Preface

•f>
/
THE TUDOR TRANSLATIONS
EDITED BY
W. E. HENLEY XXXIX
MACHIAVELLI
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
HENRY C U S T. M. P.
VOLUME I
THE ART OF WAR
TRANSLATED HY
PETER WHITEHORNE
1560
THE PRINCE
TRANSLATED BY
EDWARD DACRES
LONDON
Published by DAVID NUTT
at the Sign of the Phoenix
LONG ACRE
1905
Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
TO MY FRIEND CHARLES WHIBLEY
H. c.
INTRODUCTION
AM at my farm ; and, since my last mis- ' fortunes, have not been in Florence ' twenty days. I spent September in ' snaring thrushes ; but at the end of ' the month, even this rather tiresome ' sport failed me. I rise with the sun, 4 and go into a wood of mine that is
being cut, where I remain two hours inspecting the work The Life of of the previous day and conversing with the woodcutters, a y who have always some trouble on hand amongst them selves or with their neighbours. When I leave the wood, I go to a spring, and thence to the place which I use for snaring birds, with a book under my arm — Dante or Petrarch, or one of the minor poets, like Tibullus or Ovid. I read the story of their passions, and let their loves remind me of my own, which is a pleasant pastime for a while. Next I take the road, enter the inn door, talk with the passers-by, inquire the news of the neighbourhood, listen to a variety of matters, and make note of the different tastes and humours of men.
'This brings me to dinner-time, when I join my family and eat the poor produce of my farm. After dinner I go back to the inn, where I generally find the host and a b ix
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- ' butcher, a miller, and a pair of bakers. With these com-
CTION t panjons i play the fool all day at cards or backgammon :
4 a thousand squabbles, a thousand insults and abusive
4 dialogues take place, while we haggle over a farthing,
4 and shout loud enough to be heard from San Casciano.
4 But when evening falls I go home and enter my writing- 6 room. On the threshold I put off my country habits, 4 filthy with mud and mire, and array myself in royal 4 courtly garments. Thus worthily attired, I make my 4 entrance into the ancient courts of the men of old, where 4 they receive me with love, and where I feed upon that 4 food which only is my own and for which I was born. I 4 feel no shame in conversing with them and asking them 4 the reason of their actions.
4 They, moved by their humanity, make answer. For four 4 hours1 space I feel no annoyance, forget all care ; poverty — 4 cannot frighten, nor death appal me. I am carried away 4 to their society. And since Dante says 44 that there is no ~ 4 science unless we retain what we have learned" I have 4 set down what I have gained from their discourse, and 4 composed a treatise, De Prindpatibits, in which I enter • as deeply as I can into the science of the subject, with 4 reasonings on the nature of principality, its several species, 4 and how they are acquired, how maintained, how lost. If k you ever liked any of my scribblings, this ought to suit 4 your taste. To a prince, and especially to a new prince, 4 it ought to prove acceptable. Therefore I am dedicating 4 it to the Magnificence of Giuliano.1
Niccolo Such is the account that Niccolo Machiavelli renders
Machiavel]i_0f himself when after imprisonment, torture, and disgrace,
MACHIAVELLI
at the age of forty-four, he first turned to serious writing. INTRO- )-
For the first twenty-six or indeed twenty-nine of those AUCTION >N
years we have not one line from his pen or one word
of vaguest information about him. Throughout all his
works written for publication, there is little news about
himself. Montaigne could properly write, ' Ainsi, lecteur, je
4 suis moy-mesme la matiere de mon livre." But the matter
of Machiavelli was far other : 4 lo ho espresso quanto io so,
' e quanto io ho imparato per una lunga pratica e continua
4 lezione delle cose del mondo.1
Machiavelli was born on the 3rd of May 1469. The The Man period of his life almost exactly coincides with that of Cardinal Wolsey. He came of the old and noble Tuscan stock of Montespertoli, who were men of their hands in the eleventh century. He carried their coat, but the property had been wasted and divided. His forefathers had held office of high distinction, but had fallen away as the new wealth of the bankers and traders increased in Florence. He himself inherited a small property in San Casciano and its neighbourhood, which assured him a sufficient, if some- it
what lean, independence. Of his education we know little enough. He was well acquainted with Latin, and knew,— perhaps, Greek enough to serve his turn. 4 Rather not- ' without letters than lettered,1 Varchi describes him. That
he was not loaded down with learned reading proved
probably a great advantage. The coming of the French, - and the expulsion of the Medici, the proclamation of the Republic (1494), and later the burning of Savonarola convulsed Florence and threw open many public offices. It Fall
has been suggested, but without much foundation, that some clerical work was found for Machiavelli in 1494 or
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INTRO- even earlier. It is certain that on July 14, 1498, he was DUCTION app0inte(i Chancellor and Secretary to the Dieci di Liberta e Pace, an office which he held till the close of his political life at fall of the Republic in 1512.
Official Life The functions of his Council were extremely varied, and in the hands of their Secretary became yet more diversified. They represented in some sense the Ministry for Home, Military, and especially for Foreign Affairs. It is impos sible to give any full account of Machiavelli's official duties. He wrote many thousands of despatches and official letters, which are still preserved. He was on constant errands - of State through the Florentine dominions. But his diplomatic missions and what he learned by them make the main interest of his office. His first adventure of importance was to the Court of Caterina Sforza, the Lady of Forli, in which matter that astute Countess entirely bested the teacher of all diplomatists to be. In 1500 he smelt powder at the siege at Pisa, and was sent to France to allay the irritations of Louis XIT. Many similar and lesser missions follow. The results are in no case of great importance, but the opportunities to the Secretary of learn- — ing men and things, intrigue and policy, the Court and the gutter were invaluable. At the camp of Caesar Borgia, in 1502, he found in his host that fantastic hero whom he incarnated in The Prince, and he was practically an eye witness of the amazing masterpiece, the Massacre of Sinigaglia. The next year he is sent to Rome with a watching brief at the election of Julius n., and in 1506 is again sent to negotiate with the Pope. An embassy to the Emperor Maximilian, a second mission to the French King at Blois, in which he persuades Louis xii. to postpone the xii
MACHIAVELLI
threatened General Council of the Church (1511), and INTRO constant expeditions to report upon and set in order unrestful towns and provinces did not fulfil his activity. His pen was never idle. Reports, despatches, elaborate monographs on France, Germany, or wherever he might be, and personal letters innumerable, and even yet unpub lished, ceased not night nor day. Detail, wit, character- - drawing, satire, sorrow, bitterness, all take their turn. — But this was only a fraction of his work. By duty and by expediency he was bound to follow closely the internal — politics of Florence where his enemies and rivals abounded.— And in all these years he was pushing forward and carrying through with unceasing and unspeakable vigour the great military dream of his life, the foundation of a National- Militia and the extinction of Mercenary Companies. But - the fabric he had fancied and thought to have built proved unsubstantial. The spoilt half-mutinous levies whom he had spent years in odious and unwilling training failed him"" at the crowning moment in strength and spirit : and the fall of the Republic implied the fall of Machiavelli and the His Defeat close of his official life. He struggled hard to save himself, but the wealthy classes were against him, perhaps afraid of him, and on them the Medici relied. For a year he was forbidden to leave Florentine territory, and for a while was excluded from the Palazzo. Later his name was found in a list of Anti-Medicean conspirators. He was arrested and decorously tortured with six turns of the rack, and then liberated for want of evidence.
For perhaps a year after his release the Secretary engaged After his Fall in a series of tortuous intrigues to gain the favour of the Medici. Many of the stories may be exaggerated, but none
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INTRO- make pleasant reading, and nothing proved successful. His
— position was miserable. Temporarily crippled by torture, out of favour with the Government, shunned by his friends,
_ in deep poverty, burdened with debt and with a wife and
^-four children, his material circumstances were ill enough.
^But, worse still, he was idle. He had deserved well of the
Republic, and had never despaired of it, and this was his
reward. He seemed to himself a broken man. He had no
great natural dignity, no great moral strength. He pro-
— foundry loved and admired Dante, but he could not for one — .moment imitate him. He sought satisfaction in sensuality ^of life and writing, but found no comfort. Great things
were stirring in the world and he had neither part nor lot in them. By great good fortune he began a correspondence with his friend Francesco Vettori, the Medicean Ambassador at Rome, to whom he appeals for his good offices ; c And if ' nothing can be done, I must live as I came into the world,
- ' for I was born poor and learnt to want before learning to
•- ' enjoy." Before long these two diplomats had co-opted themselves into a kind of Secret Cabinet of Europe. It is a strange but profoundly interesting correspondence, both politically and personally. Nothing is too great or too
— small, too glorious or too mean for their pens. Amid -foolish anecdotes and rather sordid love affairs the politics
~T)f Europe, and especially of Italy, are dissected and dis cussed. Leo x. had now plunged into political intrigue. Ferdinand of Spain was in difficulty. France had allied herself witli Venice. The Swiss are the Ancient Romans, and may conquer Italy. Then back again, or rather
— constant throughout, the love intrigues and the ' likely -' wench hard-by who may help to pass our time/ But
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through it all there is an ache at Machiavellfs heart, and I NT RO OD a sudden he will break down, crying,
Pero se alcuna volta io rido e canto Facciol, perche non ho se lion quest' uua Via da sfo^are il mio augoscioso pianto.
Vettori promised much, but nothing came of it. By 1515 the correspondence died away, and the Ex-Secretary found for himself at last the true pathway through his vale of years.
The remainder of Machiavelli's life is bounded by his The true Life books. He settled at his villa at San Cascio.no, where he spent his day as he describes in the letter quoted at the beginning of this essay. In 1518 he began to attend the meetings of the Literary Club in the Orti Oricellarii, and made new and remarkable friends. ' Era amato gran- 1 damente da loro . . . e della sua conversazione si dilet- * tavano maravigliosamente, tenendo in prez/o grandissimo " tutte Topere sue,1 which shows the personal authority - he exercised. Occasionally he was employed by Florentine -merchants to negotiate for them at Venice, Genoa, Lucca, and other places. In 1519 Cardinal Medici deigned to consult him as to the Government, and commissioned him to write the History of Florence. But in the main he wrote his books and lived the daily life we know. In 1525 he went to Home to present his History to Clement vn., and was sent on to Guicciardini. In 152(j he was busy once more with military matters and the fortification of Florence. On the ggncl of June 1527 he died at Florence immediately after the establishment of the second Republic. He had lived as a practising Christian,- -
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INTRO- and so died, surrounded by his wife and family. Wild DUCTIorL legends grew about his death, but have no foundation. A peasant clod in San Casciano could not have made a simpler end. He was buried in the family Chapel in Santa Croce, and a monument was there at last erected with the epitaph by Doctor Ferroni — ' Tanto nomini nullum par ' elogium.' The first edition of his complete works was published in 1782, and was dedicated to Lord Cowper. His What manner of man was Machiavelli at home and in
Character the market_place ? It is hard to say. There are doubtful busts, the best, perhaps, that engraved in the 'Testina' edition of 1550, so-called on account of the portrait. ' Of 4 middle height, slender figure, with sparkling eyes, dark 6 hair, rather a small head, a slightly aquiline nose, a tightly closed mouth : all about him bore the impress of a very acute observer and thinker, but not that of one 6 able to wield much influence over others.' Such is a reconstruction of him by one best able to make one. ' In 4 his conversation,' says Varchi, ' Machiavelli was pleasant, , ' serviceable to his friends, a friend of virtuous men, and, ' in a word, worthy to have received from Nature either / ' less genius or a better mind.' If not much above the
- moral standard of the day he was certainly riot below it.
— His habits were loose and his language lucid and licentious. But there is no bad or even unkind act charged against
- him. To his honesty and good faith he very fairly claims -* that his poverty bears witness. He was a kind, if uncertain,
— husband and a devoted father. His letters to his children
— are charming. Here is one written soon before his death to his little son Guido. — ' Guido, my darling son, I received ' a letter of thine and was delighted with it, particularly
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4 because you tell me of your full recovery, the best news INTRO
4 I could have. If God grants life to us both I expect to AU
* make a good man of you, only you must do your fair
4 share yourself.1 Guido is to stick to his books and
music, and if the family mule is too fractious, 4 Unbridle
' him, take off' the halter and turn him loose at Monte-
4 pulciano. The farm is large, the mule is small, so no
4 harm can come of it. Tell your mother, with my love,
' not to be nervous. I shall surely be home before any
4 trouble comes. Give a kiss to Baccina, Piero, and Totto :
4 I wish I knew his eyes were getting well. Be happy and
4 spend as little as you may. Christ have you in his
4 keeping/ — There is nothing exquisite or divinely delicate
in this letter, but there are many such, and they were not —
written by a bad man, any more than the answers they —
evoke were addressed to one. There is little more save of a
like character that is known of Machiavelli the man. But
to judge him and his work we must have some knowledge of
the world in which he was to move and have his being.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century Italy was State of rotten to the core. In the close competition of great -v •wickedness the Vicar of Christ easily carried off the palm, and the Court of Alexander vi. was probably the wickedest meeting-place of men that has ever existed upon earth. No virtue, Christian or Pagan, was there to be found ; little art that was not sensuous or sensual. It seemed as if Bacchus and Venus and Priapus had come to their own again, and yet Rome had not ceased to call herself Christian.
4 Owing to the evil ensample of the Papal Court,"1 writes c xvii
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INTRO- Machiavelli, 'Italy has lost all piety and all religion: DUCTION t w}ience follow infinite troubles and disorders; for as ' religion implies all good, so its absence implies the -'contrary. To the Church and priests of Rome we owe ' another even greater disaster which is the cause of her 6 ruin. I mean that the Church has maintained, and still ' maintains Italy divided.' The Papacy is too weak to unite and rule, but strong enough to prevent others doing so, and is always ready to call in the foreigner to crush all Italians to the foreigner's profit, and Guicciardini, a high Papal officer, commenting on this, adds, ' It would be im- ' possible to speak so ill of the Roman Court, but that more 4 abuse should not be merited, seeing it is an infamy, and ' example of all the shames and scandals of the world.1 The lesser clergy, the monks, the nuns followed, with anxious fidelity, the footsteps of their shepherds. There was hardly a tonsure in Italy which covered more than thoughts and hopes of lust and avarice. Religion and morals which God had joined together, were set by man a thousand leagues asunder. Yet religion still sat upon the alabaster throne of Peter, and in the filthy straw of the meanest Calabrian confessional. And still deeper remained a blind SuperstitioiT~"devoted superstition. Vitellozxo Vitelli, as Machiavelli tells us, while being strangled by Caesar Borgia's assassin, implored his murderer to procure for him the absolution of that murderer's father. Gianpaolo Baglioni, who reigned by parricide and lived in incest, was severely blamed by the Florentines for not killing Pope Julius n. when the latter was his guest at Perugia. And when Gabrino Fondato, the tyrant of Cremona, was on the scaffold, his only regret was that when he had taken his guests, the Pope and xviii
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Emperor, to the top of the Cremona tower, four hundred INTIIO- feet high, his nerve failed him and he did not push them DUCTION both over. Upon this anarchy of religion, morals, and conduct breathed suddenly the inspiring breath of Pagan The Pagan antiquity which seemed to the Italian mind to find its Influ«nce finest climax in tyrannicide. There is no better instance than in the plot of the Pazzi at Florence. Francesco Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini decided to kill Lorenzo and Giuliano de"1 Medici in the cathedral at the moment of the elevation of the Host. They naturally took the priest into their confidence. They escorted Giuliano to the Duomo, laugh ing, and talking, and playfully embraced him — to discover if he wore armour under his clothes. Then they killed him at the moment appointed.
Nor were there any hills from which salvation might be looked for. Philosophy, poetry, science, expressed^ themselves in terms of materialism. Faith and hope — are ever the last survivors in the life of a man or of a nation. But in Italy these brave comforters were at their latest breath. It is perhaps unfair to accept in full the judgment of Northern travellers. The conditions, training, needs of England and Germany were different. In these countries courage was a necessity, and good faith a paying policy. Subtlety could do little against a two-handed sword in the hands of an angry or partially intoxicated giant. Climate played its part as well as culture, and the crude pleasures and vices of the North seemed fully as loathsome to the refined Italian as did the tortuous policy and the elaborate infamies of the South to their rough invaders. Alone, perhaps, among the nations of Europe the Italians had never understood
xix
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INTRO- or practised chivalry, save in such select and exotic DUCTION scnoo]s as tne Casa Gioiosa under Vittorino da Feltre at Mantua. The oath of Arthur's knights would have seemed to them mere superfluity of silliness. Onore con noted credit, reputation, and prowess. Virtu, which may be roughly translated as mental ability combined with per sonal daring, set the standard and ruled opinion. ' Honour ' in the North was subjective: Onore in Italy objective.1 — Individual liberty, indeed, was granted in full to all, at — the individual's risk. The love of beauty curbed grossness """ and added distinction. Fraud became an art and force a ^ science. There is liberty for all, but for the great ones -*^there is licence. And when the day of trial comes, it is the Churchmen and the Princes who can save neither themselves nor man, nor thing that is theirs. To such a world was Machiavelli born. To whom should he turn ? To the People? To the Church? To the Princes and Despots ? But hear him : —
6 There shall never be found any good mason, which will 4 beleeve to be able to make a faire image of a peece of ' marble ill hewed, but verye well of a rude peece. Our ' Italian Princes beleeved, before they tasted the blowes of ' the outlandish warre, that it should suffice a Prince to ' know by writinges, how to make a subtell aunswere, to ' write a goodly letter, to shewe in sayinges, and in woordes, 4 witte and promptenesse, to know how to canvas a fraude, ' to decke themselves with precious stones and gold, to ' sleepe and to eate with greater glory then other : To ' kepe many lascivious persons about them, to governe ' themselves with their subjects, covetously and proudely : ' To roote in idlenes, to give the degrees of the exercise of xx
MACHIAVELLI
* warre, for good will, to dispise if any should have shewed INTRO-
' them any laudable waie, minding that their wordes should AUCTION
' bee aunswers of oracles : nor the sely wretches were not
1 aware that they prepared themselves to be a pray to
' whome so ever should assaulte them. Hereby grew then
4 in the thousand fowre hundred and nintie and fowre yere,
' the great feares, the sodaine flightes and the marvellous
' losses : and so three most mighty states which were in
* Italic, have bene dievers times sacked and destroyed. But ' that which is worse, is where those that remaine, continue ' in the very same errour, and liev in the verie same ' disorder and consider not, that those who in olde time 4 would keepe their states, caused to be done these thinges, 1 which of me hath beene reasoned, and that their studies 4 were, to prepare the body to diseases, and the minde not to ' feare perills. Whereby grewe that Caesar, Alexander, and ' all those men and excellent Princes in olde time, were the ' formost amongst the fighters, going armed on foote : and ' if they lost their state, they would loose their life, so that ' they lievd and died vertuously.1
Such was the clay that waited the moulding of the potter's hand. ' Posterity, that high court of appeal, ' which is never tired of eulogising its own justice and
* discernment,' has recorded harsh sentence on the Floren tine. It is better to-day to let him speak for himself.
The slender volume of The Prince has probably produced The Prince wider discussion, more bitter controversy, more varied in terpretations and a deeper influence than any book save Holy Writ. Kings and statesmen, philosophers and theo logians, monarchists and republicans have all and always
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INTRO- used or abused it for their purposes. Written in 1513, the first year of Machiavelli's disgrace, concurrently with part of the Discorsi, which contain the germs of it, the book
— represents the fulness of its author's thought and experi ence. It was not till after Machiavelli's death, that it was published in 1532, by order of Clement vn. Mean- Awhile, however, in manuscript it had been widely read and -.-favourably received.
Its purpose The mere motive of its creation and dedication has been the theme of many volumes. Machiavelli was poor, was idle, was out of favour, and therefore, though a Republican,
— wrote a devilish hand-book of tyranny to strengthen the Medici and recover his position. Machiavelli, a loyal
*- Republican, wrote a primer of such fiendish principles as might lure the Medici to their ruin. Machiavelli's one -^-idea was to ruin the rich: Machiavelli's one idea was to —oppress the poor : he was a Protestant, a Jesuit, an ~% Atheist : a Royalist and a Republican. And the book pub lished by one Pope's express authority was utterly con demned and forbidden, with all its author's works, by the express command of another (1559). But before facing the whirlwind of savage controversy which raged and rages still about The Prince, it may be well to consider shortly the book itself — consider it as a new book and without prejudice. The purpose of its composition is almost certainly to be found in the plain fact that Machiavelli, a politician and a man of letters, wished to write a book upon the subject which had been his " — •> special study and lay nearest to his business and bosom. To ensure prominence for such a book, to engage attention and incidentally perhaps to obtain political employment xxii
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~ for himself, he dedicated it to Lorenzo de' Medici, the INTRO- cxisting and accepted Chief of the State. But far and DUCTION above such lighter motives stood the fact that he saw in ""Lorenzo the only man who might conceivably bring to -—being the vast dream of patriotism which the writer had imagined. The subject he proposed to himself was largely, .—though not wholly, conditioned by the time and place
. -in which he lived. He wrote for his countrymen and
— he wrote for his own generation. He had heard with
his ears and seen with his eyes the alternate rending
anarchy and moaning paralysis of Italy. He had seen
what Agricola had long before been spared the sight of.
And what he saw, he saw not through a glass darkly
-or distorted, but in the whitest, driest light, without
flinching and face to face. 'We are much beholden,1
- writes Bacon, ' to Machiavelli and others that wrote what
~ ' men do, and not what they ought to do.1 He did not
despair of Italy, he did not despair even of Italian unity.
~ But he despaired of what he saw around him, and he
was willing at almost any price to end it. He recognised,
despite the nominal example of Venice, that a Republican
system was impossible, and that the small Principalities and
Free Cities were corrupt beyond hope of healing. £ strong
•—central unifying government was imperative, and at that
— day such government could only be vested in a single
— man. For it must ever be closely remembered, as will
be pointed out again, that throughout the book the
^••Prince is what would now be called the Government.
And then he saw with faithful prophecy, in the splendid
peroration of his hope, a hope deferred for near four
hundred years, he saw beyond the painful paths of blood
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INTRO- "*~and tyranny, a vision of deliverance and union. For at DUCTION least it is plain that in all things Machiavelli was a
passionate patriot, and A mo la patria mia piu dell"1 anima
is found in one of the last of many thousand letters that \ his untiring pen had written.
— The purpose, then, of The Prince is to lay down rules,
| within the possibilities of the time, for the making of a
-4- man who shall create, increase, and maintain a strong
-•"and stable government. This is done in the main by
— a plain presentation of facts, a presentation condensed —and critical but based on men and things as they actually
were. The ethical side is wholly omitted : the social ~ and economical almost entirely. The aspect is purely •^ political, with the underlying thought, it may be sup-
— posed, that under the postulated government, all else —will prosper.
The Book " Machiavelli opens by discussing the various forms
— -of governments, which he divides into Republics and
Principalities. Of the latter some may be hereditary
and some acquired. Of hereditary states he says little
and quotes but one, the Duchy of Ferrara. He then
turns to his true subject, the acquisition and preserva-
New States tion of States wholly new or new in part, States such
as he saw himself on every side around him. Having
— * gained possession of a new State, he says, you must first
— extirpate the family of your predecessor. You should then either reside or plant colonies, but not trust to garrisons. ' Colonies are not costly to the Prince, are 4 more faithful and cause less offence to the subject ' States: those whom they may injure being poor and ' scattered, are prevented from doing mischief. For it
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' should be observed that meji^ought either to be caressed INTRO- — ' or trampled out, seeing that small injuries may be DLfCTION - ' avenged, whereas great ones destroy the possibility of -' retaliation: and so the damage that has to be inflicted ' ought to be such that it need involve no fear of reprisals,;} There is perhaps in all Machiavelli no better example of His Method —his lucid scientific method than this passage. There is
- neither excuse nprjiypocrisj. It^ is merely a matter of ^-business calculation. Mankind fs the raw material, the -^ State is the finished work. Further you are to conciliate -your neighbours who are weak and abase the strong, ^and you must not let the stranger within your gates.
Above all look before as well as after and think not to leave it to time, godere li benefid del tempo, but, as did the llomans, strike and strike at once. For illustration he criticises, in a final and damning analysis, the career of Louis xii. in Italy. There was no canon of statecraft
- so absolute that the King did not ignore it, and in in- - evitable Nemesis, there was no ultimate disaster so crown- "~ ing as not to be achieved.
After observing that a feudal monarchy is much less Conquests
easy of conquest than a despotism, since in the one case
you must vanquish many lesser lordships while in the
other you merely replace slaves by slaves, Machiavelli
considers the best method of subjugating Free Cities.
-Here again is eminent the terrible composure and the
— exact truth of his politics. A conquered Free City you
may of course rule in person, or you may construct an
V oli£arcny to g°vcrn for you, but the only safe way is to
'^destroy it utterly, since 'that name of Liberty, those
' ancient usages of Freedom,1 are things * which no length
d
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MACHIAVELLI
INTRO-~ ' of years and no benefits can extinguish in the nation's DUCT I ON ' unless the citizens be utterly destroyed.''
Hitherto the discussion has ranged round the material
politics of the matter, the acquisition of material power.
Machiavelli now turns to the heart of his matter, the
-proper character and conduct of a new Prince in a new
Principality and the ways by which he shall deal most
^•fortunately with friend and foe. For fortune it is, as well
— - as ability, which go to the making of the man and the
"^maintenance of his power.
Caesar Borgia In the manner of the day Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and
Theseus are led across the stage in illustration. The
common attribute of all such fortunate masters of men was
— forcfi-o'rraTmsr, r^rrrh? the mMoiTof an unarmed prophet
such— as Savonarola was foredoomed to failure. In such
- politics -Machiavelli is positive and ruthless : force is and
— must be the remedy~ancT the last appeal, a principle which indeed no later generation has in practice set at naught. But in the hard dry eyes of the Florentine Secretary stood, above all others, one shining figure, a figure to all other eyes, from then till now, wrapped in mysterious and mias matic cloud. In the pages of common history he was a
— -tyrant, he was vicious beyond compare, he was cruel beyond
— the Inquisition, he was false beyond the Father of Lies, he — was the Antichrist of Rome and he was a failure : but — he was the hero of Niccolo Machiavelli, who, indeed, —found in Caesar Borgia the fine flower of Italian politics
- in the Age of the Despots. Son of the Pope, a Prince of
— the Church, a Duke of France, a master of events, a, —born soldier, diplomatist, and more than half a states-
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man, Caesar seemed indeed the darling of gods and men — '1NTRO-
whom original fortune had crowned with inborn ability,— £)
Machiavelli knew him as well as it was possible to know
a soul so tortuous and secret, and he had been present —
at the most critical and terrible moments of Caesar's life. -
That in despite of a life which the world calls infamous, %
in despite of the howling execrations of all Christendom, /
in despite of ultimate and entire failures, Machiavelli could I
still write years after, 'I know not what lessons I could \
4 teach a new Prince more useful than the example of his
' actions,1 exhibits the ineffaceable impressions that Caesar
Borgia had made upon the most subtle and observant mind
of modern history.
Caesar was the acknowledged son of Pope Alexander by Caesar's his acknowledged mistress Vannozza dei Cattani. Born in 1472, he was an Archbishop and a Cardinal at sixteen, and the murderer of his elder brother at an age when modern youths are at college. He played his part to the full in the unspeakable scandals of the Vatican, but already — c he spoke little and people feared him.' Ere long the — splendours of the Papacy seemed too remote and uncertain for his fierce ambition, and, indeed, through his father, he already wielded both the temporal and the spiritual arms of Peter. To the subtlety of the Italian his Spanish blood had lent a certain stern rasolution, and as with " Julius and Sulla the lust for sloth and sensuality were — quickened by the lust for sway. He unfrocked himself with pleasure. He commenced politician, soldier, and-^-
despot. And for the five years preceding Alexander's
death he may almost be looked upon as a power in Europe. Invested Duke of Homagna, that hot-bed of
xxvii
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- — petty tyranny and tumult, he repressed disorder through
•UCTION j-^g governor Messer Ramiro with a relentless hand. When
order reigned, Machiavelli tells us he walked out one
morning into the market-place at Cesena and saw the
body of Ramiro, who had borne the odium of reform,
lying in two pieces with his head on a lance, and a
bloody axe by his side. Caesar reaped the harvest of
•~ Ramiro's severity, and the people recognising his bene-
-^-volence and justice were 'astounded and satisfied.1
But the gaze of the Borgia was not bounded by the
strait limits of a mere Italian Duchy. Whether indeed
-there mingled with personal ambition an ideal of a united
— Italy, swept clean of the barbarians, it is hard to say, though Machiavelli would have us believe it. What is certain is that he desired the supreme dominion in Italy for himself, and to win it spared neither force nor fraud nor the help of the very barbarians themselves. With a decree of divorce and a Cardinal's hat he gained the
— support of France, the French Duchy of Valentinois, and -^the sister of the King of Navarre to wife. By largesse of
-bribery and hollow promises he brought to his side the
great families of Rome, his natural enemies, and the great Condottieri with their men-at-arms. When by their aid he had established and extended his government he mis-
— trusted their good faith. With an infinity of fascination
— and cunning, without haste and without rest, he lured -~these leaders, almost more cunning than himself, to visit ^him as friends in his fortress of Sinigaglia. 'I doubt if
' they will be alive to-morrow morning," wrote Machiavelli, who was on the spot. He was right. Caesar caused them to be strangled the same night, while his father dealt xxviii
MACHIAVELLI
equal measure to their colleagues and adherents in Rome. INTRO- Thenceforth, distrusting mercenaries, he found and dis*— DUCTION ciplined, out of a mere rabble, a devoted army of his own,— - and having unobtrusively but completely extirpated the whole families of those whose thrones he had usurped, not only the present but the future seemed assured to him.
He had fulfilled the first of Machiavelli's four conditions. He rapidly achieved the remaining three. He bought the Roman nobles « so as to be able to put a bridle in the new c Pope's mouth.1 He bought or poisoned or packed or terrorised the existing College of Cardinals and selected new Princes of the Church who should accept a Pontiff of his choosing. He was effectively strong enough to resist the first onset upon him at his father's death. Five years had been enough for so great an undertaking. One thing alone he had not and indeed could not have foreseen. * He 1 told me himself on the day on which (Pope) Julius was 1 created, that he had foreseen and provided for everything 1 else that could happen on his father's death, but had 1 never anticipated that, when his father died, he too 1 should have been at death's door.' Even so the fame and splendour of his name for a while maintained his authority against his unnumbered enemies. But soon the great betrayer was betrayed. 'It is well to cheat those ' who have been masters of treachery,' he had said himself in his hours of brief authority. His wheel had turned full cycle. Within three years his fate, like that of Charles xn., was destined to a foreign strand, a petty fortress, and a dubious hand. Given over to Spain he passed three years obscurely. * He was struck down in a fight at Vianii in ' Navarre (1507) after a furious resistance : he was stripped
XXIX
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- CTION 4 or quauty ancj his |)ociy was jeft naked on the bare
•—•* ground, bloody and riddled with wounds. He was only — - thirty-one.' And so the star of Machiavelli's hopes and dreams was quenched for a season in the clouds from which it came.
The Lesson It seems worth while to sketch the strange tem pestuous career of Caesar Borgia because in the remaining chapters of The Prince and elsewhere in his writings, it is the thought and memory of Valentinois, transmuted doubtless and idealised by the lapse of years, that largely inform and inspire the perfect Prince of Machiavelli. But _it must not be supposed that in life or in mind they were
— intimate or even sympathetic. Machiavelli criticises his
— hero liberally and even harshly. But for the work he wanted done he had found no better craftsman and no
- better example to follow for those that might come after. Morals and religion did not touch the purpose of his
-— arguments except as affecting policy. In policy virtues
- may be admitted as useful agents and in the chapter following that on Caesar, entitled, curiously enough, ' Of ' those who by their crimes come to be Princes,1 he
-— lays down that ' to slaughter fellow citizens, to betray — * friends, to be devoid of honour, pity and religion cannot — * be counted as merits, for these are means which may lead -— c to power but which confer no glory/ Cruelty he would
— employ without hesitation but with the greatest care
— both in degree and in kind. It should be immediate and -— complete and leave no possibility of counter-revenge. For
it is never forgotten by the living, and ' he deceives himself ' who believes that, with the great, recent benefits cause old
XXX
MACHIAVELLI
4 wrongs to be forgotten.1 On the other hand 'Benefits— INTRO- ' should be conferred little by little so that they may be-DUCTION ' more fully relished.1 The cruelty proper to a Prince (Government, for as ever they are identical) aims only at authority. Now authority must spring from love or fear. — It were best to combine both motives to obedience but you*-" cannot. TheJPrince must remember that men are fickle,"*" and love at their own pleasure, and that men are fearful — and fear at the pleasure of the Prince. Let him therefore — depend on what is of himself, not on that which is of others. 4 Yet if he win not love he may escape hate, and 4 so it will be if he does not meddle with the property or ~ 4 women-folk of his subjects/ When he must punish let " • him kill. ' For men will sooner forget the death of their — 4 father than the loss of their estate.1 And moreover you — cannot always go on killing, but a Prince who has once set — himself to plundering will never stop. This is the more -
needful because the only secure foundation of his rule lies -
in his trust of the people and in their support. And - indeed again and again you shall find no more thorough democrat than this teacher of tyrants. ' The people own — - 4 better broader qualities, fidelities and passions than any __ 4 Prince and have better cause to show for them.1 4 As for — ' prudence and stability, I say that a people is more stable, _- 4 more prudent, and of better judgment than a Prince.1 If the people go wrong it is almost certainly the crime or — negligence of the Prince which drives or leads them astray. — 4 Better far than anv number of fortresses is not to be 4 hated by your people.1 The support of the people and a national militia make the essential strength of the Prince— and of the State.
xxxi
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- The chapters on military organisation may be more con- veniently considered in conjunction with The Art of War. National It is enough at present to point out two or three observa tions of Machiavelli which touch politics from the military side. To his generation they were entirely novel, though
fere commonplace to-day. National strength means itional stability and national greatness ; and this can j achieved, and can only be achieved, by a national my. The Condottiere system, born of sloth and luxury, has proved its rottenness. Your hired general is either a tyrant or a traitor, a bully or a coward. 4 In a word ' the armour of others is too wide or too strait for us : 6 it falls off us, or it weighs us down."1 And in a fine — illustration he compares auxiliary troops to the armour of - — Saul which David refused, preferring to fight Goliath —-with his sling and stone.
Conduct of Having assured the external security of the State,
the Prince Machiavelli turns once more to the qualities and conduct
of the Prince. So closely packed are these concluding
chapters that it is almost impossible to compress them
further. The author at the outset states his purpose :
4 Since it is my object to write what shall be useful to
' whosoever understands it, it seems to me better to follow
— ' the practical truth of things rather than an imaginary
' view of them. For many Republics and Princedoms have
' been imagined that were never seen or known to exist
— * in reality. And the manner in which we live and in
— -' which we ought to live, are things so wide asunder that
' he who suits the one to betake himself to the other is
* more likely to destroy than to save himself.' Nothing
— that Machiavelli wrote is more sincere, analytic, positive
xxxii
MACHIAVELLI
and ruthless. He operates unflinchingly on an assured- I NTRO- diagnosis. The hand never an instant falters, the knife DUCTION is never blunt. He deals with what is, and not with what- - ought to be. Should the Prince be all-virtuous, all-liberal,- all-humane? Should his word be his bond for ever? ^ Should true reHgion be the master-passion of his life? Machiavelli considers. The first duty of the Prince (or^. Government) is to maintain the existence, stability, and — prosperity of the State. I^o^y\alUhc world were perfect so_should _the_Prince be perfect too. But such are not- thF conditions of human~TI?e.~~An~Tdealising Prince must - fall before a practising world. A Prince must learn in ? self-defence how to be bad, but like Caesar Borgia, he I— must be a great judge of occasion. And what evil he- does must be deliberate, appropriate, and calculated, and - done, not selfishly, but for the good of the State of which - he is trustee. There is the power of Law and the power ^ of Force. The first is proper to men, the second to beasts. And that is why Achilles was brought up by Cheiron the Centaur that he might learn to use both natures. A ' r^erjinjust be half lion and half fox, a fox to discern the — toils, a lion to drive off the wolves. Merciful, faithful,— humane, religious, just, these he may be and above all- should seem to be, nor should any word escape his lips— to give the lie to his professions: and in fact he should - not leave these qualities but when he must. He should,— if possible, practise goodness, but under necessity should - know how to pursue evil. lie should keep faith until- occasion alter, or reason of state compel him to brcak- his pledge. Above all he should profess and observe— religion, 'because men in general judge rather by the eye - e ••• *r^
XXXlll
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO-- * than by the hand, and every one can see but few can
DUCTION-^ touch; But none the less, must he learn (as did William
the Silent, Elizabeth of England, and Henry of Navarre)
""how to subordinate creed to policy when urgent need is
~~upon him. In a word, he must realise and face his own
— position, and the facts of mankind and of the world. If
— not veracious to his conscience, he must be veracious to
facts. He must not be Jmdjfor^badness1 sake, but seeing
- things as they are, must deal as he can to protect and -•preserve the trust committed to his care. Fortune is still
a fickle jade, but at least the half our will is free, and if we are bold we may master her yet. For Fortune is a
— woman who, to be kept under, must be beaten and roughly handled, and we see that she is more ready to be mastered by those who treat her so, than by those who are shy in their wooing. And always, like a woman, she gives her
—favours to the young, because they are less scrupulous and
~~ fiercer and more audaciously command her to their will.
The Appeal And so at the last the sometime Secretary of the
Florentine Republic turns to the new Master of the
•"" Florentines in splendid exhortation. He points to no
— easy path. He proposes no mean ambition. He has said already that ' double will that Prince's glory be, who has
/ 4 founded a new realm and fortified it and adorned it with ' ' good laws, good arms, good friends, and good examples.' But there is more and better to be done. The great — misery of men has ever made the great leaders of men. But was Israel in Egypt, were the Persians, the Athenians ever more enslaved, down-trodden, disunited, beaten, de spoiled, mangled, overrun and desolate than is our Italy -—to-day ? The barbarians must be hounded out, and Italy xxxiv
MACHIAVELLI
be free and one. Now is the accepted time. All Italy is INTRO- waiting and only seeks the man. To you the darling of^ Fortune and the Church this splendid task is given, to ~- you and to the army of Italy and of Italians only. Arm Italy and lead her. To you, the deliverer, what gates — would be closed, what obedience refused ! What jealousies — opposed, what homage denied. Love, courage, and fixed-* fidelity await you, and under your standards shall the voice of Petrarch be fulfilled :
Virtu contro al furore 1'rendera 1'arme e fia il combatter corto :
Che 1'antico valore Negl' Italici cor non e ancor morto.
Such is The Prince of Machiavelli. The vision of its breathless exhortation seemed then as but a landscape to — a blind man's eye. But the passing of three hundred and fifty years of the misery he wept for brought at the last, almost in perfect exactness, the fulfilment of that impossible prophecy.
There is no great book in the world of smaller compass^fhe Attack than The Prince of Machiavelli. There is no book more lucidly, directly, and plainly written. There is no book — • that has aroused more vehement, venomous, and even truculent controversy from the moment of its publication until to-day. And it is asserted with great probability that The Prince has had a more direct action upon real life than any other book in the world, and a larger share in breaking the chains and lighting the dark places of the Middle Ages. It is a truism to say that Machiavellism — existed before Machiavelli. The politics of Gian Gale&zzo —
XXXV
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- Visconti, of Louis xi. of France, of Ferdinand of Spain,
DUCTION of the papacVj Of Venice, might have been dictated by
— 'the author of The Prince. But Machiavelli was the first
— to observe, to compare, to diagnose, to analyse, and
to formulate their principles of government. The first to
—•establish, not a divorce, but rather a judicial separation
between _±h£.jnoj:als__of La juan and the morals of a, govern -
— nient. It is around the purpose and possible results of
4 such a separation in politics, ethics, and religion that the
-- storm has raged most fiercely. To follow the path of that
storm through near four centuries many volumes would
be needed, and it will be more convenient to deal with
the more general questions in summing up the influence
of Machiavelli as a whole. But the main lines and varying
fortunes of the long campaign may be indicated. During
the period of its manuscript circulation and for a few years
- after its publication The Prince was treated with favour or
- at worst with indifference, and the first mutterings were
- merely personal to the author. He was a scurvy knave and ~ turncoat with neither bowels nor conscience, almost negli-
- gible. But still men read him, and a change in conditions brought a change in front. He had in The Prince, above all
The ChurcIT" in the Discorsi, accused the Church of having ruined Italy and debauched the world. In view of the writer's growing popularity, of the Reformation and the Pagan Renaissance, such charges could no longer be lightly set aside. The Churchmen opened the main attack. Amongst the leaders was Cardinal Pole, to whom the practical precepts of The Prince had been recommended in lieu of the dreams of Plato, by Thomas Cromwell, the malleus monachorum of Henry vm. The Catholic attack was purely theological, but xxxvi
MACHIAVELLI
before long the Jesuits joined in the cry. Machiavelli was INTRO- burnt in effigy at Ingoldstadt. He was subdoliis diaboll- 1)UCTION carum cogitationumfabcr, and irrisor et atheos to boot. The Pope himself gave commissions to unite against him, and— his books were placed on the Index, together, it must be admitted, with those of Boccaccio, Erasmus, and Savona rola, so the company was goodly. But meanwhile, and perhaps in consequence, editions and translations of The Prince multiplied apace. The great figures of the world— were absorbed by it. Charles v., his son, and his courticr«-*hc studied the book. Catherine de Medici brought it to Politicians France. A copy of The Prince was found on the murdered bodies of Henry in. and Henry iv. Richelieu praised it. Sextus v. analysed it in his own handwriting. It was read at the English Court ; Bacon was steeped in it, and quotes or alludes to it constantly. Hobbes and Harrington studied it.
But now another change. So then, cried Innocent Gentillet, the Huguenot, the book is a primer of I despotism and Rome, and a grammar for bigots and I tyrants. It doubtless is answerable for the Massacre of / St. Bartholomew. The man is a chien \mpur. And in answer to this new huntsman the whole Protestant pack crashed in pursuit. Within fifty years of his death The Prince and Machiavelli himself had become a legend and a myth, a haunting, discomforting ghost that would not be laid. Machiavellism had grown to be a case of conscience both to Catholic and Protestant, to Theologian, Moralist, and Philosopher. In Spain the author, damned in France for his despotism and popery, was as freshly and freely damned for his civil and religious toleration. In England
xxxvn
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- to the Cavaliers he was an Atheist, to the Roundheads a Jesuit. Christina of Sweden annotated him with enthu siasm. Frederick the Great published his Anti-Machiavel brimming with indignation, though it is impossible not to wonder what would have become of Prussia had not the Prussian king so closely followed in practice the precepts of the Florentine, above all perhaps, as Voltaire observed, in the publication of the Anti-Machiavel itself. No doubt in the eighteenth century, when monarchy was so firmly established as not to need Machiavelli, kings and statesmen sought to clear kingship of the supposed stain he had besmirched them with. But their reading was as little as their mis understanding was great, and the Florentine Secretary remained the mysterious necromancer. It was left for Rousseau to describe the book of this 4 honnete homme ' et bon citoyen ' as ' le livre des Republicans,1 and for Napoleon """"Napoleon, the greatest of the author's followers if not dis ciples, to draw inspiration and suggestion from his Floren tine forerunner and to justify the murder of the Due d'Enghien by a quotation from The Prince. ' Mais apres ' tout," he said, ' un homme d'Etat est-il fait pour etre 4 sensible ? N'est-ce pas un personnage — completement ex- ' centrique, toujours seul d'un cote, avec le monde de Tautre ? ' and again ' Jugez done s'il doit s'amuser a menager cer- ' taines convenances de sentiments si importantes pour le 4 commim des hommes? Peut-il considerer les liens du ' sang, les affections, les puerils managements de la societe ? ' Et dans la situation ou il se trouve, que d'actions separees ' de Tensemble et qu'on blame, quoiqu'elles doivent con- ' tribuer au grand rcuvre que tout le monde n'aper^oit pas ? '. . . Malheureux que vous etes ! vous retiendrez vos eloges xxxviii
MACHIAVELLI
4 parce que vous craindrez que le mouvement de cette INTRO- 4grande machine ne fasse sur vous Teffet de Gulliver, qui, AUCTION 4 lorsqu'il deplacait sa jambe, ecrasait les Lilliputiens. Ex- 4 hortez-vous, devancez le temps, agrandissez votre imagina- 4 tion, regardez de loin, et vous verrez que ces grands 4 personnages que vous croyez violents, cruels, que sais-je ? 4 nc sont que des politiques. Us se connaissent, se jtigent 4 mieux que vous, et, quand ils sont reellement habiles, ils * savent se rendre maitres de leurs passions car ils vont 'jusqu'a en calculer les effcts.' Even in his carriage at Waterloo was found a French translation of The Prince profusely annotated.
But from the first the defence was neither idle nor weak. The Defence
The assault was on the morals of the man : the fortress
held for the ideas of the thinker. He does not treat of - .
morals, therefore he is immoral, cried the plaintiff. Has
he spoken truth or falsehood ? Is his word the truth and will his truth prevail ? was the rejoinder. In Germany and Italy especially and in France and England in less degree, philosophers and critics have argued and written without stint and without cease. As history has grown wider and- more scientific so has the preponderance of opinion leaned - to the Florentine's favour.
It would be impossible to recapitulate the arguments or even to indicate the varying points of view. And indeed the main hindrance in forming a just idea of The Prince is the constant treatment of a single side of the book and the preconceived intent of the critic. Bacon has already been mentioned. Among later names are Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibnitz. Herder gives qualified approval, while Fichte frankly throws down the glove as The Prince^ champion.
XXXIX
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- 'Da man weiss dass politische Machtfragen nie, am
DUCTION
6 der Moral zu losen sind, so 1st es unverstiindig das Buch
' von Fursten zu verschreien. Macchiavelli hatte einen
4 Herrscher zu schildern, keinen Klosterbruder.' The last
sentence may at least be accepted as a last word by
practical politicians. Ranke and Macaulay, and a host
of competent Germans and Italians have lent their thought
and pens to solve the riddle in the Florentine's favour.
And lastly^ the course of political events in Europe have
seemed to many the final justification of the teaching of
The Prince. The leaders of the Risorgimento thought that
they found in letters, ' writ with a stiletto,' not only the
inspirations of patriotism and the aspirations to unity,
but a sure and trusted guide to the achievement. Germany
recognised in the author a schoolmaster to lead them to
— unification, and a military instructor to teach them of an
Armed People. Half Europe snatched at the principle of
^ — Nationality. For in The Prince, Machiavelli not only
—begat ideas but fertilised the ideas of others, and whatever
the future estimation of the book may be, it stands, read
—or unread, as a most potent, if not as the dominant, factor
— in European politics for four hundred years.
Th&Discorsi The Discorsi, printed in Rome by Blado, 1537, are not included in the present edition, as the first English transla tion did not appear until 1680, when almost the entire works of Machiavelli were published by an anonymous translator in London. But some account and considera tion of their contents is imperative to any review of the Florentine's political thoughts. Such Discorsi and Relazioni xl
MACHIAVELLI
were not uncommon at the time. The stronger and INTRO- younger minds of the Renaissance wearied of discussing in Dl the lovely gardens of the Rucellai the ideas of Plato or the allegories of Plotinus. The politics of Aristotle had just been intelligibly translated by Leonardo Bruni (1492). And to-day the young ears and eyes of Florence were alert for an impulse to action. They saw glimpses, in reopened fields of history, of quarries long grown over where the ore of positive politics lay hid. The men who came to-day to the Orti Oricellarii were men versed in public affairs, men of letters, historians, poets, living greatly in a great age, with Raphael, Michael Angelo, Ariosto, Leonardo going up and down amongst them. Machiavelli was now in fail- favour with the Medici, and is described by Strozzi as una persona per sorgere (a rising man). He was welcomed into the group with enthusiasm, and there read and dis cussed the Discorsi. Nominally mere considerations upon the First Decade of Livy, they rapidly encircled all that was known and thought of policy and state-craft, old and living.
Written concurrently with The Prince, though completed Their Plan later, the Disconti contain almost the whole of the thoughts arid intents of the more famous book, but with a slightly different application. ' The Prince traces the 4 progress of an ambitious man, the Discorsi the progress ' of an ambitious people,1 is an apt if inadequate criticism. Machiavelli was not the first Italian who thought and wrote upon the problems of his time. But he was the first who discussed grave questions in modern language. He was the first modern political writer who wrote of men and not of — man, for the Prince himself is a collective individuality.
f xli
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- 'p~t This must be regarded as a general rule,' is ever in Machiavelirs mouth, while Guicciardini finds no value in a general rule, but only in ' long experience and worthy dis- 4 cretion.' The one treated of policy, the other of politics. Guicciardini considered specifically by what methods to control and arrange an existing Government./ Machiavelli — - sought to create a science, which should show how to
— establish, maintain, and hinder the decline of states gene-
— rally conceived. Even Cavour counted the former as a more practical guide in affairs. But Machiavelli was the
-— theorist of humanity in politics, not the observer only. He distinguished the two orders of research. And, during the Italian Renaissance such distinction was supremely necessary. With a crumbled theology, a pagan Pope, amid the wreck of laws and the confusion of social order, il suo particolare and virtu, individuality and ability (energy, political genius, prowess, vital force : virtu is impossible to translate, and only does not mean virtue), were the dominating and unrelenting factors of life. Niccolo Machiavelli, unlike Montesquieu, agreed with Martin
— Luther that man was bad. It was for both the Witten- berger and the Florentine, in their very separate ways, to found the school and wield the scourge. In the naked and unashamed candour of the time Guicciardini could say that he loathed the Papacy and all its works. ' For all that,1 he adds, ' the preferments I have enjoyed, have forced me for ' my private ends to set my heart upon papal greatness. ' Were it not for this consideration, I should love Martin ' Luther as my second self.' In the Discorsi, Machiavelli bitterly arraigns the Church as having ' deprived Italians ' of religion and liberty.1 He utterly condemns Savonarola ; xlii
MACHIAVELLI
yet he could love and learn from Dante, and might almost INTRO- have said with Pym, ' The greatest liberty of the Kingdom DUCTI°N 4 is Religion. Thereby we are freed from spiritual evils, ' and no impositions are so grievous as those that are laid 4 upon the soul/
The Florentine postulates religion as an essential-Religion element in a strong and stable State. Perhaps, with Gibbon, he deemed it useful to the Magistrate. But his science is impersonal. He will not tolerate a Church that poaches on his political preserves. Good dogma makes bad politics. It must not tamper with liberty or security.—-- And most certainly, with Dante, in the Paradiso, he would either have transformed or omitted the third Beatitude, that the Meek shall inherit the earth. With such a temperament, Machiavelli must ever keep touch with sanity. It was not for him as for Aristotle to imagine what an ideal State should be, but rather to inquire what States actually were and what they might actually become.- — He seeks first and foremost ' the use that may be derived ' from history in politics"; not from its incidents but from — its general principles. His darling model of a State is to— be found where Dante found it, in the Roman Republic. The memory and even the substance of Dante occur again and again. But Dante's inspiration was spiritual : Machia- vellfs frankly pagan, and with the latter Fortune takes the place of God. Dante did not love the Papacy, but Machiavelli, pointing out how even in ancient Rome religion was politic or utilitarian, leads up to his famous attack upon the Roman Church, to which he attributes— all the shame and losses, political, social, moral, national, that Italy has suffered at her hands. And now for the
xliii
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- first time the necessity for Italian Unity is laid plainly down, and the Church and its temporal power denounced as the central obstacles. In religion itself the Secretary saw much merit. ' But when it is an absolute question
— ( of the welfare of our country, then justice or injustice,
— ' mercy or cruelty, praise or ignominy, must be set aside, ' and we must seek alone whatever course may preserve
•— £ the existence and liberty of the state.' Throughout the
Discorsi, Machiavelli in a looser and more expansive form,
suggests, discusses, or re-affirms the ideas of The Prince.
— -There is the same absence of judgment on the moral value
-* of individual conduct ; the same keen decision of its
Democracy —practical effect as a political act. But here more than
in The Prince, he deals with the action and conduct of
—the people. With his passion for personal and con temporary incarnation he finds in the Swiss of his day the Romans of Republican Rome, and reiterates the com parison in detail. Feudalism, mercenaries, political associa tions embodied in Arts^and Guilds, the Temporal power of the Church, all these are put away, and in their stead he announces the new and daring gospel that for organic
•~~unity subjects must be treated as equals and not as inferiors. 'Trust the people 'is a maxim he repeats and enforces again and again. And he does not shrink from,
"-but rather urges the corollary, ' Arm the people.' Indeed it were no audacious paradox to state the ideal of Machiavelli, though he nominally preferred a Republic, as a Limited Monarchy, ruling over a Nation in Arms. No doubt he sought, as was natural enough in his day, to
--construct the State from without rather than to guide
—and encourage its evolution from within. It seemed to xliv
MACHIAVELLI
him that, in such an ocean of corruption, Force was a — INTRO- remedy and Fraud no sluttish handmaid. 4 Vice n'est-ce pas,"1 DUCT1ON writes Montaigne, of such violent acts of Government, ' car
* il a quitte sa raison a une plus universelle et puissante 4 raison.' Even so the Prince and the people could only be justified by results. But the public life is of larger value— than the private, and sometimes one man must be crucified— for a thousand. Despite all prejudice and make-belief,— such a rule and practice has obtained from the Assemblies of Athens to the Parliaments of the twentieth century. But Machiavclli first candidly imparted it to the unwilling consciences and brains of men, and it is he who has been the chosen scape-goat to carry the sins of the people. His earnestness makes him belie his own precept to keep the name and take away the thing. In this, as in a thousand instances, he was not too darkly hidden ; he was too plain.
* Machiavelli,1 says one who studied the Florentine as hardly another had done, 4 Machiavelli hat gesiindigt, aber noch 4 mehr 1st gegen ihn gesiindigt worden.1 Liberty is good, but Unity is its only sure foundation. It is the way to the Unity of Government and People that the thoughts both— of The Prince and the Dlfscorsi lead, though the incidents be so nakedly presented as to shock the timorous and vex the prurient, the puritan, and the evil thinker. The people must obey the State and fight and die for its salvation,— and for the Prince the hatred of the subjects is never good,— but their love, and the best way to gain it is by 'not —
* interrupting the subject in the quiet enjoyment of his 4 estate/ Even so bland and gentle a spirit as the poet Gray cannot but comment, 4 1 rejoice when I see Machia- 4 velli defended or illustrated, who to me appears one
xlv
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- ' of the wisest men that any nation in any age hath DOCTION . produced;
The Art of Throughout both The Prince and the Discorsi are con-
f""" stant allusions to, and often long discussions on, military ——affairs. The Army profoundly interested Machiavelli both as a primary condition of national existence and stability, and also, as he pondered upon the contrast between ancient Rome and the Florence that he lived in, as a subject fascin ating in itself. His Art of War was probably published in 1520. Before that date the Florentine Secretary had had some personal touch both with the theory and practice of war. As a responsible official in the camp before Pisa he had seen both siege work and fighting. Having lost faith in mercenary forces he made immense attempts to form •--a National Militia, and was appointed Chancellor of the Nove della Milizia. In Switzerland and the Tyrol he had studied army questions. He planned with Pietro Navarro the defence of Florence and Prato against Charles v. At Verona and Mantua in 1509, he closely studied the famous siege of Padua. From birth to death war and battles raged all about him, and he had personal knowledge of the great captains of the Age. Moreover, he saw in Italy troops of every country, of every quality, in every stage of discipline, in every manner of formation. His love of ancient Rome led him naturally to the study of Livy and Vegetius, and from them with regard to formations, to the relative values of infantry and cavalry and other points of tactics, he drew or deduced many conclusions which hold good to-day. Indeed a German staff officer has written that in reading the Florentine you think you are listening to a modern theorist xlvi
MACHiAVELLI
of war. But for the theorist of those days a lion stood in INTRO- the path. The art of war was not excepted from the quick DUCTION and thorough transformation that all earthly and spiritual things were undergoing. Gunpowder, long invented, was being applied. Armour, that, since the beginning, had saved both man and horse, had now lost the half of its virtue. The walls of fortresses, impregnable for a thousand years, became as matchwood ramparts. The mounted man-at- arms was found with wonder to be no match for the lightly-armoured but nimble foot-man. The Swiss were seen to hold their own with ease against the knighthood of Austria and Burgundy. The Free Companies lost in value and prestige what they added to their corruption and treachery. All these things grew clear to Machiavelli. But his almost fatal misfortune was that he observed and wrote in the mid-moment of the transition. He had no faith in fire-arms, and as regards the portable fire-arms of those days he was right. After the artillery work at Kavenna, Novara, and Marignano it is argued that he should have known better. But he was present at no great battles, and pike, spear, and sword had been the stable weapons of four thousand years. These were in deed too simple to be largely modified, and the future of mechanisms and explosives no prophet uninspired could foresee. And indeed the armament and formation of men were not the main intent of MachiavellTs thought. His care in detail, especially in fortifications, of which.*- he made a special study, in encampments, in plans, in — calculations, is immense. Nothing is so trivial as to be^ left inexact.
But he centred his observation and imagination on
xlvii
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- —the origin, character, and discipline of an army in being. CTION^-E[e pictures the horror, waste, and failure of a mer- The New _ cenary SyStem, and lays down the fatal error in Italy — of separating civil from military life, converting the - — latter into a trade. In such a way the soldier grows *~-to a beast, and the citizen to a coward. All this must be changed. The basic idea of this astounding Organisation Secretary is to form a National Army, furnished by con scription and informed by the spirit of the New Model of Cromwell. All able-bodied men between the ages of seventeen and forty should be drilled on stated days and be kept in constant readiness. Once or twice a year each battalion must be mobilised and manreuvred — as in time of war. The discipline must be constant and — severe. The men must be not only robust and well- trained, but, above all, virtuous, modest, and disposed to any sacrifice for the public good. So imbued should they "~~be with duty and lofty devotion to their country that though they may rightly deceive the enemy, reward the enemy's deserters and employ spies, yet ' an apple tree 6 laden with fruit might stand untouched in the midst of 4 their encampment.'1 The infantry should far exceed the cavalry, 'since it is by infantry that battles are won.' Secrecy, mobility, and familiarity with the country are to be objects of special care, and positions should be chosen from which advance is safer than retreat. In war this -army must be led by one single leader, and, when peace ^-shines again, they must go back contented to their grateful —fellow-countrymen and their wonted ways of living. The conception and foundation of such a scheme, at such a time, by such a man is indeed astounding. He broke with xlviii
MACHIAVELLI
the past and with all contemporary organisations. He— INTRO-
forecast the future of military Europe, though his own ]
Italy was the last to win her redemption through his plans.
4 Taken all in all,1 says a German military writer, ' we may
' recognise Machiavelli in his inspired knowledge of the
4 principles of universal military discipline as a true —
' prophet, and as one of the weightiest thinkers in the
4 field of military construction and constitution. He
' penetrated the essence of military technique with a pre-
4 cision wholly aHen to his period, and it is, so to sav, a
• new psychological proof of the relationship between — ' the art of war and the art of statecraft, that the foundec__ ; of Modern Politics is also the first of modern Military
4 Classics/
But woe to the Florentine Secretary with his thoughts born centuries before their time. As in The Prince, so in the Art of War, he closes with a passionate appeal of"" great sorrow and the smallest ray of hope. Where shall — I hope to find the things that I have told of? What — is Italy to-day ? What are the Italians ? Enervated, impotent, vile. Wherefore, ' I lament mee of nature, the 4 which either ought not to have made mee a knower of ' this, or it ought to have given mee power, to have bene 4 able to have executed it : For now beeing olde, I cannot 1 hope to have any occasion, to be able so to doo : In con- ' sideration whereof, I have bene liberall with you who ' beeing grave young men, may (when the thinges said of ' me shall please you) at due times, in favoure of your
* Princes, helpe them and counsider them. Wherin I would 4 have you not to be afraied, or mistrustfull, because this 4 Province seemes to bee altogether given to raise up ug;iine
g xlix
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- ' the things deade, as is seene by the perfection that Poesie, ' painting, and writing, is now brought unto : Albeit, as ' much as is looked for of mee, beeing strooken in yeeres, ' I do mistrust. Where surely, if Fortune had heretofore 4 graunted mee so much state, as suffiseth for a like enter- ' prise, I would not have doubted, but in most short time, ' to have shewed to the world, how much the auncient ' orders availe : and without peradventure, either I would ' have increased it with glory, or lost it without shame.'1
The History — In 1520 Machiavelli was an ageing and disappointed e «— man. He was not popular with any party, but the Medici were willing to use him in minor matters if only to secure his adherence. He was commissioned by Giulio de Medici to write a history of Florence with an annual allowance of 100 florins. In 1525 he completed his task and dedicated the book to its begetter, Pope Clement vn.
In the History, as in much of his other work, Machiavelli
enriches the science of humanity with a new department.
— •' He was the first to contemplate the life of a nation in
" — ' its continuity, to trace the operation of political forces
*"* through successive generations, to contrast the action of
4 individuals with the evolution of causes over which they
' had but little control, and to bring the salient features
^ ' of the national biography into relief by the suppression
^' of comparatively unimportant details.' He found no
examples to follow, for Villani with all his merits was
of a different order. Diarists and chroniclers there were
in plenty, and works of the learned men led by Aretino,
written in Latin and mainly rhetorical. The great work
of Guicciardini was not published till years after the
1
MACHIAVELLI
Secretary's death. Machiavelli broke away from the INTRO- Chronicle or any other existing form. He deliberately DUCTION applied philosophy to the sequence of facts. He organised — civil and political history. He originally intended to begin his work at the year 1234, the year of the return of Cosimo il Vecchio from exile and of the consolidation of Medicean power on the ground that the earlier periods had been covered by Aretino and Bracciolini. But he speedily recognised that they told of nothing but external wars and business while the heart of the history of Florence was left unbared. The work was to do again in very different manner, and in that manner he did it. Throughout he maintains and insistently insinuates his unfailing explana tion of the miseries of Italy ; the necessity of unity and the - evils of the Papacy which prevents it. In this book dedi cated to a Pope he scants nothing of his hatred of the Holy See. For ever he is still seeking the one strong man in a blatant land with almost absolute power to punish, pull — down, and reconstruct on an abiding foundation, for to his clear eyes it is ever the events that are born of the man,— and not the man of the events. He was the first to observe- that the Ghibellines were not only the Imperial party but the party of the aristocrats and influential men, whereas the Guelphs were the party not only of the Church but of the people, and he traces the slow but increasing struggle to the triumph of democracy in the Ordinamenti di Giusti/ia (1293). But the triumph was not final. The Florentines were 'unable to preserve liberty and could not tolerate 4 slavery/ So the fighting, banishments, bloodshed, cruelty, injustice, began once more. The nobles were in origin Germanic, he points out, the people Latin ; so that
li
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- a racial bitterness gave accent to their hate. But yet, he ^ adds impartially, when the crushed nobility were forced to change their names and no longer dared be heard, 6 Florence was not only stripped of arms but likewise of 4 all generosity. ' It would be impossible to follow the History in detail. The second, seventh and eighth books are perhaps the most powerful and dramatic. Outside affairs and lesser events are lightly touched. But no stories in the world have been told with more intensity than those of the conspiracies in the seventh and eighth books, and none have given a more intimate and accurate perception of the modes of thought and feeling at the time. The History ends with the death of Lorenzo de Medici in 1492. Enough has been said of its breadth of scope and originality of method. The spirit of clear flaming patriotism, of undying hope that will not in the darkest day despair, the plangent appeal to Italy for its own great sake to rouse and live, all these are found pre-eminently in the History as they are found wherever Machiavelli speaks from the heart of his heart. Of the style a foreigner may not speak. But those who are proper judges maintain that in simplicity and lucidity, vigour, and power, soft ness, elevation, and eloquence, the style of Machiavelli is ' divine,1 and remains, as that of Dante among the poets, unchallenged and insuperable among all writers of Italian prose.
Other Works \ Tnough Machiavelli must always stand as a political
thinker, an historian, and a military theorist it would
leave an insufficient idea of his mental activities were
there no short notice of his other literary works. With
Hi
MACHIAVELLI
his passion for incarnating his theories in a single person- INTRO- ality, he wrote the Life of Castruccio Castracani, a politico- military romance. His hero was a soldier of fortune born at Lucca in 1281, and, playing with a free hand, Machia- velli weaves a life of adventure and romance in which** his constant ideas of war and politics run through and — » across an almost imaginary tapestry. He seems to have — intended to illustrate and to popularise his ideals and to attain by a story the many whom his discourses could not reach. In verse Machiavelli was fluent, pungent, and prosaic. The unfinished Golden Ass is merely made of paragraphs of the Discorsi twined into rhymes. And the others are little better. Countless pamphlets, essays, and descriptions may be searched without total waste by the very curious and the very leisurely. The many despatches and multitudinous private letters tell the story both of his life and his mind. But the short but famous Novella di Belfagor Arddiarolo is excellent in wit, satire, and invention. As a playwright he wrote, among many lesser efforts, one supreme comedy, Mandragola, which Macaulay declares to be better than the best of Goldoni's plays, and only less excellent than the very best of Moliere's. Italian critics call it the finest play in Italian. The plot is not for nursery reading, but there are tears and laughter and pity and anger to furnish forth a copious author, and it has been not ill observed that Mamlragola is the comedy of a society of which The Prince is the tragedy. —
It has been said of the Italians of the Renaissance that The Knd with so much of unfairness in their policy, there was an extraordinary degree of fairness in their intellects. They
1m
MACHIAVELLI
INTRO- were as direct in thought as they were tortuous in action,
ON and could see no wickedness in deceiving a man whom
they intended to destroy. To such a charge — if charge
it be — Machiavelli would have willingly owned himself
answerable. He observed, in order to know, and he wished
"""""to use his knowledge for the advancement of good. To
*^him the means were indifferent, provided only that they
— -were always apt and moderate in accordance with necessity.
A surgeon has no room for sentiment : in such an operator
pity were a crime. It is his to examine, to probe, to
diagnose, flinching at no ulcer, sparing neither to himself
or to his patient. And if he may not act, he is to lay
down very clearly the reasons which led to his conclusions
and to state the mode by which life itself may be saved,
cost what amputation and agony it may. This was
Machiavelli's business, and he applied his eye, his brains,
~"and his knife with a relentless persistence, which, only
— because it was so faithful, was not called heroic. And we
know that he suffered in the doing of it and that his heart
was sore for his patient. But there was no other way.
His record is clear and shining. He has been accused of
— no treachery, of no evil action. His patriotism for Italy as a fatherland, a dream undreamt by any other, never
„ — glowed more brightly than when Italy lay low in shame,
— and ruin, and despair. His faith never faltered, his spirit never shrank. And the Italy that he saw, through dark bursts of storm, broken and sinking, we see to-day riding in the sunny haven where he would have her to be.
HENRY CUST. liv
CONTENTS
I'AOE
THE ARTE OF WARRE . 1
THE PRINCE . 251
THE ARTE OF WARRE
WRITTEN FIRST IN ITALIAN BY
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
AND SET FO11THE IN ENGLISHE BY
PETER WHITEHORNE
STl'DIEN'T AT GKAIKS IXX'E
WITH AN ADDICION OF OTHER LIKE MARCIALLE FEATES AND EXPERIMENTES
AS IN A TABLE
IN THE ENDE OF THE BOOKE
MAIE APPERE
1560
MenJ's. lultj.
TO THE MOSTE
HIGHE, AND EXCELLENT PRINCES,
ELIZABETH, by the Grace of God, Quene
of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande,
defender of the faithe, and of the Churche
of Englande, and Irelande, on yearth
next under God, the supreme
Governour.
LTHOUGH commonlie every man, moste worthie and renourned Soveraine, seketh specially to commend and extolle the thing, whereunto he feleth hymself naturally bent and inclined, yet al soche parciallitie and private affection laid aside, it is to bee thought (that for the defence, maintenaunce, and advauncemente of a Kyng- dome, or Common weale, or for the good and due observacion of peace, and admin istracion of Justice in the same) no one thinge to be more profitable, necessarie, or more honourable, then the knowledge of service in warre, and dedes of armes; bicause consideryng the ambicion of the
THE ARTE OF WARRE
EPISTLE worlde, it is impossible for any realme or dominion, TORIE " l°n£ to continue free in quietnesse and savegarde, where the defence of the sweard is not alwaies in a readinesse. For like as the Grekes, beyng occupied aboute triflyng matters, takyng pleasure in resityng of Comedies, and soche other vain thinges, altogether neclecting Marciall feates, gave occasion to Philip kyng of Macedonia, father to Alexander the Great, to oppresse and to bring theim in servitude, under his subjeccion, even so undoubtedly, libertie will not be kepte, but men shall be troden under foote, and brought to moste horrible miserie and calamitie, if thei givyng theim selves to pastymes and pleasure, forssake the juste regarde of their owne defence, and savegarde of their countrie, whiche in temporall regimente, chiefly consisteth in warlike skilful- nesse. And therefore the aunciente Capitaines and mightie Conquerours, so longe as thei florished, did devise with moste greate diligence, all maner of waies, to bryng their men to the perfect know ledge of what so ever thing appertained to the warre : as manifestly appereth by the warlike games, whiche in old time the Princes of Grecia ordained, upon the mount Olimpus, and also by thorders and exercises, that the aunciente 4
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELI,
Romaines used in sundrie places, and specially EPISTLE
DEDICA TOR1E
in Campo Martio, and in tlieir wonderful sump
tuous Theaters, whiche chiefly thei builded to that purpose. Whereby thei not onely made their Souldiours so experte, that thei obtained with a fewe, in faightyng againste a greate liouge multitude of enemies, soche marvellous victories, as in many credible Histories are mencioned, but also by the same meanes, their unarmed and rascalle people that followed their Campes, gotte soche understandyng in the feates of warre, that thei in the daie of battaile, beeyng lefte destitute of succour, were able without any other help, to set themselves in good order, for their defence againste the enemie, that would seke to hurte theim, and in soche daungerous times, have doen their countrie so good service, that verie often by their helpe, the adversaries have been put to flight, and fieldes moste happely wone. So that thantiquitie estemed nothing more happie in a common weale, then to have in the same many men skilfull in warlike affaires : by meanes whereof, their Empire continually inlarged, and moste won derfully and triumphantly prospered. For so longe as men for their valiauntnesse, were then rewarded and had in estimacion, glad was he that
5
THE ARTE OF WARRE
EPISTLE could finde occasion to venter, yea, and spende
"DFTHPA
TORIE " his life, to benefite his countrie : as by the manly actes that Marcus Curcius, Oracius Codes, and Gaius Mucius did for the savegarde of Rome, and also by other innumerable like examples, dooeth plainly appeare. But when through long and continuall peace, thei began to bee altogether given to pleasure and delicatenesse, little regard- yng Marciall feates, nor soche as were expert in the practise thereof: Their dominions and estates, did not so moche before increase and prospere, as then by soche meanes and oversight, thei sodainly fell into decaie and utter mine. For soche truly is the nature and condicion, bothe of peace and warre, that where in governemente, there is not had equalle consideracion of them bothe, the one in fine, doeth woorke and induce, the others oblivion and utter abholicion. Wher- fore, sith the necessitie of the science of warres is so greate, and also the necessarie use thereof so manifeste, that even Ladie Peace her self, doeth in maner from thens crave her chief defence and preservacion, and the worthinesse moreover, and honour of the same so greate, that as by prose we see, the perfecte glorie therof, cannot easely finde roote, but in the hartes of moste noble couragious 6
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
and manlike personages, I thought most excellente EPISTLE
DEDICA TORIE
Princes, I could not either to the specialle grate-
fiyng of your highnesse, the universal! delight of all studious gentlemen, or the common utilitie of the publike wealth, imploie my labours more profitablie in accomplishyng of my duetie and good will, then in settyng foorthe some thing, that might induce to the augmentyng and increase of the knowledge thereof: inespecially thexample of your highnes most politike governemente over us, givyng plaine testimonie of the wonderful! prudente desire that is in you, to have your people instructed in this kinde of service, as well for the better defence of your highnesse, theim selves, and their countrie, as also to dis courage thereby, and to be able to resist the malingnitie of the enemie, who otherwise would seeke peradventure, to invade this noble realme or kyngdome.
When therfore about x. yeres paste, in the Emperours warres against the Mores and certain Turkes beyng in Barberie, at the siege and winnyng of Calibbia, JMonesterio and Africa, I had as well for my further instruction in those affaires, as also the better to acquainte me with the Italian tongue, reduced into Englishe, the
7
THE ARTE OF WARRE
EPISTLE booke called The arte of Warre, of the famous ™OTT* " and excellente Nicholas Machiavell, whiche in
JLUKlHi
times paste he beyng a counsailour, and Secretaire of the noble Citee of Florence, not without his greate laude and praise did write : and havyng lately againe, somwhat perused the same, the whiche in soche continuall broiles and unquiet- nesse, was by me translated, I determined with my self, by publishyng thereof, to bestowe as greate a gift (sins greater I was not able) emongeste my countrie men, not experte in the Italian tongue, as in like woorkes I had seen before me, the Frenchemen, Duchemen, Spaniardes, and other forreine nacions, moste lovyngly to have bestowed emongeste theirs : The rather undoubtedly, that as by private readyng of the same booke, I then felt my self in that knowledge marveilously holpen and increased, so by communicatyng the same to many, our Englishemen findyng out the orderyng and disposyng of exploictes of warre therein contained, the aide and direction of these plaine and briefe preceptes, might no lesse in knowledge of warres become in- comperable, then in prowes also and exercise of the same, altogether invincible : which my translacion moste gracious Soveraine, together 8
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
with soche other thynges, as by me hath been EPISTLE
DED1CA TORIE
gathered, and thought good to adde thereunto,
I have presumed to dedicate unto youre highnes : not onely bicause the whole charge and furniture of warlike counsailes and preparacions, being determined by the arbitremente of Governours and Princes, the treatise also of like effecte should in like maner as of right, depende upon the pro tection of a moste worthie and noble Patronesse, but also that the discourse it self, and the woorke of a forrein aucthour, under the passeport and safeconduite of your highnes moste noble name, might by speciall aucthoritie of the same, winne emongest your Majesties subjectes, moche better credite and estimacion. And if mooste mightie Queen, in this kind of Philosophic (if I maie so terme it) grave and sage counsailes, learned and wittie preceptes, or politike and prudente admoni- cions, ought not to be accompted the least and basest tewels of weale publike. Then dare I boldely afh'rme, that of many straungers, whiche from forrein countries, have here tofore in this your Majesties realme arrived, there is none in comparison to bee preferred, before this worthie Florentine and Italian, who havyng frely with out any gaine of exchaunge (as after some B 9
THE ARTE OF WARRE
EPISTLE acquaintaunce and familiaritie will better appeare) brought with hym moste riche, rare and plentifull Treasure, shall deserve I trust of all good Eng- lishe hartes, most lovingly and frendly to be intertained, embraced and cherished. Whose newe Englishe apparell, how so ever it shall seme by me, after a grosse fasion, more fitlie appoincted to the Campe, then in nice termes attired to the Carpet, and in course clothyng rather putte foorthe to battaile, then in any brave shewe prepared to the bankette, neverthelesse my good will I truste, shall of your grace be taken in good parte, havyng fashioned the phraise of my rude stile, even accordyng to the purpose of my travaile, whiche was rather to profite the desirous manne of warre, then to delight the eares of the fine Rethorician, or daintie curious scholemanne : Moste humblie besechyng your highnes, so to accept my labour herein, as the first fruictes of a poore souldiours studie, who to the uttermoste of his smalle power, in the service of your moste gracious majestic, and of his countrie, will at al tymes, accord yng to his bounden duetie and allegeaunce, promptlie yeld hym self to any labour, travaile, or daunger, what so ever shal happen. Praiyng 10
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
in the mean season the almightie GOD, to EPISTLE
3EDICA TORIE
give your highnes in longe prosperous raigne,
perfect health, desired tranquilitie, and against all your enemies, luckie and joifull victorie.
Your humble subject and dailie oratour,
PETER WHITEHORNE.
I!
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE PROHEME
OF NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL,
Citezein and Secretarie of Florence,
upon his booke of the Arte of Warre, unto
Laurence Philippe Strozze, one of the
nobilitie of Florence.
HERE have Laurence, many helde, and do holde this opinion, that there is no maner of thing, whiche lesse agreeth the one with the other, nor that is so much unlike, as the civil life to the Souldiours. Wherby it is often seen, that if any determin in thexercise of that kinde of service to prevaile, that incontinent he doeth not only chaunge in apparel, but also in custome and maner, in voice, and from the facion of all civil use, he doeth alter : For that he thinketh not meete to clothe with civell apparell him, who wil be redie, and promt to all kinde of violence, nor the civell customes, and usages rnaie that man have, the whiche judgeth bothe those customes to be effeminate, and those usages not to be agreable to his profession : Nor it semes not convenient for him to use the civill gesture and ordinarie wordes, who with fasingand blasphemies, will make afraied other menne : the whiche causeth in this time, suche opinion to be moste true. But if thei should consider thauncient orders, there should nothing be founde more united, more confirmable, and that of necessitie ought to love so much the one the other, as these : for as muche as
13
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE all the artes that are ordeined in a common weale, in regarde PROHEME or respecte of common profite of menne, all the orders made in the same, to live with feare of the La we, and of God, should be vaine, if by force of armes their defence wer not prepared, which well ordeined, doe maintain those also whiche be not well ordeined. And likewise to the contrarie, the good orders, without the souldiours help, no lesse or otherwise doe disorder, then the habitacion of a sumptuous and roiall palais, although it wer decte with gold and precious stones, when without being covered, should not have wherewith to defende it from the raine. And if in what so ever other orders of Cities and Kyngdomes, there hath been used al diligence for to maintain men faithfull, peaceable, and full of the feare of God, in the service of warre, it was doubled : for in what man ought the countrie to seke greater faith, then in him, who must promise to die for the same ? In whom ought there to bee more love of peace, then in him, whiche onely by the warre maie be hurte ? In whome ought there to bee more feare of GOD, then in him, which every daie committyng himself to infinite perilles, hath moste neede of his helpe ? This necessitie considered wel, bothe of them that gave the lawes to Empires, and of those that to the exercise of service wer apoincted, made that the life of Souldiours, of other menne was praised, and with all studie folowed and imitated. But the orders of service of war, beyng altogether corrupted, and a greate waie from the auncient maners altered, there hath growen these sinisterous opinions, which maketh men to hate the warlike service, and to flie the con- versacion of those that dooe exercise it. Albeit I judgeing by the same, that I have seen and redde, that it is not a thyng impossible, to bryng it again to the auncient maners, and to give it some facion of the vertue passed, I have determined to the entente not to passe this my idell time, without doyng some thyng, to write that whiche I doe understande, to the satisfaction of those, who of aunciente actes, are lovers of the science of warre. And although it be a bold thing to intreate of the same matter, wher of 14
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
otherwise I have made no profession, notwithstanding I THE
beleve it is no errour, to occupic with wordes a degree, the PROHEME
whiche many with greater presumpcion with their deedes
have occupied : for as muche as the errours that I maie
happen to make by writing, may be without harme to any
man corrected : but those the whiche of them be made in
doyng, cannot be knowen without the ruine of Empires.
Therefore Laurence you ought to consider the qualitie of
this my laboure, and with your judgement to give it
that blame, or that praise, as shall seeme unto you it
hath deserved. The whiche I sende unto you, as well
to shewe my selfe gratefull, although my habilitie reche
not to the benefites, which I have received of you, as
also for that beyng the custome to honour with like
workes them who for nobilitie, riches, wisedome, and
liberalise doe shine : I knowe you for riches, and
nobilitie, not to have many peeres, for wisedome
fewe, and for liberalitie none.
15
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE TABLE
OF CERTAIN PRINCIPALS THINGES,
CONTAINED IN THIS WOORKE
OF MACHIAVEL
IN THE FIRSTE BOOKE
PACK
VVhy a good man ought not to exersise warfare as his
arte,. 33
Deedes of armes ought to be used privatly in time of peace for exersise, and in time of warre for neces- setie and renoume, . . . . -36
The strength of an armie is the footemen, . . 38
The Romaines renued their Legions and had men in the
flower of their age, . . . . -38
Whether men of armes ought to be kept, . . 40
What is requisete for the preparyng of an armie, 42
Out of what contrie souldiers ought to be chosen, . 43
Souldiers ought to bee chosen, by thaucthoritie of the
Prince, of suche men as be his oune subjectes, . 44 The difference of ages, that is to be taken in the chosinge of souldiours for the restoring of an olde power and for the making of a newe, . 44
f- 17
THE ARTE OF WARRE
PAGE
THE The weapons or power that is prepared, of the naturall TABLE subjectes, of a common weale bringeth profit and
not hurte, ... 47
What cause letted the Venetians, that they made not a
Monarchi of the worlde, . 48
How an armie maye bee prepared in the countrie, where
were no exersise of warre, . 49
The custome that the Romaines used, in the chosyng of
their souldiours, . 51
The greater number of men is best, 53
Whether the multitude of armed men ar occation of
confusion and of dissorder, . 5 5
How to prohibite, that the Capitaines make no discension, 5 7
IN THE SECONDS BOOKE
What armour the antiquetie used, 6 1
The occation of the boldenes of the duchemen, . 64
Whiche maner of armyng menne is better either the
Duche or Romaine fasion, . 64
Diverse examples of late dayes, . 66
An example of Tigran, . 69
Whether the footemen or the horsemen ought to bee
estemed moste, 7°
The cause whie the Romaines were overcome of the
parthians, 7 I
What order, or what vertue maketh, that footemen
overcum horsemen, . 7 r
18
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
Howe the antiquitie exersised their men to learne them THE
to handle their weapons, ... 7^ TABLE
What the antiquitie estemed moste happie in a common
weale, . . . . . ^
The maner, of maintainyng the order, . . -77
What a legion is, of Grekes called a Falange, and of
Frenchemen Catterva, . . . -77
The devision of a legion, and the divers names of orders, 78 The order of batellraye, and the manner of appoincting
the battels, ...... 82
How to order, CCCC.L. men to doo some severall feate, 88 The fation of a battaile that the Suisers make like a
crosse, ..... 90
What carriages the Capitaines ought to have, and the
number of carriages requisite to every band of men., 91 Diverse effectes caused of diverse soundes, . . 93
Whereof cometh the utilitie, and the dissorder of the
armies that are now a daies, . . -93
The manner of arminge men, . . . -97
The number of carriages that men of armes and lighte
horsemen ought to have, . . . .98
IX THE THIRDE HOOKE
The greatest dissorder that is used now a dayes in the
orderinge of an armie, . . . 102
How the Romanies devided their armie in Hastati,
Principi and Triarii, . .102
19
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE The manner that the Romaines used to order them T A "RT "R1
selves agayne in the overthrow, . . .103
The custom of the Greekes, .... 103 A maine battaile of Suissers, . . . .104
How manie legions of Romaine Citesens was in an ordi-
narie armie, . . . . . .105
The manner how to pitche a fielde to faighte a battaile, 106 Of what number of faighting men an armie oughte to be, no The description of a battaile that is a faighting, . in
An exsample of Ventidio faighting against the Parthians, 114 An example of Epaminondas, . . . .115
How the Artillerie is unprofitable, . . .116
How that a maine battaile of Suissers cannot ocupie
more then fower pikes , . . . .120
How the battailes when thei cum to be eight or ten, maye be receyved in the verie same space, that received the fyve, . . . . .123
The armes that the Standarde of all tharmie ought to
have, . 125
Divers examples of the antiquetie, . 126
IN THE FOWERTH BOOKE
Whether the fronte of the armie ought to bee made large, 132 To how many thinges respecte ought to be had, in the
ordringe of an armie, . . . 133
An example of Scipio, . . . .134
20
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
PAGE
In what place a Capitain maie order his armie with THE
rp A |> T U
savegarde not to be clene overthrowen, . 135
Aniball and Scipio praised for the orderynge of their
armies, ...... 135
Cartes used of the Asiaticans, . . . 137
Diverse examples of the antiquitie, . . 137
The prudence which the Capitaine ought to use, in the
accidence that chaunse in faigh tinge, . .138
What a Capitaine ought to doo, that is the conqueror,
or that is conquered, . . .140
A Capitaine ought not to faighte the battaile, but with
advauntage, excepte he be constrained, . .142
How to avoide the faightinge of the fielde, . . 144
Advertismentes that the Capitaine ought to have, . 146
Speakyng to souldiers helpeth muche to make them to
be curagious and bolde, .... 146
Whether all the armie ought to bee spoken unto, or
onely to the heddes thereof, . . . 147
IN THE FYVETH BOOKE
The manner how to leade an armie gowinge thorough
suspected places, or to incounter the enemie, . 152
An example of Aniball, . . . . .156
Wether any thing oughte to bee commaunded with the
voise or with the trompet, . . • I59
The occations why the warres made now a dayes, doo
impoverish the conquerors as well as the conquered, 162
21
THE ARTE OF WARRE
PAGE
THE Credite ought not to be given to thinges which stand TABLE nothinge with reason, . . . 1 64
The armie ought not to knowe what the Capitaine pur-
poseth to doo, . I^5
Diverse examples, 167
IN THE SIXTE BOOKE
The maner how to incampe an armie, . 1 7 5
How brode the spaces and the wayes ought to be within
the campe, . .182
What waye ought to be used when it is requiset to
incampe nere the enemie, . .184
How the watche and warde ought to be apoincted in
the campe, and what punishmente they ought to
have that doo not their dutie, . .186
How the Romaines prohibited women to be in their
armies and idell games to be used, . . .188
How to incampe accordinge to the nomber of men, and
what nomber of menne maie suffise againste, what
so ever enemie that wer, . 191
How to doo to be assured, of the fideletie of those that
are had in suspition, . • • J93
What a Capitaine ought to doo beinge beseged of his
enemies, ... 194
Example of Coriliano and others, . 195
It is requiset chiefly for a Capitain to kepe his souldiers
punished and payed, • *97
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
PAGE
Ofaguries, I97 THE
Moste excellent advertismentes and pollicies, . . 198
The occation of the overthrowe of the Frenchmen at
Garigliano, ...... 202
IN THE SEVENTH BOOKE
Cities are strong, either by nature or by industrie, . 205
The maner of fortificacion, .... 205
Bulwarkes ought not to be made oute of a towne
distante from the same, .... 207 Example of Genoa, ... . 208
Of the Countes Catherin, . . 208
The fation of percullesies used in Almaine, . . 210
Howe the battelmentes of walles were made at the first,
and how thei are made now adaies, . . .210
The provisions that is mete to bee made, for the defence
of a towne, . . . . .212
Divers pollicies, for the beseginge and defendinge of a
toune or fortres, . . . .214
Secrete conveing of letters, . . .219
The defence againste a breachc, . . . .219
Generall rules of warre, .
THE FIRST HOOKE
OF THE ARTE OF WARRE OF
NICHOLAS MACHIAVEL, CITEXEIN
AND SECRETARIE OF FLORENCE,
UNTO
LAURENCE PHILIP STROZZE
ONE OF THE NOBILTIE OF FLORENCE.
I)
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE FIRST BOOKE
ORASMUCH as I beleve that after death, al men male be praised without charge, al occasion and suspecte of flatterie beyng taken awaie, I shal not doubte to praise our Cosinio Huchellay, whose name was never remembred of me without teares, havyng knowen in him those condicions, the whiche in a good frende or in a cite/ien, might of his frecndes, or of his countrie, be desired : for that I doe not knowe what thyng was so muche his, not excepting any thing (saving his soule) which for his frendes willingly of "him should not have been spent: I knowe not what enterprise should have made him afraide, where the same should have ben knowen to have been for the benefite of his countrie. And I doe painly confesse, not to have mette emongest so many men, as I have knowen, and practised withal, a man, whose minde was more inflamed then his, unto great and magnificent thynges. Nor he lamented not with his frendes of any thyng at his death, but because he was borne to die a yong manne within his owne house, before he had gotten honour, and accordynge to his desire, holpen any manne : for that he knewe, that of him coulde not be spoken other, savyng that there should be dead a good freende. Yet it resteth not for this, that we, and what so ever other that as we did know him, are not able to testifie (sceyng his woorkes doe not appere) of his lawdable qualities. True it is, that fortune was not for al this, so muche his encmie, that it left not some brief
27
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE record of the readinesse of his witte, as doeth declare FIRSTE certaine of his writinges, and settyng foorthe of amorous BOOKE verses, wherin (although he were not in love) yet for that he would not consume time in vain, til unto profounder studies fortune should have brought him, in his youthfull age he exercised himselfe. Whereby moste plainly maie be comprehended, with how moche felicitie he did describe his conceiptes, and how moche for Poetrie he should have ben estemed, if the same for the ende therof, had of him ben exercised. Fortune having therfore deprived us from the use of so great a frende, me thinketh there can bee founde no other remedie, then as muche as is possible, to seke to enjoye the memorie of the same, and to repeate suche thynges as hath been of him either wittely saied, or wisely disputed. And for as much as there is nothyng of him more freshe, then the reasonyng, the whiche in his last daies Signior Fabricio Collonna, in his orchard had with him, where largely of the same gentilman were disputed matters of warre, bothe wittely and prudently, for the moste parte of Cosimo demaunded, I thought good, for that I was pre sent there with certain other of our frendes, to bring it to memorie, so that reading the same, the frendes of Cosimo, whiche thether came, might renewe in their mindes, the remembraunce of his vertue : and the other part beyng sorie for their absence, might partly learne hereby many thynges profitable, not onely to the life of Souldiours, but also to civil mennes lives, which gravely of a moste wise man was disputed. Therfore I saie, that Fabricio Collonna retournyng out of Lombardie, where longe time greatly to his glorie, he had served in the warres the catholike kyng, he determined, passyng by Florence, to rest himself certain daies in the same citee, to visite the Dukes excellencie, and to see certaine gentilmen, whiche in times paste he had been acquainted withal. For whiche cause, unto Cosimo it was thought beste to bid him into his orchard, not so muche to use his liberalitee, as to have occasion to talke with him at leasure, and of him to understande and to learne divers thinges, accordyng as of suche a man maie bee hoped for, 28
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
semyng to have accasion to spende a dale in reasoning THE of suche matters, which to his minde should best satisfie FIKSTE him. Then Fabricio came, accordyng to his desire, and was BOOKE received of Cosimo together, with certain of his trustie frendes, emongest whome wer Zanoby Buondelmonti, Bap- tiste Palla, and Luigi Allamanni, all young men loved of him, and of the very same studies moste ardente, whose good qualities, for as inuche as every daie, and at every houre thei dooe praise them selves, we will omit. Fabritio was then accordyng to the time and place honoured, of all those honours, that thei could possible devise : But the bankettyng pleasures beyng passed, and the tabel taken up, and al preparacion of feastinges consumed, the which are sone at an ende in sight of greate men, who to honorable studies have their mindes set, the daie beyng longe, and the heatemuche, Cosimo judged for to content better his desire, that it wer well doen, takyng occasion to avoide the heate, to bring him into the moste secret, and shadowest place of his garden. Where thei beyng come, and caused to sit, some upon herbes, some in trie coldest places, other upon litle seates which there was ordeined, under the shadow of moste high trees, Fabritio praiseth the place, to be delect- How Soniour able, and particularly consideryng the trees, and not *'a'»ricio knowyng some of them, he did stande musinge in his ('()1Ioim;i and minde, whereof Cosimo beeyng a ware saied, you have not me"l5£ir peradventure ben acquainted with some of these sortes together in a of trees : But doe not marvell at it, for as muche as there iranlem, bee some, that were more estemed of the antiquitie, then OMU'rt>(1 into thei are commonly now a daies : and he tolde him the names U of them, and how Barnanlo his graundfather did travaile in warre™ suche kinde of plantyng : Fabritio replied, I thought it shuld be thesame you saie, and this place, and this studie, made me to remember certaine Princes of the Kyngdome of Naples, whiche of these auncient tilings and shadow doe delight. And staiyng upon this talke, and somewhat standyng in a studdie, saied moreover, if I thought I should not ofFende, I woud tell my opinion, but I beleeve I shall not, common- yng with friendes, and to dispute of thynges, and not to
29
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE condemne them. How much better thei should have doen FIRSTE (be it spoken without displeasure to any man) to have BOOKE sought to been like the antiquitie in thinges strong, and sharpe, not in the delicate and softe : and in those that thei did in the Sunne, not in the shadowe : and to take the true and perfecte maners of the antiquitie : not those that are false and corrupted : for that when these studies pleased my Romaines, my countrie fell into ruin. Unto which Cosimo answered. But to avoide the tediousnesse to repeate so many times he saied, and the other answered, there shall be onely noted the names of those that speakes, without rehersing other.
Then COSIMO saied, you have opened the waie of a reasoning, which I have desired, and I praie you that you will speake withoute respecte, for that that I without respecte will aske you, and if I demaundyng, or repliyng shall excuse, or accuse any, it shal not be to excuse, or accuse, but to understande of you the truth.
FABRITIO. And I shall be very well contented to tell you that, whiche I understand of al the same that you shall aske me, the whiche if it shall be true, or no, I wil report me to your judgemente : and I will be glad that you aske me, for that I am to learne, as well of you in askyng me, as you of me in aunswerynge you : for as muche as many times a wise demaunder, maketh one to consider" many thynges, and to knowe many other, whiche without havyng been demaunded, he should never have knowen.
COSIMO. I will retourne to thesame, that you said first, that my graundfather and those your Princes, should have doen more wisely, to have resembled the antiquitie in hard thinges, then in the delicate, and I will excuse my parte, for that, the other I shall leave to excuse for you. I doe not beleve that in his tyme was any manne, that so moche detested the livyng in ease, as he did, and that so moche was a lover of the same hardenesse of life, whiche you praise : notwithstanding he knewe not how to bee able in persone, nor in those of his sonnes to use it, beeyng borne in so corrupte a worlde, where one that would digresse from the common use, should
30
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
bee infamed and disdained of every man : consideryng that THE
if one in the hottest day of Summer being naked, should FIUSTE
wallowe hymself upon the Sande, or in Winter in the moste BOOKE
coldest monethes upon the snowe, as Diogenes did, he
should be taken as a foole. If one, (as the Spartans were
wonte to doe) should nourishe his children in a village,
inakyng them to slepe in the open aire, to go with hedde
and feete naked, to washe them selves in the colde water for
to harden them, to be able to abide mochc paine, and for to
make theim to love lesse life, and to feare lesse death, he
should be scorned, and soner taken as a wilde beast, then as
a manne. If there wer seen also one, to nourishe himself
with peason and beanes, and to despise gold, as Fabritio
doeth, he should bee praised of fewe, and followed of none :
so that he being afraied of this present maner of livyng, he
left thauncient facions, and thesame, that he could with
lest admiracion imitate in the antiquitie, he did.
FAHKITIO. You have excused it in this parte mooste strongly : and surely you saie the truthe : but I did not speake so inoche of this harde maner of livyng, as of other maners more humaine, and whiche have with the life now a daies greater conformitie. The whiche I doe not beleve, that it hath been difficulte to bryng to passe unto one, who is nombred emongest Princes of a citee : for the provyng whereof, I will never seke other, then thexample of the Romaines. Whose lives, if thei wer well considred, and thorders of thesame common weale, there should therin be seen many thinges, not impossible to induce into a comin- altie, so that it had in her any good thing.
COSIMO. What thynges are those, that you would induce like unto the antiquitie.
FAHKICIO. To honour, and to reward vertue, not to despise povertie, to esteme the maners and orders of war fare, to constrain the citezeins to love one an other, to live without sectes, to esteme lesse the private, than the publike, and other like thinges, that easily might bee with this time accompanied : the which maners ar not difficult to bring to passe, when a man should wel consider them, and cntrc
31
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE therin by due meanes: for asmoche as in thesame, the
FIRSTE truth so moche appereth, that every common wit, maie
BOOKE easely perceive it : which thing, who that ordeineth, doth
plant trees, under the shadowe wherof, thei abide more
happie, and more pleasantly, then under these shadowes of
this goodly gardeine.
COSIMO. I will not speake any thyng againste thesame that you have saied, but I will leave it to bee judged of these, whom easely can judge, and I will tourne my communicacion to you, that is an accusar of theim, the whiche in grave, and greate doynges, are not followers of the antiquitie, think- yng by this waie more easely to be in my entent satisfied. Therfore, I would knowe of you whereof it groweth, that of the one side you condempne those, that in their doynges resemble not the antiquitie ? Of the other, in the warre, whiche is your art, wherin you are judged excellent, it is not seen, that you have indevoured your self, to bryng the same to any soche ende, or any thyng at all resembled therein the auncient maners.
FABRICIO. You are happened upon the poincte, where I loked : for that my talke deserved no other question : nor I desired other : and albeit that I could save my self with an easie excuse, not withstandyng for my more con- tentacion, and yours, seyng that the season beareth it, I will enter in moche longer reasoning. Those men, whiche will enterprise any thyng, ought firste with all diligence to prepare theim selves, to be ready and apte when occasion serveth, to accomplishe that, which thei have determined to worker and for that when the preparacions are made craftely, thei are not knowen, there cannot be accused any man of any negligence, if firste it be not disclosed by thoccasion : in the which working not, is after seen, either that there is not prepared so moche as suffiseth, or that there hath not been of any part therof thought upon. And for as moche as to me there is not come any occasion to be able, to shewe the preparacions made of me, to reduce the servise of warre into his auncient orders, if I have not reduced it, I cannot be of you, nor of other blamed: I
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
belcvc this excuse shuld suffise for answere to your accuse- THE merit. FIRSTE
COSIMO. It should suffice, when I wer certain, that thoccasion BOOKE wer not come.
FABKICIO. But for that I know, that you maie doubt whether this occasion hath been cum, or no, I will largely (when you with pacience will hcare me) discourse what preparacions are necessary first to make, what occasion muste growe, what difficultie doeth let, that the preparacions help not, and why thoccasion cannot come, and how these things at ones, which seme contrary endes, is most difticill, and most easie to do.
COSIMO. You cannot do bothe to me, and unto these other, a thing more thankfull then this. And if to you it shall not be tedious to speake, unto us it shal never be grevous to heare : but for asmoch as this reasoning ought to be long, I will with your license take helpe of these my frendes : and thei, and I praie you of one thyng, that is, that you will not bee greved, if some tyme with some question of importaunce, we interrupte you.
FABKICIO. I am inoste well contented, that you Cosimo with these other younge men here, doe aske me : for that I beleve, that youthfulnes, will make you lovers of warlike thinges, and more easie to beleve thesame, that of me shalbe saied. These other, by reason of havyng nowe their hedde white, and for havyng upon their backes their bloude con- geled, parte of theim are wonte to bee enemies of warre, parte uncorrectable, as those, whom beleve, that tymes, and not the naughtie maners, constraine men to live thus : so that safely aske you all of me, and without respecte : the whiche I desire, as well, for that it maie be unto me a little ease, as also for that I shall have pleasure, not to leave in your mynde any doubt. I will begin at your woordes, where you saied unto me, that in the warre, that is my arte, I had not indevoured to bryng it to any aunciente ende : where upon I saie, as this beyng an arte, whereby men of no manor of age can live honestly, it cannot bee used for an arte, but of a common weale : or of a kyngdome : and the one and the other of these, when thei bee well ordeined, will never
E 33
THE FIRSTE BOOKE
Why a good man ought never to use the exercise of armes, as his art.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
consente to any their Citezeins, or Subjectes, to use it for any arte, nor never any good manne doeth exercise it for his particulare arte : for as moche as good he shall never bee judged, whom maketh an excersise thereof, where purposing alwaies to gaine thereby, it is requisite for hym to be raven- yng, deceiptfull, violente, and to have many qualities, the whiche of necessitie maketh hym not good : nor those menne cannot, whiche use it for an arte, as well the greate as the leaste, bee made otherwise : for that this arte doeth not nourishe them in peace. Wherfore thei ar constrained, either to thinke that there is no peace, or so moche to prevaile in the tyme of warre, that in peace thei maie bee able to kepe them selves : and neither of these two thoughtes happeneth in a good man : for that in mindyng to bee able to finde himself at all tymes, dooe growe robberies, violence, slaughters, whiche soche souldiours make as well to the frendes, as to the enemies : and in mindyng not to have peace, there groweth deceiptes, whiche the capitaines use to those, whiche hire them, to the entent the warre maie continue, and yet though the peace come often, it happeneth that the capitaines beyng deprived of their stipendes, and of their licencious livyng, thei erecte an ansigne of adventures, and without any pitie thei put to sacke a province. Have not you in memorie of your affaires, how that beyng many Souldiours in Italic without wages, bicause the warre was ended, thei assembled together many companies, and went taxyng the tounes, and sackyng the countrie, without beyng able to make any remedie ? Have you not red, that the Carthagenes souldiours, the first warre beyng ended which thei had with the Romaines, under Matho, and Spendio, twoo capitaines, rebelliously con stituted of theim, made more perillous warre to the Carthaginens, then thesame whiche thei had ended with the Romaines? In the time of our fathers, Frances Sforza, to the entente to bee able to live honourably in the time of peace, not only beguiled the Millenars, whose souldiour he was, but he toke from them their libertie and became their Prince. Like unto him hath been all the other souldiours 34
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
of Italie, whiche have used warfare, for their particulare THE
arte, and albeeit thei have not through their nmlignitie FIRSTE
becomcn Dukes of Milein, so inochc the more thei deserve BOOKK
to bee blamed : for that although thei have not gotten so
moch as he, thei have all (if their lives wer seen) sought to
bring the like thynges to passe. Sforza father of Frnunces,
constrained Queue Jone, to caste her self into the armes
of the king of Aragon, havyng in a sodain forsaken her, and
in the middest of her enemies, lefte her disarmed, onely to
satisfie his ambicion, either in taxyng her, or in takyng from
her the Kyngdome. Braccio with the verie same Industrie,
sought to possesse the kyngdome of Naples, and if he had
not been overthrowen and slaine at Aquila, he had brought
it to passe. Like disorders growe not of other, then of sot-he
men as hath been, that use the exercise of warfare, for their
proper arte. Have not you a Proverbe, whiche fortetieth A Proverhe
my reasons, whiche saieth, that warre maketh Theves, and °f warre an
peace hangeth theim up ? For as moche as those, whiche Peace*
knowe not how to live of other exercise, and in the same
finding not enie man to sustaync theym, and havyng not so
moche power, to knowe how to reduce theim selves together,
to make an open rebellion, they are constrayned of necessetie
to Robbe in the highe waies, and Justice is enforced to
extinguishe theim.
COSIMO. You have made me to esteme this arte of war fare almoste as nothyng, and I have supposed it the moste excellentes, and moste honourableste that hath been used : so that if you declare me it not better, I cannot remaine satisfied : For that when it is thesame, that you saie, I knowe not, whereof groweth the glorie of Cesar, of Pompei, of Scipio, of Marcello, arid of so many llomaine Capitaines, whiche bv fame are celebrated as Goddes.
FAUKICIO. I have not yet made an ende of disputyng al thesame, that I purposed to propounde : whiche were twoo thynges, the one, that a good manne could not use this exercise for his arte : the other, that a common weale or a kingdome well governed, did never permitte, that their Subjectes or Citexeiiis should use it, for an arte. Aboute the
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE firste, I have spoken as moche as hath comen into my FIRSTE mynde: there remaineth in me to speake of the seconde, BOOKE where I woll come to aunswere to this your laste question, and I saie that Pompey and Cesar, and almoste all those Capitaines, whiche were at Rome, after the laste Cartha- genens warre, gotte fame as valiaunt men, not as good, and those whiche lived before them, gotte glorie as valiaunte and good menne : the whiche grewe, for that these tooke not the exercise of warre for their arte : and those whiche I named firste, as their arte did use it. And so longe as the common weale lived unspotted, never any noble Citezein would pre sume, by the meane of soche exercise, to availe thereby in peace, breakyng the lawes, spoilyng the Provinces, usurp- yng, and plaiyng the Tyraunte in the countrie, and in every maner prevailyng : nor any of how lowe degree so ever thei were, would goe aboute to violate the Religion, confederat- yng theim selves with private men, not to feare the Senate, or to followe any tirannicall insolence, for to bee able to live with the arte of warre in all tymes. But those whiche were Capitaines, contented with triumphe, with desire did tourne to their private life, and those whiche were membres, would be more willyng to laie awaie their weapons, then to take them, and every manne tourned to his science, whereby thei gotte their livyng : Nor there was never any, that would hope with praie, and with this arte, to be able to finde theim selves. Of this there maie be made concernyng Cite- zeins, moste evidente conjecture, by the ensample of Regolo Attillio, who beyng Capitain of the Romaine armies in Affrica, and havyng as it wer overcome the Carthegenens, he required of the Senate, licence to retourne home, to kepe his possessions, and told them, that thei were marde of his housbandmen. Whereby it is more clere then the Sunne, that if thesame manne had used the warre as his arte, and by meanes thereof, had purposed to have made it profitable unto him, havyng in praie so many Provinces, he would not have asked license, to returne to kepe his feldes : for as moche as every daie he might otherwise, have gotten moche more, then the value of al those possessions : but bicause 36
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
these good men, and soche as use not the warre for their THE arte, will not take of thesame any thing then labour, FIRSTE perilles, and glorie, when thei are sufficiently glorious, thei BOOKE desire to returne home, and to live of their owne science. Concernyng menne of lowe degree, and common souldiours, to prove that thei kepte the verie same order, it doeth appeare that every one willingly absented theim selves from soche exercise, and when thei served not in the warre, thei would have desired to serve, and when thei did serve, thei would have desired leave not to have served : whiche is wel knowen through many insamples, and inespecially seeyng how emonge the firste privileges, whiche the Romaine people gave to their Citc/eins was, that thei should not be con strained against their willes, to serve in the warres. There fore, Rome so long as it was well governed, whiche was nntill the commyng of Graccus, it had not any Souldiour that would take this exercise for an arte, and therefore it had fewe naughtie, and those few wer severely punished. Then a citee well governed, ought to desire, that this sttidie of warre, be used in tyme of peace for exercise, and in the time of warre, for necessitie and for glorie : and to suffer onely the common weale to use it for an arte, as Rome did, and what so ever Citezein, that hath in soche exercise other ende, is not good, and what so ever citee is governed other wise, is not well ordeined.
COSIMO. I remain contented enough and satisfied of the same, whiche hetherto you have told, and this conclusion pleaseth me verie wel whiche you have made, and as muche as is loked for touching a common welth, I beleve that it is true, but concerning Kinges, I can not tell nowe, for that I woulde beleve that a Kinge would have about him, whome particularly should take suche exercise for his arte.
FABRITIO. A kingdorne well ordred ought moste of all to avoide the like kinde of men, for only thei, are tin- destruction of their king, and all together ministers of tirannv, and alledge me not to the contrarie anie presente kingdome, for that I woll denie you all those to be king- domes well ordered, bicause the kingdomes whiche have
37
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE good orders, give not their absolute Empire unto their FIRSTE king, saving in the armies, for as much as in this place only, BOOKE a quicke deliberation is necessarie, and for this cause a principall power ought to be made. In the other affaires, he ought not to doe any thing without councell, and those are to be feared, which councell him, leaste he have some aboute him which in time of peace desireth to have warre, bicause they are not able without the same to live, but in this, I wilbe a little more large : neither to seke a kingdome altogether good, but like unto those whiche be nowe a daies, where also of a king those ought to be feared, whiche take the warre for theire art, for that the strength of armies without any doubte are the foote menne : so that if a king take not order in suche wise, that his men in time of peace may be content to returne home, and to live of their owne trades, it will follow of necessitie, that he ruinate : for that there is not found more perilous men, then those, whiche make the warre as their arte : bicause in such case, a king is inforsed either alwaies to make warre, or to paie them alwaies, or else to bee in peril!, that they take not from him his kingdome. To make warre alwaies, it is not possible : to paie them alwaies it can not be : see that of necessitie, he runneth in peril to lese the state. The Romanies (as I have saide) so long as they were wise and good, would never permitte, that their Citizeins should take this exercise for their arte, although they were able to nurrishe them therin alwaies, for that that alwaies they made warre: but to avoide thesame hurte, whiche this continuall exercise might doe them, seyng the time did not varie, they changed the men, and from time to time toke such order with their legions, that in xv. yeres alwaies, they renewed them : and so thei had their men in the floure of their age, that is from xviij. to xxxiij. yeres, in which time the legges, the handes, and the yes answere the one the other, nor thei tarried not till there strengthe should decaie, and there naghtines increase, as it did after in the corrupted times. For as muche as Octavian first, and after Tiberius, minding more their own proper power, then the publicke profite, began to 38
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
unarme the Romaine people, to be able easely to commaunde THE them, and to kepe continually those same armies on the FIKSTE frontries of the Empire : and bicause also they judged those, BOOKE not sufficient to kepe brideled the people and Romaine Senate, they ordeined an armie called Pretoriano, which hue harde by the walles of Rome, and was as a rocke on the backe of the same Citie. And for as much as then thei began frely to permitte, that suche men as were apoincted in suche exercises, should use the service of warre for their arte, streight waie the insolence of thcim grewe, that they became fearful unto the Senate, and hurtefull to the Emperour, whereby ensued suche harme, that ninnie were slaine thorough there insolensie : for that they gave, and toke awaie the Empire, to whome they thought good. And some while it hapned, that in one self time there were manic Emperours, created of divers armies, of whiche thinges pro- ceded first the devision of the Empire, and at laste the ruine of the same. Therefore kinges ought, if thei wil live safely, to have there souldiours made of men, who when it is time to make warre, willingly for his love will go to the same, and when the peace cometh after, more willingly will returne home. Whiche alwaies wilbe, when thei shalbe men that know how to live of other arte then this: and so they ought to desire, peace beyng come, that there Prince doo tourne to governe their people, the gentilmen to the tending of there possessions, and the common souldiours to their particular arte, and everie one of these, to make warre to have peace, and not to seke to trouble the peace, to have warre.
COSIMO. Truely this reasonyng of yours, I thinke to bee well considered, notwithstanding beyng almost contrarie to that, whiche till nowe I have thought, my minde as yet doeth not reste purged of all doubte, for as muche as I see manie Ix)rdes and gentelmen, to finde them selves in time of peace, thorough the studies of warre, as your matches bee, who have provision of there princes, and of the cominaltie. I see also, almost al the gentelmen of armes, remaine with their provision, I see manie souldiours lie in garison of Cities
39
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE and fortresses, so that my thinkes, that there is place in time
FIRSTE of peace, for everie one.
BOOKE FABRITIO. I doe not beleve that you beleve this, that in time of peace everie man may have place, bicause, put case that there coulde not be brought other reason, the small number, that all they make, whiche remaine in the places alledged of you, would answer you. What pro- porcion have the souldiours, whiche are requiset to bee in the warre with those, whiche in the peace are occu pied ? For as much as the fortreses, and the cities that be warded in time of peace, in the warre are warded muche more, unto whome are joyned the souldiours, whiche kepe in the fielde, whiche are a great number, all whiche in the peace be putte awaie. And concerning the garde of states, whiche are a small number, Pope July, and you have shewed to everie man, how muche are to be feared those, who will not learne to exercise any other art, then the warre, and you have for there insolence, deprived them from your garde, and have placed therin Swisers, as men borne and brought up under lawes, and chosen of the cominaltie, according to the true election : so that saie no more, that in peace is place for everie man. Concerning men at armes, thei al remaining in peace with their wages, maketh this resolution to seme more difficulte : notwithstandyng who considereth well all, shall finde the answere easie, bicause this manner of keping men of armes, is a corrupted manner and not good, the occasion is, for that they be men, who make thereof an arte, and of them their should grow every daie a thousande inconveniencies in the states, where thei should be, if thei were accompanied of sufficient company : but beyng fewe, and not able by them selves to make an armie, they cannot often doe suche grevous hurtes, neverthe- lesse they have done oftentimes : as I have said of Frances, and of Sforza his father, and of Braccio of Perugia : so that this use of keping men of armes, I doe not alowe, for it is a corrupte maner, and it may make great inconveniencies.
Cosmo. Woulde you live without them ? or keping them, how would you kepe them ? 40
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
FABRITIO. By waie of ordinaunce, not like to those of the THE king of Fraunce : for as muche as they be perilous, and FIRSTS insolent like unto ours, but I would kepe them like unto BOOKS those of the auncient Romaines, whom created their chivalry of their own subjectes, and in peace time, thei sente them home unto their houses, to live of their owne trades, as more largely before this reasoning ende, I shal dispute. So that if now this part of an armie, can live in such exercise, as wel when it is peace, it groweth of the corrupt order. Concern ing the provisions, which are reserved to me, and to other capitaines, I saie unto you, that this likewise is an order moste corrupted : for as much as a wise common weale, ought not to give such stipendes to any, but rather thei ought to use for Capitaines in the warre, their Cite/eins, and in time of peace to will, that thei returne to their occupations. Likewise also, a wise king either ought not to give to suche, or giving any, the occasion ought to be either for rewarde of some worthy dede, or else for the desire to kepe suche a kinde of man, as well in peace as in warre. And bicause you alledged me, I will make ensample upon my self, and saie that I never used the warre as an arte, for as muche as my arte, is to governe my subjectes, and to defende them, and to be able to defende them, to love peace, and to know how to make warre, and my kinge not so muche to rewarde and esteeme me, for my knowledge in the warre, as for the knowledge that I have to councel him in peace. Then a king ought not to desire to have about him, A kin^c that any that is not of this condicion if he be wise, and prudently hath about minde to governe: for that, that if he shal have about him him a"ytl|jlt either to muche lovers of peace, or to much lovers of warre, j^,," "J"* they shall make him to erre. I cannot in this my first e warre, or to reasoning, and according to my purpose saie more, and when much lovers this suHiseth you not, it is mete, you seke of them that may nf p»'"«'«; s}ia' satisfie you better. You maie now verie well understand, ™"*e him t( how difh'culte it is to bringe in use the auncient maners in the presente warres, and what preparations are mete for a wise man to make, and what occasions ought to be loked for, to be able to execute it. But by and by, you shall
F 41
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE know these things better, if this reasoning make you not FIRSTE werie, conferring what so ever partes of the auncient orders BOOKE hath ben, to the maners nowe presente.
COSIMO. If we desired at the first to here your reason of these thinges, truly thesame whiche hetherto you have spoken, hath doubled our desire : wherefore we thanke you for that we have hard, and the rest, we crave of you to here. FABRITIO. Seyng that it is so your pleasure, I will begin to intreate of this matter from the beginning, to the intent it maye be better understode, being able by thesame meane, more largely to declare it. The ende of him that wil make warre, is to be able to fight with every enemy in the fielde, and to be able to overcum an armie. To purpose to doe this, it is convenient to ordeine an hoost. To ordein an hoost, their must be found menne, armed, ordered, and as well in the small, as in the great orders exercised, to knowe ho we to kepe araie, and to incampe, so that after bringing them unto the enemie, either standing or marching, they maie know how to behave themselves valiantly. In this thing consisteth all the Industrie of the warre on the lande, whiche is the most necessarie, and the most honorablest, for he that can wel order a fielde against the enemie, the other faultes that he should make in the affaires of warre, wilbe borne with : but he that lacketh this knowledge, although that in other particulars he be verie good, he shal never bring a warre to honor : for as muche as a fielde that thou winnest, doeth cancell all other thy evill actes : so like wise lesing it, all thinges well done of thee before, remaine vaine. Ther- fore, beyng necessarie first to finde the menne, it is requiset to come to the choise of them. They whiche unto the warre have given rule, will that the menne be chosen out of temperate countries, to the intente they may have hardines, and prudence, for as muche as the hote countrey, bredes prudente men and not hardy, the colde, hardy, and not prudente. This rule is good to be geven, to one that were prince of all the world, bicause it is lawfull for him to choose men out of those places, whiche he shall thinke beste. But minding to give a rule, that every one may use, it is mete to 42
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
declare, that everie common weale, and every kingdome, THE ought to choose their souldiours out of their owne countrie, FIRSTE whether it be hote, colde, or temperate : for that it is scene BOOKE by olde ensamples, how that in every countrie with exercise, Oute of what their is made good souldiours : bicause where nature lacketh, ( the industry supplieth, the which in this case is worthe SouVliour" to more, then nature, and taking them in other places, you make a g shal not have of the choise, for choise is as much to saie, as election, the best of a province, and to have power to chuse those that will not, as well as those that wil serve. Wherfore. you muste take your choise in those places, that are subject? unto you, for that you cannot take whome you liste, iu the countries that are not yours, but you muste take suche as will goe with you.
COKIMO. Yet there maie bee of those, that will come, taken and lefte, and therefore, thei maie be called chosen.
FABRICIO. You saie the truthe in a certaine maner, but con sider the faultes, whiche soche a chosen marine hath in him- selfe, for that also many times it hapneth, that he is not a chosen manne. For those that are not thy subjectes, and whiche willyngly doe serve, are not of the beste, but rather of the worste of a Province, for as mot-he as if any be sclanderous, idell, unruly, without Religion, fugetive from the rule of their fathers, blasphemours, Disc plaiers, in every condicion evill brought up, bee those, whiche will serve, whose customes cannot be more contrarie, to a true and good servise : Albeit, when there bee offered unto you, so many of soche men, as come to above the nomber, that you have appoincted, you maie chuse them : but the matter beyng naught, the choise is not possible to be good : also, many times it chaunceth, that thei be not so many, as will make up the nomber, whereof you have nede, so that beyng constrained to take them al, it commcth to passe, that thei cannot then bee called chosen men, but hired Souldiours. With this disorder the armies of Italic, are made now a daies, and in other places, except in Almaine. bicause there thei doe not hire any by commaundemente of the Prince, but accordyng to the will of them, that are disposed to serve.
43
THE ARTE OF WARRE
Then consider now, what maners of those aunciente armies, maie bee brought into an armie of men, put together by BOOKE iike waies.
COSIMO. What waie ought to bee used then ? FABUITIO. Thesame waie that I saied, to chuse them of their owne subjectes, and with the aucthoritie of the Prince. COSIMO. In the chosen, shall there bee likewise brought in any auncient facion ?
FABRICIO. You know well enough that ye : when he that should commaunde theim, were their Prince, or ordinarie lorde, whether he were made chief, or as a Citezein, and for thesame tyme Capitaine, beyng a common weale, otherwise it is harde to make any thyng good. COSIMO. Why?
FABRICIO. I will tell you a nane : For this time I will that this suffise you, that it cannot be wrought well by other waie.
COSIMO. Having then to make this choyse of men in their owne countries, whether judge you that it be better to take them oute of the citie, or out of the countrie ?
Whether it be FABRITIO. Those that have written of such matters, doe
•etter to take all agree, that it is best to chuse them out of the
tovraet°or out countrie> bein£ men accustomed to no ease, nurished in
of the countrie labours, used to stonde in the sunne, to flie the shadow,
to serve. knowing how to occupy the spade, to make a diche,
to carrie a burden, and to bee without any deceite,
and without malisiousnes. But in this parte my opinion
should be, that beyng two sortes of souldiours, on foote,
and on horsebacke, that those on foote, should be chosen
out of the countrie, and those on horseback, oute of the
Cities.
COSIMO. Of what age would you choose them ?
Of what age FABRICIO. I would take them, when I had to make a newe Souldiours armie, from xvii. to xl. yeres : when it were made alredy,
chosen and l had to restore them> of xvii- alwaies.
COSIMO. I doe not understonde well this distinction. FABRICIO. I shall tell you : when I should ordain e an hooste to make warre, where were no hooste alredy, it 44
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
should be necessarie to chuse all those men, which were THE most fitte and apte for the warre, so that they were FIRSTE of servisable age, that I might bee able to instructe BOOKE theim, as by me shalbe declared : but when I would make my choise of menne in places, where a powre were alredy prepared, for suppliyng of thesame, I would take them of xvii. yeres : for as much as the other of more age, be aired v chosen and apoincted.
COSIMO. Then woulde you prepare a power like to those whiche is in our countrie ?
FARRICIO. Ye truly, it is so that I would arme them, Captaine them, exercise and order them in a manor, whiche I cannot tell, if you have ordred them so.
COSIMO. Then do you praise the keping of order ?
FABRITIO. Wherefore would you that I should dispraise it ?
COSIMO. Bicause many wise menne have alwaies blamed it.
FAHRICIO. You speake against all reason, to saie that a wise man blameth order, he maie bee well thought wise, and be nothyng so.
COSIMO. The naughtie profe, which it hath alwaies, maketh us to have soche opinion thereof.
FARRICIO. Take hede it be not your fault, and not the kepyng of order, the whiche you shall knowe, before this reasonvng be ended.
COSIMO. You shall doe a thyng moste thankfull, yet I will saie concernyng thesame, that tliei accuse it, to the entente you maie the better justifie it. Thei saie thus, either it is unprofitable, and we trustyng on the same, shall make us to lese our state, or it shall be verteous, and by the same meane, he that governeth may easely deprive us thereof. Thei alledge the Homaines, who by meane of their owne powers, loste their libertie. Thei alledge the Venicians, and the Frenche king, whiche Venicians, bicause thei will not be constrained, to obeie one of their owne Cite/eins, use the power of straungers : and the Frenche kyng hath dis armed his people, to be able more easely to commaunde them, but thei whiche like not the ordinaunces, feare moche more the unprofit'iblenesse, that thei suppose maie insuc
45
THE FIRSTE BOOKE
By what meanes soul- diours bee made bolde and experte.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
thereby, then any thyng els : the one cause whiche thei allege is, bicause thei are unexperte : The other, for that thei have to serve par force: for asmoche as thei saie, that the aged bee not so dissiplinable, nor apte to learne the feate of armes, and that by force, is doen never any thyng good.
FABRICIO. All these reasons that you have rehearsed, be of men, whiche knoweth the thyng full little, as I shall plainly declare. And firste, concernyng the unprofitablenesse, I tell you, that there is no service used in any countrie more profitable, then the service by the Subjectes of thesame, nor thesame service cannot bee prepared, but in this maner : and for that this nedeth not to be disputed of, I will not lese moche tyme : bicause al thensamples of auncient histores, make for my purpose, and for that thei alledge the lacke of experience, and to use constraint : I saie how it is true, that the lacke of experience, causeth lacke of courage, and constrainte, maketh evill contentacion : but courage, and experience thei are made to gette, with the maner of armyng theim, exercisyng, and orderyng theim, as in pro- ceadyng of this reasonyng, you shall heare. But concernyng constrainte, you ought to understande, that the menne, whiche are conducted to warfare, by commaundement of their Prince, thei ought to come, neither altogether forced, nor altogether willyngly, for as moche as to moche willyngnesse, would make thinconveniencies. where I told afore, that he should not be a chosen manne, and those would be fewe that would go : and so to moche constraint, will bring forth naughtie effectes. Therefore, a meane ought to be taken, where is not all constrainte, nor all willingnesse : but beyng drawen of a respecte, that thei have towardes their Prince, where thei feare more the displeasure of thesame, then the presente paine : and alwaies it shall happen to be a constrainte, in maner mingled with willingnesse, that there cannot growe soche evil contentacion, that it make evill effectes. Yet I saie not for all this, that it cannot bee overcome, for that full many tymes, were overcome the Romaine armies, and the armie of Aniball was overcome, so that it is seen, that an armie cannot be ordained so sure, that it cannot be over-
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throwen. Therefore, these your wise men, ought not to measure this unprofitablenesse, for havyng loste ones, but to beleve, that like as thei lese, so thei maie winne, and remeadie the occasion of the losse : and when thei shall seke this, thei shall finde, that it hath not been through faulte of the waie, but of the order, whiche had not his per- feccion, and as I have saied, thei ought to provide, not with blamyng the order, but with redressing it, the whiche how it ought to be doen, you shall understande, from poinct to poinct. Concernyng the doubte, leste soche ordinaunces, take not from thee thy state, by meane of one, whiche is made hedde therof, I answere, that the arm u re on the backes of citezeins, or subjcctcs, given by the disposicion of order and lawe, did never harme, but rather alwaies it doeth good, and mainteineth the citee, moche lenger in suretie, through helpe of this armure, then without. Home con tinued free CCCC. yeres, and was armed. Sparta viii.C. Many other citees have been disarmed, and have remained free, lesse then xl. For as moche as citees have nede of defence, and when thei have no defence of their owne, thei hire straungers, and the straunges defence, shall hurte moche soner the common weale, then their owne : bicause thei be moche easier to be corrupted, and a citezein that becommeth mightie, maie moche soner usurpe, and more easely bryng his purpose to passe, where the people bee disarmed, that he seketh to oppresse : besides this, a citee ought to feare a greate deale more, twoo enemies then one. Thesame citee that useth straungers power, feareth at one instant the straunger, whiche it hireth, and the Citezein : and whether this feare ought to be, remember thesame, whiche I rehearsed a little a fore of Frances Sfor/a. That, citee, whiche useth her own proper power, feareth no man, other then onely her owne Cite/ein. But for all the reasons that maie bee saied, this shall serve me, that never any ordeined any common weale, or Kyngdome, that would not. thinke, that thei theini selves, that inhabite thesame, should with their sweardes defende it.
And if the Venicians had been so wise in this, as in all
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THE FIKSTE BOOKE
A Citee that useth the servise <>f straun^ers, feareth at one instaunte the strauujfors, which it hireth .'ind the rite/ens of thesame.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE their other orders, thei should have made a new Monarchie in RSTE the world, whom so moche the more deserve blame, havyng BOOKE been armed of their first giver of lawes : for havyng no dominion on the lande, thei wer armed on the sea, where thei made their warre vertuously, and with weapons in their handes, increased their coimtrie. But when thei were driven, to make warre on the lande, to defende Vicenza, where thei ought to have sent one of their citezens, to have fought on the lande, thei hired for their capitain, the Marques of Mantua : this was thesame foolishe acte, whiche cut of their legges, from climyng into heaven, and from enlargyng their dominion : and if thei did it, bicause thei beleved, that as thei knewe, how to make warre on the Sea, so thei mistrusted theim selves, to make it on the lande, it was a mistruste not wise : for as moche as more easely, a capitain of the sea, whiche is used to fight with the windes, with the water, and with men, shall become a Capitaine of the lande, where he shall fight with men onely, then a capitaine of the lande, to become a capitain of the sea. The Romaines knowyng how to fight on the lande, and on the sea, commyng to warre, with the Carthaginens, whiche were mightie on the sea, hired not Grekes, or Spaniardes, accustomed to the sea, but thei committed thesame care, to their Citezeins, whiche thei sent on the land, and thei overcame. If thei did it, for that one of their citezeins should not become a tiraunt, it was a feare smally considered : for that besides thesame reasons, whiche to this purpose, a little afore I have re hearsed, if a Citezein with the powers on the sea, was never made a tiraunt in a citee standyng in the sea, so moche the lesse he should have been able to accomplishe this with the powers of the lande : whereby thei ought to se that the weapons in the handes of their Citezeins, could not make tirantes : but the naughtie orders of the governement, whiche maketh tirannie in a citee, and thei havyng good governe ment, thei nede not to feare their owne weapons : thei toke therefore an unwise waie, the whiche hath been occasion, to take from them moche glorie, and moche felicitie. Con- cernyng the erroure, whiche the kyng of Fraunce committeth 48
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
not kepyng instructed his people in the warre, the whiche THE those your wise men alledge for ensample, there is no man, FIRSTE (his particulare passions laied a side) that doeth not judge BOOKE this fault, to be in thesame kyngdome, and this negligence onely to make hym weake. But I have made to greate a digression, and peradventure am come out of my purpose, albeit, I have doen it to aunswere you, and to shewe you, that in no cotmtrie, there can bee made sure foundacion, for defence in other powers but of their owne subjectes : and their own power, cannot be prepared otherwise, then by waie of an ordinaunce, nor by other waie, to induce the facion of an armie in any place, nor by other meane to ordein an instruction of warfare. If you have red the orders, whiche those first kynges made in Rome, and in- especially Servio Tullo, you shall finde that the orders of the Classi is no other, then an ordinaunce, to bee able at a sodaine, to bryng together an armie, for defence of thesame citee. But let us retourne to our choise, I saie again e, that havyng to renewe an olde order, I would take them of xvii. havyng to make a newe armie, I would take them of all ages, betwene xvii. and xl. to be able to warre straight waie.
COSIMO. Would you make any difference, of what science you would chuse them ?
FAHIUTIO. The aucthours, which have written of the arte of warre, make difference, for that thei will not, that there bee taken Fouler*, Fishers, Cookes, baudes, nor none that use any science of voluptuousnesse. But thei will, that there Of what bee taken Plowmen, Ferrars, Smithes, Carpenters, Buchars, science sol- IIunters,and soche like : but I would make little difference, di('urs oupht through conjecture of the science, concernyng the goodnesse c of the man, notwithstaiulyng, in as moche as to be able with more proh'te to use theim, I would make difference, and for this cause, the countrie men, which are used to till the grounde, are more profitable then any other. Next to whom be Smithes, Carpentars, Ferrars, Masons, wherof it is profitable to have enough : for that their occupations, serve well in many thynges : bevng a thvng verie good to have a souldiour, of whom maie be had double servise.
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THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE COSIMO. Wherby doe thei knowe those, that be, or are
FIRSTE not sufficient to serve.
BOOKE FABUITIO. I will speake of the maner of chusing a new ordinaunce, to make an armie after, for that, parte of this matter, doeth come also to be reasoned of, in the election, which should be made for the replenishing, or restoring of an old ordinaunce. I saie therfore, that the good- nesse of one, whiche thou muste chuse for a Souldiour, is knowen either by experience, thorough meane of some of his worthy doynges, or by conjecture. The proofe of vertue, cannot be founde in men whiche are chosen of newe, and whiche never afore have ben chosen, and of these are founde either fewe or none, in the ordinaunce that of newe is ordeined. It is necessarie therefore, lackyng this ex perience, to runne to the conjecture, whiche is taken by the yeres, by the occupacion, and by the personage : of those two first, hath been reasoned, there remaineth to speake of the thirde. And therefore, I saie how some have willed, that the souldiour bee greate, emongest whom was Pirrus. Some other have chosen theim onely, by the lusti- nesse of the body, as Cesar did : whiche lustinesse of bodie and mynde, is conjectured by the composicion of the members, and of the grace of the countenaunce : and Ho we to chose therefore, these that write saie, that thei would have the a souldiour. jyes lively and cherefull, the necke full of sinowes, the breaste large, the armes full of musculles. the fingers long, little beallie, the flankes rounde, the legges and feete drie : whiche partes are wont alwayes to make a manne nimble and strong, whiche are twoo thynges, that in a souldiour are sought above al other. Regarde ought to bee had above all thynges, to his customes, and that in hym bee honestie, and shame : otherwise, there shall bee chosen an instrumente of mischief, and a beginnyng of corrupcion : for that lette no manne beleve that in the dishoneste educacion, and filthy minde, there maie take any vertue, whiche is in any parte laudable. And I thinke it not superfluous, but rather I beleve it to bee necessarie, to the entente you maie the better understande, the importaunce of this chosen, to tell 50
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
you the maner, that the Romaine Consuls, in the beginning THE of their rule, observed in the chosing of their Roniain legions : in the whiche choise of men, bicause thesame legions were mingled with old souldiours and newe, con- sideryng the continuall warre thei kepte, thei might in their choise precede, with the experince of the old, and with the conjecture of the newe : and this ought to be noted, that these men be chosen, either to serve incontinently, or to exercise theim incontinently, and after to serve when nede should require. But my intencion is to shew you, how an annie maie be prepared in the countrie, where there is no warlike discipline : in which countrie, chosen men cannot be had, to use them straight waie, but there, where the custome is to levie armies, and by meane of the Prince, thei maie then well bee had, as the Romanies observed, and as is observed at this daie emong the Suisers : bicause in these chosen, though there be many newe menne, there be also so many of the other olde Souldiours, accustomed to serve in the warlike orders, where the newe mingled together with the olde, make a bodie united and good, notwith standing, that themperours after, beginning the staciones of ordinarie Souldiours, had appoincted over the newe souldiours, whiche were called tironi, a maister to exercise theim, as appeareth in the life of Massimo the Emperour. The whiche thyng, while Rome was free, not onely in the armies, but in the citee was ordeined : and the exercises of warre, beyng accustomed in thesame, where the yong men did exercise, there grewe, that beyng chosen after to goe into warre, thei were so used in the fained exercise of war fare, that thei could easely worke in the true : but those Emperours havyng after put doune these exercises, thei wer constrained to use the waies, that I have shewed you. Therefore, comyng to the maner of the chosen Romain, I saie that after the Romain Consulles (to whom was appoincted the charge of the warre) had taken the rule, myndyng to ordeine their armies, for that it was the custome, that either of them should have twoo Ix'gions of Romaine menne, whiche was the strength of their armies, thei created xxiiii.
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THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE Tribunes of warre, and thei appoincted sixe for every FIRSTE Legion, whom did thesame office, whiche those doe now a BOOKE daies, that we call Conestables : thei made after to come together, all the Romain men apte to beare weapons, and thei put the Tribunes of every Legion, seperate the one from the other. Afterwarde, by lot thei drewe the Tribes, of whiche thei had firste to make the chosen, and of the same Tribe thei chose fower of the best, of whiche was chosen one of the Tribunes, of the first Legion, and of the other three was chosen, one of the Tribunes of the second Legion, of the other two there was chosen one of the Tribunes of the third, and the same last fell to the fowerth Legion. After these iiij, thei chose other fower, of which, first one was chosen of the Tribunes of the seconde Legion, the seconde of those of the thirde, the thirde of those of the fowerth, the fowerth remained to the first. After, thei chose other fower, the first chose the thirde, the second the fowerth, the thirde the fiveth, the fowerth remained to the seconde: and thus thei varied successively, this maner of chosyng, so that the election came to be equall, and the Legions wer gathered together : and as afore we saied, this choise might bee made to use straighte waie, for that thei made them of men, of whom a good parte were experiensed in the verie warfare in deede, and all in the fained exercised, and thei might make this choise by conjecture, and by ex perience. But where a power must be ordeined of newe, and for this to chuse them out of hande, this chosen cannot be made, saving by conjecture, whiche is taken by consideryng their ages and their likelinesse.
COSIMO. I beleve all to be true, as moche as of you hath been spoken : but before that you precede to other reasonyng, I woll aske of you one thing, which you have made me to remember : saiyng that the chosen, that is to be made where men were not used to warre, ought to be made by conjecture : for asmoche as I have heard some men, in many places dis praise our ordinaunce, and in especially concernyng the nomber, for that many saie, that there ought to bee taken lesse nomber, whereof is gotten this profite, that thei shall 52
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be better and better chosen, and men shal not be so moche THE diseased, so that there maie bee given them some rewarde, FIRSTE whereby thei maie bee more contented, and better bee com- BOOKE maunded, whereof 1 would understande in this parte your opinion, and whether you love better the greate nomber, then the little, and what waie you would take to chuse theim in the one, and in the other nomber.
FABRICIO. Without doubte it is better, and more necessary, the great nomber, then the little : but to speake more plainly, where there cannot be ordeined a great nomber of men, there cannot be ordeined a perfect ordinaunce : and I will easely confute all the reasons of them propounded. I saie therefore firste, that the lesse nomber where is many people, as is for ensample Tuscane, maketh not that you have better, nor that the chosen be more excellent, for that myndyng in chosing the menne, to judge them by experience, there shall be founde in thesame countrie moste fewe, whom experience should make provable, bothe for that fewe hath been in warre, as also for that of those, mooste fewe have made triall, whereby thei might deserve to bee chosen before the other: so that he whiche ought in like places to chuse, it is mete he leave a parte the experience, and take them by conjecture. Then being brought likewise into soche necessitie, I would understande, if there come before me twentie young men of good stature, with what rule I ought to take, or to leave any: where without doubte, I beleve that every man will confesse, how it is lesse errour to take them al, to arme theim and exercise theim, beyng not able to knowe, whiche of theim is beste, and to reserve to make after more certaine chosen, when in practisyng theim with exercise, there shall be knowen those of moste spirite, and of moste life : which considered, the chusing in this case a fewe, to have them better, is altogether naught.
Concernyng diseasing lesse the countrie, and men, I saie that the ordinaunce, either evill or little that it bee, causeth not any disease, for that this order doeth not take menue from any of their businesse, it bindeth them not, that thei cannot so to doe any of their affaires : for that it bindeth
53
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE them onely in the idell dales, to assemble together, to FIRSTE exercise them, the whiche thyng doeth not hurt, neither to BOOKE the countrie, nor to the men, but rather to yong men, it shall bryng delite : For that where vilie on the holy daies, thei stande idell in tipplyng houses, thei will go for pleasure to those exercises, for that the handlyng of weapons, as it is a goodly spectacle, so unto yong men it is pleasaunt. Con- cernyng to bee able to paie the lesse nomber, and for this to kepe theim more obediente, and more contented, I answere, how there cannot be made an ordinaunce of so fewe, whiche maie be in maner continually paied, where thesame paiment of theirs maie satisfie them. As for en- sample, if there were ordeined a power of v. thousande men, for to paie them after soche sorte, that it might be thought sufficient, to content them, it shal bee convenient to give theim at least, ten thousaunde crounes the moneth : first, this nomber of men are not able to make an armie, this paie is intolerable to a state, and of the other side, it is not sufficiente to kepe men contented, and bounde to be able to serve at al times : so that in doyng this, there shall be spent moche, and a small power kept, whiche shall not be suffi cient to defend thee, or to doe any enterprise of thine. If thou shouldest give theim more, or shouldest take more, so moche more impossibilitie it should be, for thee to paie theim : if thou shouldest give them lesse, or should take lesse, so moche the lesse contentacion should be in them, or so moche the lesse profite thei shal bring thee. Therfore, those that reason of makyng an ordinaunce, and whilest thei tary at home to paie them, thei reason of a thing either impossible, or unprofitable, but it is necessarie to paie them, when thei are taken up to be led to the warre : albeit, though soche order should somewhat disease those, in time of peace, that are appoincted in thesame, which I se not how, there is for recompence all those benefites, whiche a power brynges, that is ordeined in a countrie : for that without thesame, there is nothyng sure. I conclude, that he that will have the little nomber, to be able to paie them, or for any of the other causes alledged of you, doeth not 54
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
understande, for that also it maketh for my opinion, that THE
every noraber shall deminishe in thy handes, through infinite FIRSTE
impediments, whiche men have : so that the little nomber BOOKE
shall tourne to nothing : again havyng thordinaunce greate,
thou maiest at thy pleasure use fewe of many, besides this,
it must serve thee in deede, and in reputacion, and alwaies
the great Member shall give thee moste reputacion. More
over, makyng the ordinaunce to kepe menne exercised, if
thou appoincte a fewe nomber of men in many countries,
the handes of men bee so farre a sonder, the one from the
other, that thou canst not without their moste grevous
losse, gather them together to exercise them, and without
this exercise, the ordinaunce is unprofitable, as hereafter
shall be declared.
COSIMO. It suffiseth upon this my demaunde, that whiche you have saied : but I desire now, that you declare me an other doubt. Thei saie, that soche a multitude of armed men, will make confusion, discension and disorder in the countrie where thei are.
FADRITIO. This is an other vaine opinion, the cause wherof, I shall tell you : soche as are ordeined to serve in the warres, maie cause disorder in twoo maners, either betwene them selves, or against other, whiche thinges moste easely maie be withstode, where the order of it self, should not w*ithstande it: for that concernyng the discorde eniong theiin selves, this order taketh it waie, and doeth not nourishe it, for that in orderyng them, you give them armour and capitaines. If the countrie where you ordein them, bee so unapte for the warre, that there are not armours emong the men of the- same, and that thei bee so united, that thei have no heddes, this order maketh theim moche fcarser against the straunger, but it maketh them not any thyng the more disunited, for that men well ordered, feare the lawe beyng armed, as well as unarmed, nor thei can never alter, if the capitaines, which you give them, cause not the alteracion, and the waie to make this, shall be tolde now : but if the countrie where you ordein them, be warlike and disunited, this order onely shal be occasion to unite them : bicause this order giveth them
55
THE FIRSTE BOOKE
Howtoprovid againste soche incon veniences as souldiours maie cause.
The occasion of civill warre emong the Romaines.
THE AllTE OF WARRE
armours profitable for the warre, and heddes, extinguishers of discencion : where their owne armours bee unprofitable for the warres, and their heddes nourishers of discorde. For that so sone as any in thesame countrie is offended, he resorteth by and by to his capitain to make complaint, who for to maintain his reputacion, comforteth hym to revenge- ment not to peace. To the contrary doeth the publike hed, so that by this meanes, thoccasion of' discorde is taken awaie, and the occasion of union is prepared, and the provinces united and effeminated, gette utilitie, and maintain union : the disunited and discencious, doe agree, and thesame their fearsnesse, which is wont disordinately to worke, is tourned into publike utilitie. To minde to have them, to doe no hurt against other, it ought to bee considered, that thei cannot dooe this, except by meane of the heddes, whiche governe them. To will that the heddes make no disorder, it is necessarie to have care, that thei get not over them to much auctori tie. And you must consider that this auctoritie, is gotten either by nature, or by accidente : and as to nature, it behoveth to provide, that he which is boren in one place, be not apoincted to the men billed in the same, but be made hedde of those places, where he hath not any naturall acquaint ance : and as to the accident, the thing ought to be ordeined in suche maner, that every yere the heddes maie be changed from governement to goverment : for as muche as the continuall auctoritie over one sorte of menne, breedeth among them so muche union, that it maie turne easely to the prejudice of the Prince : whiche permutations howe profitable they be to those who have used theim, and hurtefull to them that have not observed theim, it is well knowen by the kingdome of the Assirians, and by the Empire of the Romaines : where is scene, that the same kingdome indured aM.ycres without tumulte, and without any Civill warre : whiche preceded not of other, then of the permutations, whiche from place to place everie yere thesame Capitaines made, unto whome were apoincted the charge of the Armies. Nor for any other occasion in the Romaine Empire, after the bloud of Cesar was extinguished, there grewe so many civill warres, 56
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
betwene the Capitaines of the hostes, and so many con- THE spiracles of the forsaied capitaines against the Emperours, hut onely for kepyng continually still those capitaines alwayes BOOKE in one governement. And if in some of those firste Em perours, and of those after, whom helde the Empire with reputacion, as Adriane, Marcus, Severus, and soche like, there had been so moche foresight, that thei had brought this custome of chaungyng the capitaines in thesame Empire, without doubte it should have made theim more quiete, and more durable: For that the Capitaines should have had lesse occasion to make tumultes, the Emperours lesse cause to feare, and the senate in the lackes of the suc cessions, should have had in the election of the Emperour, more aucthoritie, and by consequence should have been better : but the naughtie custome, either for ignoraunce, or through the little diligence of menne, neither for the wicked, nor good ensamples, can be taken awaie.
COSIMO. I cannot tell, if with my questionyng, I have as it were led you out of your order, bicause from the chusyng of men, we be entred into an other matter, and if I had not been a little before excused, I should thinke to deserve some reprehension.
FABRITIO. Let not this disquiete you, for that all this reasonyng was necessary, myndyng to reason of the or- dinaunce, the which beyng blamed of many, it was requsite to excuse it, willyng to have this first parte of chusyng men to be alowed. But now before I discend to the other partes, I will reason of the choise of men on horsebacke. Of the The number antiquitie, these were made of the moste richeste, havyng J^0^™6"' regard bothe to the yeres, and to the qualitie of the Ron,ajne8 man, and thei chose CCC. for a Legion, so that the 0}u,se for a Remain horse, in every Consulles armie, passed not the Legion, and
nombcr of vi. C. s^ile^armie
COSIMO. Would you make an ordinaunce of hors, to *"'
exercise them at home, and to use their service when nede
requires?
FABRICIO. It is most necessary, and it cannot be doen
otherwise, minding to have the power, that it be the owne H 57
THE FIRSTE BOOKE
The choosing and ordering of horsemen, that is to be observed at this present.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
proper, and not to purpose to take of those, which make thereof an arte.
COSIMO. Howe would you chuse them ?
FABUITIO. I would imitate the Romanes, I woulde take of the richest, I would give them heades or chiefe Capitaynes, in the same maner, as nowe a dayes to other is given, and I would arme them and exercise them.
COSIMO. To these should it be well to give some pro vision ?
FABRITIO. Yea marie, but so much onely as is necessarye to keepe the horse, for as muche as bringing to thy sub- jectes expences, they might justly complayne of thee, there fore it shoulde be necessarye, to paye them their charges of their horse.
COSJMO. What nomber woulde you make ? and how woulde you arme them ?
FABRITIO. You passe into an other matter. I will tell
you in convenient place, whiche shalbe when I have
tolde you, howe foote men oughte to be armed,
and howe a power of men is prepared, for
a day of battaile.
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THE SECOND BOOKE
OF THE ARTE OF WARRE OF
NICHOLAS MACHIAVEL, CITEZEIN
AND SECRETARIE OF FLORENCE,
UNTO
LAURENCE PHILIP STROZZE.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE SECOND BOOKE
BELEEVE that it is necessary e, men being founde, to arme them, and minding to doo this, I suppose that it is a needefull thing to examine, what armoure the anti- quitie used, and of the same to chose the best. The Romanes devided their foote men in heavie and lighte armed : Those that were light armed, they called by the name of Vcliti : Under this name were understoode all those that threwe with Slinges, shot with Crossebowes, cast Dartes, and they used the most parte of them for their defence, to Howe the weare on their heade a Murion, with a Targaet on their Romaines arme : they fought out of the orders, and farre of from the Jj^jjj^ heavie armed, which did weare a head peece, that came wjjat wcanous downe to their shoulders, a Corselet, which with the tases thei used, came downe to the knees, and they had the legges and armes, covered with greaves, and vambraces, with a targaet on the left arme, a yarde and a halfe long, and three quarters of a yarde brode, whiche had a hoope of Iron upon it, to bee able to sustaine a blowe, and an other under, to the intente, that it being driven to the earth, it should not breake : for to off'ende, they had girte on their left flanke a swoorde, the length of a yearde and a naile, on their righte side, a Dagger : they had a darte in every one of their handes, the which they called Pilo, and in the beginning of the fight, they threwe those at the enemie. This was the ordering, and importaunce of the armours of the Romanes, bv the which
61
THE SECOND BOOKE
How the Grekes did arme them selves, and what weapons they used againste their enemies.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
they possessed all the world. And although some of these auncient writers gave them, besides the foresayde weapons, a staffe in their hande like unto a Partasen, I cannot tell howe a heavy staffe, may of him that holdeth a Targaet bee occupied: for that to handle it with both hands, the Targaet should bee an impediment, and to occupye the same with one hande, there can be done no good therwith, by reason of the weightynesse therof : besides this, to faight in the strong, and in the orders with such long kinde of weapon, it is unprofitable, except in the first front, where they have space enough, to thrust out all the staffe, which in the orders within, cannot be done, for that the nature of the battaile (as in the order of the same, I shall tell you) is continually to throng together, which although it be an inconvenience, yet in so doing they feare lesse, then to stande wide, where the perill is most evident, so that all the weapons, which passe in length a yarde and a halfe, in the throng, be unprofitable : for that, if a man have the Partasen, and will occupye it with both handes, put case that the Targaet let him not, he can not hurte with the same an enemie, whom is upon him, if he take it with one hande, to the intent to occupie also the Targaet, being not able to take it, but in the middest, there remayneth so much of the staffe behinde, that those which are behinde him, shall let him to welde it. And whether it were true, either that the Romanes had not this Partasen, or that having it, did litle good withall, reade all the battailes, in the historye therof, celebrated of Titus Livius, and you shall see in the same, most seldome times made mencion of Partasens, but rather alwaies he saieth, that the Dartes being throwen, they layed their hands on their sweardes. Therfore I will leave this staffe, and observe, concerning the Romanes, the swoorde for to hurte, and for defence the Targaet, with the other armours aforesaide.
The Greekes dyd not arrne them selves so heavyly, for their defence, as the Romanes dyd : but for to offend the enemies, they grounded more on their staves, then on their swoordes, and in especiallye the Fallangye of Macedonia,
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
which used staves, that they called Sarisse, seven yardes and THE a halfe long, with the which they opened the rankes of their SECOND enemies, and they keept the orders in their Fallangy. And BOOKE although some writers saie, that they had also the Targaet, I can not tell (by the reasons aforesayde) ho we the Sarisse and they coulcle stande together. Besides this, in the battaile that Paulus Emilius made, with Persa king of Mace donia, I do not remember, that there is made any mention of Targaettes, but only of the Sarisse, and of the difficultie that the Homane armie had, to overcome them : so that I conjecture, that a Macedonicall Fallange, was no other wise, then is now a dayes a battaile of Suizzers, the whiche in their Pikes have all their force, and all their power. The A brave and a Romanes did garnish (besides the armours) the footemen terrible thing with feathers ; the whiche thinges makes the fight of an to the armie to the friendes goodly, to the enemies terrible. The 6 armour of the horsemen, in the same first Jiomane antiquitie, Howe the was a rounde Targaet, and they had their head armed, and Romanes the rest unarmed : They had a swoorde and a staffe, with h^emei'fin an Iron head onely before, long and small : whereby it Olde time. * happened, that they were not able to staye the Targaet, and the staffe in the incountring broke, and they through being unarmed, were subjecte to hurtes : after, in processe of time, they armed them as the footemen, albeit they used the Targaette muche shorter, square, and the staffe more stiffe, and with twoo heades, to the entente, that breaking one of the heades, they mightc prevaile with the other. With these armours as well on foote, as on horsebacke, the Romanes conquered all the worlde, and it is to be beleeved, by the fruict thereof, whiche is scene, that they were the beste appointed armies, that ever were : and Titus Livius in his history, doeth testifie verye often, where comming to comparison with the enemies armies, he saieth : But the Romanes, by vertue, by the kinde of their armours, and practise in the service of warre, were superiours : and ther- fore I have more particularly reasoned of the armours of conquerours, then of the conquered. But no we mee thinkes good, to reason onelye of the manner of arming
63
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THE men at this presente. Footemen have for their defence, SECOND a breast plate, and for to offende, a launce, sixe yardes and BOOKE three quarters long, which is called a pike, with a swoorde
The maner of on their side, rather rounde at the poinct, then sharpe.
arming men rphis is the ordinarie arming of footemen nowe a dayes, for
nowe adaies. ^t fewe there be, which have their legges armed, and their armes, the heade none, and those fewe, beare insteede of a Pike, a Halberde, the staff'e whereof as you know, is twoo yardes and a quarter long, and it hath the Iron made like an axe. Betweene them, they have Harkebutters, the which with the violence of the fire, do the same office, which in
The invention olde time the slingers did, and the Crosseboweshoters.
of Pikes. This maner of arming, was found out by the Dutchemen, inespeciallye of Suizzers, whom being poore, and desirous to live free, they were, and be constrayned to fight, with the ambition of the Princes of Almaine, who being riche, were able to keepe horse, the which the same people could not do for povertye. Wherby it grewe, that being on foote, mind ing to defende them selves from the enemies, that were on horsebacke, it behooveth them to seeke of the aunciente orders, and to finde weapons, whiche from the furie of horses, should defende them : This necessitie hath made either to be maintayned, or to bee founde of them the aunciente orders, without whiche, as everye prudente man affirmeth, the footemen is altogether unprofitable. There fore, they tooke for their weapon the Pike, a moste profit able weapon, not only to withstande horses, but to overcome them : and the Dutchemen have by vertue of these weapons, and of these orders, taken such boldnesse, that xv. or xx. thousande of them, will assault the greatest nomber of horse that maye be : and of this, there hath beene experi ence enough within this xxv. yeres. And the insamples of their vertue hath bene so mightie, grounded upon these weapons, and these orders, that sence King Charles passed into Italic, everye nation hath imitated them : so that the Spanish armies, are become into most great reputation.
COSIMO. Which maner of arming, do you praise moste, either these Dutchemens, or the auncient Romanes ? 64
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
FABRITIO. The Ronmne without doubte, and I will tell THE you the commoditie, and the discom modi tie of the one, SECOND and the other. The Dutche footenien, are able to with- BOOKE stande, and overcome the horses : they bee moste speedie to Whether the marchc, and to be set in araye, being not laden with Romanes armours: of the other part, they be subjecte to all blowes, ™™fr™™™e both far re of, and at hande : because they be unarmed, they better then bee unprofitable unto the battaile on the lande, and to the arming- of everye h'ghte, where is strong resistaunce. But the men, that is Romanes withstoode, and overcame the horses, as well as Jj^ggn0we a the Dutchemen, they were safe from blowes at hande, and far re of, being covered with armours : they were also better able to charge, and better able to sustaine charges, having Targaettes : they might more aptly in the preace fight with the swoorde, then these with the Pike, and though the Dutchemen have likewise swoordes, yet being without Targaets, they become in suche case unprofitable : The Romanes might safelye assault townes, having their bodies cleane covered with armour, and being better able to cover themselves with their Targaettes. So that they had no other incommoditie, then the waightynesse of their armours, and the pain to cary them : the whiche thinges thei over came, with accustomyng the body to diseases, and with hardenyng it, to bee able to indure labour. And you knowe, how that in thinges accustomed, men suffer no grief. And you have to understand this, that the footemen maie be constrained, to faight with footemen, and with horse, and alwaies those be unprofitable, whiche cannot either sustain the horses, or beyng able to sustain them, have not- withstandyng neede to feare the footemen, whiche be better armed, ancl better ordeined then thei. Now if you consider the Duchemen, and the Romanies, you shall h'nde in the Duchemen activitie (as we have said) to overcome the horses, but greate dissavauntage, when thei faighte with menne, ordeined as thei them selves are, and armed as the Romaines were : so that there shall be this advauntage more of the one, then of thother, that the Romaines could over come the men, and the horses, the Duchemen onely the horses.
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THE COSIMO. I would desire, that you would come to some
SECOND more particulare insample, whereby wee male better under- BOOKE stande.
FABRICIO. I sale thus, that you shall finde in many places of our histories, the Remain footemen to have overcome innumerable horses, and you shall never finde, that thei have been overcome of men on foote, for default that thei have had in their armour, or thorowe the vantage that the enemie hath had in the armours : For that if the maner of their armyng, should have had defaulte, it had been neces- sarie, that there should folowe, the one of these twoo thynges, either that findyng soche, as should arme theim better then thei, thei should not have gone still forwardes, with their conquestes, or that thei should have taken the straungers maners, and should have left their owne, and for that it folowed not in the one thing, nor in the other, there groweth that ther male be easely conjectured, that the maner of their armyng, was better then thesame of any other. It is not yet thus happened to the Duchemen, for that naughtie profe, hath ben seen made them, when soever thei have chaunsed to faight with men on foote prepared, and as obstinate as thei, the whiche is growen of the vauntage, whiche thesame have incountred in thenemies armours. Philip Vicecounte of Milaine, being assaulted of xviii. thousande Suizzers, sent against theim the Counte Carminvola, whiche then was his capitaine. He with sixe thousande horse, and a fewe footemen, went to mete with them, and incounteryng theim, he was repulsed with his moste greate losse : wherby Carminvola as a prudente man, knewe straight waie the puisaunce of the enemies weapons, anc^ ^ow mocne against the horses thei prevailed, and the debilitie of the horses, againste those on foote so appoincted : and gatheryng his men together again, he went to finde the have, againste Suizzers, and so sone as he was nere them, he made his men e unai \ . of armeSj |-o a Jjght frOm their horse, and in thesame maner Car^inlok faightyng with them he slue theim all, excepte three thou- against the sande : the whiche seyng them selves to consume, without Duchemen. havyng reamedy,castyng their weapons to the grounde, yelded . 66
An ensample whiche proveth that horsemen with staves, cannot pre- vaile against
what great advauntage the armed
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
COSIMO. Whereof cometh so moche disavauntage ? THE
FABRICIO. I have a little afore tolde you, but seyng that SECOND you have not understoode it, I will rehearse it againe. BOOKE The Duchemcn (as a little before I saied unto you) as it were unarmed, to defende themselves, have to otfende, the Pike and the swearde : thei come with these weapons, and with their orders to finde the enemies, whom if thei bee well armed, to defende theim selves, as were the menne of armes of Carminvola, whiche made theim a lighte on foote, thei come with the sweard, and in their orders to find them, and have no other difficultie, then to come nere to the Suix/ers, so that thei maie reche them with the sweard, for that so sone as thei have gotten unto them, thei faight safely : for asmoche as the Duch man, cannot strike thenemie with the Pike, whom is upon him, for the length of the staffe, where fore it is conveniente for hym, to put the hande to the sweard, the whiche to hym is unprofitable, he beyng unarmed, and havyng against hym an enemie, that is all armed. Whereby he that considereth the vantage, and the disavantage of the one, and of the other, shall see, how the unarmed, shall have no maner of remeady, and the over- commyng of the firste faight, and to passe the firste poinctes of the Pikes, is not moche difficulte, he that faighteth beyng well armed : for that the battailes go (as you shall better The l.attailes understande, when I have shewed you, how thei are set when thei are together) and incounteryng the one 'the other, of necessitie J faightyng, thei thrust together, after soche sorte, that thei take the one thother by the bosome, and though by the Pikes some bee slaine, or overthrowen, those that remain on their feete, be so many, that thei suffice to obtaine the victorie. Hereof it grewe, that Carminvola overcame them, with so greate slaughter of the Sui//ers, and with little losse of his.
COSIMO. Consider that those of Carminvola, were men of armes, whom although thei wer on foote, thei were covered all with stele, and therefore thei wer able to make the profe thei did : so that me thinkes, that a power ought to be armed as thei, mindyng to make the verie same profe.
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THE SECOND BOOKE
How to arme men, and what weapons to appoincte theim, after the Romaine maner, and Duche facion.
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FABRICIO. If you should remember, how I tolde you the Romanies were armed, you would not thynke so: for as moche as a manne, that hath the hedde covered with Iron, the breaste defended of a Corselet, and of a Targaet, the armes and the legges armed, is moche more apt to defende hymself from the Pike, and to enter emong them, then a man of armes on foote. I wil give you a little of a late ensample. There wer come out of Cicelie, into the kyng- dome of Naples, a power of Spaniardes, for to go to finde Consalvo, who was besieged in Barlet, of the Frenchemen : there made against theim Mounsier de Vhigni, with his menne of armes, and with aboute fower thousande Duche- men on foote : The Duchemen incountered with their Pikes lowe, and thei opened the power of the Spaniardes : but those beyng holp, by meane of their bucklers and of the agiletie of their bodies, mingled togethers with the Duche men, so that thei might reche them with the swearde, whereby happened the death, almoste of all theim, and the victorie to the Spaniardes. Every man knoweth, how many Duchemen were slaine in the battaile of Ravenna, the whiche happened by the verie same occasion : for that the Spanishe souldiours, got them within a swerdes length of the Duche souldiours, and thei had destroied them all, if of the Frenche horsemen, the Duchemen on foote, had not been succored : notwithstandyng, the Spaniardes close together, brought themselves into a safe place. I conclude therefore, that a good power ought not onely to be able, to withstande the horses, but also not to have fear of menne on foote, the which (as I have many tymes saied) procedeth of the armours, and of the order.
COSIMO. Tell therefore, how you would arme them ?
FABRICIO. I would take of the Romaine armours, and of the Duchemennes weapons, and I would that the one haulfe, should bee appoincted like the Romaines, and the other haulfe like the Duchemen : for that if in sixe thousande footemen (as I shall tell you a little hereafter) I should have thre thousande men with Targaettes, after the Remain maner, and two thousande Pikes, and a thou-
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sand Harkebutters, after the Duche facion, thei should suffice me : for that I would place the Pikes, either in the fronte of the battaile, or where I should feare moste the horses, and those with the Targaetes and sweardes, shall serve me to make a backe to the Pikes, and to winne the battaile, as I shall shewe you : so that I beleeve, that a power thus ordayned, should overcome at this daye, any other power.
COSIMO. This which hath beene saide, sufficeth concerning footemen, but concerning horsemen, wee desire to under stand, which you thinke more stronger armed, either ours, or the antiquitie.
FA Bit mo. I beleeve that in these daies, having respect to the Saddelles bolstered, and to the stiroppes not used of the antiquitie, they stande more stronglye on horsebacke, then in the olde time : I thinke also they arme them more sure : so that at this daye, a bande of men of armes, parsing very niuche, commeth to be with more difficultie withstoode, then were the horsemen of old time : notwithstanding for all this, I judge, that there ought not to be made more accompt of horses, then in olde time was made, for that (as afore is sayde) manye times in our dayes, they have with the foote men receyved shame and shall receyve alwayes, where they incounter, with a power of footemen armed, and ordered, as above hath bene declared. Tigrane king of Armenia, had ugainste the armie of the Romanes, wherof was Capitayne
Lucullo, CL. thousande horsemen, aiiion
i 1.1 f * i • , tl
were many armed, like unto our men of armes, winch they
called Catafratti, and of the other parte, the Romanes were about sixe thousande, with xxv. thousand footemen : so that Tigrane seeing the armie of the enemies, saide : these be horses enough for an imbassage: notwithstanding, incoun- tering together, he was overthrowen : and he that write th of the same fighte, disprayseth those Catafratti, declaring them to be unprofitable ; for that hee sayeth, because they had their faces covered, they had muche a doe to see, and to offende the enemie, and they falling, being laden with armour, coulde not rise up again, nor welde themselves in
(J9
THE SECOND BOOKE
The victorie °* Lucullo,
king
f Armenia.
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THE any maner to prevaile. I say therefore, that those people
SECOND or kino-domes, whiche shall esteeme more the power of horses,
BOOKE then the power of footemen be alwaies weake, and subjecte
to all ruine, as by Italic hath been seene in our time, the
whiche hath beene taken, ruinated, and over run with
straungers, through not other fault, then for having taken
litle care, of the service on foote, and being brought the
souldiours therof, all on horsebacke. Yet there ought to
For what bee had horses, but for seconde, and not for firste founda-
purpose hors- j.jon of an armje . for that to make a discovery, to over run,
men be most ^ , j ,1 • , • i
requisite. an" to "estroy the enemies countne, and to keepe troubled
and disquieted, the armie of the same, and in their armours
alwayes, to let them of their victuals, they are necessary,
and most profitable : but concerning for the daye of battaile,
and for the fighte in the fielde, whiche is the importaunce
of the warre, and the ende, for which the armies are
ordeined, they are more meeter to follow the enemie being
discomfited then to do any other thing which in the same
is to be done, and they bee in comparison, to the footemen
much inferiour.
Cosmo. There is happened unto mee twoo doubtes, the one, where I knowe, that the Parthians dyd not use in the warre, other then horses, and yet they devided the worlde with the Romanes : the other is, that I woulde that you should shewe, howe the horsemen can be withstoode of footemen, and wherof groweth the strength of these, and the debilitie of those ?
FABRITIO. Either I have tolde you, or I minded to tell you, howe that my reasoning of the affaires of warre, ought not to passe the boundes of Europe : when thus it is, I am not bounde unto you, to make accompte of the same, which is used in Asia, yet I muste save unto you thus, that the warring of the Parthians, was altogether contrarye, to the same of the Romanes : for as muche as the Parthians, warred all on horsebacke, and in the fight, they proceeded confusedlye, and scattered, and it was a maner of fighte unstable, and full of uncertaintie. The Romanes were (it maye be sayde) almoste al on foote, and thei fought close 70
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together and sure, and thei overcame diversly, the one the THE other, according to the largenesse, or straightnesse of the SECOND situacion: for that in this the Romanies were superiours, in BOOKE thesame the Parthians, whom might make greate proofe, with thesame maner of warryng, consideryng the region, whiche tliei had to defende, the which was rnoste large : for as moche as it hath the sea coaste, distant a thousande miles, the rivers thone from thother, twoo or three daies journey, the tounes in like maner and the inhabitauntes fewe : so that a Romaine armie heavie and slowe, by meanes of their armoures, and their orders, could not over run it, without their grevous hurt (those that defended it, being on horsebacke mooste expedite) so that thei were to daie in one place, and to morowe distaunt fiftie miles. Hereof it grewe, that the Parthians might prevaile with their chivalrie onely, bothe to the mine of the armie of Crassus, and to the perill of thesame, of Marcus Antonius : but I (as I have told you) doe not intende in this my reasonyng, to speake of the warfare out of Europe, therfore I will stand upon thesame, whiche in times past, the Romanies ordained, and the Grekes, and as the Duchemen doe now adaies. But let us se to the other question of yours, where vou desire to understande, what order, or what naturall vertue makes, that the footemen overcome the horsmen. And I saie unto you first that the horses cannot go, as the footmen in every place: Thei are slower then the footemen to obeie, when The reason it is requisite to alter the order : for as moche, as if it wjiy footmen be nedefull, either goyng forward, to turne backwarde, or are able to tournyng backwarde, to go forwarde, or to move themselves horsemen, standing stil, or goyng to stand still, without doubt, the horsemen cannot dooe it so redilie as the footemen : the horsemen cannot, being of some violence, disordained, re- turne in their orders, but with difficultie, although thesame violence cease, the whiche the footemen dooe moste easel v and quickly. Besides this, it hnppeneth many tymes, that a bardie manne shall be upon a vile horse, and a coward upon a good, whereby it foloweth, that this evill matchyng of stomackes, makes disorder. Nor no man doeth marvel 1, that
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THE a bande of footemenne, susteineth all violence of horses: SECOND for that a horse is a beaste, that hath sence, and knoweth BOOKE the perilles, and with an ill will, will enter in them : and if you consider, what force maketh theim go forwarde, and what holdeth them backwarde, you shall se without doubt, thesame to be greater, whiche kepeth them backe, then that whiche maketh them go forwardes : For that the spurre maketh theim go forwarde, and of the other side, either the swearde, or the Pike, kepeth theim backe : so that it hath been seen by the olde, and by the late experience, a bande of footemen to bee moste safe, ye, invinsible for horses. And if you should argue to this, that the heate, with whiche thei come, maketh theim more furious to incounter, who that would withstande them, and lesse to regard the Pike, then the spurre : I saie, that if the horse so disposed, begin to see, that he must run upon the poincte of the Pike, either of himself, he wil refrain the course so that so sone as he shall feele himself pricked, he will stande still atones, or beeyng come to theim, he will tourne on the right, or on the lefte hande. Whereof if you wil make experience, prove to run a horse against a walle : you shall finde fewe, with what so ever furie he come withall, will strike against it. Cesar havyng in Fraunce, to faighte with the Suizzers, a lighted, and made every manne a light on foote, and to avoide from the araies, the horses, as a thyng more meete to flie, then to faight. But notwithstandyng these naturall impedimentes, whiche horses have, thesame How footmen Capitaine, whiche leadeth the footemen, ought to chuse male save waies, whiche have for horse, the moste impedimentes that from horse- ma^c Dec? an(^ seldome tymes it happeneth, but that a manne men> maie save hymself, by the qualitie of the countrie : for that
if thou marche on the hilles, the situacion doeth save thee from thesame furie, whereof you doubt, that thei go withall in the plain, fewe plaines be, whiche through the tillage, or by meanes of the woddes, doe not assure thee: for that every hillocke, every bancke, although it be but small, taketh awaie thesame heate, and every culture where bee Vines, and other trees, lettes the horses : and if thou come 72
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
to battaile, the very same lettes happeneth, that chaunceth in THE marchyug: for as moche as every little impedemente, that the SECOND horse hath, abateth his furie. One tliyng notwithstandyng, BOOKE I will not forgette to tell you, how the Romaines estemed so moche their orders, and trusted so moche to their weapons, that if thei shuld have had, to chuse either so rough a place to save theim selves from horses, where thei should not have been able, to raunge their orders, or a place where thei should have nede, to feare more of horses, but ben able to detf'ende their battaile, alwaies thei toke this, and left that: but bicause it is tyme, to passe to the armie, having armed these souldiours, accordyng to the aunciente and newe use, let us see what exercises the Romaines caused theim make, before the menne were brought to the battaile. Although thei be well chosen, and better armed, thei ought with moste greate studie be exercised, for that without this exercise, there was never any souldiour good : these exercises ought to be devided into three partes, the one, for The exercise to harden the bodie, and to make it apte to take paines, ^^1tdoi°buer8' and to bee more swifter and more readier, the other, to de°ided into teach them, how to handell their weapons, the third, for thre purtes. to learne them to kepe the orders in the armie, as well in marchyng, as in faightyng, and in the incampyng : The whiche be three principall actes, that an armie doeth : for asmoche, as if an armie marche, incampe, and faight with order, and expertly, the Capitaine leseth not his^honoure, although the battaile should have no good ende. Therfore, all thauncient common weales, provided these exercises in maner, by custome, and by lawe, that there should not be left behinde any part thereof. Thei exercised then their What exer- youth, for to make them swift, in runnyng, to make theim ^J^1® readie, in leapyng, for to make them strong, in throwyng JJmmoll the barre, or in wrestlyng : and these three qualities, be as wealesused to it were necessarie in souldiours. For that swiftnesse, maketh exercise their theim apte to possesse places, before the enemie, and to come y°u*h '" to them unloked for, and at unwares to pursue them, when *oditie in~_ thei are discomfaicted : the readinesse, maketh theim apte sued thereby. to avoide a bio we, to leape over a diche, to winne a K 73
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How the
antiquitie, learned their yong sol- diours, to handell their weapons.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
banke : strength, maketh them the better able to beare their armours, to incounter the enemie, to withstande a violence. And above all, to make the bodie the more apte to take paines, thei used to beare greate burthens, the whiche custome is necessarie : for that in difficulte expedicions, it is requisite many tymes, that the souldiour beside his armours, beare vitualles for many daies, and if he were not accustomed to this labour, he could not dooe it : and without this, there can neither bee avoided a perill, nor a victorie gotten with fame. Concernyng to learne how to handell the weapons, thei exercised theim, in this maner : thei would have the yong menne, to put on armour, whiche should waie twise as moche, as their field armour, and in stede of a swearde, thei gave them a cudgell leaded, whiche in comparison of a verie swearde in deede, was moste heavie; thei made for every one of them, a poste to be set up in the ground, which should be in height twoo yardes and a quarter, and in soche maner, and so strong, that the blowes should not slur nor hurle it doune, against the whiche poste, the yong man with a targaet, and with the cudgell, as against an enemie did exercise, and some whiles he stroke, as though he would hurte the hedde, or the face, somewhile he retired backe, an other while he made fore- warde : and thei had in this exercise, this advertisment, to make theim apt to cover theim selves, and to hurte the enemie : and havyng the counterfaight armours moste heavy, their ordinarie armours semed after unto them more lighter. The Romaines, would that their souldiours should hurte with the pricke, and not with the cutte, as well bicause the pricke is more mortalle, and hath lesse defence, as also to thentent, that he that should hurt, might lye the lesse open, and be more apt to redouble it, then with cuttes. Dooe not marvaile that these auncient men, should thinke on these small thynges, for that where the incounter- yng of men is reasoned of, you shall perceive, that every little vauntage, is of greate importaunce : and I remember you thesame, whiche the writers of this declare, rather then I to teache you. The antiquitie estemed nothing more 74
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
happie, in a common wcale, then to be in thesanic, many THE men exercised in armes : bicause not the shining of precious SECOND stones and of golde, maketh that the enemies submit them- HOOKE selves unto thee, but onely the fear of the weapons : after- What warde, the errours whiche are made in other thynges, maie thantiquitie sometymes be corrected, but those whiche are dooen in the f*temedinos warre, the paine straight waie commyng on, cannot be con/mon" * amended. Besides that, the knowlege to faight, maketh weale. men more bold, bicause no man feareth to doe that thing, which he thinketh to have learned to dooe. The antiquitie would therefore, that their Citezeins should exercise them selves, in all marcial feates, and thei made them to throwe against thesame poste, dartes moche hevier then the ordi- narie : the whiche exercise, besides the makyng men expert in throwyng, maketh also the arme more nimble, and moche stronger. Thei taught them also to shote in the long bowe, to wliorle with the sling: and to all these thynges, thei Monster appoincted maisters, in soche maner, that after when thei Maisters, for were chosen for to go to the warre, thei were now with mynde and disposicion, souldiours. Nor there remained them to learn other, then to go in the orders, and to maintain them selves in those, either marchyng, or faightyng : The whiche moste easely thei learned, mingeling themselves with those, whiche had long tyme served, whereby thei knewe how to stande in the orders.
COSIMO. What exercises would you cause theim to make at this present ?
FABRICIO. A good many of those, whiche have been de- The exercises clared, as runnyng, and wrestlyng, makyng theim to leape, that souldiers makyng theim to labour in armours, moche heavier then ought tomake the ordinarie, making them shoote with Crosse bowes, and " longe bowes, whereunto I would joyne the harkabus, a newe instrument (as you kno\v)verie necessarie, and to these exercises I would use, al the youth of my state, but with greater Industrie, and more sollicitatenesse thesame parte, whiche I should have alreadie appoincted to serve, and alwaies in the idell daies, thei should bee exercised. I would also that thei should learne to swimme, the whiche
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THE is a thyng verie profitable : for that there be not alwaies,
SECOND bridges over rivers, boates be not alwaies readie : so that
BOOKE thy army not knowyng howe to swime, remaineth de-
The exercise prived of many commodities : and many occasions to woorke
of swimmyng. well, is taken awaie. The Romaines for none other cause
had ordained, that the yong men should exercise them
selves in Campus Martius, then onely, for that havyng
Tiber, is a Tiber at hande, thei might, beyng weried with the exercise
river runnyng on lande, refreshe theim selves in the water, and partly in
throughRome swjmmyncp to exercise them selves. I would make also, as
the water ,• •,• .1 1-1 i ij i
wher of will the antiquitie, those whiche should serve on horsebacke to
never cor- exercise, the whiche is moste necessarie, for that besides to rupte. know how to ride, thei muste knowe how on horsebacke,
Thexercise thei maie prevaile of them selves. And for this thei had of vautyng, ordeined horses of wood, upon the which thei practised, to moditie " " leaPe by armed, and unarmed, without any helpe, and on thereof. every hande : the whiche made, that atones, and at a beck
of a capital n, the horsmen were on foote, and likewise at a token, thei mounted on horsebacke. And soche exercises, bothe on foote and on horsebacke, as thei were then easie to bee doen, so now thei should not be difficult to thesame common weale, or to thesame prince, whiche would cause them to be put in practise of their yong men. As by ex perience is seen, in certairie citees of the Weste countrie, An order that where is kepte a live like maners with this order. Thei is taken in devide all their inhabiters into divers partes : and every certain coun- parte thei name of the kinde of those weapons, that thei
^" USe in the WaTTe' And f°F that thei USe PikeS> Halbardes» Bowes, and Harkebuses, thei call them Pike menne, Hal berd ers, Harkebutters, and Archars: Therefore, it is mete for all the inhabiters to declare, in what orders thei will be appoincted in. And for that all men, either for age, or for other impedimentes, be not fitte for the warre, every order maketh a choise of men, and thei call them the sworen, whom in idell daies, be bounde to exercise themselves in those weapons, wherof thei be named : and every manne hath his place appoincted hym of the cominaltie. where soche exercise ought to be made : and those whiche be of the- 76
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
same order, but not of the sworen, are contributaries with THE their money, to thesame expenses, whiche in soche exercises SECOND be necessarie : thertbre thesame that thei doe, we maie doe. BOOKE But our smal prudence dooeth not suffre us, to take any good waie. Of these exercises there grewe, that the anti- quitie had good souldiours, and that now those of the Weste, bee better men then ours : for as moche as the antiquitie exercised them, either at home (as those common weales doe) or in the armies, as those Emperours did, for thoccasions aforesaied : but we, at home will not exercise theim, in Campe we cannot, bicause thei are not our subjectes, and for that we are not able to binde them to other exercises then thei them selves liste to doe: the whiche occacion hath made, that firste the armies bee neclected, and after, the orders, and that the kyngdomes, and the common \veales, in especially Italians, live in soche debilitie. But let us tourne to our order, and folowyng this matter of exercises, I saie, how it suffiseth not to make good armies, for liavyng hardened the men, made them strong, swift, and handsome, What know- where it is nedefull also, that thei learne to stande in the Jt>re a kS()ul~ orders, to obeie to signes, to soundes, and to the voice of to°have 1 the capitain : to knowe, standyng, to retire them selves, goyng forwardes, botlie faightyng, and marchyng to main tain those : bicause without this knowlege, withal serious diligence observed, and practised, there was never armie good : and without doubt, the fierce and disordered menne, bee moche more weaker, then the fearfull that are ordered, for that thorder driveth awaie from men feare, the disorder abateth fiercenesse. And to the entente you maie the better perceive that, whiche here folowyng shalbe declared, you have to understande, how every nation, in the orderyng of their men to the warre, have made in their hoste, or in their armie, a principall member, the whiche though thei have varied with the name, thei have little varied with the nomber of the menne : for that thei all have made it, betwene sixe and viii. M. men. This nomber of men was called of the Romanies, a Legion, of Grekes a Fallange, of Frerichemen Caterva : this verie same in our tyme of the
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THE Suizzers, whom onely of the auncient warfare, kepe some SECOND shadowe, is called in their tongue that, whiche in ours BOOKE signifieth the maine battaile. True it is, that every one of them, hath after devided it, accordyng to their purposes. Therefore me thinkes beste, that wee grounde our talke, upon this name moste knowen, and after, according to the aunciente, and to the orders now adaies, the beste that is possible to ordaine it: and bicause the Romaines devided A Cohorte is a their Legion, whiche was made betwene five and sixe bandeofmeu. thousande men, in ten Cohortes, I will that wee devide Of what our maine battaile, into ten battailes, and that we make
nomberandof j^ of sjxe thousande menne on foote, and we will give to what kind of e battaile, CCCC1. men, of whiche shall be, CCCC.
weapons T armed with heavie armour, and L. with light armour: the mainebattaile heavie armed, shall be, CCC. Targettes with sweardes, and ought to bee, shalbe called Target men : and C. with Pikes, whiche shalbe and the distri- c&ne& Ordinarie Pikes : the light armed shalbe, L. men appomctynff armed with Harkabuses, Crosse bowes, and Partisans, and of thesame smal Targaettes, and these by an aunciente name, were called Veliti are ordinarie Veliti : all the ten battailes therefore, comes to light armed have three thousande Targaet men, a thousande ordinarie men. Pikes, CCCC. ordinarie Veliti, all whiche make the nomber
of fower thousande and five hundred men. And we saied, that we would make the maine battaile of sixe thousande : therefore there must be added an other thousande, five hundred men, of the whiche I will appoinct a thousande with Pikes, whom I will call extraordinarie Pikes, and five hundred light armed, whom I will call extraordinarie Veliti : and thus my menne should come (as a little before I have saied) to bee made halfe of Targaetes, and halfe of Pikes and other weapons. I would appoincte to everie battaile, or Thecapitaines bande of men, a Conestable, fower Centurions, and fouretie that ar ap- peticapitaines, and moreover a hedde to the ordinarie Veliti, poincted to wifch five peticapitaines : I would give to the thousande extraordinarie Pikes, three Conestabelles, ten Centurions, and a hundred peticapitaines: to thextraordinarie Veliti, two Conestabelles, v. Centurions, and 1. peticapitaines: I would then apoinct a generall lied, over all the main 78
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
battaile: I would that every Conestable should have an THE Ansigne, and a Drum. Thus there should be made a SECOND maine battaile of ten battailes, of three thousande Targaet BOOKE men, of a thousande ordinarie Pikes, of a thousande extra- ordinarie, of live hundred ordinarie Veliti, of five hundred extraordinarie, so there should come to bee sixe thousande men, emongeste the whiche there should bee M.D. peticapi- taines, and moreover, xv. Conestables, with xv. Drummes, and xv. Ansignes, Iv. Centurions, x. heddes of the ordinarie Veliti, and a Capitaine over all the maine battaile, with his Ansigne and Drume : and I have of purpose repeated this order the oftener, to the intent, that after when I shall shewe you, the maners of orderyng the battailes, and tharmies, you should not be confounded : I saie therefore, how that, that king, or that common weale, whiche intendeth to ordeine their subjectes to armes, ought to appoincte theim with these armoures and weapons, and with these partes, and to make in their countrie so many maine battailes, as it were able : and when thei should have ordained them, according to the forsaid distribucion, minding to exercise them in the orders, it should suffice to exercise every battaile by it self: and although the nomber of the men", of every one of them, cannot by it self, make the facion of a juste armie, notwithstanding, every man maie learne to dooe thc- same, whiche particularly appertained unto hym : for that Twoo orders in the armies, twoo orders is observed, the one, thesame ol>s*'rved in that the men ought to doe in every battaile, and the other that, whiche the battaile ought to doe after, when it is with the other in an armie. And those men, whiche doe wel the first, mooste easely maie observe the seconde : But without knowyng thesame, thei can never come to the knowlege of the seconde. Then (as I have saied) every one of these battailes, maie by them selves, learne to kepe the orders of the araies, in every qualitie of movyng, and of place, and after learne to put them selves together*, to understande the soundes, by meanes wherof in the faight thei are commaunded, to learne to know by that, as the Gallies by the whissell. what ought to be doen, either to
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THE stande still, or to tourne forward, or to tourne backwarde,
SECOND or whiche waie to tourne the weapons, and the face : so
BOOKE that knowyng how to kepe well the araie, after soche sorte,
that neither place nor movyng maie disorder them, under-
standyng well the commaundementes of their heddes, by
meanes of the sounde, and knowyng quickly, how to re-
tourne into their place, these battailes maie after easly
(as I have said) beyng brought many together, learne to
do that, whiche all the body together, with the other
battailes in a juste armie, is bounde to dooe. And bicause
soche universail practise, is also not to bee estemed a little,
ones or twise a yere, when there is peace, all the main
battaile maie be brought together, to give it the facion
of an whole armie, some daies exercisyng theim, as though
thei should faight a fielde, settyng the fronte, and the
sides with their succours in their places. And bicause a
capitaine ordeineth his hoste to the fielde, either for coumpte
of the enemie he seeth, or for that, of whiche without seyng
he doubteth, he ought to exercise his armie in the one
maner, and in the other, and to instructe theim in soche
How a captain sorte, that thei maie knowe how to marche, and to faight,
muste in- when nede should require, the wyng to his souldiours, how
structe his ^^ should gOVerne theim selves, when thei should happen
how theY8 to be assaulted of this, or of that side : and where he ought
ought to to instructe theim how to faight againste the enemie, whom
governethem- thei should see: he must shewe them also, how the faight
selves in the ig begun^ and where thei ought to retire: being overthrowen,
who hath to succeade in their places, to what signes, to
what soundes, to what voices, thei ought to obeie, and to
practise them in soche wise in the battaile, and with fained
assaultes, that thei may desire the verie thyng in deede.
For that an armie is not made coragious, bicause in thesame
be hardie menne, but by reason the orders thereof bee well
appoincted : For as moche as if I be one of the first
faighters, and do knowe, beyng overcome, where I maie
retire, and who hath to succeade in my place, I shall alwaies
faight with boldnes, seing my succour at hand. If I shall
be*one of the seconde faighters, the first being driven backe,
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
and overthrowen, I shall not bee afraied, for that I shall THE have presuposed that I male bee, and I shall have desire to SECOND be thesame, whiche male give the victory to my maister, BOOKE and not to bee any of the other. These exercises bee moste necessarie, where an armie is made of newe, and where the old armie is, thei bee also necessarie: for that it is also seen, how the Romaines knew from their infancie, thorder of their armies, notwithstandyng, those capitaines before thei should come to thenemie, continually did exercise them in those. And Josephus in his historic saieth, that the con- tinuall exercises of the Romaine armies, made that all thesame multitude, whiche folowe the campe for gain, was in the daie of battaile profitable : bicause thei all knewe, how to stande in the orders, and to faight kepyng the same : but in the armies of newe men, whether thou have putte theim together, to faight straight waie, or that thou make a power to faight, when neede requires, without these exer cises, as well of the battailes severally by themselves, as of all the armie, is made nothing : wherefore the orders beyng necessarie, it is conveniente with double industrie and laboure, to shewe them unto soche as knoweth them not, and for to teache it, many excellent capitaines have travailed, without any respecte.
COSIMO. My thinkes that this reasoning, hath sumwhat transported you : for asmoche. as havyng not yet declared the waies, with the whiche the battailes bee exercised, you have reasoned of the whole armie, and of the daie of battaile.
FABRICIO. You saie truth, but surely thoccasion hath been the affection, whiche I beare to these orders, and the grief that I feele, sevng thei be not put in use : notwithstand ing, doubt not but that I will tourne to the purpose : as I have saied, the chief importaunce that is in thexercise of The chief im- the battailes, is to knowe how to kepe well the arraies : and portance in bicause I tolde you that one of these battailes, ought to bee ^e ^Xfe made of fowcr hundred men heavie armed, I wil staie my of men. self upon this nomber. Thei ought then to be brought into Ixxx. rankes, and five to a ranke : afterward govng
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Three priuci- pall facions for thorderyng
how t^bryng
a bande of men into hattaile raie
f-icicnT
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fast, or softly, to knit them together, and to lose them : the whiche how it is dooen, maie bee shewed better with deedes, then with wordes. Which nedeth not gretly to be taught, for that every marine, whom is practised in servise of warre, knoweth how this order procedeth, whiche is good for no other, then to use the souldiours to keepe the raie : but let us come to putte together one of these battailes, I saie, that there is given them three facions principally, the firste, and the moste profitablest is, to make al massive, and ^o gjve j^ tne facion of two squares, the second is, to make
ii: sciuare with the front horned' the thirde is' to make ii:
with a voide space in the middest : the maner to put men together in the first facion, maie be of twoo sortes, thone is to double the rankes, that is, to make the seconde ranke enter into the first, the iiii. into the third, the sixt into tne fif^ an(j so fOOrth, so that where there was Ixxx. rankes, five to a ranke? tnei maie become xl- rankes, x. to a ranke. Afterward cause theim to double ones more in thesame maner, settyng the one ranke into an other, and so there shall remain twentie rankes, twentie men to a ranke : this maketh twoo squares aboute, for as moche as albeit that there bee as many men the one waie, as in the other, not- withstandyng to wardes the hedde, thei joine together, that the one side toucheth the other: but by the other waie, thei be distant the one from the other, at least a yarde and a haulfe, after soche sorte, that the square is moche longer, from the backe to the fronte, then from the one side to thother : and bicause we have at this presente, to speake often of the partes afore, of behinde, and of the sides of these battailes, and of all the armie together, knowe you, that when I saie either hedde or fronte, I meane the parte afore, when I shall saie backe, the part behind, when I shall saie flankes, the partes on the sides. The fiftie ordinarie veliti of the battaile, muste not mingle with the other rankes, but so sone as the battaile is facioned, thei shalbe set a long by the flankes therof. The other waie to set together the battaile is this, and bicause it is better then the firste, I will set it before your ives juste, how it 82
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
ought to bee ordeined. I beleve that you remember of THE what nomber of menne, of what hedcles it is made, and of SECOND what armours thei are armed: then the facion, that this BOOKE battaile ought to have, is (as I have saied) of twentie rankes, The better twentie men to a ranke, five rankes of Pikes in the front, and waie for the fiftene rankes of Targaettes on the backe, twoo Centurions °rdrill£ofa standing in the fronte, twoo behinde on the backe, who shall fn^attau?11 execute the office of those, whiche the antiquitie called raiej after the Tergiductori. The Conestable with the Ansigne, and with first facion. the Drumme, shall stande in thesame space, that is be- twene the five rankes of the Pikes, and the fiftene of the Targaettes. Of the Peticapitaines, there shall stande one upon every side of the ranckes, so that every one, maie have on his side his men, those peticapitaines, whiche shalbe on the left hande, to have their men on the right hand, those Peticapitaines, whiche shall be on the right hand, to have their menne on the left hande : The fiftie Veliti, muste stande a long the flankes, and on the backe of the battaile. To mvnde now, that this battaile maie be set together in this facion, the men goyng ordinarily, it is convenient to order them thus. Make the men to be brought into Ixxx. rankes, five to a ranke, as a little afore we have said, leavyng the Veliti either at the hedde, or at the taile, so that thei stande out of this order: and it ought to be ordeined, that every Centurion have behinde his back twentie rankes, and to bee nexte behinde every Centurion, five rankes of Pikes, and the reste Targaettes. The Conestable shall stande with the Drum, and the Ansigne, in thesame space, whiche is betwene the Pikes, and the Targaettes of the seconde Centurion, and to occupie the places of three Targaette men. Of the Peticapitaines, twentie shall stand on the sides of the rankes, of the first Centurion, on the lefte hande, and twentie shall stande on the sides of the rankes, of the last Centurion on the right hande. And you muste understande, that the Peticapitaine, whiche hath to leade the Pikes, ought to have a Pike, and those that leade the Targaettes, ought to have like weapons. Then the rankes bcyng brought into this order, and mindvng in march vug,
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THE to bryng them into battaile, for to make the hedde, the SECOND first Centurion must be caused to stande still, with the BOOKE firste twentie rankes, and the seconde to proceade marchyng, and tournyng on the right hand, he must go a long the sides of the twentie rankes that stande still, till he come to bee even with the other Centurion, where he must also stande still, and the thirde Centurion to precede marchyng, likewise tournyng on the right hand, and a long the sides of the rankes that stande still, must go so farre, that he be even with the other twoo Centurions, and he also standyng still, the other Centurion must folowe with his rankes, likewise tournyng on the right hande, a longe the sides of the rankes that stande still, so farre that he come to the bed of the other, and then to stand still, and straight waie twoo Centurions onely, shall depart from the front, and go to the backe of the battaile, the whiche cometh to bee made in thesame maner, and with thesame order juste, as a little afore I have shewed you. The Veliti muste stande a long, by the flankes of thesame, accordyng as is disposed in the first waie, whiche waie is called redoublyng by right line, this is called redoublyng by flanke : the first waie is more easie, this is with better order, and commeth better to passe, and you maie better correcte it, after your owne maner, for that in redoublyng by righte line, you muste bee ruled by the nomber, bicause five maketh ten, ten twentie, twentie fourtie, so that with redoublyng by right line, you cannot make a hedde of fiftene, nor of five and twentie, nor of thirtie, nor of five and thirtie, but you must go where thesame nomber will leade you. And yet it happeneth every daie in particulare affaires, that it is convenient to make the forwarde with sixe hundred, or eight hundred men, so that to redouble by right line, should disorder you: therefore this liketh me better : that difficultie that is, ought moste with practise, and with exercise to bee made easie. Therefore I saie unto you, how it importeth more then any thyng, to have the souldiours to know how- to set themselves in araie quickly, and it is necessarie to keepe theim in this battaile, to exercise theim therin, and 84
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
to make them to go apace, either forward or backward, to THE passe through difficulte places, without troublyng thorder : SECOND for asmoche as the souldiours, whiche can doe this well, be BOOKE expert souldiours, and although tliei have never seen enemies in the face, thei maie be called old souldiours, and contrari wise, those whiche cannot keepe these orders, though thei have been in a thousande warres, thei ought alwaies to be reputed new souldiours. This is, concerning setting them together, when thei are marching in small rankes : but beyng set, and after beyng broken by some accident or chaunce, whiche groweth either of the situacion, or of the enemie, to make that in a sodaine, thei maie come into order againe, this is the importaunce and the ditficultie, and where is nedefull moche exercise, and moche practise, and wherin the antiquitie bestowed moche studio. There fore, it is necessarie to doe twoo thynges, firste to have this battaile full of countersignes, the other, to keepe alwaies this order, that those same men maie stand alwaies in the ranke, which thei were firste placed in : as for insample, if How to exer- one have begon to stande in the seconde, that he stande cise men> and after alwaie in that, and not onely in that self same rancke, ord^Vhe'rt but in that self same place : for the observyng whereof ^hancUf men (as I have saied) bee necessarie many countersignes. In that were especially it is requisite, that the Ansigne bee after soche by whatsoever sorte countersigned, that companyng with the other battailes, ch?ncf £™ it maie be knowen from theim, accordyng as the Conestable, gtraighte wai and the Centurions have plumes of fethers in their heddes be brought differente, and easie to be knowen, and that whiche im- illto order porteth moste, is to ordaine that the peticapitaines bee a£aine- knowen. Whereunto the antiquitie had so moche care, that thei would have nothing els written in tlu-ir lied do peces, but the nomber that thei were named bv, callyng them firste, seconde, thirde, and fourthe xc. And vet thei were not contented with this, but made every souldiour to have written in his Targaet, the nomber of the ranke, and the nomber of the place, in whiche ranke he was appoincted. Then the menne being countersigned thus, and used to stande betwene these li mites, it is an easie thyng, tht-i
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What adver tisement ought to bee used in tourn- ing ahout a whole bande of menne, after soche sorte, as though it were but one bodie.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
beyng disordered, to sett theim all againe quickly into order : considering, that the Ansigne standyng still, the Centurions, and the Peticapitaines maie gesse their places by the iye, and beyng brought the left of the left, the right of the right, with their accustomed distance, the souldiours led by their rule, and by the differences of the cognisances, maie be quickly in their proper places, no otherwise, then as if the boordes of a tunne should bee taken a sunder, whiche beyng first marked, moste easely maie bee set together again, where thesame beyng not countersigned, were im possible to bryng into order any more. These thynges, with diligence and with exercise, are quickely taught, and quickly learned, and beyng learned, with difficultie are for gotten : for that the newe menne, be led of the olde, and with tyme, a Province with these exercises, may become throughly practised in the war. It is also necessarie to teache theim, to tourne theim selves all at ones, and when neede requires, to make of the flankes, and of the backe, the fronte, and of the front, flankes, or backe, whiche is moste easie : bicause it suffiseth that every manne doe tourne his bodie, towardes thesame parte that he is commaunded, and where thei tourne their faces, there the fronte commeth to bee. True it is, that when thei tourne to any of the flanckes, the orders tourne out of their proporcion : for that from the breast to the backe, there is little difference, and from the one flancke to the other, there is verie moche distance, the whiche is al contrarie to the ordinarie order of the battaile: therefore it is convenient, that practise, and discrecion, doe place them as thei ought to be : but this is small disorder, for that moste easely by themselves, thei maie remedie it. But that whiche importeth more, and where is requisite more practise, is when a battaile would tourne all at ones, as though it were a whole bodie, here is meete to have greate practise, and greate discrecion: bicause mindyng to tourne, as for insample on the left hande, the left corner must stande still, and those that be next to hym that standeth still, muste marche so softly, that thei that bee in the right corner, nede not to runne : otherwise 86
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
all thing should be confounded. But bicause it happeneth THE alwaies, when an armie marcheth from place to place, that SEC'OND the battailes, whiche are not placed in the front, shall be BOOKE driven to faight not by hedde, but either by flancke, or by backe, so that a battaile muste in a sodaine make of flancke, or of backe, hedde : and mindyng that like battailes in soche cace, maie have their proporcion, as above is de clared, it is necessarie, that thei have the Pikes on thesame flancke, that ought to be hedde, and the Peticapitaines, Centurions, and Conestables, to resorte accordyngly to their places. Therefore to mynde to dooe this, in plasyng them together, you must ordeine the fower skorerankes, of five in a ranke, thus: Set all the Pikes in the first twentie rankes, How to order and place the Peticapitaines thereof, five in the first places, a l)aml °f and five in the last : the other three score rankes, whiche "^Tsort^ come after, bee all of Targaettes, whiche come to bee three that thei'maie Centuries. Therefore, the first and the laste ranke of every make their Centurion, would be Peticapitaines, the Conestable with the front apainste Ansigne, and with theDrumme, muste stande in themiddest tlien^Ini(' "f of the first Centurie of Targaettes, and the Centurions in the tjiej jjst lied of every Centurie. The bande thus ordained, when you would have the Pikes to come on the left flancke, you must redouble Centurie by Centurie, on the right flancke : if you would have them to come on the right flancke, you must redouble theim on the lefte. And so this battaile tourneth with the Pikes upon a flancke, and the Conestable in the middeste : the whiche facion it hath marchyng : but the enemie commyng, and the tyme that it would make of flancke hedde, it nedeth not but to make every man to tourne his face, towardes thesame flancke, where the Pikes How a hand be, and then the battaile tourneth with the rankes, and «f">i'noiifrhte with the heddes in thesame maner, as is aforesaied : for to be ordered, ,1 i • i 1 1 ft • i when in
that every man is in his place, excepte the ( entunons, and niarrhynjr
the Centurions straight waie, and without difficultie, place tlu-i should themselves: lint when thei in marchyng, should bee driven !>
to faight on the backe, it is convenient to ordein the rankes -;tr:i'm'(1 t
«, i , .1 ii • • i_ ji -i ,1 i^-i raiifntoii their
after soch sorte, that settyng theim in battaile, the Pikes |IJU.i4es
maie come behinde, and to doe this, there is to bee kepte
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no other order, then where in orderyng the battaile, by the ordinarie, every Centurie hath five rankes of Pikes before, to cause that thei maie have them behind, and in all the other partes to observe thorder, whiche I de clared firste.
COSIMO. You have tolde (if I dooe well remember me) that this maner of exercise, is to bee able to bryng these battailes together into an armie, and that this practise, serveth to be able to order theim selves in the same : But if it should happen, that these CCCCL. men, should have to doe an acte seperate, how would you order them ?
FABKICIO. He that leadeth them, ought then to judge, where he will place the Pikes, and there to put them, the whiche doeth not repugne in any part to the order above written : for that also, though thesame bee the maner, that is observed to faighte a fielde, together with thother battailes, notwithstandyng it is a rule, whiche serveth to all those waies, wherein a band of menne should happen to have to doe : but in shewyng you the other twoo waies of me propounded, of ordering the battailes, I shal also satisfie you more to your question : for that either thei are never used, or thei are used when a battaile is a lone, and not in companie of other, and to come to the waie of ordering Howa battaile them, with twoo homes, I saie, that thou oughteste to order is made with the Ixxx. rankes, five to a ranke, in this maner. Place in fae middest, one Centurion, and after hym xxv. rankes, whiche muste bee with twoo Pikes on the lefte hande, and with three Targaettes on the right, and after the first five, there must be put in the twentie folowyng, twentie Peticapitaines, all betwene the pikes, and the Targaettes, excepte those whiche beare the Pike, whom maie stand with the Pikes: after these xxv. rankes thus ordered, there is to be placed an other Centurion, and behinde hym fiftene rankes of Targaettes : after these, the Conestable betwene the Drum and the Ansigne, who also must have after him, other fiftene rankes of Targaettes : after this, the thirde Centurion must be placed, and behinde hym, xxv. rankes,
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twoo homes.
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
in every one of whiche, ought to bee three Targaettes on THE the lefte flancke, and twoo Pikes on the right, and after SECOND the five first rankes, there must be xx. Peticapitaines placed BOOKE betwene the Pikes, and the Targaettes : after these rankes, the fowerth Centurion must folowc. Intendyng therefore, of these rankes thus ordered, to make a battaile with twoo homes, the first Centurion must stand still, with the xxv. rankes whiche be behinde him, after the second Centurion muste move, with the fiftene rankes of Targaettes, that bee behinde hyrn, and to tourne on the right hande, and up by the right Hancke of the xxv. rankes, to go so farre, that he arrive to the xv. ranke, and there to stande still : after, the Conestable muste move, with the fiftene rankes of Tar gaettes, whiche be behinde hym, and tournyng likewise on the right hande, up by the right flancke of the fiftene rankes, that wer Hrste moved, muste marche so farre, that he come to their heddes, and there to stand stil : after, the thirde Centurion muste move with the xxv. rankes, and with the fowerth Centurion, whiche was behinde, and turnyng up straight, must go a long by the right Hanck of the fiftene last rankes of the Targaettes, and not to stande still when he is at the heddes of them, but to followe marchyng so farre, that the laste ranke of the xxv. maie come to be even with the rankes behinde. And this dooen, the Centurion, whiche was hedde of the firste fiftene rankes of Targaettes, must go awaie from thens where he stoode, and go to the backe in the lefte corner : and thus a battaile shall be made of xxv. rankes, after twentie men to a rank, with two homes, upon every side of the front, one horn, and every one, shall have ten rankes, five to a ranke, and there shall remain a space betwene the twoo homes, as moche as containeth ten men, whiche tourne their sides, the one to thother. Betwene the two homes, the capitain shall stande, and on every poinct of a home, a Centurion : There shall bee also behinde, on every corner, a Centurion: there shal be twoo rankes of Pikes, and xx. Peticapitaines on every flancke. These twoo homes, serve to kepe betwene theim the artillerie, when this battaile should have any M 89
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE withit, and the cariages : The Veliti muste stande a long
SECOND the flankes, under the Tikes. But mindyng to bring this
BOOKE horned battaile, with a voide space in the middeste, there
The orderyng ought no other to bee doen, then of fiftene rankes, of
of a battaile twentie to a ranke, to take eight rankes, and to place them
with a voide ^ poinctes of the twoo homes, whiche then of homes,
space in the , ,, M . i T ,, • , .,
middeste. become backe or the voide space. In this place, the cariages
are kept, the capitain standeth, and the Ansigne, but never the Artillerie, the whiche is placed either in the front, or a long the flankes. These be the waies, that a battaile maie use when it is constrained to passe alone through sus pected places : notwithstandyng, the massive battaile with out homes, and without any soche voide place is better, yet purposyng to assure the disarmed, the same horned battaile is necessarie. The Suizzers make also many facions of battailes, emong which, thei make one like unto a crosse : bicause in the spaces that is betwen the armes therof, thei kepe safe their Harkebuters from the daunger of the enemies : but bicause soche battailes be good to faight by theim selves, and my intente is to shew, how many battailes united, do faight with thenemie, I wil not labour further in describing them.
COSIMO. My thinkes I have verie well comprehended the waie, that ought to be kept to exercise the men in these battailes : But (if I remember me well) you have saied, how that besides the tenne battailes, you joyne to the maine battaile, a thousande extraordinarie Pikes, and five hundred extraordinarie Veliti : will you not appoincte these to be exercised ?
FABIUTIO. I would have theim to bee exercised, and that with moste great diligence : and the Pikes I would exercise, at leaste Ansigne after Ansigne, in the orders of the bat tailes, as the other : For as moche as these should doe me To what pur- more servise, then the ordinarie battailes, in all particulare pose the Pikes affaires : as to make guides, to get booties, and to doe like and Velite ex- thynges : but the Veliti, I would exercise at home, without traordinarie bringing them together, for that their office being to faight a sonder, it is not mete, that thei should companie with 90
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
other, in the common exercises : for that it shall suffice, to THE
exercise them well in the particular exercises. Thei ought SECOND
then (as I firste tolde you, nor now me thynkes no labour BOOKE
to rehearse it againe) to cause their men to exercise them
selves in these battailes, whereby thei maie knowe how to
keepe the raie, to knowe their places, to tourne quickly,
when either enemie, or situacion troubleth them : for that,
when thei knowe how to do this, the place is after easely
learned, which a battaile hath to kepe, and what is the office
thereof in the armie : and when a Prince, or a common
weale, will take the paine, and will use their diligence in
these orders, and in these exercisyng, it shall alwaies happen,
that in their countrie, there shall bee good souldiours, and
thei to be superiours to their neighbours, and shalbe those,
whiche shall give, and not receive the lawes of other men :
but (as I have saied) the disorder wherein thei live, maketh
that thei neclecte, and doe not esteme these thynges, and
therefore our armies be not good : and yet though there
were either hed, or member naturally vertuous, thei cannot
shewe it.
COSIMO. What carriages would you, that every one of these battailes should have ?
FABUITIO. Firste, I would that neither Centurion, nor Peti- Neither Cen- capitain, should be suffered to ride: and if the Conestable turioii nor would nedes ride, I would that he should have a Mule, and JJTlrt ^otto* not a horse: I would allowe hym twoo carriages, and one to J^,1 every Centurion, and twoo to every three Peticapitaines, what car- for that so many wee lodge in a lodgyng, as in the place riapes the therof we shall tell you: So that every battaile will come ^Pj^"68 to have xxxvi. carriages, the whiche I would should carrie jj"^,1 an"j the of necessitie the tentcs, the vesselles to seeth meate, axes, nomber of barres of Iron, sufficient to make the lodgvnges, and then carra^es re- if thei can carry any other thvniT, thei maie dooe it at quisite to
their pleasure.
COSIMO. I beleve that the heddes of you, ordeined in every one of these battailes, be necessarie : albeit, I would doubt, lest that so many com maunders, should confounde all.
FAHKITIO. That should bee, when it were not referred to
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THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE one man, but referryng it, thei cause order, ye and with- SECOND out theim, it is impossible to governe an armie : for that a BOOKE wall, whiche on every parte enclineth, requireth rather to Without have many proppes, and thicke, although not so strong, many capi- then fewe, though thei were strong : bicause the vertue of tames, an one a \one ^oeth not remedie the ruine a farre of. And armie cannot , i /» • . i • j • • • •
be governed, therefore in tharmies, and emong every ten men, it is con venient that there bee one, of more life, of more harte, or at leaste wise of more aucthoritie, who with stomacke, with wordes, and with example, male kepe them constante, and disposed to faight, and these thynges of me declared, bee necessarie in an armie, as the Heddes, the Ansignes, and the Drummes, is seen that wee have theim all in our armies, but none doeth his office. First to mynde that the Peti- capitaines doe thesame, for whiche thei are ordeined, it is necessarie (as I have said) that there bee a difference, be- twene every one of them and their men, and that thei lodge together, doyng their duties, standyng in thorder with them : for that thei placed in their places, bee a rule and a temper- aunce, to maintaine the raies straight and steddie, and it is impossible that thei disorder, or disorderyng, dooe not reduce themselves quickly into their places. But we now adaies, doe not use them to other purpose, then to give theim more wages, then to other menne, and to cause that thei dooe some particulare feate : The very same happeneth of the Ansigne bearers, for that thei are kept rather to make a faire muster, then for any other warlike use : but the To what pur- antiquitie used theim for guides, and to bryng theim selves pose Ansignes againe into order: for that every man, so sone as the Ansigne stoode still, knewe the place, that he kept nere to his Ansigne, wherunto he retourned alwaies: thei knewe also, how that the same movyng, or standyng, thei should staie, or move : therfore it is necessarie in an armie, that there be many bodies, and every bande of menne to have his Ansigne, and his guide : wherfore havyng this, it is mete that thei have stomackes inough, and by consequence life enough. Then the menne ought to marche, accordyng to the Ansigne : and the Ansigne to move, accordyng to the 92
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
Drumme, the whiche Drumme well ordered, commaundeth THE to the armie, the whiche goyng with paces, that answereth SECOND the tyme of thesame, will come to kepe easihe thorders : BOOKE for whiche cause the antiquitie had Shalmes, Flutes, and For what soundes perfectly tymed : For as moche as like as he that purpose daunseth, proceadeth with the tyme of the Musick, and ^1™1™I"C* h goyng with thesame doeth not erre, even so an armie 1 ' obeiyng, in movyng it self to thesame sounde, doeth not disorder: and therefore, thei varied the sounde, accordyng as thei would varie the mocion,and accordyng as thei would inHame, or quiete, or staie the mindes of men : and like as the soundes were divers, so diversly thei named them : the sounde Dorico, ingendered constancie, the sounde Frigio, The propertie furie : whereby thei saie, that Alexander beyng at the th'1t so Table, and one soundyng the sounde Frigio, it kendled mVnte so moche his minde, that he laied hande on his weapons. ;n men All these maners should be necessarie to finde again : and myndes. when this should bee difliculte, at least there would not be left behind those that teache the Souldiour to obeie, the whiche every man maie varie, and ordeine after his owne facion, so that with practise, he accustome the eares of his souldiours to knowe it: But now ndaics of this sounde, there is no other fruicte taken for the moste part, then to make a rumour.
COSIMO. I would desire to understande of you, if ever with your self you have discourced, whereof groweth so moche vilenesse, and so moche disorder, and so moche necligence
in these daies of this exercise ?
„, -imr-.i i -ii T -11 j. 11 ii .1 . A notable dis-
FABRICIO. With a good will I will tell you thesame, that course of the
I thinke. You knowe how that of the excellente men of nurthour, warre, there hath been named many in Europe, fewe in declaryng Aff Vic, and lesse in Asia : this grewe, for that these twoo " ht' laste partes of the worlde, have had not paste one kyng- ^""hi. viiS(?ncs dome, or twoo, and fewe common weales, but Europe onelv, disorder ami hath had many kvngdomes, and infinite common weales, necligence in where menne became excellent, and did shewe their vertue, tlu'st' (I:i'f
accordyng as thei were sette a woorke, and brought before the^xTrcise their Prince, or common weale, or king that he be: it0f warre
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THE followeth therefore, that where be many dominions, there SECOND rise many valiaunt menne, and where be fewe, fewe. In BOOKE 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 Cartha ginens common weale : for that in common weales, there growe more excellent men, then in kingdomes, bicause in common weales for the mest 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 prince- domes, 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 Italic, were the Romaines, the Sannites, the Toscanes, the Gallic Cisalpini. Fraunce, and Almainie, wer ful of common weales and prince- domes. 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, 94
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
and to theim for the moste parte it suffised, to honour TIIK the conquerours : but it standeth not with reason, that be- SECOND twene the Sannites, and the Toscanes, whom fought CL. BOOKK yeres with the Komaine people, before thei wer overcome, there should ntft 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 de- fende 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 Komaine Empire beyng after in creased, 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 Koome, so sone as thesame was corrupted, almoste all the worlde came to bee corrupted : and the Scithian people, were able to come to spoile the- sarne 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 : The one cause is, for that it greveth The causes theim moche, to take againe the orders when thei are manic, wjiy the the other, bicause the manor of livyng now adaies, having a""™s"re respect to the Christian religion, commaundeth not thesame neclected necessitie to menne, to defende themselves, whiche in olde tyme was : for that then, the menne overcome in warn-, either were killed, or remained perpetuall slaves, where thei led their lives moste miserablv : The tonnes overcome, either were rased, or the inhabiters thereof driven out, their goodes taken a waie, sent dispersed through the worlde : so that the vanquished in warre, suffered all extreme miserie :
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THE of this feare, men beyng made afraied, thei wer driven to SECOND kepe lively the warlike exercises, and thei honoured soche BOOKE 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 : Italic 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
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without any disease rain by fortune, and not by their vertue: THE for that in the worlde beyng but little vertue, thei see for- SECOND tune governeth all thynges. And thei will have it to rule BOOKE 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 servi tude, the which in other places is not feared, thei all main- taine 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 under stande of you, how you would ordein the horses with these battailes, and how many, and how thei should be governed, and how armed.
FABIUTIO. 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 foote- men, 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 The armyn^ them, I would arme them as thei doe at this present, as wel of horsemen, the light horsemen, as the menne of armes : but the light The weapons horsemen, I would that thei should be all Crossebowe tliat J'^rllt
shuters, with some Harkebutters emong them : the whiche horsln;'!' ,1 i . /r. . „ ,i«i 1-1 should have.
though in the other affaires of warre, thei bee little pro fitable, 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 commvng to the N 97
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THE nomber, I saie, that having taken in hand, to imitate the
SECOND service of warre of the Romaines, I would not ordein more
BOOKE then three hundred horse, profitable for every maine battaile,
The nombre of whiche I would that there were CL. men of armes, and
of horsmen QL light horsmen, and I would give to every one of these
requisite for arteS5 a neolde, making after emong them fiftene peticapi-
battaUe of taines for a bande, givyng to every one of them a Trompet, sixe thousand and a standarde : I would that every ten menne of armes, men. should have five carriages, and every ten light horsemen
Thenombreof twoo, the whiche as those of the footemen, should carrie carrages that tjie Rentes, the vesselles, and the axes, and the stakes, and
aTdVtohTrs- the rest of their °ther harneis- Nor beleve not but that. ii:
men ought to is disorder, where the menne of armes have to their service
have. 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 dis-
tributyng 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 spoken
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
OF THE ARTE OF WARRE OF
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL, CITEZEINE
AND SECRETARIE OF FLORENCE,
UNTO
LAURENCE PHILIP STROZZE.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE THIRDE BOORE
COSIMO.
EING that we chaunge reasonyng, I will that the deinaunder 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.
XANOJU. 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 signer Fabricio. FABIUTJO. 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 deinaunder : therefore I praie you, let us tourne to the matter, and let us lese no more tyme.
FAIWITIO. 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 ordeiried the bandes of their armies : Notwithstandvng, you your selves, beeyng able to rede, and to consider these thynges, by meanes of the auncient writers. I will passe
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THE over many particulars : and I will onely bryng in those THIRDE thynges, whiche I thinke necessarie to imitate, mindyng BOOKE at this tyme, to give to our exercise of warre, some parte of perfection : The whiche shall make, that in one instante, I shall shewe you, how an armie is prepared to the field, and how it doeth incounter in the verie faight, and how it The greateste maie be exercised in the fained. The greatest disorder, disorder that that thei make, whiche ordeine an armie to the fielde, is is used now a jn giving them onely one fronte, and to binde them to one fielde! brunt> and *o 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 Theorderhov/ moste excellently well observed. Therefore, purposyng to a Romain shewe this waie, I saie, how that the Komaines devided into Legion was jjj partes every Legion, in Hastati, Prencipi, and Triarii,
nCt ° of which» the Hastati wer Placed in the first front> or for- ward 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 hed 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, 102
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
began againe the faight : and then, if thei were overcome, THE there was no more remeady, bicause there remained no THIKDE more waies to renue them again. The horses stoode on BOOKE 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, notwithstanding, thei made one bodie, or els one hedde: the maner that thei kepte in rescuyng the one The maner the other was, not to retire the one order within the other, that the as the Romaines, but to enter the one manne into the place prekes used of the other : the which thei did in this maner. Their pjj1*1' wh Falange brought into rankes, and admit, that thei put in a thei fought'0 ranke fiftie menne, commyng after with their hedde againste .-igainst their 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
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THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE in order their Legions like unto them: after, this order THIRDE pleased them not, and thei devided the Legions into many BOOKE 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 The order-that governed. The maine battailes of the Suizzers, use at this the Suizzers present, all the maners of the Falangi, as well in ordryng mainbatteiles ii: grosse> and wn°le> as in rescuyng the one the other : and when thei in pitchyng the field, thei set the main battailes, thone to faight. 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 march eth forward, to avoide the justling of the one the other : for asmoche as a grosse multitude, cannot bee received as a little bodie : and there fore, 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 armyngand 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 104
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
thousande pikes, whiche be the weapons of the Macedonicall THE Falangi, and three thousande Targaettes with sweardes, THIKDE whiche be the Romain weapons : I have devided the main BUOKE battaile, into x. battailes, as the Romanies their Legion into Howe to ap- ten Cohortes: I have ordeined the Veliti, that is the light poincteamain armed, to begin the faight, as the Romanies used : and like lmtlaile with as the weapons beyng mingled, doe participate of thone and '™ ^
of the other nacion, so the orders also doe participate : I Border the- have ordained, that every battaile shall have v. rankes of same after the Pikes in the fronte, and the rest of Targaettes, to bee able (irekt' and with the front, to withstande the horses, and to enter easely Romain into the battaile of the enemies on foot, having in the h'rste 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 profi table 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 Suix/ers 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 sufliseth. 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 light is thrust together, and that they become unprofitable, the Targaettes and swoords suc- ceede, 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.
FAHKITIO. And I will not nowe shewe you other, then this : you have to understande, how that in an ordinarve Romane armie, which they call a Consull armie, there we're '' 'lu' nomher no more, then twoo Legions of Romane Citezens which were ol Im>" tliat sixe hundred horse, and about aleven thousande footemen : |™' they had besides us many more footemen and horsemen, n
O 105
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THE whiche were sente them from their friendes and confiderates, THIRDE whome they divided into twoo partes, and called the one, BOOKE the right home and the other the left home : nor they never permitted, that these aiding footemen, should passe the nomber of the footemen of their Legions, they were well contented, that the nomber of those horse shouldebe more then theirs : with this armie, which was of xxii. thousand footemen, and about twoo thousande good horse, a Consul executed all affaires, and went to all enterprises: yet when it was needefull to set against a greater force, twoo Consulles joyned together with twoo armies. You ought also to note in especially, that in all the three principall How the actes, which an armie doth that is, to march, to incampe, Romanies and to fight, the Romanes used to put their Legions in placed their the rniddeste, for that they woulde, that the same power, Legions in wlierein they most trusted, shoulde bee moste united, as in the field. ^e reasoning of these three actes, shall be shewed you : those aiding footemen, througli the practise they had with the Legion Souldiours, were as profitable as they, because they were instructed, according as the souldiours of the Legions were, and therefore, in like maner in pitching the^ field, they pitched. Then he that knoweth how the Romanies disposed a Legion in their armie, to fight a field, knoweth how they disposed all : therefor, having tolde you how they devided a Legion into three bandes, and how the one bande received the other, I have then told you, how al tharmie in a fielde, was ordained. Wherefore, I minding to ordain a field like unto the Romaines, as they had twoo Legions, I will take ii. main batailes, and these being dis posed, the disposicion of all an armie shalbe understode therby : by cause in joynhig more men, there is no other to be doen, then to ingrosse the orders : I thinke I neede not to rehearse how many men a maine battaile hath, and howe it hath ten battailes, and what heades bee in a battaile, and what weapons they have, and which be the ordinarie Pikes and Veliti, and which the extraordinarie for that a litle a fore I told you it destinctly, and I willed you to kepe it in memorie as a necessarie thing to purpose, to under- 106
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
stande all the other orders: and therfore I will come to THE the demonstracion of the order without repeating it any THIKDE more: Me thinkes good, that the ten battailes of one BOOKE main battaile be set on the left flanke, and the tenne How to order other, of the other main battaile, on the right: these anarmieinthe
that are placed on the left flanke, be ordeined in this folde to fighto
. , r , L, , , ., , 1 ,, . , r a battaile. ae-
maner, there is put five battailes the one to the side of cording to the
the other in the fronte, after suche sorte, that betweene the mimle of the one and the other, there remaine a space of three yardes, authour. whiche come to occupie for largenesse Cvi. yardes, of ground, and for length thirtie : behinde these five battailes, I would put three other distante by right line from the firste, thirtie yardes : twoo of the whiche, should come behinde by right line, to the uttermoste of the h've, and the other should kepe the space in the middeste, and so these three, shall come to occupie for bredth and length, as moche space, as the five doeth. But where the five have betwene the one, and the other, a distaunce of three yardes, these shall have a distance of xxv. yardes. After these, I would place the twoo last battailes, in like maner behinde the three by right line, and distaunte from those three, thirtie yardes, and I would place eche of theim, behinde the uttermoste part of the three, so that the space, whiche should remain betwcn the one and the other, should be Ixviii. yardes: then al these battailes thus ordered, will take in bredth Cvi. yardes, and in length CL. Thextraordinarie How the Pikes, I would dcff'ende a long the flanckes of these e^™°bl^nary battailes, on the left side, distante from them fiftene yardes, pjace(j jn tjie makyng Cxliij. rankes, seven to a ranke, after soche get battaile. sorte, that thei maie impale with their length, all the left sixe of the tenne battailes in thesame wise, declared of me to be ordained : and there shall remain fourtic rankes to keepe the carriages, and the unarmed, whiche ought to remaine in the taile of the armic, distributyng the Peti- capitaines, and the Centurions, in their places: and of the three Conestables, I would place one in the hedde, the other in the middeste, the third in the laste ranke, tlu- whiche should execute the office of a Tergiductore, whom the
107
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THE antiquitie so called hym, that was appoincted to the backe
THIRDE of the armie. But retournyng to the hedde of the armie,
BOOKE I sale how that I would place nere to the extraordinarie
The place pikes, the Veliti extraordinarie, whiche you knowe to be five
where thex- hundred, and I would give them a space of xxx. yardes : on
Irchat^and the side of these likewise on the left hande, I would place
harkebutters the menne of armes, and I would thei sliould have a space
and the men' of a Cxii. yardes : after these, the light horsemen, to whom
of armes and I would appoinct as moche ground to stande in, as the
lig-hte hors- menne of armes have : the ordinarie veliti, I would leave
to^stande about their owne battailes, who should stand in those
when the field spaces, whiche I appoincte betwene thone battaile and
is pitched, thother : whom should be as their ministers, if sometyme I
and goeth to thought not good to place them under the extraordinarie
battaile Pikes : in dooyng or not doyng whereof, I would proceade,
, accordynff as should tourne best to my purpose. The The ordinarie 11 L jj r 11 .1 • i . -i T
archars and generall hedde 01 all the mame battaile, I would place in
harkebutters thesame space, that were betwene the first and the seconde are placed order of the battailes, or els in the hedde, and in thesame ot°nUetebatieir space, that is betwene the laste battaile of the firste five, taTles. a and tne extraordinarie Pikes, accordyng as beste should serve
The lace m^ PurPose' with thirtie or fourtie chosen men about hym, where the that knewe by prudence, how to execute a commission, and g-enerall by force, to withstande a violence, and thei to be also
hedde of a betwen the Drumme and the Ansigne : this is thorder, with mutte stand'!? the whiche l would disPose a maine battaile, whiche should when thesame ^ee the disposyng of halfe the armie, and it should take in power of men breadth three hundred fourscore and twoo yardes, and in is appoincted length as moche as above is saied, not accomptyng the to faight. space, that thesame parte of the extraordinarie Pikes will What menne take, whiche muste make a defence for the unarmed, whiche ca^italnofa w^ *)ee a^oute ^xxv- yar^es : the other maine battaile, I maine battaile wou^ dispose on the righte side, after the same maner oughte to juste, as I have disposed that on the lefte, leavyng have aboute betwene the one main battaile, and thother, a space of xxii. ym
carriages of artillerie, behynde the whiche, should stande the generall capitaine of all the armie, and should have 108
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
about hym with the Trumpet, and with the Capitaine THE standerde, twoo hundred menne at least, chosen to be on THIRDE foote the moste parte, emongest whiche there should be tenne BOOKE or more, mete to execute all commaundementes, and should The place bee in soche wise a horsebacke, and armed, that thei mighte *her a general
bee on horsebacke, and on foote, accordyng as neede should pfPlta*° of all ,••,-,1 , -I, • /. ,1 a* ii i /-i tnearmiemust
require. Ihe artillerie of the armie, sumseth ten Cannons, stan(i wlien
for the winning of Townes, whose shotte shoulde not passe the battaile h'ftie puunde : the whiche in the fielde should serve mee is ready to be more for defence of the canipe, then for to fight the fo"Kht a» battaile : The other urtillerie, should bee rather of ten, ofch^Tmen then of h'fteene pounde the shotte : this I would place afore oughte to be on the front of all the annie, if sometime the countrie aboute liym. should not stande in such wise, that I mighte place it by How many the flancke in a sure place, where it mighte not of the canons is re- enemie be in daunger : this fashion of an armie thus ordered, (luis.ite f( may in fighting, use the order of the Falangi, and the order what sise they of the Uoniane Legions : for that in the fronte, bee Pikes, ou»ht to bee. all the men bee set in the rankes, after such sorte, that in- where the countering with the enemie, and withstanding him, maye artillerie after the use of the Falangi, restore the firste ranckes, with ou^lfc to be those behinde : on the other parte, if they be charged so ^armie^i sore, that they be constrayned to breake the orders, and to reedietofight. retire themselves, they maye enter into the voide places of Auarmiethat the seconde battailes, which they have behinde them, and were ordered unite their selves with them, and making n new force, with- as above is stande the enemie, and overcome him: and when this dec\Iare sufficeth not, they may in the verie same manor, retire them ^theGre selves the seconde time, and the third fight: so that in mauer and this order, concerning to fight, there is to renue them the lldmane selves, both according to the Greeke maner, and according fas to the Romane : concerning the strength of the armie, there cannot be ordayned a more stronger: for as much, as the one and the other home therof, is exceedingly well replenished, both with heades, and weapons, nor there re- mayneth weake, other then the part behinde of the unarmed, and the same also, hath the flanckes impaled with the extraordinarie Pikes: nor the enemie can not of anye parte
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THE THIRDE BOOKE
To what purpose the spaces that be betwene every bande of men do serve.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
assaulte it, where he shall not finde it well appointed, and the hinder parte can not be assaulted : Because there can not bee an enemie, that hath so much puissaunce, whome equallye maye assault thee on everye side : for that hee having so great a power, thou oughtest not then to matche thy selfe in the fielde with him : but when he were three times more then thou, and as well appointed as thou, hee doth weaken him selfe in assaulting thee in divers places, one part that thou breakest, will cause all the reste go to naughte : concerning horses, although he chaunce to have more then thine, thou needest not feare : for that the orders of the Pikes, which impale thee, defende thee from all violence of them, although thy horses were repulced. The heades besides this, be disposed in such place, that they may easyly commaunde, and obeye : the spaces that bee between the one battaile, and the other, and betweene the one order, and the other, not onely serve to be able to re- ceyve the one the other, but also to give place to the messengers, whiche should go and come by order of the Capitayne. And as I tolde you firste, howe the Romanes had for an armie, aboute foure and twentie thousande men, even so this oughte to bee : and as the other souldiours tooke ensample of the Legions, for the maner of fighting, and the fashion of the armie, so those souldiours, whiche you shoulde joyne to oure twoo mayne battailes, oughte to take the forme and order of them : whereof having put you an ensample, it is an easye matter to imitate it, for that in creasing, either twoo other mayne battailes unto the armie, or as many other souldiours, as they bee, there is no other to bee done, then to double the orders, and where was put tenne battailes on the lefte parte, to put twentie, either ingrossing, or distending the orders, according as the place, or the enemie shoulde compell thee.
LUIGI. Surelye sir I imagine in suche wise of this armie, that mee thinkes I nowe see it, and I burne with a desire to see it incounter, and I woulde for nothing in the worlde, that you shoulde become Fabius Maxim us intendyng to kepe the enemie at a baie, and to deferre the daie of battaile ;
no
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
bicause I would sale worse of you, then the Remain people THE saiedofhym. THIRDK
FABKITIO. Doubt not : Doe you not h cure the artillerie ? BOOKE Ours have alredie shotte, but little hurte the eneinie : The descrip- and thextraordinarie Veliti, issuyng out of their places cion °f a l)at together with the light horsemen, moste speadely, and with ta moste merveilous furie, and greateste crie that maie be, thei a assaulte the eneinie : whose artillerie hath discharged ones, and hath passed over the heddes of our footemen, without doyng them any hurt, and bicause it cannot shoote the seconde tyme, the Veliti, and our horsemen, have nowe gotten it, and the enemies for to defende it, are come fore warde, so that neither our ordinaunce, nor thenemies, can any more doe their office. Se with how moche vertue, strengthe and agilitie our men faighteth, and with how moche knowledge through the exercise, whiclie hath made them to abide, and by the confidence, that thei have in the armie, the whiche, see, how with the pace therof, arid with the men of armes on the sides, it marcheth in good order, to give the charge on the adversarie: See our artillerie, whiche to give theim place, and to leave them the space free, is retired by thesame space, from whens the Veliti issued : See how the capitaine incourageth them, sheweth them the victorie certain : See how the Veliti and light horsemen bee inlarged, and retourned on the flanckes of tharmie, to seke and view, if thei maie by the flanck, doe any injurie to the adversaries: behold how the armies be affronted. Se with how moche valiauntnesse thei have withstode the violence of thenemies, and with how moche silence, and how the capitain commaundeth the menne of armes, that thei sustain, and not charge, and that thei breake not from the order of the footemen : see how our light horsemen be gone, to give the charge on a band of the enemies Harkebutters, whiche would have hurt our men by flancke, and how the enemies horse have succoured them, so that tourned betwene the one and the other horse, thei cannot shoote, but are faine to retire behinde their owne battaile : see with what furie our Pikes doe also affront, and
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THE how the footemen be now so nere together the one to THIRDE the other, that the Pikes can no more be occupied : so that BOOKE according to the knowlege learned of us, our pikes do retire a little and a little bet wen the targaettes. Se how in this while a great bande of men of armes of the enemies, have charged our men of armes on the lefte side, and how ours, accordyng to knowlege, bee retired under the extra- ordinarie Pikes, and with the help of those, giving again a freshe charge, have repulced the adversaries, and slain a good part of them : in so moche, that thordinarie pikes of the first battailes, be hidden betwene the raies of the Targaettes, thei havyng lefte the faight to the Targaet men: whom you maie see, with how moche vertue, securitie, and leasure, thei kill the enemie : see you not how moche by faightyng, the orders be thrust together ? That thei can scarse welde their sweardes ? Behold with how moche furie the enemies move : bicause beyng armed with the pike, and with the swerd unprofitable (the one for beyng to long, the other for findyng thenemie to well armed) in part thei fall hurt or dedde, in parte thei Hie. See, thei flie on the righte corner, thei flie also on the lefte : behold, the victorie is ours. Have not we wonne a field moste happely ? But with more happinesse it should bee wonne, if it Avere graunted me to put it in acte. And see, how there neded not the helpe of the seconde, nor of the third order, for our first fronte hath sufficed to overcome theim : in this part, I have no other to saie unto you, then to resolve if any doubt be growen you.
LUIGI. You have with so moche furie wonne this fielde,
that I so moche mervaile and am so astonied, that I beleve
that I am not able to expresse, if any doubt remain in my
mynde : yet trustyng in your prudence, I will be so bolde
to tell thesame that I understande. Tell me firste, why
made you not your ordinaunce to shoote more then ones ?
And why straighte waie you made them to retire into
Questions tharmie, nor after made no mension of them ? Me thought
theshotyngof also> that you leveled the artillerie of the enemie high, and
ordinaunce. appoincted it after your own devise : the whiche might very
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
well bee, yet when it should happen, as I beleve it chaunseth THE often, that thei strike the rankes, what reamedie have you ? THIRDE And seyng that I have begun of the artillerie, I will finishe BOOKE all this question, to the intente I nede not to reason therof any more. I have heard many dispraise the armours, and the orders of the aunciente armies, arguyng, how now a daies, thei can doe little, but rather should bee altogether unprofitable, havyng respecte to the furie of the artillerie : bicause, this breaketh the orders, and passeth the armours in soche wise, that it semeth unto them a foolishenesse to make an order, whiche cannot bee kepte, and to take pain to beare a liarneis, that cannot defende a man.
FABUICIO. This question of yours (bicause it hath many heddes) hath neede of a long aunswere. It is true, that I An aunswere made not thartillery to shoote more than ones, and also of *p tlie 4ues- thesame ones, I stoode in doubte : the occasion was, for ^mau^ded*6 asmoche as it importeth more, for one to take hede not to concernyng' be striken, then it importeth to strike the enemie. You the shoting of have to understande, that to purpose that a pece of ordinaunce. ordinaunce hurte you not, it is necessarie either to stande where it cannot reche you, or to get behinde a wall, or behinde a banke : other thing there is not that can witholde it : and it is nedefull also, that the one and the other be moste strong. Those capitaines whiche come to faight a field, cannot stand behind a wal, or behind bankes, nor where thei maie not be reached : therfore it is mete for them, seyng thei cannot finde a waie to defende them, to finde some mean, by the whiche thei maie be least hurte : nor thei cannot finde any other waie, then to prevente it quickly: the waie to prevent it, is to go to finde it out of hande, and hastely, not at leasure and in a heape : for that through spede, the blowe is not suffered to bee redoubled, and by the thinnesse, lesse nomber of menne maie be hurt. This, a bande of menne ordered, cannot dooe ; bicause if the- same marche hastely, it goweth out of order: if it go scattered, the enemie shall have no paine to breake it, for that it breaketh by it self: and therfore, I ordered the armic after soche sorte, that it might dooe the one thvng
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The best remedie to avoide the hurte that the enemie in the fielde maie doe with his ordinaunce.
A policie against bowes and dartes.
Nothyng causeth greater con fusion in an armie, than to hinder mennes fightes.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
and the other : for as moche as havyng set in the corners thereof, a thousande Veliti, I appoincted that after that our ordinaunce had shotte, thei should issue out together with the light horsemen, to get the enemies artillerie : and therfore, I made not my ordinance to shoote again, to the intente, to give no tyme to the enemie to shoote : Bicause space could not be given to me, and taken from other men, and for thesame occasion, where I made my ordinaunce not to shoote the seconde tyme, was for that I would not have suffered the enemie to have shot at al, if I had could : seyng that to mynde that the enemies artillerie be unprofitable, there is no other remedie, but to assaulte it spedely : for as moche as if the enemies forsake it, thou takeste it, if thei will defende it, it is requisite that thei leave it behind, so that being possessed of enemies, and of frendes, it cannot shoote. I would beleve, that with out insamples these reasons should suffice you, yet beyng able to shewe olde en- samples, to prove my saiynges true, I will. Ventidio commyng to faight a field with the Parthians, whose strength for the moste part, consisted in bowes and arrowes, he suffered theim almoste to come harde to his campe, before he drewe out his armie, the whiche onely he did, to be able quickly to prevent them : and not to give them space to shoote. Cesar when he was in Fraunce, maketh mencion, that in faighting a battaile with the enemies, he was with so moche furie assaulted of them, that his menne had no time to whorle their Dartes, accordyng to the custome of the Romaines : wherfore it is seen, that to intende, that a thyng that shooteth farre of, beyng in the field, doe not hurte thee, there is no other remedy, then with as moche celeritie as maie bee, to prevente it. An other cause moved me to precede, without shotyng the ordinaunce, whereat perad venture you will laugh : yet I judge not that it is to be dispraised. Ther is nothyng that causeth greater confusion in an armie, then to hinder mennes fightes : whereby many moste puisaunte armies have been broken, by meanes their fighte hath been letted, either with duste, or with the Sunne : yet there is nothyng, that more letteth the sight
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
then the smoke that the artillerie maketh in shotyng: THE therfore, I would thinke that it wer more wisedome, to THIKDE suffer the enemie to blinde hymself, then to purpose (thou BOOKE beyng blind) to go to h'nde hym: for this cause, either I Nothingmore would not shote, or (for that this should not be proved, bl'»deth the considering the reputacion that the artillerie hath) I would siK}'tof men place it on the corners of the armie, so that shootyng, it the^the"16' should not with the smoke thereof, blinde the front of smoke of thesame, uhiche is the importaunce of my men. And to ordinaunce. prove that it is a profitable thyng, to let the sight of A policie to the enemie, there maie be brought for insample Epami- trouble the nondas, whom to blind the enemies armie, whiche came enemie881Rht- to faight with hym, he caused his light horsemen, to run before the fronte of the enemies, to raise up the duste, and to lette their sight, whereby he gotte the victorie. And where it semeth unto you, that I have guided the shot of the artillerie, after my owne devise, making it to The shotte of passe over the heddes of my men, I answer you, that most Create ordi- often tymes, and without comparison, the greate ordinaunce °aunce.in the misse the footemen, moche soner than hitte theim : for ^whe to Tel that the footemen are so lowe, and those so difficult to fe.-ired of shoote; that every little that thou raisest theim, thei passe fotemenne. over the heddes of men : and if thei be leveled never so little to lowe, thei strike in the yearth, and the blowe cometh not to theim : also the unevenesse of the grounde saveth them, for that every little hillocke, or high place that is, betwene the men and thordinance, letteth the shot therof. And concernyng horsmen, and in especially men of **lcau8C armes, bicause thei ought to stand more close together, then arm es stand the light horsemen, and for that thei are moche higher, maie closer to- the better be stroken, thei maie, untill the artillerie have gather then shotte, be kepte in the taile of the armie. True it is, that Jjf^1 }^™' the Harkebutters doe moche more hurt, and the field peccs, "u^h't to re- then the greate ordinance, for the whiche, the greatest mainebehinde remedy is, to come to hande strokes quickly : and if in the tllc armie till firste ussaulte, there be slaine some, alwnies there shall bee the enemies slaine : but a good capitaine, and a good armie, ought not hav^doeT to make a coumpte of a hurte, that is particulare, but of a ihootyng.
115
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THE generall, and to imitate the Suizzers, whom never eschue to THIRDE faight, beyng made afraied of the artillerie : but rather BOOKE punishe with death those, whiche for feare thereof, either should go out of the ranke, or should make with his body any signe of feare. I made them (so sone as thei had shotte) to bee retired into the armie, that thei might leave the waie free for the battaile : I made no more mencion of theim, as of a thyng unprofitable, the faight beyng begun. You have also saied, that consideryng the violence of this instrument, many judge the armours, and the auncient orders to be to no purpose, and it semeth by this your talke, that men now a daies, have founde orders and armours, whiche are able to defend them against the artillerie : if you knowe this, I would bee glad that you would teache it me : for that hetherto, I never sawe any, nor I beleve that there can any be founde : so that I would understande of soche men, for what cause the souldiours on foote in these daies, weare the breastplate, or the corselet of steele, and thei on horsebacke go all armed : bicause seyng that thei blame the aunciente armyng of men as unprofitable, con- sidryng the artillery, thei ought to despise also this ? I would understande moreover, for what occasion the Suizzers, like unto the auncient orders, make a battaile close together of sixe, or eight thousande menne, and for what occasion all other have imitated theim, this order bearyng the verie same perill, concernyng the artillerie, that those other should beare, whiche should imitate the antiquitie. I beleve thei should not knowe what to answere : but if you should aske soche Souldiours, as had some judgement, thei would aunswere first, that thei go armed, for that though thesame armoure defende theim not from the artillerie : it defendeth them from crossebowes, from Pikes, from sweardes, from stones, and from all other hurt, that commeth from the enemies, thei would answere also, that thei went close together, like the Suizzers, to be able more easely to over throw the footemen, to be able to withstand better the horse and to give more difficultie to the enemie to breake them : so that it is seen, that the souldiours have to feare 116
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
many other thynges besides the ordinance : from which THE
thynges, with the armours, and with the orders, thei Til HIDE
are defended : whereof foloweth, that the better that an BOOKE
armie is armed, and the closer that it hath the orders, and
stronger, so moche the surer it is : so that he that is of
thesame opinion, that you saie, it behoveth either that he
bee of smalle wisedome, or that in this thyng, he hath
studied verie little : for as moche as if we see, that so little
a parte of the aunciente maner of armyng, whiche is used
now a daies, that is the pike, and so little a parte of those
orders, as are the maine battailes of the Suizzers, dooe us so
moche good, and cause our armies to bee so strong, why
ought not we to beleve, that the other armours, and thother
orders whiche are lefte, be profitable? Seyng that if we
have no regard to the artillerie, in puttyng our selves close
together, as the Suizzers, what other orders maie make us
more to feare thesame ? For as moche as no order can cause
us so moche to feare thesame, as those, whiche bryng men
together. Besides this, if the artillerie of the enemies
should not make me afraied, in besiegyng a Tonne, where it
hurteth me with more safegarde, beyng defended of a wall,
I beyng not able to prevente it, but onely with tyme, with
my artillerie to lette it, after soche sorte that it maie double
the blowe as it liste, why should I feare thesame in the
field, where I maie quickly prevent it? So that I conclude The artillerie
thus, that the artillerie, according to my opinion, doeth not is »° let, why
let, that the aunciente maners cannot be used, and to shewe . aun
the auncient vertue : and if I had not talked alreadie with J£r ou^hVnot"
you of this instrument, I would of thesame, declare unto to be used in
you more at length : but I will remit my self to that, these daies.
whiche then I saied.
LUIGI. Wee maie now understande verie well, how moche you have aboute the artillerie discoursed : and in conclu sion, my thinkes you have shewed, that the preventyng it quickly, is the greatest reined ie, that maie be had for the same, beyng in the fielde, and havyng an armie againste you. Upon the whiche there groweth in me a double : bicause me thinkes, that the enemie might place his
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THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE ordinaunce in soche wise, in his armie, that it should hurt THIRDE you, and should be after soche sort garded of the footemen, BOOKE that it could not be prevented. You have (if you remember your self well) in the orderyng of your armie to faight, made distaunces of three yardes, betwene the one battaile and the other, makyng those distaunces fiftene, whiche is from the battailes, to thextraordinarie pikes : if thenemie, shuld order his armie like unto yours, and should putte the artillerie a good waie within those spaces, I beleve that from thens, it should hurte you with their moste greate safegard : bicause menne can not enter into the force of their enemies to prevent it.
FABRICIO. You doubt moste prudently, and I will devise with my self, either to resolve you the doubte, or shewe you the remedie : I have tolde you, that continually these battailes, either through goyng, or thorowe faightyng, are movyng, and alwaies naturally, thei come to drawe harde together, so that if you make the distaunces of a small breadth, where you set the artillerie, in a little tyme thei be shootte up, after soche sort, that the artillerie cannot any more shoote : if you make theim large, to avoide this perill, you incurre into a greater, where you through those distances, not onely give commoditie to the enemie, to take from you the artillerie, but to break e you : but you have to understande, that it is impossible to keepe the artillerie betwene the bandes, and in especially those whiche go on carriages : For that the artillerie goeth one waie, and shoote th an other waie : So that havyng to go and to shoote, it is necessary, before thei shote, that thei tourne, and for to tourne theim, thei will have so moche space, that fiftie cartes of artillerie, would disorder any armie : therfore, it is mete to kepe them out of the bandes, where thei may be overcome in the maner, as a little afore we have shewed : but admit thei might be kept, and that there might be found a waie betwen bothe, and of soche condicion, that the presyng together, of men should not hinder the artillerie, and were not so open that it should give waie to the enemie, I saie, that it is remedied moste easely, with makyng dis-
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
tances in thy armie against it, whiche maie give free passage THE
to the shot of those, and so the violence thereof shall come THIRDE
to be vain, the which maie be doen moste easely : for BOOKE
asmoche, as the enemie mindyng to have his artillerie stand
safe, it behoveth that he put them behinde, in the furthest
part of the distances, so that the shot of the same, he pur-
posyng that thei hurt not his owne men, ought to passe by
right line, and by that very same alwaies : and therefore with
givyng theim place, easely thei maie bee avoided : for that A penerall
this is a generall rule, that to those thynges, whiche cannot rule a^ai"s
be withstoode, there must bee given waie, as the antiquitie made to the Eliphantes, and to the carres full of hookes. I beleve, ye, I am more then certaine, that it semeth unto you, that I have ordered and wonne a battaile after my own maner: notwithstanding, I answeer unto you this, when so moche as I have saied hetherto, should not suffice, that it should be impossible, that an armie thus ordered, and armed, should not overcome at the first incounter, any other armie that should bee ordained, as thei order the armies now adaies, whom most often tymes, make not but one front, havyng no targaettes, and are in soche wise unarmed, that thei cannot defende themselves from the enemie at hand, and thei order theim after soche sorte, that if thei set their battailes by flanck, the one to the other, thei make the armie thinne : if thei put the one behind the other, havyng no waie to receive the one the other, thei doe it confusedly, and apt to be easly troubled : and although thei give three names to their armies, and devide them into thre companies, vaward, battaile, and rereward, not- withstandyng it serveth to no other purpose, then to marche, and to distinguis the lodgynges : but in the daie of battaile, thei binde them all to the first brunte, and to the first fortune.
LUIGI. I have noted also in the faightyng of your fielde, how your horsemen were repulced of the enemies horsemen : for whiche cause thei retired to the extraordinarie Pikes : whereby grewe, that with the aide of theim, thei withstode, and drave the enemies backe ? I beleve that the Pikes maie
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A battaile how greate so ever it bee, cannot atones occupy above v. rankes of Pikes.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
withstande the horses, as you sale, but in a grosse and thicke maine battaile, as the Suizzers make : but you in your army, have for the hedde five rankes of Pikes, and for the flancke seven, so that I cannot tell how thei maie bee able to withstande them.
FABRITIO. Yet I have told you, how sixe rankes of pikes wer occupied at ones, in the Macedonicall Falangi, albeit you ought to understande, that a maine battaile of Suizzers, if it were made of a thousande rankes, it cannot occupie more then fower, or at the most five : bicause the Pikes be sixe yardes and three quarters longe, one yarde and halfe a quarter, is occupied of the handes, wherefore to the firste ranke, there remaineth free five yardes and a half, and a halfe quarter of Pike : the seconde ranke besides that, whiche is occupied with the hande, consumeth a yarde and half a quarter in the space, whiche remaineth betwene the one ranke and thother : so that there is not left of pike profitable, more then fower yardes and a halfe: to the thirde ranke, by this verie same reason, there remaineth three yardes and a quarter and a halfe : to the fowerth, twoo yardes and a quarter : to the fift one yard and halfe a quarter : the other rankes, for to hurte, be unprofitable, but thei serve to restore these firste rankes, as we have declared, and to bee a fortificacion to those v. Then if five of their rankes can withstande the horse, why cannot five of ours withstande theim ? to the whiche also there lacketh not rankes behinde, that doeth sustain and make them the very same staie, although thei have no pikes as the other. And when the rankes of thextraordinarie pikes, which are placed on the flanckes, should seme unto you thinne, thei maie bee brought into a quadrante, and put on the flancke nere the twoo battailes, whiche I set in the laste companie of the armie : From the whiche place, thei maie easely alto gether succour the fronte, and the backe of the armie, and minister helpe to the horses, accordyng as nede shall require.
LUIGI. Would you alwaies use this forme of order, when you would pitche a fielde.
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
FABRITIO. No in no wise : for that you ought to varie the THE facion of the armie, according to the qualitie of the situa- Til HIDE cion, and the condicion and quantitie of the enemie, as BOOKE before this reasonyng dooe ende, shall bee shewed certaine insamples : but this forme is given unto you, not so moche as moste strongeste of all, where in deede it is verie strong, as to the intente that thereby you maie take a rule, and an order to learne to knowe the waies to ordeine the other : for as moche, as every science hath his generalitie, upon the whiche a good part of it is grounded. One thing onely I An advertis- advise you, that you never order an armie, after soche sorte, n\ent i-on- that those that faight afore, cannot bee sucoured of theim, °?™yng whiche be set behind : bicause he that committeth this errour, maketh the greateste parte of his armie to bee un profitable, and if it incounter any strength, it cannot overcome.
LUIGI. There is growen in me, upon this parte a doubte. I have seen that in the placyng of the battailes, you make the fronte of five on a side, the middeste of three, and the last partes of twoo, and I beleve, that it were better to ordain them contrariwise : for that I thinke, that an armie should with more difficultie bee broken, when he that should charge upon it, the more that he should entre into the- same, so moche the stronger he should finde it : and the order devised of you, me thinkes maketh, that the more it is entered into, so moche the weaker it is founde.
FABRICIO. If you should remember how to the Triarii, whom were the thirde order of the llomain Legions, there were not assigned more then sixe hundred men, you would doubt lesse, havyng understode how thei were placed in the laste companie : For that you should see, how I moved of this insample, have placed in the last companie twoo bat- tailefi, whiche are nine hundred men, so that I come rather (folowyng the insample of the Homainc people) to erre, for havyng taken to many, then to fewe : and although this insample should suffice, I will tell you the reason, the which is this. The first fronte of the armie, is made perfectly whole and thicke, bicause it must withstande the brunt of
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How the front of the armie ought to bee made.
How the middell part of the armie outfht to be ordered.
The orderyng of the hinder part of thiirmy.
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the enemies, and it hath not to receive in it any of their felowes : and for this, it is fitte that it bee full of menne : bicause a fewe menne, should make it weake, either for thinnesse, or for lacke of sufficiente nomber : but the seconde companie, for as moche as it must first receive their frendes, to sustain the enemie, it is mete that it have greate spaces, and for this it behoveth, that it be of lesse nomber then the first : for that if it wer of greater nomber, or equall, it should bee conveniente, either not to leave the distaunces, the whiche should be disorder, or leavyng theim, to passe the boundes of those afore, the whiche should make the facion of the armie unperfecte : and it is not true that you saie, that the enemie, the more that he entereth into the maine bat- taile, so moche the weaker he findeth it : for that the enemie, can never faight with the seconde order, except the first be joined with thesame : so that he cometh to finde the middest of the maine battaile more stronger, and not more weaker, havyng to faight with the first, and with the seconde order altogether : the verie same happeneth, when the enemie should come to the thirde companie : for that there, not with twoo battailes, whiche is founde freshe, but with all the maine battaile he must faight : and for that this last part hath to receive moste men, the spaces therof is requi site to be greatest, and that whiche receiveth them, to be the leste nomber.
LUIGI. It pleaseth me thesame that you have told : but answere me also this : if the five first battailes doe retire betwene the three seconde battailes, and after the eight betwene the twoo thirde, it semeth not possible, that the eight beyng brought together, and then the tenne to gether, maie bee received when thei bee eight, or when thei be tenne in the verie same space, whiche received the five.
FABRICIO. The first thyng that I aunswere is, that it is not the verie same space : For that the five have fower spaces in the middeste, whiche retiryng betwene the thre, or betwene the twoo, thei occupie : then there remaineth thesame space, that is betwene the one maine battaile and
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
the other, and thesame that is, betwene the battailes, and THE
the extraordinarie Pikes, al the whiche spaces makes large- THIRDE
nesse: besides this, it is to bee considered, that the battailes BOOKE
kepe other maner of spaces, when thei bee in the orders
without beyng altered, then when thei be altered : for that
in the alteracion : either thei throng together, or thei
inlarge the orders : thei inlarge theini, when thei feare so
moche, that thei fall to Hiyng, thei thrust them together,
when thei feare in soche wise, that thei seke to save them
selves, not with runnyng a waie, but with defence : So that
in this case, thei should come to be destingueshed, and not
to be inlarged. Moreover, the h've rankes of the Pikes, that The retire of
are before, so sone as thei have begun the faighte, thei the Pikes, to
ought betwene their battailes to retire, into the taile of pja«e the 'I ar-
the armie, for to give place to the Targaet men, that thei ^
maic faighte : and thei goyng into the taile of the armie,
male dooe soche service as the capitain should judge, were
good to occupie theim aboute, where in the forward, the
faiglit beyng mingled, thei should otherwise bee altogether
unprofitable. And for this the spaces ordained, come to
bee for the remnaunte of the menne, wide inough to receive
them : yet when these spaces should not suffice, the ttankes
on the sides be men, and not walles, whom givyng
place, and inlargyng them selves, maie make the space to
containe so moclie, that it maie bee sufficient to receive
theim.
LUIGI. The rankes of the extraordinarie Pikes, whiche you place on the rlanckes of the armie, when the first bat tailes retire into the second, will you have them to stande still, and remain with twoo homes to the armie? Or will How the you that thei also retire together, with the battailes? The pikes that are whiche when thei should do, I see not how thei can, havyng jj^g/J} no battailes behinde with distaunces that maie receive ty,e armje them. ought to
FAHRITIO. If the enemie overcome theim not, when he governe them
inforceth the battailes to retire, thei maie stande still in "?lves
, . i p, ,1 , the rest of the
tneir order, and hurte the enemie on the nanck, after that ,irrnieisdriven the firste battailes were retired : but if he should also over- to retire.
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THE THIRDE BOOKE
Thexercise of the army in geiierall.
The nomber that is mete to be written in the Ansigne of every band of men.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
come theim, as semeth reason, beyng so puisaunte, thai: he is able to repulce the other, thei also ought to retire : whiche thei maie dooe excellently well, although thei have not behinde, any to receive them : bicause from the middest, thei maie redouble by right line, entring the one rarike into the other, in the maner whereof wee reasoned, when it was spoken of the order of redoublyng : True it is, that to mynde redoublyng to retire backe, it behoveth to take an other waie, then thesame that I shewed you : for that I told you, that the second ranke, ought to enter into the first, the fowerth into the thirde, and so foorth : in this case, thei ought not to begin before, but behinde, so that redoublyng the rankes, thei maie come to retire backewarde, not to tourne forward : but to aunswere to all thesame, that upon this foughten field by me shewed, might of you bee replied. I saie unto you again, that I have ordained you this armie, and shewed this foughten field for two causes, thone, for to declare unto you how it is ordered, the other to shewe you how it is exercised : thorder, I beleve you understande moste well : and concernyng the exersice, I saie unto you, that thei ought to be put together in this forme, as often times as maie be : for as moche as the heddes learne therby, to kepe their battailes in these orders : for that to particulare souldiours, it appertaineth to keepe well the orders of every battaile, to the heddes of the battailes, it appertaineth to keepe theim well in every order of the armie, and that thei knowe how to obeie, at the commaunde- ment of the generall capitain : therefore, it is conveniente that thei knowe, how to joyne the one battaile with thother, that thei maie knowe how to take their place atones : and for this cause it is mete that thansigne of every battaile, have written in some evident part, the nomber therof: as well for to be able to commaunde them, as also for that the capitain, and the souldiours by thesame nomber, maie more easely knowe theim againe : also the maine battailes, ought to be nombred, and to have the nomber in their principall Ansigne : Therefore it is requisite, to knowe of what nomber the maine battaile shall be, that is placed on the left, or on 124
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
the right home, of what nombers the battailes bee, that are THE
set in the fronte, and in the middeste, and so foorthe of the TH1KDK
other. The antiquitie would also, that these nombers HOOKK
should bee steppes to degrees, of honors of the armies : as
for insample, the first degree, is the Peticapitain, the The degrees
seconde, the hedde of fiftie ordinarie Veliti, the thirde, the ot honours in
Centurion, the fowerth, the hedde of the first battaile, the
fifte, of the second, the sixt, of the thirde, and so forthe, .
even to the tenth battaile, the whiche must be honoured in to rise by, as
the seconde place, nexte the generall capitaine of a maine should bee
battaile : nor any ought to come to thesame hedde, if first, ™*de :i Feru>-
he have not risen up by all these degrees. And bicause r
besides these heddes, there be the three Conestables of the
extraordinarie Pikes, and twoo of the extraordinarie Veliti,
I would that thei should be in the same degree of the
Conestable of the first battaile : nor I would not care, that
there were sixe men of like degree, to thintent, that every
one of them might strive, who should doe beste, for to be
promised to be hedde of the seconde battaile. Then every
one of these heddes, knowyng in what place his battaile
ought to be sette in, of necessitie it must folowe, that at
a sounde of the Trompette, so sone as the hedde stan-
darde shall bee erected, all the armie shall be in their
places : and this is the first exercise, whereunto an armie
ought to bee accustomed, that is to set theim quickly
together : and to doe this, it is requisite every daie, and
divers times in one daie, to set them in order, and to
disorder them.
LUIGI. What armes would you that thansignes of all the armie, should have beside the nomber ?
FAURITIO. The standarde of the generall Capitaine oughte The armes to have the armes of the Prince of the armie, all the other, thatoughteto maie have the verie same armes, and to varie with the fieldes, |'ce '" tlu' or to varie with the armes, as should seme beste to the a^'in^fe Lorde of the armie: Bicause this importeth little, so that ansi^nes of the effect growe, that thei be knowen the one from the an armie. other. But let us passe to the other exercise : the which is to make them to move, and with a convenient pace to
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THE marche, and to se, that marchyng thei kepe the orders. THIRDE The third exercise is, that thei learne to handle themselves BOOKE in thesame maner, whiche thei ought after to handle theim- The second selves in the daie of battaile, to cause the artillerie to and thirde shoote, and to bee drawen out of the waie, to make the exercise of an extraordinarie Veliti to issue out, after a likenes of an assault, to retire theim : To make that the firste battailes, as though thei wer sore charged, retire into the spaces of the second : and after, all into the thirde, and from thens every one to retourne to his place : and in soche wise to use theim in this exercise, that to every manne, all thyng maie be knowen, and familiar : the which with practise, and with familiaritie, is brought to passe moste quickly. The The fowerth fowerth exercise is, that thei learne to knowe by meane exercise of an of the sounde, and of the Ansigne, the commaundemente armie. Qf ^heir capitaine : for as moche as that, whiche shall be to
them pronounced by voice, thei without other commaunde mente, maie understande : and bicause the importaunce of this commaundement, ought to growe of the sounde, I shall tell you what soundes the antiquitie used. Of the Lacede- The soundes monians, accordyng as Tucidido affirmeth, in their armies of the instru- were used Flutes: for that thei judged, that this armonie, ernes of wag moste mete to make their armie to precede with gravetie, the antiquitie an^ with furie : the Carthaginens beyng moved by thisverie used in their same reason, in the first assaulte, used the violone. Aliatte armies. kyng of the Lidians, used in the warre the violone, and the
Flutes : but Alexander Magnus, and the Romaines, used homes, and Trumpettes, as thei, that thought by vertue of soche instrumentes, to bee able to incourage more the myndes of Souldiours, and make theim to faight the more lustely : but as we have in armyng the armie, taken of the Greke maner, and of the Romaine, so in distributyng the soundes, we will keepe the customes of the one, and of the other nacion : therefore, nere the generall capitain, I would make the Trompettes to stand, as a sounde not onely apt to inflame the armie, but apte to bee heard in all the whole tumoult more, then any other sounde : all the other soundes, whiche should bee aboute the Conestables, and 126
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
the heddes of maine battailes I would, that thei should bee THE smalle Drummes, and Flutes, sounded not as thei sounde TH1KDE theim now, but as thei use to sounde theim at feastes. The 1JOOKE capitaine then with the Trompet, should shewe when thei Whatissigni- must stand e still, and go forward, or tourne backward, when fied by the the artillerie must shoote, when the extraordinarie Veliti fVunde °* tlie must move, and with the varietie or distinccion of soche soundes, to shewe unto the armie all those mocions, whit-he generally maie bee shewed, the whiche Trompettes, should bee after followed of the Drummes, and in this exercise, bicause it importeth moche, it behoveth moche to exercise the armie. Concernyng the horsemen, there would be used likewise Trompettes, but of a lesse sounde, and of a divers voice from those of the Capitaine. This is as moche as is come into my remembraunce, aboute the order of the armie, and of the exercise of thesame.
LUK;I. I praie you let it not be grevous unto you to declare unto me an other thyng, that is, for what cause you made the light horsmen, and the extraordinarie Veliti, to goe with cries, rumours, and furie, when thei gave the charge ? And after in the incountering of the rest of tharmie, you shewed, that the thing folowed with a moste greate scilence? And for that I understande not the occasion of this varietie, I would desire that you would declare it unto me.
FABRITIO. The opinion of auncient capitaines, hath been divers about the commyng to handes, whether thei ought with rumour to go a pace, or with scilence to go faire and softely : this laste waie, serveth to kepe the order more The cries, sure, and to understande better the comnmundementes of the -'"id rumours, Capitaine : the firste, serveth to incourage more the mindes \vht>r wit1' the of men : and for that I beleve, that respecte ought to bee f/^ten u^o had to the one, and to the other of these twoo thvnges, the <>n<>inios, I made the one goe with rumour, and thother with scilence : nndthesili'iire nor me thinkes not in any wise, that the continual! rumours tliat ou^rllt to bee to purpose : bicause thei lette the commaundementes, the ^j^tJM.1^' whiche is a thyng moste pernicious : nor it standeth not with fajjr},t is ones reason, that the Romanies used, except at the firste assaulte h
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE to make rumour : for that in their histories, is seen many THIRDE tymes to have happened, that through the wordes, and com- BOOKE fortinges of the capitain the souldiours that ranne awaie, were made to stande to it, and in sundrie wise by his com- maundemente, to have varied the orders, the whiche should not have followed, if the rumoures had been louder then his voyce.
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OF THE ARTE OF WARRE OF
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL, CITEZEINE
AND SECRETARIE OF FLORENCE,
UNTO
LAURENCE PHILIP STROZZE.
K
THE ARTE OF WAR HE
THE FOWERTH BOOKE
LUIGI.
ENG that under my governement, a field hath been wonne so honourably, I suppose that it is good, that I tempt not fortune any more, knowyng how variable, and unstable she is : and therefore, I desire to give up my governement, and that /anobi do execute now this office of demaundyng, mindyng to followe the order, whiclie concerneth the youngeste : and I knowe he will not refuse this honoure, or as we would saie, this labour, as well for to doe me pleasure, as also for beyng naturally of more stomach than I : nor it shall not make hym afraied, to have to enter into these travailes, where he maie bee as well overcome, as able to conquere.
ZANOBI. I am readie to do what soever shall please you to appoincte me, although that I desire more willingly to heare : for as moche as hetherto, your questions have satisfied me more, then those should have pleased me, whiche in harken- yng to your reasonyng, hath chaunced to come into my remembraunce. But sir, I beleve that it is good, that you lese no tyme, and that you have pacience, if with these our Ceremonies we trouble you.
FAHRICIO. You doe me rather pleasure, for that this variacion of dernaunders, maketh me to knowe the sundric wittes, and sunderie appetites of yours : But remaincth there any thyng, whiche seemeth unto you good, to bee joyned to the matter, that alreadie hath been reasoned of?
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To deffende moche the fronte of an armie, is most perillous.
What is beste for a capi- taiue to dooe, where his power is, moche lesse then
theriemies power.
A general rule.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
ZANOBI. Twoo thinges I desire, before you passe to an other parte : the one is, to have you to shewe, if in orderyng armies, there needeth to bee used any other facion : the other, what respectes a capitaine ought to have, before he conducte his men to the faight, and in thesame any accidente risyng or growyng, what reamedie maie be had.
FABKICIO. I will inforce my self to satisfie you, I will not answere now distinctly to your questions : for that whileste I shall aunswere to one, many tymes it will come to passe, that I muste aunswere to an other. I have tolde you, how I have shewed you a facion of an armie, to the intent, that accordyng to thesame, there maie bee given all those facions, that the enemie, and the situacion requireth : For as moche as in this case, bothe accordyng to the power thereof, and accordyng to the enemie, it proceadeth : but note this, that there is not a more perillous facion, then to deffende moche the front of tharmie, if then thou have not a most puisant, and moste great hoste : otherwise, thou oughtest to make it rather grosse, and of small largenesse, then of moche largenes and thin : for when thou hast fewe men in comparison to thenemie, thou oughtest to seke other remedies, as is to ordain thine army in soche a place, wher thou maiest be fortefied, either through rivers, or by meanes of fennes, after soch sort, that thou canst not bee compassed aboute, or to inclose thy self on the flanckes with diches, as Cesar did in Fraunce. You have to take in this cace, this general 1 rule, to inlarge your self, or to draw in your self with the front, according to your nomber, and thesame of the enemie. For thenemies being of lesse nomber, thou oughtest to seke large places, havyng in especially thy men well instructed : to the intent thou maiest, not onely corn- passe aboute the enemie, but to deffende thy orders : for that in places rough and difficulte, beyng not able to prevaile of thy orders, thou commeste not to have any advauntage, hereby grewe, that the Romaines al moste alwaies, sought the open fieldes, and advoided the straightes. To the contrarie, as I have said, thou oughtest to doe, if thou hast fewe menne, or ill instructed : for that then thou
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oughteste to seeke places, either where the little nomber THE male be saved, and where the small experience dooe not FOWERTH hurte thee : Thou oughtest also to chuse the higher BOOKE grounde, to be able more easely to infest them : not- The higher withstandyng, this advertisment ought to be had, not to grounde ordaine thy armie, where the enemie maie spie what thou °™^ doest, and in place nere to the rootes of the same, where the enemies ;irmie maie come : For that in this case, havyng An advertis- respecte unto the artillerie, the higher place shall gette thee ment not to disadvauntage : Bicause that alwaies and commodiously, ^('®ajj*rlnie thou mightest of the enemies artillerie bee hurte, without enemie maie beyng able to make any remedy, and thou couldest not Se what the commodiously hurte thesame, beyng hindered by thine same doeth. owne men. Also, he that prepareth an armie to faight a HespeoteR for battaile, ought to have respecte, bothe to the Sunne, and to theSonneand the Winde, that the one and the other, doe not hurte the Wimie- fronte, for that the one and the other, will let thee the sight, the one with the beames, and the other with the duste : and moreover, the Winde hindereth the weapons, whiche are stroken at the enemie, and maketh their blowes more feable : and concerning the Sunne, it sufficeth not to have care, that at the firste it shine not in the face, but it is requisite to consider, that increasyng the daie, it hurte thee not : and for this, it should bee requsite in order- yng the men, to have it all on the backc, to the entente it should have to passe moche tynie, to come to lye on the fronte. This waie was observed of Aniball at Canne, and of Mario against the Cimbrians. If thou happen to be moche inferiour of horses, ordaine thine armie emongeste Vines, and trees, and like impedimentes, as in our time the Spaniardes did, when thei overthrewe the Frenchmenne at Cirignuola. And it hath been seen many times, with all The variyng one Souldiours, variyng onely the order, and the place, that of order and
thei have become of losers victorers : as it happened to the Plare niaic /-« ii 11 i f -\t cau>e the
Carthageners, whom havyng been overcome of Marcus ron,juere(j
Regolus divers tymes, were after by the counsaill of San- to become tippo, a Lacedemonian, victorious : whom made them to go victorius. doune into the plaine, where by vertue of the horses, and of
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A policie in the ordering of men and pitchyng' of a fielde.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
Eliphantes, thei were able to overcome the Romanies. It semes unto me, accordyng to the auncient insamples, that almoste all the excellente Capitaines, when thei have knowen, that the enemie hath made strong one side of his battaile, thei have not set against it, the moste strongest parte, but the moste weakest, and thother moste strongest, thei have set against the most weakest : after in the begin ning the faighte, thei have commaunded to their strongest parte, that onely thei sustaine the enemie, and not to preace upon hym, and to the weaker, that thei suffer them selves to be overcome, and to retire into the hindermoste bandes of the armie. This breadeth twoo greate disorders to the enemie : the firste, that he findeth his strongest parte compassed about, the second is, that semyng unto him to have the victorie, seldome tymes it happeneth, that thei disorder not theim selves, whereof groweth his sodain losse. Cornelius Scipio beyng in Spain, againste Asdruball of Carthage, and understanding how to Asdruball it was knowen, that he in the orderyng the armie, placed his Legions in the middest, the whiche was the strongest parte of his armie, and for this how Asdruball with like order ought to procede : after when he came to faighte the battaile, he chaunged order, and put his Legions on the homes of the armie, and in the middest, placed all his weakeste men : then commyng to the handes, in a sodain those men placed in the middeste, he made to marche softly, and the homes of the armie, with celeritie to make forwarde, so that onely the homes of bothe the armies fought, and the bandes in the middest, through beyng distaunt the one from the other, joyned not together, and thus the strongest parte of Scipio, came to faight with the weakest of Asdru ball, and overcame hym. The whiche waie was then pro fitable, but now havyng respect to the artillerie, it cannot be used : bicause the same space, whiche should remain in the middest, betwene the one armie and the other, should give tyme to thesame to shoote : The whiche is moste pernicious, as above is saied : Therefore it is requisite to laie this waie aside, and to use, as a little afore we saied, makyng all the 134
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
armie to incounter, and the weakest parte to give place. THE When a capitaine perceiveth, that he hath a greater armie FOWKKTH then his enemie, mindyng to compasse hym aboute, before BOOKE he be aware, let hym ordaine his fronte equal), to thesame How to com- of his adversaries, after, so sone as the faight is begun, let J)aS8e about hym make the fronte by a little and little to retire, and the thc en«"iei flanckes to deffende, and ulwaies it shall happen, that the ^ enemie shal find hym self, before he be aware compassed about. When a capitain will faight, as it wer sure not to How a capi- be broken, let hym ordaine his armie in place, where he tajne lllaie
hath refuse nere, and safe, either betwene Fennes, or betwene fai^llt 5.m(* 1-11 I L -L e L\ i • ii • i °ee as it were
hilles, or by some strong citee : for that in this case, he sure, not to be
cannot bee followed of the enemie, where the enemie maie overcome, be pursued of him : this poincte was used of Aniball, when fortune began to become his adversarie,and that lie doubted of the valiauntnesse of Marcus Marcello. Some to trouble How to the orders of the enemie, have commaunded those that were troul)le the light armed, to begin the faight, and that beyng begunne, °nem7e ^ to retire betwene the orders : and when the armies were after buckled together, and that the fronte of either of them were occupied in faightyng, thei have made theim to issue out by the flanckes of the battaile, and thesame have troubled and broken. If any perceive hymself to bee What a capi- inferiour of horse, he maie besides the waies that are alredie taine ou shewed, place behinde his horsemen a battaile of Pikes, and {£j^ in faightyng take order, that thei give waie to the Pikes, mea * and he shall remain alwaies superiour. Many have accus- men as the tomed to use certain fotemenne lighte armed, to faighte enemie. emong horsemen, the whiche hath been to the chivalrie A Create aide moste greate helpe. Of all those, which have prepared for horsemen, armies to the field, be moste praised Aniball and Scipio, when thei fought in Africk : and for that Aniball had his The policies armie made of Carthaginers, and of straungers of divers USP(1 betwene nacions, he placed in the first fronte thereof Ixxx. Ele- s"il* ' phantes, after he placed the straungers, behinde whom he sette his Carthaginers, in the hindermoste place, he putte the Italians, in whom he trusted little : the whiche thing he ordained so, for that the straungers havyng before
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THE theim the enemie, and behinde beyng inclosed of his men, FOWERTH could not flic : so that being constrained to faight thei BOOKE should overcome, or wearie the Romaines, supposyng after with his freshe and valiaunte men, to be then able easely to overcome the Romaines, beeyng wearied. Against this order, Scipio set the Astati, the Prencipi, and the Triarii, in the accustomed maner, to bee able to receive the one the other, and to rescue the one the other : he made the fronte of the armie, full of voide spaces, and bicause it should not be perceived but rather should seme united, he filled them fill of veliti, to whom he commaunded, that so sone as the Eliphantes came, thei should avoide, and by the ordinarie spaces, should enter betwene the Legins, and leave open the waie to the Eliphauntes, and so it came to passe, that it made vaine the violence of theim, so that commyng to handes, he was superiour.
ZANOBI. You have made me to remember, in alledging me this battaile, how Scipio in faighting, made not the Astati to retire into thorders of the Prencipi, but he devided theim, and made theim to retire in the homes of the armie, to thintent thei might give place to the Prencipi, when he would force forwarde : therfore I would you should tell me, what occasion moved hym, not to observe the accustomed order.
FABRITIO. I will tell you. Aniball had putte all the strengthe of his armie, in the seconde bande : wherefore Scipio for to set againste thesame like strengthe, gathered the Prencipi and the Triarii together : So that the dis- taunces of the Prencipi, beyng occupied of the Triarii, there was no place to bee able to receive the Astati : and therefore he made the Astati to devide, and to go in the homes of the armie, and he drewe them not betwene the Prencipi. But note, that this waie of openyng the first bande, for to give place to the seconde, cannot bee used, but when a man is superiour to his enemie : for that then there is commoditie to bee able to dooe it, as Scipio was able : but beyng under, and repulced, it cannot be doen, but with thy manifest ruine : and therefore it is convenient
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
to have behinde, orders that male receive thee, but let THE us tourne to our reasonyng. The auncient Asiaticans, FOWERTH emongest other thynges devised of them to hurt the enemies, BOOKE used carres. The whiche had on the sides certaine hookes, Cartes full of so that not onely thei served to open with their violence hooke* made the bandes, but also to kill with the hookes the adversaries : todestroiethe against the violence of those, in thre manors thei provided, C1 either thei sustained theim with the thickenesse of the raies, The remedy or thei received theim betwene the bandes, as the Eliphantes that was used were received, or els thei made with arte some strong JgJVn^Caftea insistence: As Silla a Romainc made againste Archelaus, whom had many of these cartes, whiche thei called hooked, who for to sustaine theim, drave many stakes into the grounde, behinde his first bandes of men, whereby the cartes beyng stopped, lost their violence. And the newe maner The straunge that Silla used against hym in orderyng the armie, is to maner that bee noted : for that he put the Veliti, and the horse, Silla usc
behinde, and all the heavie armed afore, leavyn«r many Ordei7n£.his; i- , iii i i
distaunces to be able to sende before those behinde, when Archclaus
necessite required : whereby the fight beyng begun, with
the helpe of the horsemen, to the whiche he gave the waie,
he got the victorie. To intende to trouble in the faight How to
the enemies armie, it is conveniente to make some thyng to trouble in the
growe, that maie make theim afraied, either with showyng fa'ffhtethe
of newe helpe that commeth, or with showyng thynges, a|
whiche maie represente a terrour unto theim : after soche
sorte, that the enemies begiled of that sight, maie be nfraied,
and being made afraied, thei maie easely bee overcome : the
whiche waies Minutio Rufo used, and Accilio Glabrione
Consults of Home. Cains Sulpitius also set a greate manv A policie <>f
of sackes upon Mules, and other beastes unprofitable for the ('Jiil|S «s»lpi-
warre, but in soche wise ordained, that thei semed men of I'1.11"' toni;ikl>
11 i i 1 1 1 1 • i 11 'lls enemies
arnies, and he commaunded, that, tlu-i should appere upon afrjlj,,(i
a hill, while he were n. faightyng with the Freiichcnu'ii, whereby grewe his victorie. The verie same did Marius, A policie of when he foughte against the Duchemen. Then the fained Mari«'s assaultes availyng moche, whilest the faight continueth, it J^ljj^l! is conveniente, that the very assaultes in deede, dooe helpe S 137
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE moche : inespecially if at unvvares in the middest of the
FOWERTH faight, the enemie might bee assaulted behinde, or on the
BOOKE side : the whiche hardely maie be doen, if the countrie
helpe thee not : for that when it is open, parte of thy men
cannot bee hid, as is mete to bee doen in like enterprises :
but in woddie or hille places, and for this apt for ambusshes,
parte of thy men maie be well hidden, to be able in a
sodain, and contrary to thenemies opinion to assaut him,
whiche thyng alwaies shall be occasion to give thee the
A policie of victorie. It hath been sometyme of greate importaunce,
greate im- whilest the faighte continueth, to sowe voices, whiche doe
portauiice, pronounce the capitaine of thenemies to be dedde, or to
while a bat- (1 . ^ ? n • ii i • i
taile is a have overcome on the other side ot the armie : the whiche
faightyng. many times to them that have used it, hath given the
How horse- victorie. The chivalrie of the enemies maie bee easely
men maie bee troubled, either with sightes, or with rumours, not used : as
disordered. Creso did, whom put Camelles again ste the horses of the
adversaries, and Pirrus sette againste the Romaine horsemen
How the Eliphantes, the sighte of whiche troubled and disordered
turkegave them. In our time, the Turke discomfited the Sophi in
overth?owean Persia> aml the Soldane in Surria with no other, then with
the noise of Harkabuses, the whiche in soche wise, with
their straunge rumours, disturbed the horses of those, that
How the the Turke mighte easely overcome them : The Spaniardes
Spaniardes to overcome the armie of Amilcare, put in the firste fronte
overcame the cartes full of towe drawen of oxen, and comming to handes,
AmUcare thei kindeled fire to thesame, wherfore the oxen to flie
from the fire, thrust into the armie of Amilcar, and opened
How to traine it. Thei are wonte (as we have saicd) to begile the enemie
the en«mie, to Jn the faight, drawyng him into their ambusshes, where the
his destruc- Countrie is commodious for the same purpose, but where
it were open and large, many have used to make diches,
and after have covered them lightly with bowes and yearth,
and lefte certain spaces whole, to be able betwene those
to retire : after, so sone as the faight hath been begunne,
retiryng by those, and the enemie folowing them, hath
fallen in the pittes. If in the faight there happen thee,
any accident that maie feare thy souldiours, it is a moste
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
prudente thyng, to knowe how to desemble it, and to per- THE vert it to good, as Tullo Hostilio did, and Lucius Silla : FOVVKRTH whom seyng while thei fought, how a parte of his men BOOKE wer gone to the enemies side, and how thesame thing had A polirie of verie moche made afraied his men, he made straighte waie Tullo Hostilio throughout all the armie to be understoode, how all thing g^Jj^"* preceded, accordyng to his order : the whiche not onely semblyng of did not trouble the armie, but it increased in them so moche a mischaunre. stomack, that he remained victorious. It happened also to Silla, that havyng sente certaine souldiours to doe some businesse, and thei beyng slain he saied, to the intent his armie should not be made afraied thereby, that he had with crafte sent theim into the handes of the enemies, for that he had found them nothyng faithfull. Sertorius faightyng Sertoriusslue a battaile in Spaine, slue one, whom signified unto hvm the a man for death of one of his capitaines, for feare that tellyng the very telling- him of same to other, he should make theim afraied. It is a moste ong ^fMs difficult thyng, an armie beyng now moved to flie, to staie capitaines. it, and make it to faight. And you have to make this distinction : either that it is all moved, and then to be impossible to tourne it, or there is moved a parte thereof, and then there is some remedie. Many Ilomain capitaines, with making afore those whiche fled, have caused them to Howecertainc staie, making them ashamed of running awaie, as Lucius captaineshave
Silla did, where alredy parte of his Legions beyng tourned staie(.1,tl!e,irj,
/i- 1^1- • i . i f n*-.i «j / ei_ i men that hath
to night, driven awaie bv the men of Mitnndates, he made j)een rimnin,r
afore them with a swearde in his hande criyng : if any aske await*. you, where you left your capitaine, saie, we have left hym in Boecia, where he faighteth. Attillius a consull set against? Attillius
i-on-
those that ran awaie, them that ranne not awaie, and made ^en* that ran them to understande, that if thei would not tourne, thei awaje to should be slaine of their frendes, and of their enemies, tourne again Philip of Macedonia understanding how his men feared the and to faight. Scithian Souldiours, placed behinde his armie, certaine of his Mow Philip
moste trustie horsemen, and gave commission to theim, that , "f (>t 4 .arc" ,1-1 111-1 11 nij i. f !_• donia made
thei should kill whom so ever nedde : wherfore, his men jlis niell
mindyng rather to die faightyng, then fliyng, overcame, afraied to Manv Romaines, not so moche to staie a flight, as for to run a
139
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE give occasion to their men, to make greater force, have
FOWERTH whileste thei have foughte, taken an Ansigne out of their
BOOKE owne mennes handes, and throwen it emongeste the enemies,
and appoincted rewardes to hym that could get it again. I
doe not beleve that it is out of purpose, to joyne to this
reasonyng those thynges, whiche chaunce after the faight, in
especially beyng brief thinges, and not to be left behinde,
and to this reasonyng conformable inough. Therefore I
Victorie saie, how the fielde is loste, or els wonne : when it is wonne,
ought with all the victorie ought with all celeritie to be folowed, and in
celeritie to ^his case to imitate Cesar, and not Aniball, whom staiyng
after that he had discomfited the Romaines at Canne, loste
the Empire of Rome : The other never rested after the
victorie, but folowed the enemie beyng broken, with greater
What a capi- violence and furie, then when he assalted hym whole : but
taine ought when a capitainc dooeth leese, he ought to see, if of the
to dooe, when josse there maiegrowe any utilite unto hym, inespecially if
he should . • j /• .1 ™i t-, •
chaunce to there remain any residue of tharmie. Ihe commoditie
receive an maie growe of the small advertisment of the enemie, whom
overthrowe. moste often times after the victorie, bccometh negligent,
and giveth thee occasion to oppresse hym, as Marcius a
How Martins Romainc oppressed the armie of the Carthaginers, whom
overcame the having slain the twoo Scipions, and broken their 'armie, not
Carthaffinera estemYng thesame remnaunt of menne, whiche with Marcius
remained a live, were of hym assaulted and overthrowen :
for that it is seen, that there is no thing so moche to bee
brought to passe, as thesame, whiche the enemie thinketh,
that thou canst not attempte : bicause for the moste parte,
men bee hurte moste, where thei doubt leaste : therefore a
capitain ought when he cannot doe this, to devise at least
with diligence, that the losse bee lesse hurtfull, to dooe
this, it is necessarie for thee to use meanes, that the enemie
maie not easely folowe thee, or to give him occasion to
make delaie : in the first case, some after thei have been
sure to lese, have taken order with their heddes, that in
divers partes, and by divers waies thei should flie, havyng
appoincted wher thei should after assemble together : the
which made, that thenemie (fearing to devide the armie)
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NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
was faine to let go safe either all, or the greatest part of THE them. In the seconde case, many have cast before the FOWERTH enemie, their dearest thinges, to the cntent that he tariyng BOOKE ahout the spoile, might give them more laisure to flie. Titus Dimius used no small policie to hide the losse, whiche A polic-ie of he had received in the faight, for asmoche as havyng fought lltl!s I)iniius untill night, with great losse of his meime, he made in the whichehehad night to be buried, the greatest part of them, wherefore in received in ;i the mornyng, the enemies seyng so many slaine of theirs, faight. and so fewe of the Komaines, belevyng that thei had the disavauntage, ran awaie. I trust I have thus confusedly, as I saied, satisfied in good part your demaunde : in dede about the facions of the armies, there resteth me to tell you, how some tyme, by some Capitaines, it hath been used to make theim with the fronte, like unto a wedge, judgyng to bee able by soche meane, more easely to open the enemies armie. Against this facion, thei have used to make a facion like unto a paire of sheres, to be able betwene the- same voide place, to receive that wedge, and to compasse it about, and to faight with it on every side : whereupon I A general will that you take this generall rule, that the greatest rull>- remedie that is used againste a devise of the enemie, is to dooe willingly thesame, whiche he hath devised that thou slialt dooe perforce : bicause that doyng it willingly, thou doest it with order, and with thy advauntage, and his dis- advauntage, if thou shouldest doe it beyng inforced, it should be thy undoyng : For the provyng whereof, I care not to reherse unto you, certain thvnges aired v tolde. The adversary maketh the wedge to open thy bandes : if thou gowest with them open, thou disorderest hym, and he dis- ordereth not thec. Aniball set the Klephantes in the fronte Anilt.-ill. of his armie, to open with theim the armie of Scipio. Scipio. Scipio went with it open, and it was the occasion of his victorie, and of the mine of hym. Asdruball placed his Asdml.all. strongest men in the middest of the fronte of his armie, to overthrowe Scipios menne : Scipio commaunded, that hv them selves thei should retire and he broke theim : So that like devises when thei are foreseen, bee the causes of the
141
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE victorie of him, against whom thei be prepared. There
FOWERTH remaineth me also, if I remember my self well, to tell you
BOOKE what respectes a Capitaine ought to have, before he leade
A Capitaine his men to faight : upon whiche I have to tell you firste,
ought not to now a capitaine ought never to faight a battaile, except he
faight without ^ advauntage, or be constrained. The vantage groweth
advantage. „ , , . , . fo ' » . , f ,
excepte he be °f tne situacion, of the order, of havyng more, or better
constrained, menne : the necessitie groweth when thou seest how that not faightyng, thou muste in any wise lese, as should bee for lackyng of money, and for this, thy armie to bee ready all maner of waies to resolve, where famishemente is ready to assaulte thee, where the enemie looketh to bee ingrosed with newe men : in these cases, thou oughtest alwaies to faight, although with thy disadvauntage : for that it is moche better to attempte fortune, where she maie favour thee, then not attempting, to see thy certaine mine : and it is as grevous a faulte in this case, in a capitain not to faight, as to have had occasion to overcome, and not to have either knowen it through ignoraunce, or lefte it through vilenesse.
How advaun- The advauntages some tymes the enemie giveth thee, and e male bee some tymes thy prudence : Many in passyng Rivers have
enemies been broken of their enemie, that hath been aware thereof,
whom hath taried, till the one halfe hath been of the one side, and the other halfe on the other, and then hath assaulted them : as Cesar did to the Suizzers, where he destroied the fowerth parte of theim, through beyng halfe over a river. Some tyme thy enemie is founde wearie, for havyng folowed thee to undescritely, so that findyng thy self f reshe and lustie, thou oughtest not to let passe soche an occasion : besides this, if the enemie offer unto thee in the mornyng betymes to faight, thou maiest a good while deferre to issue out of thy lodgyng, and when he hath stoode long in armour, and that he hath loste that same firste heate, with the whiche he came, thou maiest then faight with him. This waie Scipio and Metellus used in Spaine : the one against Asdruball, the other against Sertorius. If the enemie be deminished of power, either for havyng devided the armie, as the Scipions in Spain, or
NICHOLAS MACH1AVELL
for some other occasion, thou oughteste to prove chaunce. THE The greateste parte of prudent capitaines, rather receive FOWEKTH the violence of the enemies, then go with violence to assalte BOOKE them : for that the furie is easely withstoode of sure and Furie with- steddie mcnnc, and the furie beyng sustained, converteth stode, con- lightly into vilenesse : Thus Fabius did againste the San- verteth into nites, and against the Galles, and was victorious and his V1 felowe Decius remained slain. Some fearing the power of their enemies, have begun the faight a little before night, to the intent that their men chaunsyng to bee overcome, might then by the helpe of the darkenesse thereof, save theim selves. Some havyng knowen, how the enemies armie beyng taken of certaine supersticion, not to faight in soche a tyme, have chosen thesarne tyme to faighte, and over come : The whiche Cesar observed in Fraunce, againste Ariouistus, and Vespasian in Surrie, againste the Jewes. The greatest and moste importaunte advertismente, that a What maner capitaine ought to have, is to have aboute hym faith full of men a menne, that are wise and moste expert in the warre, with whom he must continually consulte and reason of his men, about him' and of those of the enemies, whiche is the greater nomber, Continually, whiche is beste armed, or beste on horsebacke, or best exer- to consult cised, whiche be moste apte to suffer necessitie, in whom lie witlia11- trusteth rnoste, either in the footemen, or in the horsemen : after thei ought to consider the place where thei be, and whether it be more to the purpose for thenemie, then for him: which of theim hath victualles moste commodious: whether it be good to deferrc the battaile, or to faight it : what good might bee given hym, 'or taken awaie by tyme : for that many tymes, souldiours seyng the warre to be delaied, are greved, and beyng wearie, in the pain and in . the tedionsncsse therof, wil forsake thee. It importeih cj0ngCJ" the above all thyng, to knowe the capitain of the enemies, and capitain of whom he hath aboute hym, whether he be rashe, or politike, the enemies, whether he be fcarfull, or bardie : to see how thou maiest an(1 ot tnosc truste upon the aidyng souldiours. And above all thyng hym^morte thou oughtest to take hede, not to conducte the armie to requisite to faight when it feareth, or when in any wise it mistrusteth We knowen.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE of the victorie : for that the greatest signe to lose, is when
FOWERTH thei beleve not to be able to vvinne : and th erf ore in this
BOOKE case, thou oughtest to avoide the faightyng of the fielde,
A timerous either with doyng as Fabius Maximus, whom incampyng in
army is not to strong places, gave no courage to Aniball, to goe to finde
to faThtCted ty111' or when thou shouldest thinke, that the enemie also
in strong places, would come to finde thee, to departe out
the^ightyng6 of the fielde' and t° devide the menne into thy tounes, to
of a fielde. ' thentent that tediousnesse of winnyng them, maie wearie
hym.
ZAXOBI. Cannot the faightyng of the battaile be other wise avoided, then in devidyng the armie in sunderie partes, and placyng the men in tounes ?
FABRITIO. I beleve that ones alreadie, with some of you I
have reasoned, how that he, that is in the field, cannot
avoide to faight the battaile, when he hath an enemie,
which will faight with hym in any wise, and he hath not,
but one remedie, and that is, to place him self with his
armie distant fiftie miles at leaste, from his adversarie,
to be able betymes to avoide him, when he should go to
Fabius finde hym. For Fabius Maximus never avoided to faight
Maximus. the battaile with Aniball, but he would have it with his
advauntage : and Aniball did not presume to bee able to
overcome hym, goyng to finde hym in the places where he
incamped : where if he had presupposed, to have been able
to have overcome, it had been conveniente for Fabius, to
have fought the battaile with hym, or to have avoided.
Philip king of Philip Kyng of Macedonia, thesame that was father to
Macedonia, Perse, commyng to warre with the Romaines, pitched his
theRomaines. camPe u.Pon a verie hi£h hill» to the ent?nt not to faiSht ' tr ' with theim : but the llomaines wente to find hym on the-
torige avoided same hill, and discomforted hym. Cingentorige capitain of the faightyng the Frenche menne, for that he would not faight the field of the fielde with Cesar, whom contrarie to his opinion, had passed a with Cesar river, got awaie many miles with his men. The Venecians The ignor- jn our tyme, if thei would not have come to have fought
with th^ Frenche k.TnS' thei ouSht not to have taried till the Frenche armie, had passed the River Addus, but to have 144
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
gotten from them as Cingentorige, where thei havyng THE taried, knewe not how to take in the passing of the men, FOWEKTH the occasion to faight the battaile, nor to avoide it : For BOOKE that the Frenche men beyng nere unto them, as the Vene- cians went out of their Campe, assaulted theim, and dis comfited theim : so it is, that the battaile cannot bee avoided, when the enemie in any wise will faight, nor let no man alledge Fabius, for that so moche in thesame case, he did Hie the daie of battaile, as Aniball. It happeneth many tymes, that thy souldiours be willyng to faight, and thou knoweste by the nomber, and by the situacion, or for some other occasion to have disadvauntage, and desirest to make them chaunge from this desire : it happeneth also, that necessitie, or occasion, constraineth thee to faight, and that thy souldiours are evill to be trusted, and smally disposed to faight : where it is necessarie in thone case, to make What is to be theim afraied, and in the other to incourage theim : In the dpenwhersol- firste case, when perswacions suffiseth not, there is no better diours desire waie, then to give in praie, a part of them unto thenemie, tranMti/thelr to thintent those that have, and those that have not fought, capitaiues maie beleve thee : and it may very wel be doen with art, mimic. thesame which to Fabius Maximus hapned by chaunce. Tharmie of Fabius (as you knowe) desired to faight with Aniballs armie : the very same desire had the master of his horses : to Fabius it semed not good, toattempte the faight : so that through soche contrary opinions, he was fain to devide the armie : Fabius kept his men in the campe, the other fought, and commyng into great perill,had been over- throwen, if Fabius had not rescued him: by the whichc insample the maister of the horse, together with all the armie, knewe how it was a wise waie to obeie Fabius. Con- H<>\\ to in cernyng to incourage theim to faight, it should be well "r;l^t> doen, to make them to disdain the enemies, shewyng how Sl thei speake slaunderous woordes of them, to declare to have intelligence with them, and to have corrupted part of them, to incampe in place, where thei maie see the enemies, and make some light skirmishe with them, for that the thyng that is dailie seen, with more facilitie is despised : to shewe T 145
THE
FOWERTH BOOKE
An advertis- meiit to make the soldiour most obstin ately to faight.
It is requisite for excellent Capitaines to bee good orators.
Alexander Magnus used openly to perswade his
The effect- eousnes of speking.
THE AIITE OF WARRE
theim to bee unworthie, and with an oracion for the pur pose, to reprehende them of their cowardnesse, and for to make them ashamed, to tell theim that you will faight alone, when thei will not beare you companie. And you ought above all thyng to have this advertismente, mindyng to make the Souldiour obstinate to faight, not to permitte, that thei maie send home any of their substaunce, or to leave it in any place, till the warre bee ended, that thei maie understande, that although fliyng save their life, yet it saveth not theim their goodes, the love whereof, is wonte no lesse then thesame, to make men obstinate in defence.
ZANOBI. You have tolde, how the souldiours maie be tourned to faight, with speakyng to theim : doe you meane by this, that all the armie must bee spoken unto, or to the heddes thereof?
FABRICIO. To perswade, or to diswade a thyng unto fewe, is verie easie, for that if woordes suffise not, you maie then use aucthoritie and force : but the difficultie is, to remove from a multitude an evill opinion, and that whiche is con trary either to the common profite, or to thy opinion, where cannot be used but woordes, the whiche is meete that thei be heard of every man, mindyng to perswade them all. Wherfore, it was requisite that the excellente Capitaines were oratours : for that without knowyng how to speake to al the army, with difficultie maie be wrought any good thing : the whiche altogether in this our tyme is laied aside. Rede the life of Alexander Magnus, and you shall see how many tymes it was necessarie for hyrn to perswade, and to speake publikly to his armie : otherwise he should never have brought theim, beyng become riche, and full of spoile, through the desertes of Arabia, and into India with so moche his disease, and trouble : for that infinite tymes there growe thynges, wherby an armie ruinateth, when the capitain either knoweth not, or useth not to speake unto thesame, for that this speakyng taketh awaie feare, in- courageth the mindes, increaseth the obstinatenes to faight, discovereth the deceiptes, promiseth rewardes, sheweth the perilles, and the waie to avoide theim, reprehendeth, praieth,
146
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
threateneth, filleth full of hope, praise, shame, and doeth THE all those thynges, by the whiche the humaine passions are FOWERTH extincte, or kendled : wherefore, that prince, or common BOOKE weale, whiche should appoincte to make a newe power, Souldiours and cause reputacion to their armie, ought to accustome ought to be
the Souldiours thereof, to heare the capitain to speake, fc custorncd .
j , , ... I i i r -T T to heare their
and the capitain to know how to speake unto them. In Capitaine
kepyng desposed the souldiours in old tyme, to faight for speake. their countrie, the religion availed rnoche, and the othes How in olde whiche thei gave them, when thei led theim to warfare: timesouldiers for as moche as in al their faultes, thei threatned them not wenj r (l']t"- onely with those punishementes, whiche might be feared of fHitcs ° men, but with those whiche of God might be looked for : Enterprises the whiche thyng mingled with the other Religious maners, male the made many tymes easie to the auncient capitaines all enter- t'asi'lu'r he prises, and will doe alwaies, where religion shall be feared, and observed. Sertorius prevailed, by declaryng that he meanes of spake with a Stugge, the whiche in Goddes parte, promised religion. hym the victorie. Silla saied, he spoke with an Image, Sertorius. whiche he had taken out of the Temple of Apollo. Many A policie of have tolde how God hath appered unto them in their slepe, S whom hath admonished them to faight. In our fathers time, Charles the seventh kyng of Fraunce, in the warre seventhkinff whiche he made againste the Englishemen, saied, he coun- Of Fraunce sailed with a maide, sent from God, who was called every against the where the Damosell of Fraunce, the which was occacion of Englishmen. his victorie. There maie be also used meanes, that maie Howsouldiers i i.u j. 1-1.1.1 ii A -i maiebeemade
make thy men to esteme little the eiieinie, as Agesilao a toestonio
Spartaine used, whom shewed to his souldiours, certain uttle tlieir Persians naked, to the intent that seyng their delicate enemies. members, thei should not have cause to feare them. Some The surest wai have constrained their men to faight through necessitie, J^™ ^ste takyng awaie from them all hope of savyng theim selves, Ohstinat to savyng in overcommvng. The whiche is the strongest, and faight. the beste provision that is made, to purpose to make the By what souldiour obstinate to faight: whiche ohstinatenesse is in- meanes ob- creased by the confidence, and love of the Capitaine, or of ^f.^}"^^ the countrie. Confidence is caused through the armour, im.rt..iSl.(]
147
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE the order, the late victorie, and the opinion of the Capi- FOWERTH taine. The love of the countrie, is caused of nature : that BOOKE of the Capitain, through vertue, more then by any other benefite : the necessities maie be many, but that is strongest, whiche constraineth thee; either to overcome, or to dye.
148
THE FIVETH BOOKE
OF THE ARTE OF WARRE OF
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL, CITEZEINE
AND SECRETARIE OF FLORENCE,
UNTO
LAURENCE PHILIP STROZZE.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE FIVETH BOOKE
FABRITIO.
HAVE shewed you, how an armi, is ordained to faight a fielde with an other armie, which is seen pitched against it, and have declared unto you, howe the same is overcome, and after many cir- cumstaunces, I have likewise shewed you, what divers chaunces, maie happen about thesame, so that me thinkes tyme to shewe you now, how an armie is ordered, againste thesame enemie, whiche otherwise is not seen, but continually feared, that he assaulte thee : this happeneth when an armie marcheth through the enemies countrie, or through sus pected places. Firste, you must understande, how a llomaine armie, sent alwaies ordinarely afore, certainc bandes of horsemen, as spies of the waie : after followed the right home, after this, came all the carriages, whiche to thesame apperteined, after this, came a Legion, after it, the carnages therof, after that, an other legion, and next to it, their carriages, after whiche, came the left home, with the carriages thereof at their backe, and in the laste part, folowed the remnaunte of the chivalrie : this was in enecte the maner, with whiche ordinarily thei marched: and if it happened that the armie were assaulted in the waie on the fronte, or on the backe, thei made straight waie all the carriages to bee drawen, either on the right, or on the lefte side, accordyng as chaunsed, or as thei could beste, havyng
151
How the Romaines marched with their armies.
How the Romanies ordered their armie when it happened to be assaulted on the waie.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE respecte to the situacion : and all the men together free
FIVETH from their impedimentes, made hedde on that parte, where
BOOKE the enemie came. If thei were assaulted on the flancke,
thei drue the carriages towardes thesame parte that was
safe, and of the other, thei made hedde. This waie beyng
well and prudently governed, I have thought meete to
imitate, sending afore the light horsemen, as exploratours
How the main of the Count rie : Then havyng fower maine battailes, I
battailes would make them to marche in araie, and every one with
oug tto their carriages folowyng theim. And for that there be marche. & „ .•7&... ,. , • i
twoo sortes of carriages, that is partainyng to particulare
souldiours, and partainyng to the publike use of all the
Campe, I would devide the publike Carriages into fower
partes, and to every maine battaile, I would appoinct his
parte, deviding also the artillerie into fower partes, and all
the unarmed, so that every nomber of armed menne, should
equally have their impedimentes. But bicause it happeneth
some times, that thei marche through the countrie, not
onely suspected, but so daungerous, that thou fearest every
hower to be assaulted, thou art constrained for to go more
sure, to chaunge the forme of marchyng, and to goe in
soche wise prepared, that neither the countrie menne, nor
any armie, maie hurte thee, findyng thee in any parte
unprovided. In soche case, the aunciente capitaines were
wont, to marche with the armie quadrante, whiche so thei
called this forme, not for that it was altogether quadrante,
but for that it was apte to faight of fower partes, and thei
saied, that thei wente prepared, bothe for the waie, and for
The orderyng the faight : from whiche waie, I will not digresse, and I
°f an armie will ordaine my twoo maine battailes, whiche I have taken
sorte^that it ^or ^° ma^e an armie of, to this effect. Mindyng therefore,
maie marche to marche safely through the enemies Countrie, and to bee
safelie able to aunswere hym on every side, when at unwares the
through the armie might chaunce to be assaulted, and intendyng there-
countrie and f°re> accordyng to the antiquitie, to bryng thesame into a
be alwaies in square, I would devise to make a quadrant, that the rome
a redines to therof should be of space on every part Clix. yardes, in this
faight. maner. First I would put the flanckes, distant the one
152
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
flanck from the other, Clix. yardes, and I would place five THE
battailes for a Hancke, in a raie in length, and distant the FIVETH
one from the other, twoo yardes and a quarter : the whiche BOOKE
shall occupie with their spaces, every battaile occupivng
thirtie yardes, Clix. yardes. Then betwen the hedde and
the taile of these two Hanckes, I would place the other
tenne battailes, in every parte five, orderyng them after
soche sorte, that fower should joyne to the hedde of the
right flanck, and fower to the taile of the lefte flancke,
leaving betwene every one of them, a distance of thre
yardes: one should after joyne to the hedde of the lefte
flancke, and one to the taile of the right flancke : and for
that the space that is betwene the one flancke and the other,
is Clix. yardes, and these battailes whiche are set the one
to the side of the other by breadth, and not by length, will
come to occupie with the distaunces one hundred yardes
and a halfe yarde, there shall come betwene theim fower
battailes, placed in the f route on the right Hancke, and the
one placed in thesame on the lefte, to remaine a space of
fiftie and eighte yardes and a halfe, and the verie same
space will come to remaine in the battailes, placed in the
hinder parte: nor there shall bee no difference, saving that
the one space shall come on the parte behind towardes
the right home, and thother shall come on the parte afore, The place in
towardes the lefte home. In the space of the Iviii. yardes the nrmie
and a halfe before, I would place all the ordinarie Veliti, in wlier tlic
thesame behinde, the extraordinarie, which wil come to be JIow"ie" ftnd
.. i /• j • i Harkabutters
a thousande for a space, and mindyng to have the space are ap_
that ought to be within the armie, to be every waie Clix. poincted. yardes, it is mete that the five battailes, whiche are placed in the hedde, and those whiche are placed in the taile, occupie not any parte of the space, whiche the flanckes keepe : and therefore it shall be convenient, that the five battailes behinde, doe touche with the fronte, the taile of their flanckes, and those afore, with the taile to touche the hedde, after soche sorte, that upon every corner of the same armie, there maie remaine a space, to receive an other battaile : and for that there bee fower spaces, I would take U 153
THE FIVETH BOOKE
The place in the armie
Pikes are appoincted.
The place in the armie wherthegene-
Where the artilleriemust be placed.
The light horsmenne must be
todiscoverthe
countrie and the menne ofarmesto
thSmy A rail rukTcmicern- yng horse.
THE ARTE OF WARRE
fower bandes of the extraordinarie Pikes, and in every corner I would place one, and the twoo Ansignes of the foresaied Pikes, whiche shall remain overplus, I would sette in the middest of the rome of this armie, in a square battaile, on the hedde whereof, should stande the generall capitaine, with his menne about him. And for that these battailes ordeined thus, marche all one waie, but faight not all one waie, in puttyng them together, those sides ought to be ordained to faight, whiche are not defended of thother battailes. And therfore it ought to be considered, that the fjve battailes that be in the front, have all their other Partes defended> excepte the fronte : and therfore these ought to bee put together in good order, and with the Pikes afore. The five battailes whiche are behinde, have all their sides defended, except the parte behinde, and there fore those ought to bee put together in soche wise, that the Pikes come behind, as in the place therof we shall shewe. The five battailes that bee in the right flancke, have all their sides defended, except the right flancke. The five that be on the left flanck, have all their partes defended, excepte the lefte flancke : and therefore in orderyng the battailes, thei ought to bee made, that the Pikes maie tourne on thesame flanck, that lieth open : and the Peti- capitaines to stand on the hedde, and on the taile, so that nedyng to faight, all the armour and weapons maie be in their due places, the waie to doe this, is declared where we reasoned of the maner of orderyng the battailes. The artillerie I would devide, and one parte I would place with- out, on the lefte flancke, and the other on the right. The H^ht horsemen, I would sende afore to discover the countrie.
9f the menne of armes> l would Place Part behinde, on the right home, and parte on the lefte, distante about tliirtie yardes from the battailes : and concerning horse, you have j.Q ta^e j.njs for a general rule in every condicion, where y°u ordaine an armie, that alwaies thei ought to be put, either behinde, or on the flanckes of thesame: he that putteth them afore, over against the armie, it behoveth hym to doe one of these twoo thinges, either that he put 154
NICHOLAS MACHIAVELL
them so moche afore, that beyng repulced, thei maie have THE so moche space, that maie give them tyme, to be able to go FIVETH a side from thy footemen, and not to runne upon them, or BOOKE to order them in soche wise, with so many spaces, that the horses by those maie enter betwene them, without disorder- yng them. Nor let no man esteme little this remembraunce, for as moche as many capitaines, whom havyng taken no hede thereof, have been ruinated, and by themselves have been disordered, and broken. The carriages and the un- Wher the armed menne are placed, in the rome that remaineth within carriages and the armie, and in soche sorte equally devided, that thei maie ^e u°an"ed give the waie easely, to whom so ever would go, either from the one corner to the other, or from the one hedde, to the other of the armie. These battailes without the artillerie and the horse, occupie every waie from the utter side, twoo hundred and eleven yardes and a halfe of space : and bicause this quadrante is made of twoo main battailes, it is con venient to distinguishe, what part thone maine battaile maketh, and what the other: and for that the main battailes are called by the nomber, and every of theim hath (as you knowe) tenne battailes, and a generall bed, I would cause that the first main battaile, should set the first v. battailes therof in the front, the other five, in the left flanck, and the capitain of the same should stande in the left corner of the front. The seconde maine battaile, should then put the firste five battailes therof, in the right flanck, and the other five in the taile, and the hedde capitain of thesame, should stande in the right corner, whom should come to dooe the office of the Tergiductor. The armie ordained in this inaner, ought to be made to move, and in the marchvng, to observe all this order, and without doubte, it is sure from all the tumultes of the countrie men. Nor the capitain ought not to make other provision, to the tumultuarie assaultes, then to give sometyme Commission to some horse, or Ansigne of Veliti, that thei set themselves in order : nor it shall never happen that these tumultuous people, will come to finde thee at the druwyng of the swerd, or pikes poincte : for that men out of order, have
155
THE ARTE OF WARRE
THE feare of those that be in araie : and alwaies it shall bee seen, FIVETH that with cries and rumours, thei will make a greate assaulte, BOOKE without otherwise commyng nere unto thee, like unto bark ing curres aboute a Mastie. Aniball when he came to the hurte of the Romaines into Italie, he passed through all Fraunce, and alwaies of the Frenche tumultes, he tooke The waie small regarde. Mindyng to marche, it is conveniente to must be made jlftve p}ainers an(J labourers afore, whom maie make thee the'armte the waie Plaine> whiche shall bee garded of those horsemen, shall marche that are sent afore to viewe the countrie : an armie in this in order. order maie marche tenne mile the daie, and shall have tyme How many inough to incampe, and suppe before Sunne goyng doune, miles a day an for that ordinarely, an armie maie marche twentie mile : if
. it happen that thou be assaulted, of an armie set in order, marcne in bat- •, . ••. i • i j» j_i ±. ••
taile raie to this assaulte cannot growe sodainly : tor that an armie in
bee able to in- order, commeth with his pace, so that thou maiest have
campe before tyme inough, to set thy self in order to faight the field, and
sunne set. reduce thy menne quickly into thesame facion, or like to
thesame facion of an armie, which afore is shewed thee.
The orderyng jror that if thou be assaulted, on the parte afore, thou
w^e^it™6' needeste not but to cause, that the artillerie that be on
Tsscaulted on the flanckes, and the horse that be behinde, to come before,
the vawarde. and place theimselves in those places, and with those dis-
taunces, as afore is declared. The thousande Veliti that
bee before, must go out of their place, and be devided into