The Looking Glass of the Holy War, Chapter 6
CHAPT. VI. Of the Fitneſſe of the Souldier.
THE third perſonall circumſtance is the fitneſſe of the Souldier. It is not enough in warre to be a good man, but he muſt alſo be a good Souldier. Ten Souldiers are better (as the French-man ſaith) then twenty Rameſets. Agamemnon wiſhed but ten ſuch Souldiers as Neſtor, to foil all his enemies in Phrigia, and to make the Greeks return victoriouſly to their Nation. Theſe were precious Iewels in the eyes of the worlds Worthies. This was the difference betwixt Alexander the Great, and Phillip his father; hee looked for the beſt Souldiers; and his father for the beſt money: of whom one ſaith prettily, that Phillip wan all Greece, tanquam Mercator, as a Marchant; but Alexander wan all Aſia, tanquam Victor, as a Conquerour. It is without controverſie, as the Wiſe obſerue, that money is the belly of an army, the ſinews of war, and the body of a Souldier; but yet without the animall ſpirit of cunning, and the vitall ſpirit of valour; a golden ſouldier may become a leaden ſlaue; but with theſe many times, a moneyleſſe ſouldier, may become a commander both of men and money. An inſtance of this for many. wee hauehave in the Graecians, compared with the Perſians, their delicate fare, glorious furniture, and exceeding great wealth, with themſelves, were a prey to the ”In omni autem praelio, non tam mullitudo, & birtus in docta, quam ars, & excercitrum ſolent praeſtare victoriam. Veg. de re militari lib. 1. ca… 1. "Imo miles inexercitatu… foemina Exod: 15.3Grecian valor. In every war (ſaith that great and learned ſouldier) it is not ſo much the unſkilfull and rude multitude, as art and exerciſe that getteth the victorie; which he inſtanceth in the Romanes ſubduing of the Gaules, Germans, and Spaniards. It is a groundles conceit, & againſt all experience, that a multitude without Art, is enough wherewith to conquer: for an unſkilfull ſouldyer, is not onelyonly himſelfe ſubject to danger, but he indangers others alſo. Yea an unſkilfull ſouldiour is no better then a woman. It is to be obſerved, that amongſt the reſt of Gods excellencies this is reckoned up, that Iehovah is a man of war; that is, an excellent warriour, who by his pollicie, prudence and ſkill, turnes all to the beſt advantage of his owne.
How this ſkill ſhould be attayned unto, it is neyther my end, nor my art to manifeſt in particular. Militarie motions, poſtures, diſtinction of orders, diſtances, marches, countermarches, & ſuch like, I leaue to the Tactiks or maiſters of armes, Magiſtri Armorū. Reading and uſe requiſit for Armes.(as Vegetius calles them). OnelyOnly for the generlal, to make an exquiſit ſouldier, reading and uſe muſt concurre. Let no good ſouldier detract from eyther. Meere exerciſe without reading is empyriſme: and meere reading without excerciſe is but imagination. Yea a meerely read ſouldier, is like unto a Shipmaſter onelyonly by the booke. Therefore ſaith Vegetius, an unae…erciſed ſouldier is alwayes a meere noviſt; foreign.yet without learning the excerciſed, is not a compleat ſouldier: becauſe particu…ars (ſay they be many) are the obiect of ſenſe, but univerſals be the obiect of understunding. Our great ſouldiers, were not onelyonly Tacticks, but alſo writers of tacticks: As Pyrrhus, Caeſar, Aelian, Frontin, Cyrus, Xenophon; yea the greateſt ſchollers hauehave been the greateſt ſouldiers. The Poet Homer is obſerved to be the firſt (at leaſt that we reade of) that was ſkilled in the inbat…ing of an armie, Epiſt. Fam: libro 9. Epiſt. 15.much admired by that martialiſt Mneſtines Tullie ſaid, he became a great Generall, by the reading of Papirius his letters. Cyrus his father could tell him; the Tactickes would not availe, Xenophon.without the knowledge of arts invented for the uſe of war. Yea, Generall Veres uſe of learning in the battel of Nowport.learning hath carryed it out in a pinch, when bare practiſe hath been at its wits end. To omit other inſtances, take that remarkable one of the battle of Newport, Anno 1600: where our forces, hauing got the rize of the ſandy hilles; the Spaniſh forces were betwixt them and Oſtend, in a low place. It was generally thought the beſt, to charge the enemie by deſcending to them. But the Engliſh Generall, wiſely, would not condiſcend to looſe the advantage of the place, citing for his judgement from Caeſars Commentaries, the like practice of Caeſar againſt the Caules. And it had the very like ſucceſſe. For, the Spaniard, charging ours againſt the advantage of the ground, had ſuch hot entertayment from aboue, that it brake their forces exceedingly at the firſt, and ſo they loſt the day. This militarie learning made great Pompey ſo much admire the Philopher Poſsidonius, that after the victorie over Mithridates, he came to his houſe, and honored him much. Caeſar, then we ſee, ſhould be able to write Commentaries, and Cicero in ſome meaſure (if neede be) to order an armie. And if you would hauehave the picture of a compleat ſouldier; Let Caeſar in himſelfe give it you, ex utroque Caeſar.