f 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.]

FABRICIO. If you should remember how to the Triarii, whom were the
thirde order of the Romain 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 battailes, whiche
are nine hundred men, so that I come rather (folowyng the insample of
the Romaine 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 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 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 s