Pagina 221 de 310

And although a complete proof of this latter cannot be shown,

nevertheless there was some evidence of it at the battle of

Ravenna, when the Spanish infantry were confronted by German

battalions, who follow the same tactics as the Swiss; when the

Spaniards, by agility of body and with the aid of their shields,

got in under the pikes of the Germans and stood out of danger,

able to attack, while the Germans stood helpless, and, if the

cavalry had not dashed up, all would have been over with them. It

is possible, therefore, knowing the defects of both these

infantries, to invent a new one, which will resist cavalry and

not be afraid of infantry; this need not create a new order of

arms, but a variation upon the old. And these are the kind of

improvements which confer reputation and power upon a new prince.