Discourses on Livy (Oxford World's Classics) by Niccolo Machiavelli & Julia Conaway Bondanella & Peter Bondanella

Author:Niccolo Machiavelli & Julia Conaway Bondanella & Peter Bondanella [Machiavelli, Niccolo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2016-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Why One Should Hold the Infantry in Higher Regard Than the Cavalry, Based on the Authority of the Romans and the Example of the Ancient Militia

It can be clearly demonstrated through many arguments and examples that the Romans in all their military actions valued foot-soldiers more than those on horses and based all the battle plans for their forces on them; this can be seen in numerous examples, including the occasion when the Romans were fighting the Latins near Lake Regillus, * where with the Roman army already faltering, the Romans ordered the men on horseback to dismount in order to give assistance, and in this way, having renewed the battle, they achieved victory. In this case, it is obvious that the Romans had more confidence in having their troops on foot than in keeping them mounted on horseback. They employed this same expedient in many other battles, and they always found it to be an excellent remedy to their dangers.

We should not counter this with the judgement of Hannibal, who, upon seeing that the consuls had made their cavalrymen dismount from their horses during the battle of Cannae, declared, mocking such a decision: ‘Quam mallem vinctos mihi traderent equites!’—that is to say: ‘I would have preferred that they hand them over to me in chains.’* Although this judgement came from the mouth of a most excellent man, none the less, if one must believe in authority, it is necessary to give more credence to the Roman republic and to the many excellent military leaders that it possessed than to the single example of Hannibal. Furthermore, without citing any authorities, there are obvious reasons for this: a foot-soldier can go in many places where a horse cannot follow; it is possible to teach a foot-soldier to stay in formation and, whenever he falls out of line, to return to it; it is difficult to make horses stay in formation, and it is impossible, whenever they fall out of line, to reorder them. Besides this, some horses, just like some men, have little courage and others have a great deal of it, and it often occurs that a courageous horse is ridden by a cowardly man and a cowardly horse by a courageous man; and whatever the form this disparity may take, disadvantage and disorder arise from it. Infantry in formation can easily break the cavalry and can be broken by them only with difficulty. This opinion is corroborated not only by many ancient and modern examples but also by the authority of those who make rules for civic affairs, where they show that wars first began to be waged with cavalry, because the institution of the infantry did not yet exist; but as these foot-soldiers were organized, it was immediately recognized that foot-soldiers were more useful than cavalrymen. It is not for this reason true, however, that cavalry is unnecessary in armies to do reconnaissance, to raid and plunder the countryside, to pursue the enemy when they are in

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