— her being with Child to the Great Alexander made his ambitious Captains after his death smother their foaring thoughts till time should discover to them whether their Soveraign was in her belly or not that accordingly they might know how to take up their measures In the second place it will be askt what shall an old decrepit or Valetudinary The Second King do who is not able to go to the field Truly I shall not desire him to do as that King of Morocco did who in the Battel he fought with Sebastian King of Portugal caused himself to be carried in a Litter whereby he gain'd the Victory though with the loss of his own life in the field But I say such a King Answer'd may intrust as many of his subjects as are able and capable to lead armies but he should put the managing the great bulk of the War principally in the hands of the heir of the Crown to command over all and if he be not of age fit for it then that great trust should be given to the next Prince of the blood who is capable of it When the Imperial and Spanish forces Invaded France in the year 1635 the French King made his Brother Gaston Generalissimo who chac'd the enemy out of the Kingdom After the Emperour Ferdinand the Second had suffer'd many losses at last he made his own Son the Hungarian King Generalissimo over all his armies who at his very first Encounter with the Swedes routed two of their armies at Nordling in the year 1634 and in the space of two months made them lose more ground than they had gain'd in two whole years before Thirdly it will be said a Soveraign Queen cannot lead armies and therefore The Third cannot manage the War in person I shall not answer that many Princesses have done it gloriously and successfully both in ancient and modern times and therefore all should imitate them But I shall say that she can imploy no better nor
or part of an army march with any security unless some be sent before to discover The want of these made the Roman army under Flaminius become a prey to Hannibal at the Lake Thrasimenes where the Consul lost his life I am not so vain as to give any new rules for Intelligence all I pretend to in this place is to demonstrate that no Intelligence can be so exactly good but it may prove wrong nor can any be sent for Intelligence be they never so witty and expert but they may mistake Neither is No trust to an enemies Intelligence there any Intelligence more to be doubted or misbelieved than that which comes from an enemy Sabinus one of Caesars Legates trusted what Ambiorix a petty King of the Gauls in publick hostility with him reported this cost the lives of a Legion and five Cohorts of Romans besides that of the Legate himself Cicero another Legate not giving trust to the same Ambiorix sav'd himself and his Legion till Caesar came and reliev'd him out of eminent danger There be other ways of publick Intelligence by shots of Cannon or Musquets Other ways of publick Intelligence from Hills Mountains Towers or Trees as also by Beacons with smoke by day and fire by night I confess in some cases there can be no better way found out yet these may readily prove uncertain as many times they have done for your Centinels and Guards may make these shots and signs upon misapprehensions and so disturb you with false alarms or an enemy may have surpriz'd your Guards and Centinels and by giving you no sign or false signs ruin you Intelligence may also be given publickly from the Steeples and Towers of besieged places and from Mountains without by either Cannon or fire by signs and Counter-signs yet all of them may be misunderstood miscarried or betray'd But more of this in my Discourse of Besieged Cities Towns and Castles Private Intelligence is got by word or by writing either from those who Private Intelligence by word or by writ dwell and converse with your enemy or those you send among your enemies disguised as their friends To corrupt a Secretary of a Prince or a General is a good way for Intelligence and to do this he who commands an army must spare no Gold and therefore a Parsimonious General will have but bad private Intelligence or rather none at all Governours of Forts and Officers to whom Posts are intrusted either in Garrison or Field must be tried how they may be corrupted This is an excellent way for Intelligence and makes the destruction of an enemy easie and it ought to be attempted essay'd and prosecuted with all earnestness prudence and secrecy One will do wisely to seem to give full credit to the Proposals Intelligence and promises of these Traytors but he must not always do it for in this the rule will hold exactly Disce diffidere learn to distrust How many Generals and other great persons have been cheated by such seeming Traytors History and daily practice bear witness In the Proves often false time of the Civil Wars of France in Charles the Ninth's reign a Protestant Officer within Orleance agreed with much secrecy to deliver one of the Ports to the enemy who besieg'd the Town and accordingly some hundreds were admitted within the City who were all Massacred and a number of great Guns and Musquets were fir'd on those who were following after the Portculleys were let down and the Drawbridg was pluckt up Sir Philip Sidney was little better used with his Intelligence out of Alost Such an entertainment was prepar'd for five or six thousand Spaniards to whom Breda should have been deliver'd in the night-time when the Prince of Parma govern'd if I remember right but when they came near the Town they grew jealous and so return'd with little loss In the next place Generals ought to have a wary eye over their Secretaries I believe few of them trust them with all their secrets nor is it fit they should And what trust can you give him who is willing to betray his Master to whom A Traytors Intelligence to be distrusted he hath sworn fidelity should you not be afraid that he will rather betray you to whom he hath sworn none Yet this way of Intelligence hath in all ages been tried and hath very often prov'd successful and therefore it must be still practised and something must be hazarded for all cannot be made cocksure Wallenstein as was afterward well known really intended to have betrayed the Emperour his Master and all his armies but the Duke of Weymar and other Swedish Generals durst not trust him till they got assurances and before he could give these he was dispatched to another world Wherefore I say something must be adventur'd but let it be done with all imaginable care and circumspection that if your Intelligence fail you the loss may not be considerable Written Intelligence is very dangerous both for the person that carries it Written Intelligence dangerous for him who sends it and for him who receives it If the bearer of it be taken he will no doubt be put to exquisite tortures till he tell from whom he brought it and be hang'd when he hath told it this brings the sender or writer in danger of his life and the intercepting this written Intelligence divulgeth some of his secrets to whom it is sent and so puts him to new resolutions for though the advices he sent be written in Cyphers yet the art of finding keys for Cyphers So are Cyphers is now common and though a Cypher be not unlockt yet he to whom it is directed will rationally conclude it was unlockt and therefore will find it needful to fall upon new resolves Other manners of writing with illegible Ink are Yet both to be used soon found out with fire and water But notwithstanding all this there is a necessity of writing many times and it must take its hazard Private Intelligence by word of mouth is certainly the surest way if any way of Intelligence can be sure provided the persons imployed be witty sober vigilant and faithful The first three qualifications may be known by conversation Spies but the last only by frequent trial and yet he may be faithful to you in many things who may cheat you to purpose at the last blow These be the Intelligencers whether men or women who are properly called Spies upon whose Intelligence no prudent General Governour or good Officer will build resolutions till it be confirm'd by several hands and even then it will be needful Not always to be trusted to walk with circumspection We find in the life of Caesar writ both by himself and others that he made it his great work to get Intelligence of his enemies posture doings and designs and that the wonderful celerity he used in all his expeditions was the product of his Intelligence yet did he never trust any
that ever he got from either friend or enemy till it was confirm'd to him from others yet I have told you that his Intelligence did fail it is true not so oft as his Legates were abus'd by theirs because he trusted not so easily When Spies are sent he who sends them must let them know none of his own designs Their miserable condition for these they may readily reveal These Spies are in a woful condition for so soon as they are suspected they are immediately search'd and if any Papers be found about them either in their Clothes the soles of their shoos their hair hats sheaths of daggers or swords they are put to torture and then all they know for most part is reveal'd and though no Papers be found with them yet are they tortur'd to tell what perhaps they know not The Roman way to How the Romans found out Spies find out Spies was by a Trumpet or a Cryer to command all to their Huts and Tents and those who were then found wandering abroad were apprehended and examin'd for Spies But I do not remember to have heard or read of a greater mischief that want of Intelligence did to any than to the two famous Carthaginian Brothers Hannibal and Asdrubal for after the last's arrival in Italy Hannibal faceth one Roman army resolving to hinder it to join with another which he knew was sent to hinder his Brother to join with him Asdrubal faceth the other Roman army Two great Captains both Brothers ruin'd for want of Intelligence under Consul Livius and provoketh him to Battel but in vain All the four armies are encamped and fortified each diligently observing the motions of his adversary Yet Claudius Nero the Consul who opposed Hannibal marcheth in the night with six thousand commanded Romans out of his Camp joins with Livius who was at least a hundred miles distant from him without the knowledg of either of the two Brothers Neither had Asdrubal any knowledg of the Conjunction but his own conjecture by the numbers of the Horses that he saw go out to watering and the two Classicums the Badges of two Consuls he retiâ—'d that night but was overtaken next day beaten and kill'd Nor did Hannibal know any thing of the whole matter till Nero was return'd in safety to the Roman Camp and that he caused Asdrubals head to be thrown before one of the Gates of Hannibals at the sight whereof the Gallant Carthaginian wept and said he now saw too well the fortune of Carthage meaning no doubt that the Heavens were not to be any more propitious to that powerful City when such two famous Warriors as himself and his valiant Brother were ruin'd for want of Intelligence For Quos vult perdere hos dementat Jupiter Jove dements whom he intends to destroy But to return to our Spies to put them to death without mercy or to The punishment of Spies very severe use them worse hath been so ancient and still is so universal a practice that to speak any thing against the injustice of it might justly make a man ridiculously singular In ancient times for most part they were tortur'd to death and little better are they used in the Modern War But do not you think the Romans used Spies more mercifully at the Siege of Capua who only cut off their hands and noses and so let them depart in peace Caesar who was merciful enough and made great use of Spies himself caused the hands of two messengers to be cut off who were taken carrying Letters from Corduba to young Pompey and in the same War he apprehended four Spies in his Camp one was a Soldier and three were Slaves the Soldier he beheaded but the Slaves he Crucified So you see Soldiers must be subject to the punishment of Spies if they suffer themselves to be imployed in their office But since Spies are made use of by all Commanders in the Wars by all Generals nay by all Princes why is there a more severe animadversion against them than against Robbers Murderers yea Parricides They are not only allowed made use of and commended but bountifully rewarded by those who imploy them why then is not there some capitulation for them or at least some greater mitigation of their punishment than to deliver them over to the cruelty of a Butcherly Hangman Spies may be lawfully used to whip torture hang spit and quarter them Certainly their Office is lawful otherwise lawful Princes would not make use of them why are they then so horribly punisht for going about their duty Yes assuredly their Office is lawful since Moses by Gods own appointment sent a dozen of them to spy the Land of Canaan one whereof was Caleb who went in and possest his share of it and another of the Twelve was Joshuah who thereafter was Captain General of the Israelitish Army Two Spies were likewise sent to Jericho who ow'd the safety of their lives to the Harlot Rachab and when they lodg'd at such a womans house had they not been sent by Gods own people might not a man have said that Knaves and Whores were well met together But to conclude if Spies escap'd without very severe punishment Camps Armies and all Fortified places would be pester'd with that base though necessary Canaille The English have a General Officer whom they qualifie with the Title of Scoutmaster General I have known none of them abroad but I hear in some Scout-master General places of Italy they have something very like him and that is Il Capitano di Spiani the Captain of the Spies I cannot believe that this Scoutmaster or this Captain hath any thing to do with that Intelligence which I called publick and is got by parties whether of Horse or Foot for the commanding these out and the keeping the Lists of their Turns or Toures belongs properly to the Major Generals and several Majors of Regiments both of the Cavalry and Infantry none whereof I conceive will suffer the Scoutmaster to usurp their Office They must then only have the regulation of the private Intelligence wherein no doubt they may ease the General of the Army very much But being that Spies are properly under their command if this Scoutmaster General or this Capitano di Spiani be taken Prisoner by the enemy whether he may be ransom'd and used as an Officer or hanged as a Spy is a question which because I cannot determine I shall leave it as a Probleme The French have lately constituted a Captain of Guides who perhaps is the Captain of Spies I speak of CHAP. XVI Embatteling by the Square-root examined and rejected THE great Apostle of the Gentiles tells us That the fashion of this world perisheth And truly I admire not at all that Embatteling Bodies of Foot and Horse by the Square-root is worn out of fashion but I admire much that Several kinds of Batallions marshal'd by the Square-root ever it was in fashion I shall not offer
long ago The Quarter-master of the General Staff is only needful at the Headquarter Quarter-master of the General Staff and when he knows from the Quarter-master General where that is he goes thither with the force Troops and makes the Billets ready choosing out the best houses for the General and then divides the rest among the general Officers according to the quality of the charges they have This Officer hath often a list sign'd by the General of the names of many others besides General Officers who are to be lodged at the Headquarter and these are often Colonels of foot but more commonly some reformed Officers Colonels Lieutenant Colonels and Majors and others also who have served the State or Prince before and wait on the Commander in Chief for imployment But many times it falls out that there are not houses at the Headquarter to serve the half of the General Officers and in that case this Officer is to divide all the Barns Stables Yards Enclosures and Hedges as equally and proportionably as he can for in quartering no man hath power to appropriate a piece of ground to himself In such a Camp as we are now to describe this Quartermaster divides the ground given by the General Quartermaster to the General Officers according to that length and Breadth that is allotted to every one of them and that is more or less according as the person is of higher or lower quality The greater an Army is the stricter and better order it should keep in encamping for unless it be well looked to multitudes breed confusion Those numerous Armies we read of under the Assyrian and Persian Monarchs had no doubt the Art of encamping but much more I think are we obliged to believe that Moses Joshuah and other Great Captains of the Israelites in The Israelites excellent Castrametators â— their forty years wanderings in the Arabian Wilderness had the art of castrametation in its perfection which I conceive was derived either by written directions or Tradition from one Generation of that people to another and so made the quartering of those vast Armies we read of in holy writ led out to Battel by the Kings of Israel and Judah easie to them Tamberlan that famous Tartarian King is much commended for the excellent order he kept and the rules he gave both for the march and Encamping that numerous Army of his consisting of a Million of men And I doubt not but the Turk hath very good So are the Turke Constitutions for the regular Castrametation of those multitudes of men which usually he leads after him But though some undertake to describe both his Politick and Military Government yet they give us but a very general intelligence of the last whatever they may seem to do concerning the first Whether the Great Cyrus Encamped his Army as Xenophon says he did and if he did so whether he had learned it from the Assyrians or the Persians or invented it himself matters not much it is enough that it is universally thought to be excellent and in the Modern Wars prefer'd to the Roman Castrametation The manner of his Encamping as that Author informs us was shortly this He Cyrus his manner of Encamping lodged himself in the midst of his Army and in the Center of it about him were the Guards of his person and his Engines of War such as Tortoises Rams and the like as also his Magazine Without these were his Horsemen and about them lodged his light armed Foot as Slingers Darters and Archers and without all these quarter'd his heavy-armed Foot who served for a wall says our Author to the rest of his Army though no doubt he had a retrenchment when necessary without them If then a whole Army Horse and Foot Train of Artillery Magâ—zine of Provisions the whole General Staff all the Waggons and Baggâ—ge be to Encamp Imitated in our Modern Castrametation in one Leaguer according to this Pattern given us by Cyrus he who commands in chief should lodg in the center of the Army and his Guards next him about him the General Officers Train of Artillery Magazine of Proviant and Waggons without all these the Cavalry whether they be Curiassiers or Harquebusiers and without them the Infantry which ought to be nearest the Rampart as fittest to maintain it and soonest ready to run to the Parapet of the Wall or Gates of the Camp till the Horsemen have time given them to saddle and bridle their Horses But before the Quarter-master General begin to measure out the Camp it will be fitting that the General by Trumpet and Drum make his pleasure Some proclamations from the General known in these particulars That none presume to come near the Quarter-master General while he is doing his Duty but Quarter-masters Fouriers and a few to serve them lest by a multitude of spectators and gazers he and those with him be disturbed in the exercise of their charges That none offer to pull up take away or remove any staves or marks that are planted or fixt for designation of Quarters Huts or Tents That no Officer or Souldier presume to take any more or any other ground than that which is allotted to him by the Castrametator That no Turff be cast up within the circumference Must preceed the castrametation of the Camp for spoiling it especially in rainy weather That no fires be made among the Tents and Huts but only in those places which are allotted for them All these things should be intimated or what else the present circumstances of place time accidents or emergences may require The Quarter-master General should have Lists given him of the numbers of every Regiment Troop or Company both of Horse and Foot and because all Regiments are not alike strong of Companies nor all Companies alike strong Lists must be given to the general Quarter-master of men the Rolls must mention how many Troops and Companies are in each Regiment and how many men in each Company A List must be given him by the Quarter-master of the General Staff how many General Officers are to be lodged about the General he must have Rolls of all the Persons Guns great and small and Waggons belonging to the Ordnance The like he must have from the Proviant Office The Waggon-master General must give him a List of those Waggons which cannot conveniently quarter besides the Regiments to And from whom whom they belong but he must not add to that number that is allowed by the establishment of the Prince or State to whom the Army doth belong Observe that the Quarter-master General after he hath got all these Lists draws a platform of the figure of the whole Camp on paper and shews it to the General of the Army and it being approv'd by him the Quarter-master goes about his work Observe next that there must be no measures in the Army but conform to those of the Quarter-master General whether these be feet roods toises
all that attended the Baggage of his Army to mount upon Mules and Sumpter-Horses and hide themselves in some near Hills and Woods and in the time of fight to make a show as if they would cut off the Gauls pass to their Camp which the Muleteers doing upon a sign from the Dictator the Gauls immediately fled Such a Stratagein did King Robert Bruce happily use against Edward the Second of England in the Battel nâ—ar Sterling But Not always the like being practis'd by the French at Agencourt against Henry the Fifth King of England had an issue contrary to the thing intended It hath been always and ever will be a rule of War Thaâ— no man offer to plunder or look for booty till the Enemy be totally routed and chac'd No plunder till an Enemy be totally routed out of the Field but for most part it is ill observed When Parmenio at Arbela sent word to his Master Alexander that the Perstans were fallen on the Baggage which was but slenderly guarded it was well answer'd of that great Prince Let saith he the Enemy be master of all the goods that belong to my Army so I over master him for then I shall recover my own and get his to boot The not observing this rule lost the Christians the Victory against the Turk at Agria At the Battel of Janquo in Bohemia in the year 1644. if I mistake Instanceâ— not the Imperialists were well near masters of the Field in so far that several Brigades of the Swedes had run away and very many of their Officers were taken Prisoners but they fell too soon to the plunder of the Swedish Waggons which Torstensone Christina's Felt-Marshal did not offer to rescue though his own Lady was taken with them but took the advantage of the Enemies disorder and with fresh and couragious Troops pluck'd the Victory out of his hand beat them out of the Field recover'd his Lady all his Prisoners and Baggage and made himself master of all the Imperial Coaches and Waggons took numbers of Prisoners and among them him who commanded in chief the Count of Hatsfeld I know not how the proposition of some will relish with our great Captains that some lusty strong men should be arm'd with Head-pieces and Corslet and long and large Targets all Musket-proof and a Rank of these serr'd together order'd to march before every Batallion of Pikes and so protect them from shot till they be within two Pikes length of the Enemy that they can make use of their own Weapons But whether this be approv'd or not I think it would be of no great charge to the Prince or State who manageth the War to order every Pike man to have at his girdle a Pistol with a Barrel two foot long whereof the three first Ranks may make use before they present their Pikes and the other three fire over the heads of those who are before them in the time they are charging Now the Battel is done and if it fall out that it hath been so well fought Things to be done after the Battel that none of the Armies can boast of Victory but that both have left the place of Combate as it were by mutual consent or that they are parted by night then either both prepare to fight next day or the one finding those wants of which the other hath no knowledge takes the advantage of darkness and retires to some place of security where he may provide for his hurt men be furnish'd with what he wants recruit his Forces and so give a stop to his Enemies further progress and this no doubt is a tacite acknowledgement that he yields the honour of the day to him who keeps the Field But this was never laid in ballance by any prudent Captain with the preservation of his Army the loss whereof may lose the Prince his Master more than such a Punctilio of Honour which at a more fortunate Rencounter may quickly be recover'd But if both resolve to try their fortunes next day then both prepare for it the wounded are sent away Ammunition is given out and those who are sound are refresh'd and encourag'd This falls out but seldome though sometimes it hath happen'd The Victory is pronounc'd to be his Badge of Victory who remains master of the ground where both fought and in ancient times he acknowledg'd himself to be vanquish'd who desired liberty to bury his dead Bernard Duke of Saxon Weymar having besieged Reinfeld and two Imperial Armies coming to raise the Siege he fought both till night parted the fray but with this difference that the Imperialists got between him and the besieged Town and so succour'd it upon which the Duke retired and left his Enemy the badges of Victory but with a resolution to return and throw the Dye of War once more as he did as you shall hear anon When an entire Victory is obtain'd he who hath lost the day should not lose What a Vanquish'd General should do his Courage too but ought to gather up his Shipwrack rally his dispers'd and broken Troops get new recruits dissemble his losses encourage his party and draw to a head again these are things practis'd by all intelligent Generals withal he should with all convenient diligence send a Trumpeter to the Victorious General to demand a list of his Prisoners which when he hath got he should make all the haste he can to get them ransom'd or exchang'd and this is a duty he owes to Prudence Honour and Conscience On the other hand he who hath gain'd the Victory may lose himself if he be What a Victorious General should do secure for a resolute enemy may soon take him napping As that same Duke of Weymar did the Imperial Army that had beaten him for having got together the rest of his Forces that were not with him at his late overthrow he return'd and gave Battel to the Imperialists who dream'd of no such thing and obtain'd so compleat a Victory over them that he made all the general persons his Prisoners who were led into Paris in triumph Duc de Savelli an Italian was one of them who escap'd afterward out of Prison but the deep contemplation of the sudden change of fortune in his Military imployments mov'd him to make an exchange of his Helmet with a Cardinals Cap. It is for that that he who commands a Victorious Army should not in sloth pass away his time but improve his Victory to the greatest advantage of his Master and not be guilty of that whereof one of the greatest Captains among the Ancients Hannibal was taxed that he knew not how to use Victory whereof two others one before him and another after him could never be accused and those were the Great Alexander and the Great Julius Caesar CHAP. XXIII Of Retreats TO Retire after a Battel or a brisk Rencounter leads me to speak of Retreats Next the sighting well and winning of a Battel the three great
and got him away with all possible speed and made his retreat good notwithstanding Pompey's pursuit at the River Genuso with his Horse mixt with Foot But I find that for the space of four days he retired still sending his Baggage constantly before and following with his Army in the night and what stands he made to face the Enemy behind him were all in the day time Nor have Princes and great Captains in our Modern Wars thought it dishonourable to follow the example of that famous Carthaginian and those illustrous Charles the fifth from the Duke of Saxe Romans in making their Retreats in the Night-time whereof I shall not weary you with more instances than three The victorious Emperor Charles the fifth finding himself not in a capacity to fight Maurice Duke of Saxe who was got very near him before he had any knowledge of his march retired with great silence in the Night time from Inspruck for hast leaving some of his Houshold-stuff behind him Francis the first of France having Victualled the besieged Town of Landrecy in view of both the Imperial and English Francis the first from Charles the fifth Armies marched twelve Leagues baâ—k to Guise where he stayed till the Emperor came in person who marched with a puissant Army to give the King Battle But Francis being sensible of the danger of an ingagement left some Tents and Baggage and many fires and in the Night without Drum or Trumpet retired to places of safâ—ty This was looked upon as one of the bravest actions that ever was done by that Martial King yet some blame him perhaps with reason for staying the Emperors coming after he had relieved the Town which was his only errand Wallenstein Duke of Friedland fought the Sweedish Army at Wallenstein from the Duke of Weymar Lutsen till night parted them and though he knew the King was killed and that his own Forces were more numerous than the Duke of Weymars yet knowing his own wants he resolved to retire and did it that same night without noise of Trumpet or Drum and left some Cannon behind him and though he staid next day at Leipsick yet the night after he got him away and made but short stay at any place till he came to Prague where he put himself in a posture to meet and fight that Enemy from whom he thought it then fit to retire But many who have preferred a vain punctilio of honour to the safety of their Armies have lost both their Armies and their honours Whereof take only two instances After Lautrec Captain General of the French Army had obstinately continued the Siege of Naples notwithstanding that a pestilentious Disease had consumed the best part of his Army and made the rest unserviceable whereof he dyed himself The Marquess of Salusses who succeeded him in the command with the advice of the other prime Officers resolve to quit the Siege and retire to Anversa where a French Garrison lay three Leagues from the Camp in pursuance whereof knowing their danger since the Imperialists were very strong within the City commanded by two great Captains the Prince of Orange and Davalo Marquess of Guast they divide their infirm and sickly Army equally into three parts Foot and Horse mixing the one with the other and with every Batallion appointed three Falconets leaving all the rest of their Artillery and Baggage in their Leaguer as a prey to the Enemy At break of day they march without Drum or Trumpet and a tempestuous Rain falling in the mean time hindered the Imperial Sentinels and Guards for a great while to take notice of the French Retreat yet for all that they are overtaken by 500. Horse and some Harquebusiers on foot and though the last Batallion of the French fired and fought right well yet did the Imperial Horse increasing in numbers fiercely charge them and rout them and immediately after the second Batallion likewise killing and taking all Those Error in the Fâ—ench retreat from Naples of the first Batallion by a speedy march got to Anversa and saved themselves till the Prince of Orange came and made them render on discretion Now it is very clear that if the Marquess had begun his Retreat in the beginning of the night or at midnight for it was in Autumn he had undoubtedly brought his Army safe to Anversa for his Rear would have been sooner by that account at that place than his Van was which came safely though it began not to march till break of day and by the bargain he had saved his own life for there he got his mortal wounds whereof he dyed The second instance is of Piter Strozzi a Florentine who commanded in chief over an Army of French under Henry the second near to Sienna within which Marshal Monluc was Governour An Army of Spaniards under the command of James of Medici stronger by far than Strozzi lay close by him Strozzi resolves to retire to Lusignan but would needs do it in the day time and consulted the matter by Letters with Monluc who disswaded him from it with many reasons and particularly by the fresh example of the late King of France his retreat in the night-time from Guise and so prevailed with him to retire in the Night-time And so soon as day was spent he sent away two Pieces of Ordnance to Lusignan intending to follow with the Army But the haughty Florentine looking upon it as a dishonourable thing for him to show his Error in Strozzi his retreat from Sienna back in the night-time to Medici to whose Family he carried an inveterate hatred would needs make his Retreat in spight of him in the day time and the issue was his Army was routed and himself hardly escaped But that which Monluc writes of this is very observable That he no sooner understood that Strozzi had resolved to retire in the day-time but foreseeing the event of so frantick a resolution he instantly conveened the Podesta the Magistrates and principal Citizens of Sienna and assured them the Army in which they trusted at that very time and hour in which he was speaking to them was defeated and therefore advised them without delay to prepare for a Siege and the event shewed he spoke truly if not Prophetically for that day was the French Army beaten and next day the City was invested by the victorious Army It is true two of King Ferdinands Generals Cazzianer and Rocandolf Retreats should be made in time each whereof lost an Army to their Master of 24000 or 30000. brave Germans retired the first from Esecchio the last from Buda both in the night-time but they did it not soon enough and lost their Armies deservedly because they obstinately continued at these places against all reason and the advice of their principal Officers when they had certain intelligence of the daily march and approach of the Turks I never said nor thought that a Retreat in the Night would infallibly save an Army I
gallantly defended by the Duke of Guise till the Imperial Army moulder'd away and was made despicable by the sword sickness and grievous winter weather and at length was forc'd to make a pitiful Retreat from it after which that great Prince retir'd to a Cloister and from it to another world So did that Emperours Great Grandfather Charles of Burgundy with a great deal of vanity but with a greater deal of loss continue his Siege of Nuise as it were in despight of the Roman Emperour and all the Princes of Germany till he was forc'd to sneak away from it with dammage and dishonour enough So did Rocandolf continue the Siege of Buda notwithstanding all the prayers and perswasions of all his great Officers to the contrary to the utter undoing of a rich and a gallant Army as hath been told you in another place But as in ancient times so in our late European Wars it hath been an ordinary To raise a Siege without taking the place no dishonour thing for brave Generals to raise their Sieges either upon the intelligence of the advance of a strong succourse or some other weighty consideration So did the great Gustavus raise his Siege from Ingolstadt in Bavaria The Swedish Felt-Marshal Banier from Leipsick in Saxony His Successor Torstenson from Birn in Silesia and Wrangle who succeeded him from Eggar in Bohemia So did Instances Wallenstein from the Sieges of both Magdeburg and Stralsund So did Marquess Spinola raise his Siege from Bergen op Zoom upon Count Mansfeld's conjunction with Maurice Prince of Orange and was not asham'd to bury some of his Cannon that he might make his Retreat with more expedition So did that same Prince Maurice raise the Siege he had form'd at Groll upon Spinola's advance towards him And so did his Brother Henry Prince of Orange rise from Venlo upon the approach of the Cardinal Infant But if a General be well provided and there is no sickness in his Army and if he have strong hopes to To march from a besieged Fort to fight an Enemy hazzardous carry the place he ought not to leave it unless it be to fight the succourse that is coming to it This hath been often practis'd sometimes unfortunately and sometimes successfully Take a few instances of both Count Tili left the Siege of Leipsick march'd toward the King of Sweden who came to relieve the Town and fought him but to his great loss So did the Duke of Weymar and the Suedish Felt-Marshal Gustavus Horne leave the Siege of Nordling and march'd Instances to fight the Hungarian King but with the loss of the day and their Army too But that same Duke of Weimar had afterwards better fortune when he besieg'd Brisac from the Siege whereof he rose twice and fought the Armies that were sent to relieve the Town and return'd both times to the Siege crown'd with Laurel So did the Swedish Army leave the Siege of Hameln that Town out of which they say a Piper plaid first all the Rats and next all the Children and of the last none returned and met the Imperial Army which advanc'd to relieve it and sought with Victory So did the French and English leave the Siege of Dunkirk not many years ago and fight Don Juan d'Austria and beat him But if the Besieging Army be well and strongly entrench'd against an Enemy To lye still entrench'd notwithstanding of any succourse both within and without the Town and want for no provisions he should make no such hazzard but lye still and when a succourse comes it must either look on and leave the attempt or storm the Besiegers fortified Camp If the succourse be forc'd to march back without doing his errand then the Besieger is master of the Town or Fort. So did the Duke of Alva when he besieg'd Mons in Henault keep himself within his fortified Camp and endur'd all the bravadoes of William Prince of Orange who came with an Army out of Germany to relieve the Town the Duke knowing well that the Prince for want of Money would in a short time be forc'd to disband his Army If he who comes with the succourse resolves to storm the Besiegers fortified Camp he doth it with as To storm an entrenched Camp often unsuccessful much disadvantage as an Army without shelter can fight with one that is entrench'd and seldome such attempts are successful Hannibal try'd it at the Siege of Capua and though he did it both skilfully cunningly and couragiously yet after he had storm'd the Roman Camp and was beat off he was forc'd to leave that rich and great City to be a prey to it s exasperated Enemy Count Pappenheim though a brave Captain yet gave cause to question his discretion very much when he was so lavish of his Master the Emperours Souldiers at a time when he had so much need of them against the Victorious King of Sweden as to storm the fortified Camp of Henry Prince of Orange at Maestricht where he left not so few as 1500 dead men on the place besides as many more who were wounded The Prince followed a precedent was given him by Spinola when he besieg'd Breda who kept himself within his Trenches constantly when first Maurice and then Henry Prince of Orange and Count Mansfield offered him Battel and beat off likewise some assaults more made on some places of his Camp by that same Prince Henry and Sir Horatio Vere When an Army that hath attempted the relief of a Town hath retir'd and is either baffled or beaten the Governour of the besieged place may with reputation Of rendition yield on honourable conditions which will not be so good as they would have been before but be what they will they ought to be punctually and inviolably kept but of this I shall speak in another place If a Besieger obtain a Victory over the Army that comes to relieve the besieged place some think To drive Prisoners to the Port of a besieged Town he may drive all his Prisoners to the Ports of the Town and if the Governour will not take them in he may suffer them to starve But I can find no reason why the Governour should admit them and far less why the Victorious General should have respited their lives from the Sword to put them to a more merciless Death yet I saw some part of this practis'd at that Town of Hammeln whereof I spoke but just now for after the defeat of the Imperial Army the Swedish General sent all the Prisoners who were no fewer than three thousand to the Ports of the Town but the Governour gave entrance to none of them But I conceive this was done only to frighten the Garrison out of the thoughts of further resistance and to give them within assurance that their Friends were defeated and not to starve those poor Creatures But the matter came not to the tryal for next day the Governour sought a Parley and
forces or in a Retreat to give a stop to an Enemies furious pursuit and this Ratio Belli in such cases hath Ratio Physica in the belly of it for it is nothing else but Amputation by cutting one member off to save the whole Body On the other hand to give over a fortified place without a Noble and To give over with small or no resistance punishable with death Souldier-like resistance is a crime which comes near to that of Treason for it is indeed Tradere urbem in potestatem Hostis To betray the Town into the power of the Enemy And as it was with the Ancients so it is yet punishable with shameful death Monluc tells us in his Commentaries that Don Arbre a Spanish Colonel caus'd a Captain to be hang'd at the Bridge Instances of Asturia a Town in Piedmont without Process or hearing him for giving over a Castle without an Assault and he says he knew the like severity used to others for crimes of that nature In the year 1632. Gustavus Adolphus took a Town in Bavaria called Reene in two days time and left a Colonel to be Governour there who was besieg'd shortly after and kept out the Town eight days But because the King his Master thought he had given it over too soon he caus'd his head to be struck from his Shoulders In the year 1636. Jane Deverth and some other Imperial and Spanish Generals destroyed a great deal of Picardy and burnt many Villages at that time the Governour of Chastelet having abundance of all things requisite to hold out a Siege basely gave it over and though he sav'd himself by flight yet was he by the French Kings command hang'd in essigiâ— Corvey a very strong place was also cowardly given over to the Spaniards who put a Garrison into it the Governour whereof deliver'd it back to the French sooner than he needed for which so soon as he came to the first Town of Artois where there was a Garrison he was commanded to alight from his Horse kneel at the Port and without other Process had his Head struck off by the hand of a Hangman I remember that in the year 1637. the Suedish Felt-Marshal Banier garrison'd the strong Castle of Luneburg which Castle they called Kalkberg and appointed one Colonel Stammer to be Governour of it who not long after yielded it to the Duke of Luneburg without resistance pretending for his vindication to a Court of War that his Conscience would not permit him to occasion so much blood to be shed as he knew would be spilt if he offer'd to defend the Castle But the Court made no scruple of Conscience to pass a sentence of Death upon him which by Banier's command was executed at Stâ—tin by cutting off his Head as finding the Colonels Conscience dangerously and ridiculously misled by an erroneous Judgement Having discours'd thus far of the Defence of Towns and Forts I shall tell my Reader that some are pleas'd upon this subject to start a question which is this Whether all places which Princes and States intend to maintain with A Question started Garrisons should be fortified a-la-Modern that is according to the Modern Art of Fortification with Curtains Gorges Faces and Flanks of Bulwarks Fausse brays Ditches Counterscarps and Out-works Or if a place fortified a l'antique or the ancient manner may without prejudice be kept and defended as it is There be reasons pro and con But some judicious persons who have observ'd the practice of our Modern Wars in Europe these sixty years by-past especially in the long German War where many Forts were taken and re-taken where many places only fortified in the ancient way remain'd inexpugnable notwithstanding obstinate Sieges form'd against them having in them but small Garrisons of Souldiers assisted by stout and resolute Inhabitants whereas other places of great importance fortified with all the new inventions of Art have either suddenly been taken by force or soon brought to surrender on Articles I say they doubt not Answered to averr That a Town which hath a strong Stone Wall observe here that the hardest Stone is soonest breach'd with Towers at a convenient distance one from another with dry and deep Ditches a good and firm Counterscarp without any Out-works wherein men are irrecoverably lost to the great prejudice of the Fort this Town defended by a resolute and indifferently well experienced Governour seconded by stout and valiant Souldiers and Burgesses though not very numerous may make as good and as long if not a stouter and longer resistance than a Town fortified a-la-modern câ—teris paribus that is the one being provided as well as the other with Meat Money Munition Arms and Artillery It is true those Round Towers built on the Wall in the ancient manner cannot be well Flanked but to that it is answer'd that they do much hurt in Approaches and are not batter'd down but with a vast expence of Powder and Bullet as also that the Faces of the Modern Bulwarks which take up much more than the third part of the whole Fortification have no other Defences but from the second Flanks and those are not very considerable CHAP. XXVI Of Prisoners Parleys Treaties and of Articles in our Modern Wars IN those Battels Retreats Sieges and Defence of Towns whereof we have spoken in the four preceding Chapters there have been no doubt many Prisoners many Parleys and Treaties made and many Articles sign'd and therefore it is fit to speak something of them In the twenty third Chapter of my Discourses of the Roman Art of War I have shewn you the manner of them among the Ancients between which and that used in the Modern War we shall not find very essential differences And first we shall speak of Prisoners Imprisonment is one of those seven external afflictions which learned men Imprisonment say follow the humane nature and may befal every particular man how great soever he be Emperours and Kings yea our Blessed Saviour as he was Man was not exempted from it Men are made Prisoners for crimes for debts and by chance of War and it is of these I nam'd last whereof I now discourse How those should demean or comfort themselves I leave to the directions of the Divine or Moral Philosopher only I shall say this and perhaps may averr it to be true That if Souldiers would accustome themselves to be sometimes alone and learn to enjoy themselves without other company and have those meditations they ought to have of their own mortal and uncertain condition they would endure Imprisonment with greater patience than those can who when they are at liberty cannot live without society and company for he who can live pleasantly and contentedly alone will find a Prison easie enough if no other affliction be added to it We may divide all Prisoners of War into two Classes of those who are taken Prisoners of War Divided into two Classes without any previous Treaty and
wrong hand for one Martio Colonna bought him from him who had taken him purposely to kill him and poor Amico was killed and by Martio's own hand a very unmartial act and all because Amico had fairly killed a Cousin of Marcio one Stephano Colonna nor had Lex Talionis place here neither The Italions then need not to expostulate with the Turks either for cruelty or inobservance of Quarter given to Prisoners But let us in the next place see how a a Spaniard behaved himself and he was a person of no mean qualility in keeping the Quarter that was given to Prisoners of War When Philip the Second King of Spain had taken Possession of the Kingdom of Portugal his Admiral the Marquess of Santa Crux at a Sea Battle near the Terceras defeated a French Fleet Here was taken Philip Strozzi a Florentine Santa Crux his inhumanity to French Prisoners who was sent as General of the forces ordain'd by Catherine de Medici Queen Mother of France to assist the Prior of Crato with Strozzi were three hundred more taken and had fair quarter promis'd them Strozzi was pitifully wounded and laid down before Santa Crux but neither the quarter promis'd him nor the sad condition of a brave Gentleman nor the consideration of the instability of humane affairs could move Santa Crux to pity him but gave a barbarous order to throw him immediately over-board Nor did his cruelty stop there for by a formal Sentence he beheaded fourscore Gentlemen of the Prisoners all the rest of three hundred that were above seventeen years of age he hang'd those that were under that age he condemn'd to the Galleys An unparallel'd act of Justice I have said before that quarter unless promis'd by Articles should not be given to Fugitives But here a question ariseth If an Officer or a common A question Souldier be taken and be not able to maintain himself in Prison and no care is had by his Superiours either to exchange ransome or maintain him if he be forc'd to take service under the Enemy and be re-taken whether he should be used as a Fugitive or not Here I suppose a distinction will be Answered necessary If he be the natural subject of the Prince or State that makes the War he may not serve their Enemy on any pretence and if he do it he is liable to punishment as a Traytor but if he serve him only as a mercenary it seems disputable for the Grecians and Romans punish'd such of their own as serv'd the Enemy with death but not their Auxiliaries unless they had run over from them to the Enemy but that is not the question for all Run-aways deserve death but these I speak of are not such Yet there was a valiant Knight Capuz Muden who had done Charles the Fifth great services but Severity was none of his Subjects he was taken by the French in Piedmont and having often and in vain sollicited for his exchange or ransome he took service under the French King and after that was taken by the Imperialists in Artois and notwithstanding all his defences had his Head cut off by the Emperours command When that Major General Kniphausen whom I mention'd in the last Chapter was Prisoner with Count Tili he wrote to the King of Sueden whose subject he was not and desir'd to know since he could neither maintain nor ransome himself if he might take imployment under the Emperour the King told all those who were with him That the Major General ask'd him the question Whether he might lawfully be a Knave or not Intimating thereby that he might not for all his Imprisonment break his Military Oath But for all that I have known thousands take service in that manner and never challeng'd for it when they have been re-taken Inexorable necessity dispensing oft with transgressions of that kind To make those Prisoners who have not taken Arms but live in amity with Injustice in making some Prisoners both parties only because they are suspected to favour one party more than the other hath little of the Law of Arms in it and less of that of Conscience Herein the famous Count of Mansfeld is inexcusable for putting Guards on the Earl of East-Friezeland when he had quarter'd his Army in his County So was the Suedish Felt-Marshal Banier for sending one of the Dukes of Saxon-Lauenburg and the Lord Arnheim Prisoners to Sueden Neither can the late King of Sueden be well excused for seizing on the persons of the Duke and Dutchess of Courland The securing of the Dutchess as well as her Husband the Duke minds me of a question Whether Women should be made Prisoners of War it is certain Whether Women should be Prisoners of War if taken in ancient and later times too they were taken and ransom'd or exchang'd or made slaves yet it would seem since Nature hath generally exempted that Sex from making War they cannot properly be made Prisoners of War The Mahometans notwithstanding make Slaves of them And I suppose in our late Wars they were not ordinarily made Prisoners rather because the custome of it is worn out than that it is abrogated by any Law It is not yet 130 years since some French Captains under Francis the First took some Spanish Ladies Prisoners at Perpignan and would have put them to ransome but that generous King gave a summ of money to those who had taken them and sent them home to their Husbands without ransome Now it is not like he would have bought them from his own Officers if he had not thought they had some right to them by the Law of War The great Cyrus did well in preserving the honour and chastity of the fair Panthea taken Prisoner in the War but Some instances of it he had done better to have sent her home to her Husband Abradates Alexander did well to use Darius his Mother Wife and Daughters honourably but he had done better to have sent them home to the Persian King either for or without ransome Selimus the First as barbarous and cruel a Tyrant as he was known to be shew'd more generosity in this point than both of them for the noise of the Turks Cannon having rather frighted the Persian Horses than chac'd the Sophi Isaâ—ael out of the Calderan Plains his Horse-men took a number of noble Persian Ladies Prisoners whom the Great Turk sent home to their Husbands without ransome and without any violence done to their persons or honours But Prisoners of War having got fair quarter promis'd them and honestly Slavery remitted by Christians kept What shall be done with them Assuredly they must be either enslaved exchang'd or ransom'd As to the first we are to know that after the great Constantine suffer'd the Christian Faith to be preach'd without interruption over most of the then known World men remitted much of the severity of the Law of War and Nâ—tions to Prisoners And Slavery which makes men differ but
little from beasts woâ—â— piece and piece out of fashion yet long after Christianity shone over the World â—â— Prisoners of War were made Slaves for there be some Canons of the Church extant that forbid men to counsel Slaves to desert their Masters But by tract of time all Nations as it had been by an universal consent left off to make their Prisoners Slaves or to sell them as such because they were then better instructed in the Laws of Charity than to abstain from killing miserable Captives only out of respect of gain to themselves or at least to seem to be less cruel But three hundred years after the Great Constantine's death when Mahometanism had spread its darkness over the East slavery was Brought back by Mahomet brought back to the World and yet if you will consider right you will find this slavery and bondage of Christians is not confin'd to those Countreys only where Mahomet is adored for there are thousands of Christian Slaves to be found in the Galleys belonging to the most Christian and Catholick Kings the Great Duke of Tuscany the Venetians the Genoways the Pope and the Great Retain'd yet by some Christians Master of Malta And may we not say That many thousands of his Majesties Subjects after quarter given were made perfect Slaves and upon that account sold and sent to remote Plantations The Great Gustavus Adolphus did I think something very like this when he sent three thousand Croatians commonly called Carabats who had quarter given them for life at several places in Germany by Sea to Sueden there to work at his Iron and Copper Mines Among Christians then Prisoners of War being exempted from Slavery they are to be kept till they be either exchang'd or ransom'd or set at liberty by the Victor gratis this sometimes falls out but seldome Sometimes they are set at liberty conditionally as If you do such a thing enjoy your liberty if not Liberty granted to Prisoners conditionally return to Prison and the Prisoner is oblig'd to do either the one or the other It was the case of some Scottish Lords whom Henry the Eighth of England detain'd Prisoners He permitted them to return to Scotland and if they could procure the Marriage of his Son Prince Edward with the Infant Queen of Scots then they were to have their liberty if not they were to return they failing in the first some of them honestly perform'd the second He that takes a Prisoner may search him and all he lays hold on is his own but if the Prisoner hath reserv'd something hidden that his Taker knows not of he may make use of it to maintain himself or to help to pay his ransome for he who took him hath no right to it for Lawyers say Qui nescit nequit possidere The exchange of Prisoners of equal quality is ordinary over all the World if there By Exchange be some but no considerable disparity some Money ballanceth the matter The Ransome of a Prisoner belongs to him who took him unless he be a person of very eminent quality and then the Prince the State or their General seizeth on him giving some gratuity to those who took him The price of the Ransome useth to be estimated according to his pleasure who keeps the Prisoner By Ransome but because many times they are extravagant in their demands an agreement is frequently made between the two parties who make the War of a certain price to be paid by Officers and Common Souldiers for their Ransomes A general agreement for Ransomes ordinary according to their quality and this seldom exceeds one Months pay for any under the degree of a Colonel and this is exceeding comfortable to Prisoners when they know how much themselves or their Friends have to pay for their liberty But here is a question When a Prisoner agrees for his ransome and dyes A Question concerning ransome before it be paid whether the Heir be obliged to pay it If he dye out of Prison there is no doubt but the Heir is bound to pay it but if he dye in Prison Grotius says his Heir is not obliged to pay it because the Prisoner had not that for which he contracted and that was his liberty But if the bargain be made that the Prisoner ows the ransome immediately after the contract is made the same Grotius sayes His Heir ought to pay it because the Captive Answered was not to be looked on after the finishing of the agreement as a Prisoner but as a Pledge for his Ransome But I can tell Grotius that the Corps of many dead Prisoners are Ransomed There is another question If a Prisoner Parol Another and ingage to get such a person of the adverse party set at liberty and on that condition is set free himself if the Prisoner agreed on dye before the other can procure his liberty whether in that case the Prisoner contracting be obliged to return to Prison Grotius sayes no unless it have been particularly so agreed Answered on yet he saith he is bound to do something like the equivalent and that is to pay his own Ransome I should now speak of those Prisoners who have Articles for life it may be Cloths and Monys or any thing else they carry about with them and sometimes as much of their goods as they can carry on their backs but before I enter on it it will be fit to know what poor inferior Officers and Commanders have to Parley Treat and to Grant Sign and Seal Articles First it will be granted that none have power to Treat or Sign Articles Of the power inferior Commanders have to grant Articles but those who command in chief on the place whether it be in Town or Field Princes or their Generals cannot be every where and therefore must recommend the leading of Wings or Parts of their Armies to subordinate Commanders what ever title they may have be it Lieutenant or Major General Colonel or Brigadeer Generals they Treat and Grant Conditions and Articles to Enemies in the Field or to Enemies within Towns because the emergency or necessity of dispatch will not suffer them to advise with the Prince or State whom they serve and therefore Articles granted by them are to be as inviolably observed as if they had been Signed by the Prince himself But if either a General or any under him make a transaction with an Enemy against the known Constitutions and publick Laws of the Prince or State whom they serve then they deserve Punishment and the Prince and State are not obliged to performance and if so they ought not nor can they in justice retain what they have gained by that Capitulation whether it be Towns Forts Lands Mony or Prisoners but are obliged if they disapprove the Agreement to put all in statu quo prius Grotius maintains that a General What a General may do hath not power to dispose of Lands Territories
is a great deal better to strike at Lieutenants and Ensigns with Swords if necessity force their Superiours as sometimes it may to strike at them at all Fifthly I have heard some very Fifth Philosophically discourse and argue That if a Superiour Commander draws his Sword against his Inferiour the Inferiour is obliged to retire seven steps back but if the Superiour pursue beyond that limit the Inferiour may draw in his Defence But this Argument is near in kin to some of those that are used for resistance of the Lawful and Civil Authority and is an Usher of Rebellion It casts all Order Discipline and Command in a Chaos of Confusion At best it is but the contemplation of some Speculative brain for who can tell whether the Inferiour hath gone back those seven steps or not Who reckon'd them Witnesses will not agree in the measure It is true it is neither fit nor handsome that the Superiour should pursue his Inferiour if he pay him that respect as to retire from him but if that Superiour will pursue it is permitted and if I mistake not commanded that the Inferiour fly but not at all resist But this is too ticklish a theme for Military Discourses Though there may be other punishments yet I suppose I have spoke of most And now I shall desire all of my profession of what quality soever they be to proportionate their punishments to the crime and to take good heed as they will answer it one day to the great Judge they do not revenge their private quarrels and grudges under the cloak of publick Justice It is true Military persons may say That this warning of mine concerns them no more than it doth those who officiate both in Church and State and neither indeed doth it I come now to our Military Rewards which I may rank in three Classes Several kinds of Rewards those are Advancement in Military charges Titles of Honour and recompences or gratuities of Lands or Money The first and the third are in my opinion common to both Commanders and common Souldiers for a Musketeer advanc'd to a Corporals place and getting ten or twenty Shillings of Benevolence hath his preferment and his gratuity as well as that Commander who is advanc'd to be a Lieutenant General and gets a Donative of 20000 l. Sterling But Titles of Honour are only given to deserving Commission'd Officers and to none below them Among those Titles I reckon that to be one to be made a Gentleman and this is in opposition of what is commonly said That all Souldiers are Gentlemen I knew when the late Emperour Ferdinand the Third made Major General Sperreuter who had done great services in the Wars a Gentleman by Patent because he was none by birth and gave him a Coat of Arms. Most of all Titles of Honour as Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons and Knights have been given for services in the Wars notwithstanding which Princes neither can nor will be restricted to confer Honours on others of their Subjects who both have deserv'd or may deserve Honour as well as Sword-men But herein I will not offer to play the Herauld The time was never is not nor can in reason be Princes cannot reward all who have served them ever expected to be that Kings can gratifie all who have serv'd them Loyally The late Emperour in our own time conferr'd both Riches and Honour on many yet where one who had serv'd him was rewarded two hundred were not Queen Christina of Sweden was so profuse in bestowing both Honours and Lands on those who had done her service in the German War that she was thought to have made a prostitution of the first and to have disposed of the second even to the sensible diminution of the Revenues of the Crown and yet not one Officer of a hundred that had serv'd her tasted of her liberality His Majesty now reigning hath honour'd and enrich'd many but it is not possible for him to reward all yet those who have not got should not envy those on whom he hath conferr'd his Princely Favours and Rewards The ancient custome of praising and commending those who have done any particular kind of Military service continues yet for every General doth something like it but they have not that power over the Treasury that the Roman Consuls had in the Fields Our late Politicians can tell us That their Fore-fathers were so wise as not to entrust both the Sword and the Purse to one person and yet Souldiers were never better paid nor the Prince his service better done than when he who commanded the Arms commanded the Purse likewise But when a General cannot reward of himself he should not fail to acquaint his Master Generals should make Gentlemens services known with the names of the persons who have done him services with a specification what those were Marshal Monluc had done great things to Henry the Second when he was but Colonel under the Count of Brisac Marshal of France The Noble Earl did represent those services so handsomely to the French King that Monluc was made Gentleman of the Bed-chamber and Governour of Sainct Abbe in Savoy Upon this subject he hath these expressions in the Second Book of the first Tome of his Commentaries It is an unspeakable grief to a Monluc his sense of it Gentleman who hath liberally expos'd his life in several actions when both himself and his services are conceal'd from the Prince upon whom all the Lives Honours and Fortunes of his Servants do depend there is no theft says he nor robbery comparable to that which is made of a mans Honour And yet many Generals make no Conscience to commit that theft and that Robbery Thus far Monluc And since he dyed Experience hath hath confirm'd the truth of his Observation Generals loving too well to take both the praise and benefit of all that is done well to themselves and with a great deal of dexterity they lay the miscarriage of all their own actions at other mens doors The Suedish Felt-Marshals Banier and Torstenson in our own time were none of those Generals for they rewarded Officers and Souldiers themselves as well as they could and when they could not help them they generously recommended them to the Administrators of Sweden in the Queens minority with a grateful remembrance of their services Knighthood in former times was a peculiar and honourable reward of Knighthood Military men and that which is conferr'd in the Field in time of action is assuredly the most honourable But Soveraign Princes have thought it fit either when they were infested with War or other grievous calamities or after some glorious Victory to unite and tye some of their Great Captains and Chieftains in a fraternity and to confer on them with splendid and magnificent Ceremonies a peculiar Order of Knighthood thereby to enflame both them and others to Vertuous and Valorous actions The oldest and most Several orders of it Honourable
is that of the Garter instituted by Edward the Third of England under the Patrociny of Saint George as that of the Thistle of Scotland was under Saint Andrew John of Valois King of France instituted the order of the Star under the protection of Saint Owen say the French as one of his Successors Louis the Eleventh instituted that of Saint Michael In the minority of Henry the Sixth of England when the War was hot between that Kingdom and France Philip le Bou Duke of Burgundy instituted the Noble Order of the Golden Fleece under the protection of Saint Andrew The King of Denmark makes Knights of the Elephant and the Duke of Savoy those of the Annunciation Christina Queen of Sueden instituted a new Order of Knighthood which she would have called the Order of the Amaranth which they say never withers and accordingly she appointed the Device to be semper idem The Knights of the Teutonick or Dutch Order those of St. John of Jerusalem called afterwards Hospitallers Knights of the Rhodes and now of Malta as also those of the Sepulchre or Knights Templars were and some yet are very Martial Knights whose renowned Actions are and ever Religious Orders of Knighthood will be on the Records of Fame But there were likewise Religious Orders for they vowed Chastity Poverty and Obedience And from Religion have come most of the Spanish Orders of Knighthood Sanctius the third of that name King of Castile for the more vigorous prosecution of the War against the Infidels instituted the Order of Calatrava in the Kingdom of Toledo The Master of which Order is a person of great Riches and Power His Son Alphonse the Ninth in the time of his dangerons War with the Moors instituted the Order of Saint James which hath since come to that heighth of power that the Master of it is one of the greatest Subjects of Spain But Ferdinand the first Catholick King made himself and his Successors with the help of the Pope Masters of these Orders One of the Kings of Portugal when he had Wars with both the Saracens of Africk and Spain instituted the Order of the Knights of Jesus Christ About the year 1570. the Queen of Navarre caused 12 Jane d'Albret great Medals of Gold to be coined which she distributed among 12 of the most eminent Chieftains of the Reformed Religion as tokens of their fraternity to incite them to Constancy Valour and Perseverance in the Cause against the Roman Catholicks Upon one side of the Medal were these words Assured Peace Entire Victory or Honest Death On the Reverse was the Queens own name with that of her Son the Prince of Bearne who was afterwards Henry the Fourth the Great King of France and Navarre War drains the Treasures of Princes and States so dry that for most part they are not able to pay the Wages and Arrears of those who serve them much less reward them The Roman Oak Olive and Laurel Crowns are out of fashion long ago nor would they signifie any thing but rather be ridiculous unless they were given with all the Wages due to the party who is to be honour'd with one of those Crowns as the Romans were accustomed to do I have observ'd in another place how in many parts of Christendome Officers above the quality of private Captains many times are reduced to beggary to obviate which since Princes and States cannot forbear War or will not live in Peace it would be a great work of Charity in them and would much redound to their Honour Works of Charity and Fame to build some Hospitals and endue them with some small Revenue in which those Commanders who are lame old and poor might get a morsel of Bread which would be an exceeding great relief to those distressed Gentlemen and much encourage younger people to engage in a fresh War for alass though written Testimonies sign'd and seal'd by the Prince or his General may be of good use to young and lusty Gallants who have their Health and some Money in their Purses to look for new Fortunes yet Passes though never so favourable to poor old men are upon the matter nothing else Passes but fair Commissions to beg CHAP. XXVIII The Comparison made by Justus Lipsius of the Ancient and Modern Militia examined IT is one of the Curses that follow'd Adam's fall and I think was inherent in Discontent follows humane nature him before his fall that as he was not so none of his Posterity can be content with his present condition The longing desire we have to enjoy that we want robs us of the content we may have of what we possess Hence it is that old men cry up those customes that were used when they were Boys vilifying the present and magnifying the by-past times Neither is this fastidium or loathing of present things the concomitant of age only for young men who are in their strength are tainted with it Some are displeased with the Government of the State others hugely dissatisfied with that of the Church because none of them are cast in those moulds which they fancy to be better than the present ones and though perhaps they cannot pretend to have seen better in their own times yet they have heard or read of those which they conceive were so absolutely good that nothing can be added to their perfection Others like only of those Governments which have their birth rise growth and perfection in their own giddy brains But to come nearer our purpose few Souldiers are satisfied with their own Countrey Militia for if they have been abroad in the World at their return home they cry up the Arms the Art and the Discipline of Foreigners nor can they find any thing at home can please them And though their occasions have never invited them to take a view of strange places yet their Books afford them matter enough to prefer those Arms those Exercises those Guards those Figures of Battels that Discipline of War they never saw to all those they may daily see Of this disease of Discontent I think Justus Lipsius hath been Justus Lipsius an admirer of the Roman Militia irrecoverably sick and though he did not compile a Military Systeme of his own as Machiavelli did yet I may compare these two in this that both of them were Speculative Souldiers Lipsius is so far disgusted with the Milice of his own time which truly being about eighty or ninety years ago was an excellent one which he might have seen and observ'd better than his Writings shows he did and is so much in love with the old Roman Militia which he never saw but by contemplation that in the comparison he makes of the two in the last Chapter of his Commentary on Polybius he is not asham'd to prefer the Ancient Art of War to the Modern one in all its dimensions As I conceive he was so Rational as to think no man would deny the Modern He compares
it with the Modern Art of War Milice to want its imperfections so I suppose none will be so void of Reason as to grant to him that the Roman one was absolutely perfect He hath read it sure in the best of Authors That nothing below the Sun is perfect And I would have it observed that though the Title of the Comparison be Of the Ancient and Modern Militia yet all along in the Comparison it self he mentions only the Roman as if that had been the only Ancient one whereas he knew the Grecian was more Ancient than it the Judaick older than the Grecian and the Aegyptian older than all the three My purpose then being neither to derogate from the excellent worth of the Roman nor to vilipend the Modern Art of War I hope without any offence to the ashes of the Learned Lipsius I may take a view of his Comparison wherein he speaks of all the five essential In five points points of War and in them all gives the preheminence to the Roman let us hear his Reasons The first point is Election or Levy of which he avers very magisterially First in Election or Levy that the Roman was the best and which now saith he cannot be imitated except perhaps in some Republicks and among those he says the Common-wealth of Venice is so far from imitating the Romans that she restrains her Citizens from the Exercise of Arms at Land permitting them only to serve in her Naval Militia In answer to this I think Lipsius deals very rudely with Monarchs himself being a subject of one of them who by his assertion neither have the best way of Levy nor can imitate the best way for he plainly says the Roman Levy is the best and cannot be imitated but by some Republicks and not by all of them neither In the next place I say that though Princes do not bring all their Subjects together in Arms every year and out of them enrol some to be Souldiers as the Romans did yet it may satisfie Lipsius if they do the equivalent and that is to order the matter so that theâ—r Subjects on a Frontier be ready in an instant to withstand an invasion till the Prince with a greater force comes to repel it Or if Princes intend to invade others then by their several Municipal Laws they make in a short time such a Levy as serves their turn witness the Commission of Array in England the raising of all between sixteen and sixty in Scotland out of which an Election is quickly made But Lipsius might have remember'd the seven Legions which were appointed by Francis the First to be perpetually maintain'd and in readiness in France in imitation of the Romans Of which notwithstanding Marshal Monluc writes that France in its Wars found no advantage So little did that great Captain care for imitating the Roman Levy and if it be true that Credendum Artifici in suâ arte we should in a matter that belongs to War sooner trust Monluc perpetually vers'd in Arms than Lipsius mew'd up most part of his life in a Cell And if Lipsius be offended with the beat of Drum and sound of Trumpet for our Modern Levies he should have remember'd that Rome had likewise her sudden and tumultuary Levies And if he mislike that Princes and States should give such trust to so great numbers of Strangers as ordinarily they Levy and keep in Pay he should remember that the Romans trusted their Allies as much if not more and after the name of Allies was obliterated Auxiliaries of strange Nations had the same trust In the days of our Fathers and our own too the Estates of Venice and the Vnited Provinces the Emperour the Kings of France and Spain of Denmark and Sweden have done great feats by the Levies and maintenance of Strangers The second part of the Comparison consists in the Order kept in their Armies Secondly in Order Here he crys out O ille bonus in re Romanâ O how good it was in the Roman Milice But that is not enough he adds See the Centurions the Ensign-bearers and the Options here says he nothing is wanting nothing redounding Yes by your favour Lipsius I have shewn in my Discourses of the Roman Milice there was much wanting But here our Author speaks not one word of or against the Order of the Modern Militia and therefore I need not speak one word for it yet he seems to detract from it by crying up the other so much When he speaks of Officers he seems to say the Romans had enough of them and we too many But if this last be true as perhaps it is I affirm the Romans had too few for to speak of their Foot I know not what to make of their Centurions Sub-Centurions or Options but Caporals Lancespesates and Bringers-up as I told you in another place Nor do I find their Cavalry commanded by any Officers in chief under a Consul or a Legate for the Decurions were not subordinate one to another nor had any of them a greater command than our Corporals or Brigadeers of Horse All these I look on as Defects nor hath Lipsius prov'd the contrary In our Modern Militia there is an order that our Colonels shall be with their Regiments and Brigades and not stand in an heap together as Lipsius makes his Roman Tribunes to be in time of Battel all at the Eagle of the first Legion waiting on the Consul as his Lackies or at best as his Adjutants And this I conceive was another defect in the Roman Militia whereof our Modern one cannot be accused Thirdly He compares the Ancient and Modern Arms and truly I shall easily Thirdly in Arms. grant that Defensive Arms were more used in Lipsius his time than they are now that they were better in more ancient times than in either his time or ours But that will not satisfie him for he will have the Roman Weapons or Defensive Arms to be preferr'd to ours He acknowledgeth the Pike to be an useful Weapon The Pike but not so good as those Arms the Romans had and for this he cites the authority of Polybius of which I can say no more than I have done in my view of that Authors comparison of the Grecian Phalange and the Roman Legion whereof I shall repeat nothing in this place Lipsius says A Bow is a more The Bow useful Engine of War than an Harquebuss I shall not add any thing here to what I have spoke of the neglect of the Bow but though I think well of it I dare not for all that attribute so much to the strength of an Arrow shot by the strongest Arm and most experienc'd Archer that ever liv'd as to a Bullet shot out of a Harquebuss and yet Lipsius attributes full as much and offers to prove it by several instances taken out of Authors I pray have the patience to hear them Plutarch in thâ— life of Crassus says That the
with such a Carrago as Lipsius speaks of And I pray you what necessity for fortifying a Leaguer every night where there is no danger what good doth it nay how much hurt doth it To make Souldiers work the half of the night to fortifie that Camp when you are in no danger which you are to leave the next day betimes Is this any thing else but to give your Souldiers a needless fatigue Hath Lipsius never read it That the just man is merciful even to his Beast But in this Discourse our Author is very injurious to those great Captains who were Both of them ordinary in Lipsius his time coetaneous with him who were very expert in that point of War and used it more than hath been practised since Let any peruse the Histories of his time they will find that at all their Sieges which were many and frequent all their Camps were excellently well fortified with a double Circumvallation one against the Besieged place and another against those without who would attempt to relieve it If Lipsius had liv'd some years longer than I suppose he did he would have recanted when he saw Spinola's Siege of Breda in the year 1625. for there he might have seen stranger works than ever any he read of and with which Caesar's Circumvallations either when he besieg'd Alesia or when he offer'd to besiege Pompey's Army at Dirrachium could not compare For here at Breda the Spanish outward or exterâ—our Entrenchment against the Prince of Orange and all Spinola his wonderful Circumvallations at Bredaâ— his Abettors was of fifty two miles circumference and the inner or interiour against the Town of sixteen In both which were reckon'd beside the Fortification of some Villages for securing Convoys above three hundred and sixty Forts Batteries Sconces and Redouts so that he who writes the particular History of that famous Siege hath reason to say That there was such a Labyrinth of Fortifications there that none but those who saw them will have faith enough to believe it Our Author tells us here what a great benefit it was to the Romans to have a Camp to which they might retire after a Battel But he might have learned that the great Captains of the Modern Militia propose to themselves no advantage by these Retreats justly fearing their Souldiers may retire before it be half time or before they get order for it And if Lipsius had been pleas'd he might have remember'd that his own Romans made sometimes very bad use of A Retreat to a Camp dangerous retiring to their Camp As when they run to it from their Enemy in their Mutiny against Appius Claudius and at other times too as I have observed in my first Chapter of the Roman Art of War Nay some of their Consuls apprehending the danger of it took away all possibility of retiring to the Camp Take a few Instances One of the Fabii a Dictator being to fight Instances with the Samnites cast down his Entrenchment burnt his Tents fought and gain'd the Victory as you may see it in Livy's Ninth Book At Ciminia another Fabius caused his Drudges in the night-time to cast down his Ramparts and fill up the Ditch while he marshall'd his Army wherewith he march'd out and fought next morning with Success Cato the elder being to fight with the Spaniards led his Army in the night-time a great circuit even behind the Enemies Camp and next morning did shew his Souldiers where they were remonstrated to them what they had to do and that there was an impossibility to get back to their own Camp but over the Beâ—â—ies of their Enemies they â—ought and got the Victory These great Roman Captains you see were not of Lipsius his Judgement But further the Roman Senate imputed the loss of Cannae to the Retreat of their Army to the Camp and accordingly punish'd all that were taken in the Camp for that Retreat And besides that take two other Instances of the hurt their Retreats to their Camps were like to do The Consul Attilius fighting against the Samnites saw his Foot fly shamefully he instantly order'd some of his Cavalry to get between them and the Camp and by meer force drive them back this was done by the Horse and the Roman Foot desperately turning head gain'd the day see Livy's Ninth Book At that great Battel which Lucius Scipio fought with Antiochus the Left Wing of the Roman Foot being indifferently well secur'd by a River the Consul made his Left Wing of Horse the weaker which Antiochus perceiving caused a brisk charge to be given on the Horse and routed them and immediately fell on the left Flank of the Foot who not enduring it fled toward the Camp but the Tribune who was left for the defence of it issued with his Cohorts and forced the flying Legions to face about which they doing fought well and gain'd the day If this Tribune had let them enter the Camp as he might by Lipsius's consent have done in all probability the rest of the Legions had left the Field which no doubt had given Antiochus the Soveraignty of the greatest part of Asia Lipsius hath kept us long in the comparison of the first part of Discipline which consists of Duties now he comes to the second part which is compos'd as he will have it of Trainings and Exercisings these he says in the Exercises Modern Discipline are wholly omitted and neglected In answer to which I say I have spoke of great and very great neglects in this point of the Military Art in the later times But I cannot I dare not I will not believe our Author that they were either neglected or omitted in his days unless I give the lye to all the Histories of those times which witness That Flanders and Holland the first for the King of Spain the second for the Estates of the Vnited Provinces were the Military Schools where most of the Youth of Europe did learn all their Military Exercises Lastly he makes the third part of the Discipline of War to consist in Military Laws And truly if all be true he says he needs make no comparison in this point Military Laws between the Ancient and Modern Militia for he avers we have no Laws at all or very few or if any at all they are made in vain as being never put in execution Here he assumes to himself to speak what he pleaseth to the disgrace of Christian Souldiers and very little to his own reputation Listen a little to his words Adeste mei Duces date vestras Leges Quid mussatis An nullâ— An paucae Illa ipsae quae sunt irritâ— pro nullis Profecto ita vivitur libido pro lege est Jurisque locum sibi vindicat ensis Furta quis hodie punit Imo quis Raptus Câ—des Stupra Adulteria inter facinora Militaria censentur quae poscant aliquam Coronam Take it in English Come hither says he you Captains
and give me Pedantick Insolence your Military Laws that I may examine them and compare them with those of the Romans Why do you whisper Have you none Or have you but a few Yea these few are made in vain and signifie nothing you live so as if your Lust were your Law and that your Sword usurps the place of Justice Who is it this day that punisheth Theâ—ts who is it that punisheth Robberies Rapes and Murthers Whoredomes and Adulteries are accounted Military gallantries and such as deserve the reward of some Crown Assuredly if all this be true it must be granted Lipsius hath reason enough to cry down the Modern Discipline But before you believe that Armies either were in his time or have been since so Lawless and void of Discipline I shall desire you to examine History and daily practice and then I doubt not but you will find this Author of ours was not always guided by exact truth in his assertions Too many crimes have been and are committed daily in our Armies and so it was among the Romans too Too many of them pass unpunish'd by the misunderstanding of great Commanders and the carelesness and neglect of Inferiour Officers and so it was among the Romans too Nor dare Lipsius say that all crimes were punish'd among them Too many crimes unpunish'd both now and of old no even in their severest times These faults mention'd by him as Thefts Robberies Murthers Whoredomes and Adulteries are punish'd as severely now as when Rome was in her growing condition and then she was in her purest times Nor can Lipsius or any for him produce more severe Laws of War among his Ancient Romans than Military constitutions were in his time and yet are under most European Princes and States as you may see in my Discourse of the Modern Laws of War nor were punishments more frequent in their Armies or more severe than in ours at this day as you may likewise see in my discourse of Punishments and Rewards And indeed those Mutinies which fell out in the Spanish Armies after the Duke of Parma's Death and some before it were infamous and inexcusable yet no worse nor so bad by half as many were among the Romans some whereof you may remember I have observed in another place Our Author in the close of his Comparison joyns with Vegetius and crys To deposite half pay is now ridiculous up the Roman custome in causing the Roman Souldiers to deposite at their Colours the half of their Pay to be a stock to them after they had obtain'd their Dimissions I think indeed the custome and institution was good and commendable enough but it is ridiculous to propose the imitation of it now when for most part Princes and States detain without the consent of the Souldiers The reasonâ— in their own hand some the half some the third part and some two parts of three of both Officers and Souldiers Wages some Proviant-bread and now and then a bit of Cheese being deduced To conclude upon the whole matter of this Comparison Justus Lipsius hath shown himself a good Antiquary well travell'd abroad but to be Peregrinus domi a great stranger at home And so I take my leave of him CHAP. XXIX Whether the profession of a Souldier be lawful WAR being the subject of my Military Discourses and therein I being necessitated to speak frequently of Souldiers because without those who either truly have or profess to have skill in Military affairs War cannot be managed it will be fit to enquire Whether the profession of a Souldier be lawful that is Whether it have any warrant in either Divine or Humane Law or which is the same if it be against any of them I do not here intend to question the lawfulness of War for having spoke something of that I shall take it for granted that War grounded on justifiable causes is lawful Nor do I make it a question Whether Subjects that are able to bear Arms are bound to serve their Princes in the Wars as Souldiers But the Quaere shall be Whether it be lawful to make a trade of Souldiery that is to learn no other Art either Liberal or Mechanical except to serve in the Wars for Pay and thereby to gain a livelihood The affirmative whereof I maintain my opinion being grounded on the reasons mention'd in this following discourse But first to shun cavilling I shall easily grant that it were much more commendable to learn some other Art that when a lawful War is at an end those who have serv'd in it may work with their hands as the Apostle says and so get their livelihood than to rove from Country to Country to look for imployment in foreign Wars And without all doubt many of those who do so cannot but be subject to very uncharitable thoughts and unlawful desires for whereas not only Christians but all men even as men should desire and pray for Peace as the greatest Earthly blessing mortals can enjoy those who know not how to get a livelihood in time of Peace long for War and wish and pray for it which cannot be done without great sin both against God and Humane Society But I answer all this is by accident it is but the wickedness of the Souldier not the profession of Souldiery that makes him pray for War for pious and morally honest Souldiers in time of Peace may put themselves in Domestick service of either Gentlemen or Country Farmers and so earn their bread till they have a fair call to follow the Wars But truly their condition for most part is very deplorable for when they become lame or so old that they can serve no longer in the Wars they are good for nothing but Hospitals and because few of them can get into any of these the rest must be contented to beg as Troops of them do over all Christendome In several great Towns of Germany I have seen Captains begging alms and at Bruxels and Antwerp I have known those who could testifie by their Passes they had been Lieutenant-Colonels and Majors much more others of a lower degree begging Charity in the Streets But I find nothing that occurs to my memory either in the Old or New Testament that dischargeth the profession of Souldiery that is to serve for Pay in the Wars whether these Souldiers have learn'd any other trade or not yea on the contrary there be several passages that confirm me in my opinion I shall not instance Abner Joab Amasa Benajah and others who were meer Prov'd to be lawful Souldiers and manag'd the Wars of Saul Ishbosheth David and Solomon for it may be told me these were Gentlemen who had Estates and needed learn no other Trade but I shall say That Jephte had no Estate having been banish'd from his patrimony by his Brethren because he was a Bastard He I say knew no other trade but Souldiery and thereby maintain'd himself and his followers and in the Land of Tob he
â—fficere nequeat War says he is not to be reckon'd among Artifices nay it is so horrible a thing that nothing can make it honest but extreme necessity or true Charity Well I shall be content to take what he grants and that is That War sometimes is honest and if so I think he must grant that those who manage that honest War and those are Souldiers may be sometimes honest and therefore not more detestable than Hangmen Nor do I think any sober man endued with any reasonable proportion of solid Judgement though he had never heard of the name of Jesus Christ but will readily grant That War being the greatest scourge of mankind should not be begun till either our own extreme necessity or the Love and Charity we owe to our Neighbours force us to it and herein do all the Moral Philosophers and the wise Rulers of the Ancient Heathens fully agree with Christian Doctors But how shall that War which either extreme necessity on our own part or Charity on our Neighbours makes lawful be managed but by Souldiers And how can Souldiers obtain the Victory but by killing sometimes their Enemies And with what Credit nay with what Conscience or with what comfort can Souldiers kill their Enemies if the very killing them render Souldiers more detestable than Hangmen If Grotius had said That those Souldiers who kill'd impotent old Men Women and Children or Prisoners in cold blood as too many do are more detestable than Hangmen I should never have debated the matter with him no more than with reason he can contradict me if I say That those Advocates and Grotius was an Advocate who betray the causes of their Clients who take money and wages from both parties I add also Those who undertake the patrociny of a cause which themselves know to be unjust and illegal are more detestable than the worst of those who hang men on a Gallows But what this great and learned man means when he writes Non est inter Grotius unintelligible artificia Bellum I do not very well know if he means there are no artifices in War he makes a fool of himself for what shall then become of all those laudable and lawful Stratagems that are used in War which he himself in his Book De Jure Belli ac pacis both mentions and commends If he means War is not an Art he speaks palpably against Sense Reason and Experience for the management of War is an Art and as a most noble so a most necessary Art Machiavelli Recorder of Florence writes seven Books of the Art of War and yet in one of them denies War to be an Art All Tacticks write of the Art of War the way to handle Arms Sword Dagger Cannon Musket Pistol Pike Partizan or Halberd or in more ancient times before the Monk found out Gun-powder the way to handle the Roman Pila Javelines Darts Arrows Bows Slings Stones and other Missiles do all prove there is Art in War The ordering Souldiers in Files Ranks Troops Companies Squadrons Batallions Regiments and Brigades the marshalling and conduct of Armies fighting of Battels besieging and attacking Towns Castles and defending them do all bear witness that War is an Art and more than an ordinary one It cannot therefore be that so wise a man as Grotius could think that War is not an Art but positively to tell what he means by those words is not in my power and if others can tell no better than I we must be content to want the true sense of them till Grotius rise from the dead in the day of Judgement and then I suppose it will not be time to inquire after such follies Nicholas Machiavel in the Fourth Book of his Art of War if I remember Machiavelli answered right is yet more severe to profess'd Souldiers than Hugo Grotius for he says That no Prince or State should suffer those who profess to live by the Art of War to dwell under their Jurisdictions or in their Dominions This is bad enough but worse follows for he adds that no virtuous nor good man will profess Souldiery to be their livelihood or use War as an Art or Trade and those who do it says he must of necessity be false fraudulent treacherous and violent I have answered his Raveries in the first Chapter of my Military Essays of the Modern Art of War Here I shall only say That it were a disgrace for the Art of Souldiery to be commended by one whose Political Rules introduce Atheism Tyranny and Cruelty and who sets up Casar Borgia the Bastard of Pope Alexander the Sixth to be a Pattern for Princes than whom the Sun never look'd on a person more abandon'd to the contempt of a Deity guilty of Inhumanity Treachery Lechery and barbarous Cruelty Let either Christian or all Morally honest men judge whether this Author this Atheist this Machiavel should have been permitted to have liv'd within the Territories of either Christian Prince or State Those who condemn the Profession or Art of Souldiery smell rank of Anabaptism and Quakery both which Sects condemn all War as unlawful for I conceive those who grant War to be sometimes both lawful and necessary must of necessity grant that it is lawful for some to study the Art how to manage that War with the greatest advantage Those who are fittest to study it are those who have no other trade or livelihood for that is the mean to make them study it the more accurately and when they have attain'd to some perfection in it why they may not make a Profession of it and teach it to others for wages I know not Do not all professors of Divinity Medicine Philosophy teach others their Arts and Sciences for wages Yes assuredly and why should it be denied to a professed Souldier to teach his Art to others for wages Musamihi causas memora What I speak of teaching others I mean of all Military Officers who by their command and charges are oblig'd to teach their Art to those under their command and since Souldiery is a practical Art Souldiers of all kinds may serve in the Wars provided the cause seem just to them as well as Chirurgions may cure men for wages that are hurt or wounded in the Wars Histories tell us and our experience and sence teach us That Peace and War are alternative and there be but few Kingdoms in the World that have not felt the smart of War as long as they have enjoyed the fruits of Peace May not I then conclude That the Art of Souldiery and the Profession of it for wages is as lawful and as necessary too as the profession of any of those Arts or Sciences which can neither be conveniently taught or learn'd but in the time of Peace But to conclude I avouch that St. Paul's opinion concerning this question St. Paul's authority was the same with mine and I have reason to think That great Apostle's authority will weigh more with
men who profess the name of Christ than either Grotius or Machiavel If I mistake not that great Doctor of the Gentiles thought the Art of Souldiery consider'd a part and distinguish'd from all other Arts either Liberal or Mechanical very lawful and therefore compar'd not the professors of it to infamous people such as Grotius knew Hangmen to be On the contrary the Apostle proposes a pure Souldier who waited only on his own Art of War as a fit example for his Son Timothy to follow Read the third and fourth verses of the second Chapter of his Second Epistle to Timothy you will find these words Thou therefore endure hardness at a good Souldier of Jesus Christ No man that Warreth entangleth himself with the things of this life that he might please him who hath hired him to be a Souldier The French Translation hath it the affairs of this life the Italian the doings of this life the German hath it no Warriour seeks another livelihood This is much and more than I desire for I think it were good for Souldiers to have learned some othe Art or Trade than that of Souldiery only Deodati expounds these words in the doings of this life that is says he in such affairs such Art or such Trades as may hinder a Souldier in his duty of Souldiery Be that as it will I avouch That the Apostle in these words pronounceth the pure Art of a meer Souldier without any other Art or Trade to be most lawful else he had made no apposite comparison between Timothy and a Souldier which I presume none who hath read Paul's Epistles and believes them to be endited by the Holy Ghost will be so impious as to fancy By this Text a Christian man may very lawfully apply himself to the profession of pure Souldiery without learning any other Art or Trade And I think also that Timothy was exhorted if not commanded to apply himself only to the Ministry of the Gospel and to no other Art yet if he had learn'd any other way of livelihood before Paul circumcis'd him it would not have been forbid him Paul himself before his conversion had learn'd to be a Tent-maker which he exercis'd for his livelihood when he preach'd the Gospel Luke the Evangelist before his Baptism was a Physician which no doubt he practis'd all the time he accompanied St. Paul in his Voyages But I think by this Text men are forbid to learn any other Art after they are actual Ministers of the Gospel And therefore I conceive Church-men are forbid to have plurality of Professions which perhaps they will be contented to hear with better will than to have it told them That plurality of Benefices is forbidden the Clergy But because Grotius hath made use of St. Austine's authority against me in St. Austinâ—'s authority this question which I have cleared I shall presume to cite that same Father in defence of my cause It is true I have read but few of his learned Books but the passage I mind to speak of I have read cited by a very worthy and credible Author and though he cites it for another purpose yet finding it makes very much for mine I could not chuse but make use of it The words are in one of his Books against the Manichees and are these Non est potest as niâ—i à Deo â—ive â—nbâ—nte sive sinente Ergo vir justus si fortè sub Rege etiam Sacrilego militat rectè potest illo jubente Bellare quemadmodum enim Regem facit reum Iniquit as imperandi ita Innocentem Militem facit ordo serviendi English me this Monsieur de Grot but because you eâ—ther cannot or will not I both can and will There is no power says he but from God either commanding or permitting it therefore if sometimes a Righteous man serves as a Souldier under a Sacrilegious King he may lawfully fight when he is commanded for as the sin of commanding makes that King Guilty so the obedience of serving makes that Souldier Innocent This is more than I have yet said this great and pious Divine seems to me to assert That a Souldiers Art is not only lawful but that he is bound to fight when commanded even in a cause the Justice whereof does not appear to him yea though the Injustice of it be made apparent to him But assuredly St. Austin meant to except those things which are diametrically against the word and Will of God for the rule holds firm and perpetual Better obey God than Man In other matters the Souldier is not so strictly to examine the quarrel the sin of commanding to fight in an unjust cause rendering the Souldiers obedience in fighting blameless and innocent Hence it will follow That a profess'd Souldier who knows no other Art or Trade may lawfully make profession of his skill and practise it in any part of the World for wages so he fight not for those who are profess'd Enemies of the name of Christ against those who profess it for I do not at all doubt but Christian Souldiers who make a profession of Souldiery and have no other way of livelihood but to fight for wages may very lawfully serve either the Sophi of Persia or the great Mogul of India against the Great Turk because though they be all three equally blasphemous adorers of the Alcoran yet the Wars of the first two may divert the Grand Signior from the Invasion of Christendome Give me leave to take the help of another Doctor and Father of the Christian Tertu'lian's authority Church and that is Tertullian whom I find cited by many others to prove taking Arms against Soveraign power unlawful The passage is in that Apologetick which he wrote in vindication of the Primitive Christians persecuted by Heathen Emperours I shall only cite the words that I conceive make for my purpose Cui Bello non prompti fuimus cui Bello non idonâ—i etiam impares Copiis qui nunc tam libenter trucidamur To what War says he were we not fit to what War were we not ready though fewer in number of forces who now are content willingly to be slain In these words observe that profess'd Christians were Souldiers and fought willingly and without constraint and for pay too you may be sure under the Banners of Heathen yea Persecuting Emperours without examining the Justice of the War which ordinarily was very oft wanting with those Princes who measured the equity of their cause by the length of their Sword I doubt not but the War which the Tyrant Maximianus made was neither just nor lawful yet the Theban Legion consisting of six thousand Christians serv'd faithfully in that War and found no opposition in their Consciences to that Military employment But when that Pagan Emperour commanded them to Sacrifice to his false Deities and Idols then they flatly refus'd obedience knowing surely they were not oblig'd to disobey God by giving obedience to Man and offer'd their Throats to be