little nomber shall tourne to nothing: again havyng thordinaunce greate,
thou maiest at thy pleasure use fewe of many, besides this, it must
serve thee in deede, and in reputacion and alwaies the great nomber
shall give thee moste reputacion. More over, makyng the ordinaunce to
kepe menne exercised, if thou appoincte a fewe nomber of men in many
countries, the handes of men bee so farre a sonder, the one from the
other, that thou canst not without their moste grevous losse, gather
them together to exercise them, and without this exercise, the
ordinaunce is unprofitable, as hereafter shall be declared.

COSIMO. It suffiseth upon this my demaunde, that whiche you have saied:
but I desire now, that you declare me an other doubt. Thei saie, that
soche a multitude of armed men, will make confusion, discension and
disorder in the countrie where thei are.

[Sidenote: How to provid againste soche inconveniences as souldiours
maie cause.]

FABRICIO. This is an other vaine opinion, the cause wherof, I shall tell
you: soche as are ordeined to serve in the warres, maie cause disorder
in twoo maners, either betwene them selves, or against other, whiche
thinges moste easely maie be withstode, where the order of it self,
should not withstande it: for that concernyng the discorde emong theim
selves, this order taketh it waie, and doeth not nourishe it, for that
in orderyng them, you give them armour and capitaines. If the countrie
where you ordein them, bee so unapte for the warre, that there are not
armours emong the men of thesame, and that thei bee so united, that thei
have no heddes, this order maketh theim moche fearser against the
straunger, but it maketh them not any thyng the more disunited, for that
men well ordered, feare the lawe beyng armed, as well as unarmed, nor