First you must represent the smoke of artillery mingling in the air
with the dust and tossed up by the movement of horses and the
combatants. And this mixture you must express thus: The dust, being
a thing of earth, has weight; and although from its fineness it is
easily tossed up and mingles with the air, it nevertheless readily
falls again. It is the finest part that rises highest; hence that
part will be least seen and will look almost of the same colour as
the air. The higher the smoke mixed with the dust-laden air rises
towards a certain level, the more it will look like a dark cloud;
and it will be seen that at the top, where the smoke is more
separate from the dust, the smoke will assume a bluish tinge and the
dust will tend to its colour. This mixture of air, smoke and dust
will look much lighter on the side whence the light comes than on
the opposite side. The more the combatants are in this turmoil the
less will they be seen, and the less contrast will there be in their
lights and shadows. Their faces and figures and their appearance,
and the musketeers as well as those near them you must make of a
glowing red. And this glow will diminish in proportion as it is
remote from its cause.
The figures which are between you and the light, if they be at a
distance, will appear dark on a light background, and the lower part
of their legs near the ground will be least visible, because there
the dust is coarsest and densest [19]. And if you introduce horses
galloping outside the crowd, make the little clouds of dust distant
from each other in proportion to the strides made by the horses; and
the clouds which are furthest removed from the horses, should be
least visible; make them high and spreading and thin, and the nearer
ones will be more conspicuous and smaller and denser [23]. The air
must be full of arrows in every direction, some shooting upwards,
some falling, some flying level. The balls from the guns must have a
train of smoke following their flight. The figures in the foreground
you must make with dust on the hair and eyebrows and on other flat
places likely to retain it. The conquerors you will make rushing
onwards with their hair and other light things flying on the wind,
with their brows bent down,
[Footnote: 19--23. Compare 608. 57--75.]
602.
and with the opposite limbs thrust forward; that is where a man puts
forward the right foot the left arm must be advanced. And if you
make any one fallen, you must show the place where he has slipped
and been dragged along the dust into blood stained mire; and in the
half-liquid earth arround show the print of the tramping of men and
horses who have passed that way. Make also a horse dragging the dead
body of his master, and leaving behind him, in the dust and mud, the
track where the body was dragged along. You must make the conquered
and beaten pale, their brows raised and knit, and the skin above
their brows furrowed with pain, the sides of the nose with wrinkles
going in an arch from the nostrils to the eyes, and make the
nostrils drawn up--which is the cause of the lines of which I
speak--, and the lips arched upwards and discovering the upper
teeth; and the teeth apart as with crying out and lamentation. And
make some one shielding his terrified eyes with one hand, the palm
towards the enemy, while the other rests on the ground to support
his half raised body. Others represent shouting with their mouths
open, and running away. You must scatter arms of all sorts among the
feet of the combatants, as broken shields, lances, broken swords and
other such objects. And you must make the dead partly or entirely
covered with dust, which is changed into crimson mire where it has
mingled with the flowing blood whose colour shows it issuing in a
sinuous stream from the corpse. Others must be represented in the
agonies of death grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, with
their fists clenched against their bodies and their legs contorted.
Some might be shown disarmed and beaten down by the enemy, turning
upon the foe, with teeth and nails, to take an inhuman and bitter
revenge. You might see some riderless horse rushing among the enemy,
with his mane flying in the wind, and doing no little mischief with
his heels. Some maimed warrior may be seen fallen to the earth,
covering himself with his shield, while the enemy, bending over him,
tries to deal him a deathstroke. There again might be seen a number
of men fallen in a heap over a dead horse. You would see some of the
victors leaving the fight and issuing from the crowd, rubbing their
eyes and cheeks with both hands to clean them of the dirt made by
their watering eyes smarting from the dust and smoke. The reserves
may be seen standing, hopeful but cautious; with watchful eyes,
shading them with their hands and gazing through the dense and murky
confusion, attentive to the commands of their captain. The captain
himself, his staff raised, hurries towards these auxiliaries,
pointing to the spot where they are most needed. And there may be a
river into which horses are galloping, churning up the water all
round them into turbulent waves of foam and water, tossed into the
air and among the legs and bodies of the horses. And there must not
be a level spot that is not trampled with gore.
603.
OF LIGHTING THE LOWER PARTS OF BODIES CLOSE TOGETHER, AS OF MEN IN
BATTLE.
As to men and horses represented in battle, their different parts
will be dark in proportion as they are nearer to the ground on which
they stand. And this is proved by the sides of wells which grow
darker in proportion to their depth, the reason of which is that the
deepest part of the well sees and receives a smaller amount of the
luminous atmosphere than any other part.
And the pavement, if it be of the same colour as the legs of these
said men and horses, will always be more lighted and at a more
direct angle than the said legs &c.
604.