1 de Foix making no account, dismounted with his men-at-arms from horseback, and, advancing with them on foot through the midst of the batteries, took the town; nor do we learn that he sustained any considerable loss from the enemy's fire.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVII. 2 For having posted themselves between the river Ronco and an earthwork, from their not having carried this work high enough, and from the French having a slight advantage of ground, they were forced by the fire of the latter to quit their entrenchments come to an engagement.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVII. 3 For foot-soldiers, in approaching an enemy, can with more ease escape the fire of his artillery than in ancient times they could have avoided a charge of elephants or of scythed chariots, or any other of those strange contrivances which had to be encountered by the Romans, and against which they always devised some remedy.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVII. 4 It is true, also, that Captains and commanders of armies are subjected to a greater risk of being killed now than of old, since they an be reached everywhere by the enemy's fire; and it is no protection to them to be with those of their men who are furthest from the enemy, or to be surrounded by the bravest of their guards.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVII. 5 And because many, to excuse their ignorance, will have it that the destructive fire of artillery forbids our employing at the present day many of the tactics used by the ancients, I will discuss this question in the following Chapter, and examine whether artillery does in fact prevent us from using the valiant methods of antiquity.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVI. 6 In a battle which the Dictator Mamercus fought against the people of Fidenae, the latter, to strike terror into the minds of the Romans, contrived that while the combat raged a number of soldiers should issue from Fidenae bearing lances tipped with fire, thinking that the Romans, disturbed by so strange a sight, would be thrown into confusion.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 3: CHAPTER XIV. 7 So soon, however, as the engagement is begun, it is perfectly clear that neither small nor great artillery can harm you any longer; since, if the enemy have his artillerymen in front, you take them; if in rear, they will injure him before they injure you; and if in flank, they can never fire so effectively as to prevent your closing, with the result already explained.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XVII. 8 Against breaches in the walls the defence was, as at the present day, to throw up new works; while mines were met by counter-mines, in which the enemy were either withstood at the point of the sword, or baffled by some other warlike contrivance; as by filling casks with feathers, which, being set on fire and placed in the mine, choked out the assailants by their smoke and stench.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XXXII.