care, that thei would have nothing els written in
their hedde peces, but the nomber that thei were named
by, callyng them firste, seconde, thirde, and fourthe
xc. And yet thei were not contented with this,
but made every souldiour to have written in his Targaet,
the nomber of the ranke, and the nomber of the place,
in whiche ranke he was appoineted. Then the menne
being countersigned thus, and used to stande betwene
these limites, it is an easie thyng, thei beyng disordered,
to sett theim all againe quickly into order:
considering, that the Ansigne standyng still, the
Centurions, and the Peticapitaines maie gesse their
places by the iye, and beyng brought the left of the
left, the right of the right, with their accustomed
distance, the souldiours led by their rule, and by
the differences of the cognisances, maie be quickly
in their proper places, no otherwise, then as if the
boordes of a tunne should bee taken a sunder, whiche
beyng first marked, moste easely maie bee set together
again, where thesame beyng not countersigned, were
impossible to bryng into order any more. These
thynges, with diligence and with exercise, are quickely
taught, and quickly learned, and beyng learned, with
difficultie are forgotten: for that the newe menne,
be led of the olde, and with tyme, a Province with
these exercises, may become throughly practised in
the war. It is also necessarie to teache theim,
to tourne theim selves all at ones, and when neede
requires, to make of the flankes, and of the backe,
the fronte, and of the front, flankes, or backe, whiche
is moste easie: bicause it suffiseth that every
manne doe tourne his bodie, towardes thesame parte
that he is commaunded, and where thei tourne their
faces, there the fronte commeth to bee. True it
is, that when thei tourne to any of the flanckes, the
orders tourne out of their proporcion: for that
from the breast to the backe, there is little difference,
and from the one flancke to the other, there is verie
moche distance, the whiche is al contrarie to the ordinarie
order of the battaile: therefore it is convenient,
that practise, and discrecion, doe place them as thei
ought to be: but this is small disorder, for that
moste easely by themselves, thei maie remedie it.
But that whiche importeth more, and where is requisite
more practise, is when a battaile would tourne all
at ones, as though it were a whole bodie, here is meete
to have greate practise, and greate discrecion:
bicause mindyng to tourne, as for insample on the
left hande, the left corner must stande still, and
those that be next to hym that standeth still, muste
marche so softly, that thei that bee in the right
corner, nede not to runne: otherwise all thing
should be confounded. But bicause it happeneth
alwaies, when an armie marcheth from place to place,
that the battailes, whiche are not placed in the front,
shall be driven to faight not by hedde, but either
by flancke, or by backe, so that a battaile muste in
a sodaine make of flancke, or of backe, hedde: