Machiavelli, Volume I — Niccolo Machiavelli — John Shaqi
Machiavelli, Volume I
Niccolo Machiavelli · en
FABRICIO. No in no wise: for that you ought to varie the facion of the
armie, according to the qualitie of the situacion, and the condicion and
quantitie of the enemie, as 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 advise you, that you never order an armie, after soche
sorte, that those that faight afore, cannot bee sucoured of theim,
whiche be set behind: bicause he that committeth this errour, maketh the
greateste parte of his armie to bee unprofitable, 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.
[Sidenote: How the front of the armie ought to bee made; How the middell
part of the armie ought to be ordered.]