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 breake 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 shooteth 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 distances in thy armie against it,
whiche maie give free passage to the shot of those, and so the violence
thereof shall come to be vain, the which maie be doen moste easely: for
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 purposyng 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 this is a generall rule, that to those thynges, whiche
cannot 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