odgynges, and then if thei can carry any other thyng, thei
maie dooe it at 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
commaunders, should confounde all.

[Sidenote: Without many capitaines, an armie cannot be governed; To what
purpose Ansignes ought to serve; For what purpose Drummes oughte to bee
used; The propertie that soundes of instrumentes have in mens myndes.]

FABRICIO. That should bee, when it were not referred to one man, but
referryng it, thei cause order, ye and without theim, it is impossible
to governe an armie: for that a wall, whiche on every parte enclineth,
requireth rather to have many proppes, and thicke, although not so
strong, then fewe, though thei were strong: bicause the vertue of one a
lone, doeth not remedie the ruine a farre of. And therefore in tharmies,
and emong every ten men, it is convenient 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, maie 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 Peticapitaines doe thesame, for whiche thei are ordeined, it is
necessarie (as I have said) that there bee a difference, betwene 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 temperaunce, 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
antiquitie used theim for guides, and to bryng theim selves 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