the Captain and others already spoken of five other Officers whom Aelian calls supernumerary or extraordinary These were the Ensign-bearer for every Company or Syntagmatarchy had a Colours a Servant or Assister or if you please you may call him an Adjutant who carried the Captains Orders The third was a Extraordinary or supernumerary Officers Praeco or a Cryer who proclaim'd the Captains directions even in the time of Battel Men of strong voices were chosen for that office The Romans used them as it appears by Hannibal's causing them to be counterfeited when he storm'd and enter'd the Roman Camp at Capua They are out of fashion now the loud noise of Gun-powder having render'd them useless The fourth was a Trumpeter whose office is known And the last was a Tergidux or Lieutenant whose office was to stay constantly in the Rear These five were superordinary the rest were Ordinarii and this word the Church hath borrowed from the Militia and reason for it since on earth she is a Militant Body in giving the name of Ordinaries to her reverend Bishops But in this place Aelian is obscure for I know not how he disposeth of the Serjeant or of the Captain of the Company nor how he disposeth of the Tribunes lesser or greater Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels Brigadiers and Major Generals where he appoints them to march or where to stand or officiate in time of action or whether he reckons them in the number of the Phalange which consisted of sixteen thousand three hundred A Question not answer'd eighty four men or not His Decurions Dimarites Enomotarchs Dilochites and Tetrarchs are all of them no doubt of that number neither can I allow them any other place to march or fight in but Rank and File for they were no other but File-leaders Middle-men Lance-spesats and Caporals all of whom carry Arms. But that all who commanded above them were in Rank and File is a thing I cannot fansie And if the Captain was constantly in the Van or Front of his Company why was the Lieutenant whose station was constantly in the Rear of it call'd a superordinary Officer more than the Captain And being all these five were constantly Officers in the Syntagmatarchy or Company why should they not be call'd ordinary Officers as well as the Taxiarch or Serjeant or as the Syntagmatarch or Captain The light armed Grecian Foot according to Aelian were half the number of the heavy armed and by this account they were eight thousand one hundred ninety two This he speaks of the Macedonian Foot for the other Grecian Phalanges were not so strong These light armed Foot were drawn Grecian Velites up saith Aelian eight deep By this account they took up as much ground in Longitude Rank or Front as the heavy armed Phalange did and but half as much in File or depth CHAP. VI. Aelian's marshalling the Grecian Infantry examined TO hazard all at one cast hath ever been thought a piece of madness except in very desperate cases for in them necessity hath no Law It is upon that ground that Leaders of Armies appoint Reserves some one some two to sustain and second the first Batallions in case they be worsted But this great Body or Phalange of Aelian admitted of no reserve at all and therefore the men that compos'd it had need to have fought well because first there were none to second them and next their heavy Armour render'd them uncapable to fly either fast or far That the Phalange might have had Reserves is unquestionable if those who compos'd it had not made it so deep as sixteen But we shall the better know Sixteen deep examin'd whether it might not conveniently have been of a less altitude when we examine the Reasons that are given for so great a depth For take it along with you the more a Batallion is extended in length or Front the more hands are brought to fight and the less it is subject to be out-wing'd or surrounded and therefore the deepness of this Phalange brings both those inconveniencies with it Let us now hear the advantages it hath First Aelian saith if it be needful that the Files be doubled the Phalange may be made two and thirty deep and if the Ranks must be doubled then the Files are made eight deep I wonder to hear such language from so First reason for 16 deep great a Master for all this may be done in any Body of men of what depth soever provided it be not of an odd number If Aelian had made his Phalange but twelve deep might he not when he pleas'd by doubling the Files have made it twenty four deep and by doubling the Ranks have made it but six deep and by the bargain he had made the Front of his Phalange a fourth part longer that where at six foot distance between Files it took up in longitude but six thousand one hundred forty four foot it would have taken up eight thousand one hundred ninety foot But the mystery of the matter if I understand Aelian right is shortly this Such an altitude or deepness of the File is most exact whereby the Commander in chief may with few words bring his whole numbers by equal proportions to one man As sixteen to eight eight to four four to two and two to one But this you cannot do with twelve for twelve divided makes two sixes six divided makes two threes three men you cannot divide unless you cut one man in two pieces Now by sixteen deep you may bring your whole Batallion of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four men into one File or into one Rank and here I suppose lyes the knack of the business These sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four men at sixteen in File make one thousand twenty four Files which you can bring to one File thus Command your half Ranks to double their Files and then you have but five hundred and twelve Files the same word of Command being obeyed you have but two hundred fifty six give it once more you have but one hundred twenty eight let it be done over again you shall see but sixty four Files continue the same word of Command your Files come to thirty two next to sixteen after that to eight from that to four then to two and lastly to one And so you have your whole Phalange in one File If you will have your Phalange all in one Rank command the Middle-men or half Files to double their Ranks and then sixteen become eight command the same thing they shall be but four then two and lastly one But is it not very strange that Aelian would not know that all this might have Answered been done with a Body of men four deep or eight deep which last many of the Grecians did not exceed And certainly till we hear some more solid reason than this aiery one eight deep is for many considerations to be preferr'd to sixteen Nor should this pretended reason
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
have discharged their shot even in the hottest Piece of service and without the help of Musquet-rests And I suppose it needs be thought no Paradox in me to say that five ranks of Musqueteers can fire one after another without intermission and Five deep the first of the five be ready to fire again before the last have discharged let any Commander try it with expert Firemen he will find it will be done easily enough And that you may see that this is no new conceit of mine I shall tell you that Giovio informs us that at Vienna the twenty thousand Harquebusiers that were in the Christian Army were all marshal'd five deep and so made four thousand files It is without all peradventure that the best Commanders then in Europe were there who would not have permitted this if they had not known that the first rank could have fired and made ready again before all the other four had discharged neither must you impute this to the ignorance of the Historian as being a Churchman for he is so punctual as to write nothing of any Military action but what he had from the relation of the greatest Captains that were upon the place And truly if you will consider all I have said or all that may be said on this subject Reasons for it you may perhaps think with me that both Musqueteers and Pikemen may be marshal'd five deep with no inconvenience at all to the service I think I hear some speculative persons cry out that this is against the rules of all Tacticks who reject odd numbers as unfit for doubling But stay do you exercise for shew only or for use If only for shew I grant you should neither have odd ranks Objections against it nor files but if for use I say that five deep is better than six deep for those very reasons that made six deep better than eight deep and eight better than ten You say you cannot double your ranks at five deep what then I say you need not for I would have your ranks no fewer than five when you are ten Answered deep why double you your ranks is it not to make them five and thereby to enlarge your front and why then may you not be five ranks at first and thereby save your self the labour of doubling And as it is not at all necessary to double your ranks when your Batallion consists of no more but five ranks so I conceive the doubling of ranks not necessary when your Battel is but six deep for three ranks of Pikes is not strong enough either to give or receive a Charge nor are they numerous enough for Musqueteers to fire one rank after another without interruption it not being feasible for the first rank to fire and be ready before the third rank have discharged so that when six ranks are made three it is only for a parting blow for the Musqueteers to fire kneeling stooping and standing Now you may order the first three ranks of five to fire in the same fashion kneeling stooping and standing and you have by the bargain two ranks in reserve till the first three recover and those two ranks may afterward fire the first rank kneeling and the second standing and then all the five ranks have fired and are as ready either with Buts of Musquets or Swords to receive the enemy if he advance as the six ranks doubled in three and in far better order Either then your doubling of ranks is unnecessary in service or five deep at first is as good if not better as ten ranks to be doubled in five or six ranks doubled in three And though five ranks cannot be doubled the inconvenience of that is not so great as the advantages it hath of a large front and bringing many hands to fight and if upon any emergency which will fall out very seldom you conceive your front too large you may quickly help it The Authors private opinion by causing your files to double and then you are ten deep But I shall quickly part with this opinion when I hear a stronger argument against it than that which says that thereby ranks cannot be doubled for the truth is it is my private opinion that there be many superfluous words in Exercise and though I think doubling of ranks and files too sometimes convenient before the near approach of an enemy yet I hope none will deny that both of them are very improper in the time of service But Loquendum cum vulgo is a Golden sentence Well we have our Foot-Company no stronger than one hundred men and Seventeen Files in a Company of one hundred men divided into three parts whereof two are Musqueteers and Pikemen are glad to be admitted to make the third These must be marshal'd six in one file now seventeen times six is more than one hundred and sixteen times six is less than one hundred Add therefore three Corporals to the hundred Soldiers you shall have seventeen compleat files and one man over whom you may appoint to help the Ensign to carry his Colours for a Furer is not allow'd him in all establishments A Company being thus marshal'd in seventeen files eleven must be Musqueteers and six Pikemen to wit on the right hand of the Pikemen six files of Musqueteers and on the left hand five files The Captain is to teach his Soldiers to keep their just distances between file The several kinds of Distances and file end between rank and rank Distances are ordinarily threefold Order open Order and close Order The first of three foot the second of six the third of one foot and a half to which in some case is added open open order which is of twelve foot At Exercisings both ranks and files should stand at open order in Marches the files at order but the ranks at open order because of the Pikes which must have more ground than Musqueteers require and in service both the files and ranks of Musqueteers must be at order that is three foot distance but the Pikemen both in file and rank at close order that is at the distance of one foot and a half I must tell you in this place of a general mistake Mistakes in reckoning Distances and is the very same I accused Vegetius of in the Roman Militia and it is this All say that the files when they stand in Battel should be at order that is at the distance of three foot as indeed they should But if you ask how many foot of ground seventeen files whereof our Company consists possess in front they will immediately answer you fifty and one And here there is a double Distance of Files error first no ground is allowed for the Combatants to stand on for the distance of three foot between files takes up that one and fifty foot or very near it Secondly they make seventeen files to have seventeen distances whereas they have but sixteen This oversight I
was marshal'd in one Division I know some are of opinion that the Majors Company should be in the Reer Objection against that way of marshalling of the Lieutenant-Colonels Division because the third place of honour in the Regiment belongs to him and the Colonel having the Van of the first Division and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the second the Major should have the Reer of the second Division because it is the Reer of the whole Regiment I should easily subscribe to this if it were not for two reasons First though it be but Answered one Regiment yet being divided it should be lookt on as two distinct Bodies and it is more honourable to have the Reer of the first than of the last Secondly when a Regiment is divided into two parts the Major ought to wait and lodg at the quarter of that Division of the Regiment where the Colonel is because from him he receives his Orders Directions and the Word which he is not oblig'd to carry to the Lieutenant-Colonel if the quarters of the two Divisions be divided as many times they are but the oldest Captain is obliged to come and receive them from the Major at the Colonels Quarter the first Captain in that case officiating as Major for the Lieutenant-Colonels Batallion Now if the Major ought to be where the Colonel is as I think he should then I think the Majors Company should be where himself is The Great Gustavus used another way of marshalling his Regiments and Brigades of Foot which taken altogether was not square of front yet all the four parts or Bodies which composed it were square The manner was this Regiment or Brigade marshal'd a third way Suppose one of his Brigades to be eighteen hundred men as I can assure you he had many weaker whereof twelve hundred were Musqueteers and six hundred were Pikemen the Pikes advanced twenty paces before the two Bodies of Musqueteers who immediately join'd to fill up the void place the Pikemen had possest Then were the Pikes divided into three equal Bodies two hundred to each Batallion the middle Body whereof advanced before the other two so far that its Reer might be about ten paces before the Van of the other two The two Bodies of Pikes that staid behind were order'd to open a little to both hands and then stand still all fronting one way to the Enemy by this means the place which the two hundred Pikes possest in the middle remaining void there were two passages like sally-ports between the Reer of the advanced Body of Pikes and the two Batallions that staid behind out of one whereof on the right hand issued constantly one or two or more hundreds of Musqueteers who before all the three Bodies of Pikes gave incessantly fire on the Enemy and when the word or sign for a Retreat was given they retir'd by the other passage on the left hand back to the great Body of Musqueteers where so many of them as came back unwounded were presently put in rank and file the fire continuing without intermission by Musqueteers who still sallied thorough the passage on the right hand and it is to be observed that the firemen fought thus in small Bodies each of them not above five files of Musqueteers and these for most part but three deep So you may consider that near the third part of the Musqueteers being on service the other two thirds were securely shelter'd behind the three Batallions of Pikemen who were to be compleatly arm'd for the defensive These Pikes had Field pieces with them which fir'd as oft as they could as well as the Musqueteers this continued till the Pikemen came to push of Pike with the Enemy if both parties staid so long as seldom they did and then the Musqueteers were to do what they were order'd to do and the order did depend on emergencies and accidents which as they could not be then seen so no certain rules could be given for them In this order did I see all the Swedish Brigades drawn up for one year after the Kings death but after that time I saw it wear out when Defensive Arms first and then Pikes came Worn out to be neglected and by some vilipended For the March of a Regiment if it can all march in one breast it should The March of a Regiment do so but if not and if the ground permit it let the right hand of Musqueteers march in breast next it the Body of Pikes and after it the left wing of Musqueteers But if none of these can be then as many should march in one petty Division as the way can permit as suppose twelve eight or ten and so soon as you come to open ground you are to march presently in Squadrons or as they are now called Squads or in full Battel that is the Regiment all in one front for by that means your Soldiers are readiest to receive an Enemy they march in a more comely order and straggle far less than when they march few in breast and in a long row The Major appoints Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns to lead Divisions and Serjeants to attend the flanks every one according to their dignities but for my own part I never thought it convenient much less necessary that every small Division of a Regiment should have a Bringer up since he must be as some will have it a Commission'd Officer as well as the Leader of a Division should be For first consider that in a Regiment of one thousand strong there are an hundred sixty and six files and admit that the way will permit eight files to march in breast as that falls not always out by that account you shall have one and twenty Divisions consisting of eight Files apiece multiply twenty one by eight the Product is a hundred and Reasons why every petty Division cannot have a Bringer up sixty eight Files which consists of a thousand and eight men eight more than the number Reckon again how many Commission'd Officers you have in ten Companies besides the three Field-Officers you shall have but twenty nine now of these twenty one must be allow'd to lead the Divisions and by that account you have but nine Officers to bring up so you want thirteen Commission'd Officers for that imployment for Serjeants should neither be permitted to lead or bring up but in case of necessity their duty being to attend the flanks Besides all Commission'd Officers are not always present some frequently being either sick wounded or absent on furloff It will be enough therefore if all these petty Divisions be led by Commission'd Officers which yet cannot be unless you allow some Ensign-bearers to stay from their 〈…〉 ours and by this means you may spare six foot of ground between two Divisions for those who will allow Bringers up allow eighteen foot between two Divisions to wit six foot between the Reer of the first Division and him that brings it up secondly six foot between
he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
be out-wing'd as assuredly he was it will easily be granted Alexander at Arbela but eight deep that the more ground he took up in Front the less subject he was to that danger And this Curtius confirms when he tells us that the Commanders of the several Bodies had orders given them to extend their Batallions as far in length as without eminent danger they might lest saith the same Author they should be environ'd I conceive then it cannot be doubted but Alexander studying how to make as large a Front as feasibly he might against so numerous an Enemy he made his heavy arm'd Foot Phalange but eight deep as that which suited best with his present affairs and as he had seen other Grecian Captains do before him for by that means he made himself master of twice as much ground as he had when it was marshall'd sixteen in File That he had Reserves is most clear both from Curtius and others for Nicanor follow'd the Phalange with the Argyraspides or Silver Shields and these were heavy armed observe it and Cenos with a Band of men which And had Reserves saith Curtius was appointed note this to be a Relief Then Horestes Lincerta Polycarpon and Philagus all with several Bodies follow'd the Phalanx And that all these were Reserves Aelian himself nor any for him will not be so impudent as to deny But I shall speak more of the marshalling this Army in the Chapter following the next I come now to the third Reason which is pretended for sixteen deep of Third reason for 16 deep the heavy armed Phalange And it is this Though the Pikes of all those Ranks that stand behind the fifth or if you will the sixth be useless in regard they can reach but little or nothing beyond the File leader and you will remember these Ranks are not fewer than ten if not eleven yet being at close order with their Pikes advanc'd they bear forward with the weight and force of their Bodies those five or six Ranks that are before them and so make the Impression the greater and stronger they take all occasion of flight from them and impose a necessity on them to overcome or dye I answer first that this pretended advantage if it was any at all was very oft dear Answered bought Secondly I say five Ranks having their Pikes presented to the Enemy three Ranks behind them might have serv'd sufficiently to bear forward the five before them or if Aelian thought six Ranks might present all their Pikes with advantage then let four Ranks be allowed behind them to bear them forward to the charge and hinder them to fly and this will make in all but ten Ranks and so still six Ranks might have been disposed of either to enlarge the Front or make a Body in the Rear for a Reserve And thirdly I say when Aelian's six formost Ranks were busie in fight the ten behind them who were to bear those six forward were at their closest distance which he calls constipation and so not able to open very suddenly and face about in so good order and so soon as was requisite to receive or beat back the charge of an unexpected Enemy For certainly they must first have open'd backward and then fac'd about both which must have been done by the command of some of their Officers probably the Lieutenant and it is well enough known how confusion and disorder which seldome fails to attend such occasions stops the ears and dulls the judgement of Souldiers that they can neither hear nor understand the words of Command aright I will fetch two instances from History and those I believe will prove all I have said and clear this whole matter pretty well At the Battel of Cynocephalae or Dogs heads fought by Philip the last King Battel of Cinocephalae of Macedon except one against Titus Flaminius a Roman Consul the half of Philips heavy armed Phalange on the right hand bore down all before it and trod over the Legions gaining ground so far that the Macedonian thought the day his own But Flaminius having observ'd that the left Wing of the Phalange could not draw up in any close order because of the unevenness and knottiness of the Mountain whose little hillocks represented the heads of Dogs sent a Tribune with a Legion and some Elephants up the Hill to charge that Left Wing which he smartly doing easily routed it and immediately fell on the Rear of the victorious Right wing and without opposition cut it in pieces Now if the Left Wing of the Phalange which had no convenient ground whereon to draw up had plac'd it self on the top of the Hill at a distance behind the Right Wing as a Reserve the Romans durst never have hazarded to have come between them or if the last ten Ranks of the Right Wing who serv'd for nothing but to bear forward the other six Ranks had fac'd about according to Aelians rule they could not so easily have been broken But the close posture or constipation of these last ten Ranks to bear forward the formost six Ranks made them uncapable to do that quickly which the present necessity required or else the sudden charge of an unlook'd for Enemy did so appal them that they knew not what they were doing nor who commanded or who obeyed which as I have said frequently falls out in such cases So this Phalanx cast in Aelian's Macedonian mould cost King Philip very dear but another modell'd after the same fashion cost his Son Perseus much dearer At Pidna a Town of Macedon King Perseus fought with Lucius Aemilius Battei of Pidna a Roman Consul and the ground for his Phalange being as good as his own heart could wish the Roman Legions were not able to resist its furious charge but gave ground in several places insomuch that the Consul seeing Fortune look with so grim a countenance upon him began to despair of the Victory and to tear his Coat of Arms but being of a ready judgement he quickly espied his advantage for he saw the Phalange open its constipation some small Bodies of it pursuing those who gave ground and others fighting loosely with those of his Romans who made stouter opposition and therefore order'd some of his Legionaries to fall into those void and empty places of the several Phalangarchies and these getting entrance at those intervals came upon the sides of the Macedonian Pike-men and so without much trouble made most of them dye on the place If but a third nay a fourth or fifth part of this Phalange had been standing at a convenient distance in Reserve ready to have charg'd the weary and disorder'd Legions will any man doubt but that in all humane probability Perseus had been Master of the Field But the want of that lost him in the twinkling of an eye his Wife and Children his Kingdom his Riches which he lov'd too well his Honour and at last his Life The Defect then of
ill that these sixteen hundred sixty six Files took no more ground up in Front but one thousand paces that is five thousand foot A thing purely impossible for three foot of Distance is allowed by himself between File and File and next sixteen hundred sixty six Files require sixteen hundred sixty five distances multiply sixteen hundred sixty five by three the product is four thousand nine hundred ninety five these want but 5 foot of Vegetius his one thousand paces Where shall then the sixteen hundred sixty six Combatants stand certainly they had sixteen hundred sixty six foot of ground to stand on add sixteen hundred sixty six to four thousand nine hundred ninety five the aggregate is six thousand six hundred sixty one foot a third more than Vegetius allow'd to sixteen hundred sixty six Files In imitation of him Terduzzi commits the very same errour in his fifth and sixth Chapters In the next place Vegetius allows six foot of distance between The second of Ranks Ranks because men must run when they throw their Darts and Javelines for so they cast them with greater â—orce Vehementius saith he I think he speaks reason but not at all sense when he avers that six Ranks of men having one foot of ground allow'd for every Rank to stand on and six foot between one Rank and another took up forty two foot of ground from the Van to the Rear that is as I think from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up for by his own account and allowance six Ranks can take up no more from Van to the Rear than thirty six foot as thus six foot for the six Ranks to stand on and thirty foot for the five distances The error seems to have proceeded from a fancy he hath had that six Ranks must have six Intervals which is not only false but ridiculously childish In regard in six Ranks there is one distance between the first and second Rank the second between the second Rank and the third the third between the third and fourth Rank the fourth between the fourth and fifth rank and the fifth distance between the fifth and sixth Rank And for his first error that sixteen hundred sixty six Files take no more ground in Front than five thousand foot it will be a folly to defend him by â—aying three Foot were but allowed both for Files to stand on and distance between them for a distance as Lieutenant-Colonel Eltâ—n Definition of a Distance in his compleat Body of the Military Art discribes it well is a place or Interval of ground between every particular File and File and Rank and Rank and therefore no part of that ground on which the Files oâ— Ranks stand When I look'd upon these places of Vegetius and consider'd them I could not but approve of Lipsâ—â—s for qualifying him but on another account with the Titles of Solutus negligens The same Lipsius in the fourth Book of his Commentary quarrels with Polybius for not informing us what distances the several Maniples kept one from another nor what Intervals were kept between the three great Classes and if that piece of Polybius be not lost with others of his works assuredly it was an inexcusable oversight I dare not accuse Vegetius of this neglect though Lipsius seems to do it for I am apt to believe that what he speaks of Vegetius 〈…〉 to be understood the distances between Ranks as I have understood him it is in the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapters of his third Book he may have meant Intervals between the greater Bodies for in these places he useth the words Ordâ— and Acies indifferently and though Ordo be sometimes taken for a Rank sometimes for a Band or Company yet Acies is ever taken for a Battel or Batallion And to me it is clear enough that in the mentâ—â—n'd places he takes Ordo for Batallion and makes six of them the first of Principes the second of Hastati the third â—ourth and fifth of light armed the sixth of Triarii Now it is palpable these great Bodies were not Ranks for every one of them if I mistake not consisted of ten Ranks but were all several Batallions whereof as I told you before he composed his Legion But whether he meant Ranks or Batallions the error I mention'd was still the same in making six several Bodies be they Ranks Files Squadrons or Batallions to have six distances for they cannot possibly have more than five But if in these places he allow'd but six foot of Interval between these Classes and great Bodies it speaks him to have been almost out of his wits when he wrote it as the Reader may collect from the insuing Discourse But being neither Polybius nor Vegetius help us much in the matter of Intervals Lipsius in his fourth Book comforts us and tells us he will not suffer so profitable Lipsius undertakes much a business as is the knowledge of Intervals to remain in darkness In finibus noctis are his words In the Borders of Night and therefore promiseth out of the plentiful Magazine of his own reading to clear the whole matter to us But I am afraid he will not be a man of his word for the greatest undertakers are seldome the best performers However it is fit we hear him for he deserves it First He tells us that he conceives that the Interval between the Hastati But performâ—â—â—ttle and the Principes was fifty foot and between the Principes and the Triarii one hundred Next concerning the Intervals between the Maniples of any of the three Classes which the Romans call'd Via Directa he saith if the Velites were to stand in them the Interval might be of twenty or thirty foot if not ten foot was enough This is briefly all he says on the matter But assuredly if this learned man could convenlently have left the University of Louvaine and followed the Spanish Armies but one Summer or as we call it one Campagne he would have seen under the conduct of the famous Dukes of Alva and Parma the greatest Captains of that age who liv'd at the time that he was writing his Books how pitifully simple that School-speculation of his was I must confirm my opinion with Reason for authority of Writers I have no more than he and that is none at all Each of the two Classes of the Hastati and Principes consisted of twelve hundred men which being marshall'd ten deep made one hundred and twenty Files Vegetius allows three foot distance between Files these make three hundred and sixty foot in Front add one hundred and twenty foot for the Files to stand on the ground that either of these Batallions stood on was four hundred and eighty foot in Longitude but to shun debate I shall be content to allow but one foot for every File to stand on and two foot of Interval between Files and so the Front of the Hastati though they had been all marshall'd
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
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
Lancepresado The Germans Swedes and Danâ—s acknowledg Reformado's and Gentlemen of Companies but reject the poor Lancespesat The Hollander in his Militia acknowledgeth all the three and so I believe do the French But to our establishment at home I believe they be all three strangers and so most of them are in other places Companies of hundreds are divided into three Corporalships two Corporals are Musqueteers and one is a Pikeman His right Title is Caporal A Caporal or Corporal an Italian word deriv'd from Capâ— which signifies a Head this Caporal being the Head of his Squadron And from the same word Capo it would seem the The way of a French Caporals punishing Soldiers by making them staâ—d long Centinel is prejudicial to the service Captain of a Company or of an Army hath his denomination A Caporal ought to be an experienc'd vigilant and a laborious Soldier he hath an absolute command of his Squadron neither may any in it disobey him if any do the Caporal may beat him with his Sword and commit him to prison when a Musquet-rest was in fashion he was permitted to beat with it He is to warn all his Squadron or a part of it according as he receives order to the watch or to be sent on party or other duties Upon the watch the Corporal having got orders from his Superiors appoints when where and how long each of his men are to stand Centinel and he is bound to teach them how they His Duties are to behave themselves when they are Centinels and is to visit them frequently but if he find any one of them asleep he must not leave him as he found him as an Athenian Captain did who kill'd a sleeping Centinel but he must bring him to the Corps de Guard and there make him Prisoner till further order The Caporal is to receive the Rounds at his Court of Guard and take the word from them But of this I shall tell you more in another place He is also obliged when he is not on the watch to teach all that belong to his Squadron their postures and to handle their Arms. So you see this Caporal of ours hath work enough to do for all the pay or wages he gets In some places a Piper is allowed to each Company the Germans have him A Piper and I look upon their Pipe as a Warlike Instrument The Bag-pipe is good enough Musick for them who love it but sure it is not so good as the Almain Whistle With us any Captain may keep a Piper in his Company and maintain him too for no pay is allowed him perhaps just as much as he deserveth Two Drummers are universally allowed in every Company of one hundred Drummers men and more as also of the Caporals according as the Company is strong They ought to be skilful to beat a Gathering a March an Alarm a Charge Retreat Travaille or Dian and the Taptoo If they can do that well and carry a message wittily to an enemy they may be permitted to be Drolls for to be graduated Doctors is a thing not at all required at their hands The Officers of a Company who march not in rank and file are divided into Under Officers Commissionated and Uncommissionated the Captain Lieutenant and Ensign are called Commissionated Officers all the rest are Uncommissionated these are the Clerk the Fouâ—ier the Furer and Captain of Arms all these four where they are made use of are called under-Officers and the last three of them are under the command of the Serjeant who is also an Uncommissionated Officer The Clerk or Scrivener is he who keeps the Rolls of the Company receives Clerk the Pay and gives it out according to the directions of the Captain to whose command he is only lyable and to whom only he is accountable and in his absence to the Lieutenant He ought to have so much literature as to read and write fair and to have some skill in Arithmetick this under Officer is allowed in all establishments A Fourier is a French word used now in most Languages It is he who makes Fourier Quarters for the Company in Towns and Villages by Billets and in the Fields by a designation of a plot of ground appointed for the Quarter of a Company He is to wait upon the Regiments Quarter-master and what commands he receives from him he is to communicate them first to his Captain and then â—ut them in execution He is Quarter-master of the Company and should have skill to give to every Soldier the ground allow'd him for his Hut and to give to all alike it is his duty to see all the Huts built of one length and breadth that there may be an uniformity of them all it is also his duty to receive the Companies Proviant by the Regiment Quarter-masters direction whether it be at the Quarter-masters own lodging or Hut or at that of the Proviant-master General A Fourier is allow'd with the French Germans Danes and Swedes but neither with the Hollander nor with us at hoâ—e A Captain of Arms is he who hath the oversight of the Arms that they be Captain of Arms. fixt and bright I think he should be a Gunsmith that he may make them fixt and bright he is a member necessary enough though not allow'd in all establishments The Furer is he who is allowed to help the Ensign to carry the Colours for which he hath pay the Germans call him Gefreuter Caporal which is Corporal Furer of the Gentlemen of the Company for with them they are properly under his command And both he the Captain of Arms and Fourier do duty with Halberts among the Germans Danes and Swedes we have no Furer with us A Serjeant is a French word for those who are appointed by the Justice to A Serjeant apprehend and imprison men for either Criminal or Civil matters are called Serjeants yet this word is now become universal for that Officer of the Company who commands next the Ensign In the high Dutch he was called Feltwebell but now the word Serjeant hath prevailed over all When Companies were three hundred strong there were three Serjeants in it now for most part all Companies have two It is a charge of very much fatigue for to him it belongs His Fatigue and Duties to see all his Captains commands obeyed he gives all the Under-Officers except the Clerk their directions what they are to do almost in every particular and the like he doth to the Caporals He receives the watch-word and all other Orders from the Major of the Regiment carries them to his Captain receives his and delivers both to his Lieutenant and Ensign to his fellow Serjeant to the Caporals and when it is his turn watcheth with his Halbert either on a Post alone or under a Commissionated Officer Yet for all this his place in many parts of the world is not thought creditable but sure it is not dishonourable
Captains unless he have a Company himself The Swedes of a long time allowed him no company yet allow'd him the command over Captains but it is now many years ago since they were permitted to have companies hence perhaps it is that when they have no companies they may be called Serjeant-Majors as when they have companies the Germans call them Captain-Majors but the English use frequently the words of Serjeant Major and Serjeant-Major General none of them are used either by German Swede or Dane A Lieutenant-Colonel is that in a Regiment that a Lieutenant is in a company Lieutenant-Colonel and therefore when the Colonel is present the Lieutenant-Colonel hath no command and since in the Colonels absence the other commands the Regiment I think he should be endued with all those qualifications that are required to be in a Colonel and what these are I shall tell you as others have told me with my own sense of them A Colonel say some should be a Gentleman of great experience in Military Colonel Affairs bold and resolute courteous affable liberal judicious and religious But such descriptions of Military Officers seem to proceed from those Philosophers who teach men to conform their lives and actions to the strict and severe rules of Moral vertue for my part I would not only have a Colonel to be pious and religious but his whole Regiment likewise but because this may rather be wisht than expected I say if he be not exemplarily pious he may notwithstanding be a Colonel good enough so he be not a profest Atheist I would have a Colonel to be affable and liberal but though His Qualifications he be both churlish and Parsimonious he may be a Colonel good enough I would have a Colonel to be experienced in most of the points of War yet though he be not and hath seen but little if he be of a ready wit and good judgment he may be a Colonel good enough for Princes and States when they raise Armies think it fit to make choice of Colonels who can levy Regiments for which employment without question men of good birth and quality are most proper But courage an aptitude to learn and proneness to follow advice are qualities very essential and requisite in all men of that charge it is little matter how avaritious a Colonel be so he offer not to meddle with any part of the pay of his Regiment except his own It is the less matter though he be ignorant in some points belonging to his command so he be willing to be advised by those of his Officers who understand them But those who fancy that the Title of Colonels entails a right upon them to command what they please and to pay their Regiments as they like and by their wilful ignorance confound matters of Government and Discipline and introduce and frame Customs in their Regiments which no others use should be chac'd out of all Armies as presumptuous arrogant and impertinent if not worse Having spoken now sufficiently of all the Officers belonging to a Company and Regiment of Foot it will be time to put the several Companies in one Body thereby to make a Regiment but I will first tell the Captains that after they have for some time exercis'd their Companies and thereby known the abilities of their several Soldiers they must be careful to put them in ranks and files according as they find they deserve the properest tallest and strongest men they should arm with Pikes the rest with Musquets Next to the Corporal 's the most deserving should be File-leaders the next place of dignity is the To marshal a Company in ranks and files reer the third is the middle or fourth rank the fourth dignity is the second rank as being next the Van the fifth place of dignity is the fifth rank as that which is next the reer the sixth and last place is the third rank All this is meant where all Companies and Batallions of Foot are marshal'd six deep Next to this the Captain should have regard to the right and left hand files and having drawn up his men as he thinks each of them deserves he is to command his Clerk to write down the names of all that are in Arms just as they stand in files and thereafter when he draws out his Company let him constantly put them in Battel according to that Roll this being done four or five days the Soldiers by custom knowing their places their Leaders and their Sidemen will be able without the help of their Officers to marshal themselves When all the Companies are to be join'd in one Body every Captain should cast his odd men in the reer and it is impossible there can be above five odd men in one Company that the Major may make files and so join them to the Regiment in such places as he thinks fitting There be several ways of drawing up Regiments of Foot and they may vary according to the several opinions of men and yet all of them may be good enough But a Major should not marshal the Regiment according to his own fancy or yet that of his Colonels but according to the known practice of the Prince or State in whose Service he is for Uniformity is required in Military Uniformity in Marshalling Regiments in one Prince his Service Customs as much or rather more than in other things The pleasure of the Prince or of his General in matters which depend on their own judgments ought not to be debated or disputed I will not trouble my Reader with the difference of opinions in marshalling the several Companies according to the Precedency of those to whom they belong whether these be Officers of the Field or private Captains when they are to be join'd in one Body But shall lay down three grounds wherein I suppose all our Modern Commanders agree These are First That the Regiment should be marshal'd in a Square front the Wedg Rhombus and Ring-Battels not being now made use of except for show Secondly That the Pikemen make the Body and the Musqueteers the wings Thirdly That the Colonels Company ought to have constantly the right hand whether the Regiment be drawn up in one two or three divisions When Regiments were two or three thousand strong it was thought fit to marshal them in three Batallions or Divisions and these were called the Colonels the Lieutenant-Colonels and the Majors Divisions but being to speak of a Regiment consisting only of one thousand and composed of ten Companies I shall tell you how I have seen such a one marshal'd both in one and in two Divisions the manner whereof pleaseth me better than any other that I have either seen or read of leaving notwithstanding every man free to his own choice for I offer not to impose The Major of the Regiment having either chused the ground himself or got it assign'd to him by the Major-General if he be to draw up in one Division
that Bringer up and him that leads the next Division and six foot between that Leader and the Division he leads This was the order of the two Princes of Orange Maurice and Henry But if there be no Bringer up twelve foot will serve well enough between Divisions Nor am I of their opinion who will have a Colonel of Foot to begin his march on Horseback for since he commands Foot he is bound at first to march on foot though afterwards he may ride And I avouch too that he who leads Bodies of Foot should not ride at all because he may very insensibly make the Reer run after him If the Major lead the Regiment or a part of it in his Colonel A Major still on Horseback and Lieutenant-Colonels absence he is bound to do it in Towns in Leaguers or at Passes on foot because then he Officiates as Colonel but if any of his two superior Commanders be present then he should be constantly on Horseback for being he is not tyed to any one place but must be sometimes in the Van sometimes in the Battel sometimes in the Reer now here now there to see that every Officer and Soldier do their duty he should never be on foot when the Regiment marcheth And because the Captain-Lieutenant cannot constantly march on foot A Captain-Lieutenant others should be ordain'd to assist him by turns and those others should be Captains for by the courtesie of Arms the Captain-Lieutenant is youngest Captain But this assistance he is to get is only in the Field for so soon as he comes near to Town Village or Quarter he is to march on the head of the Regiment behind one of the three Field Officers and all the Captains ought to go immediately to their several Divisions It hath been a custom of a long time and in many places to put several Regiments in one Body or Batallion which they call a Brigade There are of A Brigade these both of Horse and Foot and the Colonel who commands that Body is called a Brigadeer It is not as yet defin'd for any thing I know how strong a Brigade should be three thousand two thousand eighteen hundred or fifteen hundred The Estates of the Vnited Provinces had always Brigades of Foot in their Service but those were strong five or six thousand I have seen six Regiments in one Brigade and yet it did not consist of so many as two thousand men that carried Arms here you may suppose there were Officers enough for so few Soldiers The Colonel who is oldest in that service commands the Brigade There is likewise a Major of the Brigade who receives the Word and other Orders from the Major-General and gives them to the Majors of the other Regiments of the Brigade and they to their Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels and then to the Serjeants of all the several Companies This Major of the Brigade is ordinarily he who is Major of the oldest Regiment of that Brigade When a Brigade marcheth the Regiments of it have the Van-day about by turns but so have not the Companies of the several Regiments It seems something strange to me that a Regiment of one thousand Foot should be divided into two several Bodies the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonels Divisions and yet that Regiment Embodied with another perhaps with other two and march all in one Body Truly I should think if the first be needful the second should not be necessary It is a custom with some Princes to give some of their Colonels more Regiments Colonels of two Regiments than one which I have seen though I confess I never saw any good reason for it for if a Prince or a State will advance a Colonel above or beyond his fellows he may rather give him some higher title and consequently greater pay yet it were the more tollerable if both Regiments were of Foot or both of Horse for then they might make up a Brigade and he who is Colonel of both might be Brigadeer of both But I have known some of them Colonels of Horse and Foot and sure they cannot Officiate in both Regiments at one time and therefore I confess that in one of them a Lieutenant-Colonel is very necessary But it must minister some fuel of heart-burning to many brave Gentlemen who have served Princes faithfully to see some men provided with two Charges who have done no more than themselves 〈◊〉 â—â—rhaps not so much when they have no Charge at all But to him that hath shall be given Observe that in the French Service Majors being commanded to be under Captains the stress of the command of the Regiment lyes on the Lieutenant-Colonel CHAP. XII Of Troops and Regiments of Horse of their Officers and of Dragoons THOSE who serve in the Wars on Horseback are by a general word called the Cavalry which is now understood in all Languages though it be deriv'd either from the French word Chevall or the Italian and Spanish word Cavallo both which signifie a Horse Though the Germans make much use of the word Cavalry yet they have one of their own as proper and significative as it is and that is Reutery We have no other word for it in English but what is borrowed from the French It hath been in ancient times a noble service and still should be so for as I observed before those who served on Horseback especially the men at Arms or Curiassiers were all Gentlemen and most of them of a high extraction but now a promiscuous levy by the Trumpet hath well near abrogated that commendable custom and made men of all sorts so they be of bodies fit for service whatever their birth be welcome to ride in Troops When the Romans said a man was equestris ordinis they meant he was a Gentleman and when they spoke so it was nothing else but that he was of that rank or class out of which Horsemen were chosen to serve in the Cavalry of old challeng'd with reason the precedency of the Infantry Wars This made them with much reason demand as their due the precedency of the Foot though still the Infantry be the strength of the Army but now that Horsemen are Plebeians as well as Footmen the hand and the door is no more due to the one not to the other and in many places Commanders of Horse and Foot who carry alike Offices take the precedency according to their antiquity of bearing charge But in most Courts and Councils of War And hath it yet by the determination of the Prince the Officers of the Cavalry have seats given them before those of the Infantry neither do the last contend for it It was near the time of the Emperours before the Romans had any light armed Curiassiers Horsemen but almost with all other Nations and in all times a Cavalry was divided into heavy and light armed and they are called so from their offensive Arms the heavy arm'd are called Curiassiers Gens
their Generals and such of them as are approv'd by them should be practised The old Romans indeed kept themselves morosely to their ancient forms whereby they had been exceedingly prosperous and call'd all new Inventions Schematisms But we are not bound to follow them in all their opinions for I am of Lipsius his judgment Valde mihi placent nova novitia istae Inventiuncula These little new Inventions To be practised with much caution saith he please me mightily Lieutenant-Colonel Elton in his Compleat Body of the Art of War hath very many pretty figures of several Bodies of Foot all of them exceeding delightful and fit for show and some of them for use provided Officers and Souldiers be often and thoroughly accustom'd to them before they be practised in sight of an enemy And to this purpose he himself speaks very well towards the end of his Book and with his words I shall close this Chapter The substantial and solid things of War are to be precisely regarded without which an Army though of the most valiant men will be exposed to the greatest dangers and will fall into a most certain ruin Musqueteers on Horseback are called Dragoons in all Languages from the word Dragon because when they are mounted on Horses and riding with burning Matches especially in the night time they resemble fiery Dragons flying in the air but now that in some places Dragooners Musquets are converted into Carabines a change not to be despised if the Carabine can send a Bullet as far as a Musquet I conceive they may rather be called Carabineers than Dragoons In France the Lieutenant of Horse marcheth now on the left hand of the Captain or Ritmaster four or five foot nearer the Troop an Innovation as many other customs are against which I have little to say or rather just nothing An APPENDIX to the former CHAPTER HAving spoken enough of the Officers of both Horse and Foot and of those who are neither and yet both Dragoons it will not be amiss to speak a word or two to some Questions that are started concerning them I shall propose them and speak my thoughts of them for to answer and solve them to the satisfaction of all would be an undertaking purely impossible The first question shall be this which of the two Officers of equal quality both under one Prince or State the one of Horse the other of Foot shall command in chief having no Superior at that time above them supposing those who are to be commanded consist of both Foot and Horse The second Question shall be whether an Officer of an inferiour quality may upon occasion command one of a higher degree As whether a Lieutenant may command a Captain The question is subdivided into two As first whether an Officer of Horse of an inferiour quality may command an Officer of Foot of a higher degree And next whether an Officer of a King Prince State or Generals Guards ought or may have the command above an Officer of a Superiour quality in any other Regiment of the Army Suppose a Lieutenant of the Guards of Foot to command over any Captain of another Regiment of Foot and the like of the Horse there may fall out a thousand emergences and occasions for such encounters and therefore they would be obviated and provided for by necessary and punctual orders As suppose which is very ordinary there be but one general person with a part of an Army and in an Encounter he is kill'd the Colonels under him striving for the Command in chief make themselves a prey to the enemy which fell out but a very few years ago to the Danes when they unfortunately fought against the Swedes in the Isle of Rugen Next suppose a strong party of Foot and Horse commanded by a Colonel who hath under him but one Lieutenant-Colonel and one Major several Ritmasters and Foot-Captains the three Field-officers are kill'd the question is Whether the chief command belongs to the eldest Ritmaster or the eldest Captain or to him of these two who can shew the eldest Commission in that same service If the first of these Questions be well and judiciously handled and discuss'd there will need but a few words to be spoken to the rest The first Question being which of the two Officers of Horse and Foot of equal quality shall have the command there be some who take a broad axe to it and by an equal division would satisfie both parties and say that in the Fields the Officer of Horse and in Towns Castles Garrisons and fortified places the Officer of Foot should have the prime command this Arbitration would seem to give pretty good satisfaction to peaceable men but the ambition of Commanders of Horse challenges the Superiority in all places nor do I think the Officers of Foot should be so modest as to give it them in any place without the express command of the Prince or his General Assuredly this Superiority cannot in reason be challenged by either Foot or Horse unless they conceive their imployment is either more necessary more to be trusted to or more honourable than the other We shall then get some light to decide the controversie when we have examined whether the Cavalry or Infantry of an Army be most necessary or most trusted to and most honourable or all three And first as to the necessity reason and if I have any right reason common sense will evince that Horses are not absolutely necessary in the managing a War but as they say ad bene esse only needful they are for the better managing the War or to say better they are useful and convenient but the Foot are purely and absolutely necessary as without which no War ever was nor no War ever can be managed Consider that the Impugnation and defence of Towns Forts and Castles is one of the most important and most necessary points of War or of the whole Military Art yet these have been may be and for most part are maintained and defended and assaulted and taken by the Foot only without the help of Horsemen and I think they are not Paradoxical who say that Horsemen are so far from being necessary that they are not convenient within besieged places and without at Sieges as little unless an enemy with Succours be expected And in the field a well order'd and couragious well armed Batallion of Foot are not so soon trode down by a Brigade of Horse as some men fancy and when their charge is stoutly stood out I know not what the Horse can do but ride I will not say run away If we look upon the practice of Nations both ancient and modern we shall find all I have said supported and more too And though our young Gallants will be governed by no former customs yet I believe Truth it self hath bid us follow the good old way And therefore let us take a short view how little necessary many Nations have thought Horsemen to be in their
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
place of the depth that every Prince appoints for his Foot Before the Reign of the Great Gustavus Adolphus for any thing I could ever learn Foot-Companies were marshal'd ten deep almost universally but he marshal'd Ten deep all his Infantry in six ranks And after he had invaded Germany the Emperour with most of the European Kings and Princes kept their Foot still at ten deep but before the end of that War which he began all of them follow'd his way and made the file of their Foot to consist of six men except the Prince of Six deep Orange who still kept ten in file I should except likewise the Earl of Strafford who in his Instructions for the better Discipline of his Army order'd every Eight deep Captain of Foot to draw up his Company eight deep In a business of this nature where there is difference a man may tell his opinion without affectation of singularity and therefore I suppose it will be granted me that the more hands a Captain can bring to fight the more shrewdly Reasons for six deep he will put his enemy to it provided still his Batallions be of that strength as to receive the shock of a resolute Impression and in case of the worst that he have Reserves to come to his rescue Of Reserves I shall speak hereafter Now I am hopeful it will not be deny'd me but that more hands are brought to fight by eight men in a file than by ten and more by six men in a file than by eight Take a second argument The more able you are to save your self from being surrounded or out-wing'd by an enemy or the more able you make your self to surround and out-wing that enemy of yours the greater advantage you have over him Both these are done by a large front now it is undeniable that eight in file enlarge the front more than ten and six more than eight and consequently eight deep contributes more than ten and six more than eight for gaining the victory That more hands are brought to fight is very soon instanced first by a Body The great advantages 1500 Musqueteers six deep have of 1500 Musqueteers ten deep of Musqueteers and next by a Body of Pikemen Let us suppose a Body of fifteen hundred Musqueteers marshal'd ten deep is to fight with a Body of Musqueteers of equal number that is fifteen hundred six deep and that they are equally stout and experienced and equally good Firemen The fifteen hundred ten deep must give fire by ranks as the fifteen hundred six deep must likewise do now the fifteen hundred ten deep can make no more but a hundred and fifty in rank for a hundred and fifty multiplied by ten produceth fifteen hundred but the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty in rank for two hundred and fifty multiplied by six produceth fifteen hundred so that the fifteen hundred six deep at every Volley pours one hundred Leaden Bullets more in the Enemies bosom than the fifteen hundred ten deep and consequently when six ranks of both parties have fired the fifteen hundred ten deep have received six hundred Ball more than the fifteen hundred six deep which without all doubt hath made a great many men fall more of the one side than the other Next one hundred and fifty files of the fifteen hundred six deep take just as much ground up in front as the whole Body of the fifteen hundred ten deep and therefore the other hundred files of the fifteen hundred six deep may fall on the sides of the fifteen hundred ten deep if they be not flanked either with Pikes or with Horsemen It is the like case mutatis mutandis between fifteen hundred eight deep and fifteen hundred six deep for fifteen hundred eight deep will make but a hundred and eighty eight in rank for a hundred eighty eight multiplied by eight produceth fifteen hundred and four now the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty ranks and so shoots at every Volley sixty two Bullets more than the fifteen hundred eight deep Make the like trial of two Batallions of Pikes each of them fifteen hundred The same advantages Pikemen also have strong equally arm'd for the defensive and their Pikes of equal length the hundred files wherewith the fifteen hundred six deep out-wings the fifteen hundred ten deep will likewise enter on their sides and very soon ruin them if they be not flanked by their friends and though they be yet these hundred files of the fifteen hundred Pikemen six deep being otherwise idle may happily give their flanks some work to do Nor hath the fifteen hundred Pikemen ten deep any advantage of the fifteen hundred six deep in the force of the impression for I have demonstrated in one of my Discourses of the Grecian Militia that six ranks of Pikemen may either give or receive the charge abundantly and therefore where Pikemen are ten deep at their charge the last four ranks should keep their Pikes ported because the presenting the points of them is altogether useless Neither was it the apprehension of the weakness of his Body of Musqueteers drawn up six deep that made the King of Sweden make use of his Feathers to defend his Musqueteers against the Polonian Horse for these Feathers may serve a Body of Firemen drawn up ten deep as well as a Body of Firemen drawn up six deep neither indeed is it the deepness of a Body of Musqueteers that can resist a resolute charge of Horse it must be Pikes Halberts or these Feathers or something like them Nor do I think after the Invention of Gunpowder that ten deep was thought fit for Foot in imitation of the Romans as some fancy for I have shewn in another Reasons for ten deep place that Vegetius who is lookt on by many as the Oracle of the old Roman Militia doth make the Roman file to consist of eleven men but I think it was out of this consideration that after the first rank had fired their Guns they could not be ready to fire again till the other nine ranks had all fired and withal a Musquet rest was taken to help with so much wariness did our Ancestors walk when first they made use of the new found Engines of fire We read of a Count of Vaâ—dâ—mont who within thirty years after the Invention of Gunpowder made use of two Culverines in his Wars with the Duke of Bar and by their help defeated his enemy but at every time the Pieces were discharged the Count himself fell to the ground for fear But as Great Câ—sar says Vsus est rerum Magister Use and Custom over-master things and therefore the Cannon is not now so dreadful as it was nor is the Musquet so unmanageable as it was thought daily experience lets us see that the first rank of six can fire make For fine deep ready and stay for the word of Command before the other five