[Sidenote:  The occasions why the warres made nowe adaies, doe impoverishe the conquerors as well as the conquered; The order that the Romaines toke, concerning the spoile and the booties that their souldiours gotte; An order that the antiquitie tooke, concernyng their soldiours wages.]

FABRICIO.  Beholde, I will satisfie you.  I beleve you have considered, for that once alredie with some of you I have reasoned, howe these present warres, impoverishe as well those lordes that overcome, as those that leese:  for that if the one leese his estate, the other leeseth his money, and his movables:  the whiche in olde time was not, for that the conquerour of the warre, waxed ritche.  This groweth of keepyng no compte in these daies of the spoiles, as in olde tyme thei did, but thei leave it to the discreacion of the souldiours.  This manner maketh twoo moste great disorders:  the one, that whiche I have tolde:  the other that the souldiour becometh more covetous to spoyle, and lesse observeth the orders:  and manie times it hath been seen, howe the covetousnesse of the praye, hath made those to leese, whome were victorious.  Therefore the Romaines whiche were princes of armies, provided to the one and to the other of these inconvenienses, ordainyng that all the spoyle should apertaine to the publicke, and that the publicke after should bestowe it, as shoulde be thought good:  and therfore thei had in tharmie the questours, whom were as we would say, the chamberlaines, to whose charge all the spoyle and booties were committed:  whereof the consull was served to geve the ordinarie pay to the souldiours, to succour the wounded, and the sicke, and for the other businesse of the armie.  The consull might well, and he used it often, to graunte a spoyle to soldiours:  but this grauntyng, made no disorder:  for that the armie beyng broken all the pray was put in the middest, and distributed by hedde, accordyng to the qualitee of everie man:  the which maner thei constituted, to thintente, that the soldiours should attend to overcome, and not to robbe:  and the Romaine Legions overcame the enemies, and folowed them not, for that thei never departed from their orders:  onely there folowed them, the horsemenne with those that were light armed, and if there were any other souldiours then those of the legions, they likewyse pursued the chase.  Where if the spoyle shoulde have ben his that gotte it, it had not ben possible nor reasonable, to have kepte the legions steddie, and to withstonde manie perils; hereby grewe therefore, that the common weale inritched, and every Consull carried with his triumphe into the treasurie, muche treasure, whiche all was of booties and spoiles.  An other thing the antiquetie did upon good consideration, that of the wages, whiche they gave to every souldiour, the thirde parte they woulde shoulde be laied up nexte to him, whome carried the ansigne of their bande, whiche never gave it them againe, before the warre was ended:  this thei