knowe how that of the excellente men of warre, there hath been named
many in Europe, fewe in Affric, and lesse in Asia: this grewe, for that
these twoo laste partes of the worlde, have had not paste one kyngdome,
or twoo, and fewe common weales, but Europe onely, hath had many
kyngdomes, and infinite common weales, where menne became excellent, and
did shewe their vertue, accordyng as thei were sette a woorke, and
brought before their Prince, or common weale, or king that he be: it
followeth therefore, that where be many dominions, there rise many
valiaunt menne, and where be fewe, fewe. In Asia is founde Ninus, Cirus,
Artasercses, Mithridates: and verie fewe other, that to these maie be
compared. In Africk, is named (lettyng stande thesame auncient Egipt)
Massinissa, Jugurta, and those Capitaines, whiche of the Carthaginens
common weale were nourished, whom also in respecte to those of Europe,
are moste fewe: bicause in Europe, be excellente men without nomber, and
so many more should be, if together with those should bee named the
other, that be through the malignitie of time extincte: for that the
worlde hath been moste vertuous, where hath been moste states, whiche
have favoured vertue of necessitie, or for other humaine passion. There
rose therfore in Asia, fewe excellente menne: bicause thesame Province,
was all under one kyngdome, in the whiche for the greatnesse thereof,
thesame standing for the moste parte of tyme idell, there could not
growe men in doynges excellent. To Africke there happened the verie
same, yet there were nourished more then in Asia, by reason of the
Carthaginens common weale: for that in common weales, there growe more
excellent men, then in kingdomes, bicause in common weales for the most
part, vertue is honoured, in Kyngdomes it is helde backe: wherby
groweth, that in thone, vertuous men are nourished, in the other thei
are extincte. Therefore he that shall consider the partes of Europe,
shall finde it to have been full of common weales, and of princedomes,
the whiche for feare, that the one had of the other, thei wer
constrained to kepe lively the warlike orders, and to honor them, whiche
in those moste prevailed: for that in Grece, besides the kyngdome of the
Macedonians, there were many common weales, and in every one of theim,
were bred moste excellente men. In Italie, were the Romaines, the
Sannites, the Toscanes, the Gallie Cisalpini. Fraunce, and Almainie, wer
ful of common weales and princedomes. Spaine likewise: and although in
comparison of the Romaines, there are named fewe other, it groweth
through the malignitie of the writers, whom folowe fortune, and to theim
for the moste parte it suffised, to honour the conquerours: but it
standeth not with reason, that betwene the Sannites, and the Toscanes,
whom fought CL. yeres with the Romaine people, before thei wer overcome,
there should not growe exceadyng many excellente menne. And so likewise
in Fraunce, and in Spaine: but that vertue, whiche the writers did not
celebrate in particuler menne, thei celebrated generally in the people,
where thei exalte to the starres, the obstinatenesse that was in them,
to defende their libertie. Beyng then true, that where bee moste
dominions, there riseth moste valiaunt menne, it foloweth of necessitie,
that extinguishyng those, vertue is extincte straighte waie, the
occasion decaiyng, whiche maketh menne vertuous. Therefore, the Romaine
Empire beyng after increased, and havyng extinguished all the common
weales, and Princedomes of Europe, and of Afrike, and for the moste part
those of Asia, it lefte not any waie to vertue, excepte Rome: whereby
grewe, that vertuous menne began to be as fewe in Europe, as in Asia:
the whiche vertue, came after to the laste caste: For as moche, as all
the vertue beyng reduced to Roome, so sone as thesame was corrupted,
almoste all the worlde came to bee corrupted: and the Scithian people,
were able to come to spoile thesame Empire, the whiche had extinguished
the vertue of other, and knewe not howe to maintaine their owne: and
after, although through the inundacion of those barberous nacions,
thesame Empire was devided into many partes, this vertue is not renued:
[Sidenote: The causes why the aunciente orders are neclected.]
The one cause is, for that it greveth theim moche, to take againe the
orders when thei are marde, the other, bicause the maner of livyng now
adaies, having respect to the Christian religion, commaundeth not
thesame necessitie to menne, to defende themselves, whiche in olde tyme
was: for that then, the menne overcome in warre, either were killed, or
remained perpetuall slaves, where thei led their lives moste miserably:
The tounes overcome, either were rased, or the inhabiters thereof driven
out, their goodes taken awaie, sent dispersed through the worlde: so
that the vanquished in warre, suffered all extreme miserie: of this
feare, men beyng made afraied, thei wer driven to kepe lively the
warlike exercises, and thei honoured soche as were excellente in theim:
But nowe adaies, this feare for the moste part is not regarded: of those
that are overcom, fewe bee killed, none is kepte longe in prison: for
that with facelitie, thei are sette at libertie: the citees also, whiche
a thousande tymes have rebelled, are not destroied, the men wherof, are
let a lone with their goodes, so that the greateste hurte that is
feared, is but a taske: in so moche, that men will not submit them
selves to the orders of warre, and to abide alwaies under those, to
avoide the perilles whereof thei are little afraied: again these
Provinces of Europe, be under a verie fewe heddes, in respecte as it
hath been in times past: for that al Fraunce, obeieth one kyng, al
Spain, an other: Italie is in fewe partes, so that the weake citees, are
defended with leanyng to hym that overcometh, and the strong states, for
the causes aforesaied, feare no soche extreme ruine.
COSIMO. Yet ther hath ben seen many tounes that have ben sacked within
this xxv. yeres, and lost their dominions, whose insample, ought to
teache other how to live, and to take again some of those old orders.
FABRICIO. You saie true: but if you note what tounes have gone to sacke,
you shall not finde that thei have been the heddes of states, but of the
members; as was seen sacked Tortona, and not Milaine: Capua, and not
Napelles, Brescia, and not Venice, Ravenna, and not Roome: the whiche
insamples maketh those that governe, not to chaunge their purposes, but
rather maketh them to stande more in their opinion, to be able to redeme
again all thynges with taskes, and for this, thei will not submit theim
selves to the troubles of thexercises of warre, semyng unto them partly
not necessarie, partly, an intrinsicate matter, whiche thei understande
not: Those other, whiche bee subjectes to them, whom soche insamples
ought to make afraied, have no power to remedie it: and those Princes,
that have ones loste their estates, are no more able, and those which as
yet kept them, know not, nor wil not. Bicause thei will without any
disease rain by fortune, and not by their vertue: for that in the worlde
beyng but little vertue, thei see fortune governeth all thynges. And
thei will have it to rule theim, not thei to rule it. And to prove this
that I have discoursed to bee true, consider Almaine, in the whiche,
bicause there is many Princedomes, and common weales, there is moche
vertue, and all thesame, whiche in the present service of warre is good,
dependeth of the insamples of those people: who beyng all gellious of
their states, fearing servitude, the which in other places is not
feared, thei all maintaine theim selves Lordes, and honourable: this
that I have saied, shall suffice to shewe the occacions of the presente
utilitie, accordyng to my opinion: I cannot tell, whether it seeme
thesame unto you, or whether there be growen in you any doubtyng.
COSIMO. None, but rather I understande all verie well: onely I desire,
tournyng to our principall matter, to understande of you, how you would
ordein the horses with these battailes, and how many, and how thei
should be governed, and how armed.
[Sidenote: The armyng of horsemen; The weapons that light horsmenne
should have; The nombre of horsmen requisite for a maine bataille of six
thousand men; The nombre of carrages that men of armes and light horsmen
ought to have.]
FABRICIO. You thinke peraventure, that I have left it behinde: whereat
doe not marvell, for that I purpose for twoo causes, to speake therof
little, the one is, for that the strengthe, and the importaunce of an
armie, is the footemen, the other is, bicause this part of service of
warre, is lesse corrupted, then thesame of footemen. For that though it
be not stronger then the old, yet it maie compare with thesame,
nevertheles ther hath been spoken a little afore, of the maner of
exercisyng them. And concernyng tharmyng them, I would arme them as thei
doe at this present, as wel the light horsemen, as the menne of armes:
but the light horsemen, I would that thei should be all Crossebowe
shuters, with some Harkebutters emong them: the whiche though in the
other affaires of warre, thei bee little profitable, thei be for this
most profitable, to make afraied the countrie menne, and to drive them
from a passage, that were kept of them: bicause a Harkebutter, shall
feare them more, then twentie other armed. But commyng to the nomber, I
saie, that having taken in hand, to imitate the service of warre of the
Romaines, I would not ordein more then three hundred horse, profitable
for every maine battaile, of whiche I would that there were CL. men of
armes, and CL. light horsmen, and I would give to every one of these
partes, a hedde, making after emong them fiftene peticapitaines for a
bande, givyng to every one of them a Trompet, and a standarde: I would
that every ten menne of armes, should have five carriages, and every ten
light horsemen twoo, the whiche as those of the footemen, should carrie
the tentes, the vesselles, and the axes, and the stakes, and the rest of
their other harneis. Nor beleve not but that it is disorder, where the
menne of armes have to their service fower horse, bicause soche a thyng
is a corrupt use: for that the men of armes in Almaine, are seen to bee
with their horse alone, every twentie of theim, havyng onely a carte,
that carrieth after them their necessary thynges. The Romaine horsemen,
were likewise a lone: true it is, that the Triary lodged nere them,
whiche wer bound to minister helpe unto theim, in the kepyng of their
horses the whiche maie easely be imitated of us, as in the distributyng
of the lodgynges, I shall shewe you. Thesame then that the Romaines did,
and that whiche the Duchmen doe now a daies, we maie doe also, ye, not
doyng it, we erre. These horses ordained and appoincted together with a
main battaile, maie sometymes be put together, when the battailes bee
assembled, and to cause that betwene theim bee made some sight of
assault, the whiche should be more to make them acquainted together,
then for any other necessitie. But now of this part, there hath been
spoke sufficiently, wherefore let us facion the armie, to be able to
come into the field against the enemie, and hope to winne it: whiche
thyng is the ende, for whiche the exercise of warre is ordeined, and so
moche studie therein bestowed.
THE THIRDE BOOKE
COSIMO. Seeing that we chaunge reasonyng, I will that the demaunder be
chaunged: bicause I would not be thought presumptuous, the which I have
alwaies blamed in other: therfore, I resigne the Dictatorship, and give
this aucthoritie to hym that will have it, of these my other frendes.
ZANOBI. We would be moste glad, that you should procede, but seyng that
you will not, yet tell at leaste, whiche of us shall succede in your
place.
COSIMO. I will give this charge to signor Fabricio.
FABRICIO. I am content to take it, and I will that we folowe the
Venecian custome, that is, that the youngeste speake firste: bicause
this beyng an exercise for yong men, I perswade my self, that yong
menne, bee moste apt to reason thereof, as thei be moste readie to
execute it.
COSIMO. Then it falleth to you Luigi: and as I have pleasure of soche a
successour, so you shal satisfie your self of soche a demaunder:
therefore I praie you, let us tourne to the matter, and let us lese no
more tyme.
[Sidenote: The greateste disorder that is used now a daies in pitching
of a fielde; The order how a Romain Legion was appoincted to faight; The
maner that the Grekes used in their Falangi, when thei fought against
their enemies; The order that the Suizzers use in their main battailes
when thei faight; Howe to appoincte a main battaile with armour and
weapons, and to order thesame after the Greke and Romain maner.]
FABRICIO. I am certain, that to mynde to shewe wel, how an armie is
prepared, to faight a fielde, it should be necessarie to declare, how
the Grekes, and the Romaines ordeined the bandes of their armies:
Notwithstandyng, you your selves, beeyng able to rede, and to consider
these tnynges, by meanes of the auncient writers. I will passe over many
particulars: and I will onely bryng in those thynges, whiche I thinke
necessarie to imitate, mindyng at this tyme, to give to our exercise of
warre, some parte of perfection: The whiche shall make, that in one
instant, I shall shewe you, how an armie is prepared to the field, and
how it doeth incounter in the verie faight, and how it maie be exercised
in the fained. The greatest disorder, that thei make, whiche ordeine an
armie to the fielde, is in giving them onely one fronte, and to binde
them to one brunt, and to one fortune: the whiche groweth, of havyng
loste the waie, that the antiquitie used to receive one bande within an
other: bicause without this waie, thei can neither succour the formoste,
nor defende them, nor succede in the faight in their steede: the whiche
of the Romaines, was moste excellently well observed. Therefore,
purposyng to shewe this waie, I saie, how that the Romaines devided into
iii. partes every Legion, in Hastati, Prencipi, and Triarii, of which,
the Hastati wer placed in the first front, or forward of the armie, with
thorders thicke and sure, behinde whom wer the Prencipi, but placed with
their orders more thinne: after these, thei set the Triarii, and with so
moche thinnes of orders, that thei might, if nede wer, receive betwene
them the Prencipi, and the Hastati. Thei had besides these, the
Slingers, and Crosbowshoters, and the other lighte armed, the whiche
stoode not in these orders, but thei placed them in the bed of tharmie,
betwene the horses and the other bandes of footemen: therefore these
light armed, began the faight, if thei overcame (whiche happened seldom
times) thei folowed the victorie: if thei were repulced, thei retired by
the flanckes of the armie, or by the spaces ordained for soche purposes,
and thei brought them selves emong the unarmed: after the departure of
whom, the Hastati incountered with the enemie, the whiche if thei saw
themselves to be overcome, thei retired by a little and little, by the
rarenesse of thorders betwene the Prencipi, and together with those,
thei renued the faight if these also wer repulced, thei retired al in
the rarenesse of the orders of the Triarii, and al together on a heape,
began againe the faight: and then, if thei were overcome, there was no
more remeady, bicause there remained no more waies to renue them again.
The horses stoode on the corners of the armie, to the likenes of twoo
winges to a bodie, and somewhiles thei fought with the enemies horses,
an other while, thei rescued the fotmen, according as nede required.
This waie of renuyng theim selves three tymes, is almoste impossible to
overcome: for that, fortune muste three tymes forsake thee, and the
enemie to have so moche strengthe, that three tymes he maie overcome
thee. The Grekes, had not in their Falangi, this maner of renuyng them
selves, and although in those wer many heddes, and many orders,
notwithstandyng, thei made one bodie, or els one hedde: the maner that
thei kepte in rescuyng the one the other was, not to retire the one
order within the other, as the Romaines, but to enter the one manne into
the place of the other: the which thei did in this maner. Their Falange
brought into rankes, and admit, that thei put in a ranke fiftie menne,
commyng after with their hedde againste the enemie, of all the rankes
the foremoste sixe, mighte faight: Bicause their Launces, the whiche
thei called Sarisse, were so long, that the sixt ranke, passed with the
hedde of their Launces, out of the first ranke: then in faightyng, if
any of the first, either through death, or through woundes fell,
straight waie there entered into his place, thesame man, that was
behinde in the second ranke, and in the place that remained voide of the
seconde, thesame man entred, whiche was behind hym in the thirde, and
thus successively, in a sodaine the rankes behinde, restored the faultes
of those afore, so that the rankes alwaies remained whole, and no place
of the faighters was voide, except the laste rankes, the whiche came to
consume, havyng not menne behinde their backes, whom might restore
theim: So that the hurte that the first rankes suffered, consumed the
laste, and the firste remained alwaies whole: and thus these Falangi by
their order, might soner be consumed, then broken, for that the grosse
bodie, made it more immovable. The Romaines used at the beginnyng the
Falangi, and did set in order their Legions like unto them: after, this
order pleased them not, and thei devided the Legions into many bodies,
that is, in bandes and companies: Bicause thei judged (as a little afore
I saied) that thesame bodie, should have neede of many capitaines, and
that it should be made of sunderie partes, so that every one by it self,
might be governed. The maine battailes of the Suizzers, use at this
present, all the maners of the Falangi, as well in ordryng it grosse,
and whole, as in rescuyng the one the other: and in pitchyng the field,
thei set the main battailes, thone to the sides of the other: and though
thei set them the one behinde the other, thei have no waie, that the
firste retiryng it self, maie bee received of the seconde, but thei use
this order, to the entent to bee able to succour the one thother, where
thei put a maine battaile before, and an other behinde thesame on the
right hande: so that if the first have nede of helpe, that then the
other maie make forewarde, and succour it: the third main battaile, thei
put behind these, but distant from them, a Harkebus shot: this thei doe,
for that thesaid two main battailes being repulced, this maie make
forwarde, and have space for theim selves, and for the repulced, and
thesame that marcheth forward, to avoide the justling of the one the
other: for asmoche as a grosse multitude, cannot bee received as a
little bodie: and therefore, the little bodies beyng destincte, whiche
were in a Romaine Legion, might be placed in soche wise, that thei might
receive betwene theim, and rescue the one the other. And to prove this
order of the Suizzers not to be so good, as the auncient Romaines, many
insamples of the Romain Legions doe declare, when thei fought with the
Grekes Falangi, where alwaies thei were consumed of theim: for that the
kinde of their weapons (as I have said afore) and this waie of renuyng
themselves, could do more, then the massivenesse of the Falangi. Havyng
therefore, with these insamples to ordaine an armie, I have thought
good, partly to retaine the maner of armyng and the orders of the Grekes
Falangi, and partely of the Romain Legions: and therfore I have saied,
that I would have in a main battaile, twoo thousande pikes, whiche be
the weapons of the Macedonicall Falangi, and three thousande Targaettes
with sweardes, whiche be the Romain weapons: I have devided the main
battaile, into x. battailes, as the Romaines their Legion into ten
Cohortes: I have ordeined the Veliti, that is the light armed, to begin
the faight, as the Romaines used: and like as the weapons beyng mingled,
doe participate of thone and of the other nacion, so the orders also doe
participate: I have ordained, that every battaile shall have v. rankes
of Pikes in the fronte, and the rest of Targaettes, to bee able with the
front, to withstande the horses, and to enter easely into the battaile
of the enemies on foot, having in the firste fronte, or vawarde, Pikes,
as well as the enemie, the whiche shall suffice me to withstande them,
the Targaettes after to overcome theim. And if you note the vertue of
this order, you shal se al these weapons, to doe fully their office, for
that the Pikes, bee profitable against the horses, and when thei come
against the footemenne, thei dooe their office well, before the faight
throng together, bicause so sone as thei presse together, thei become
unprofitable: wherefore, the Suizzers to avoide this inconvenience, put
after everye three rankes of Pikes, a ranke of Halberdes, the whiche
they do to make roome to the Pikes, which is not yet so much as
suffiseth. Then putting our Pikes afore, and the Targaettes behinde,
they come to withstande the horses, and in the beginning of the fight,
they open the rayes, and molest the footemen: But when the fight is
thrust together, and that they become unprofitable, the Targaettes and
swoords succeede, which may in every narowe place be handled.
LUIGI. Wee looke nowe with desire to understande, howe you would ordeyne
the armie to fighte the fielde, with these weapons, and with these
order.
[Sidenote: The nomber of men that was in a Counsulles armie; How the
Romaines placed their Legions in the field; How to order an armie in the
fielde to fighte a battaile, according to the minde of the authour; How
the extraordinary pikes bee placed in the set battaile; The place where
thextraordinarie archars and harkebutters, and the men of armes and
lighte horsmen ought to stande when the field is pitched, and goeth to
faighte the battaile; The ordinarie archars and harkebutters are placed
aboute their owne battailes; The place where the generall hedde of a
maine battaile muste stande, when thesame power of men is appoincted to
faight; What menne a general capitain of a maine battaile oughte to have
aboute hym; The place wher a general capitain of all thearmie must stand
when the battaile is ready to be fought and what nomber of chosen men
oughte to be aboute hym; How many canons is requisite for an armie, and
of what sise they ought to bee; Where the artillerie ought to be placed
when thearmie is reedie to fight; An armie that were ordered as above is
declared, maie in fighting, use the Grekes maner, and the Roman fashion;
To what purpose the spaces that be betwene every bande of men do serve.]