CHAP. III.
Of the several Watches and Guards about the Camp.
I Do not remember in History to have found that the Ancients for the security of the Camp in the night, did ever make use of out Guards or Sentinels without the Ditches, as we do now. The reason, as I take it, was because they thought the Army thereby might be easily surprized, by the difficulty of discerning their Sentinels, and Scouts; besides their Sentinels might be over-powred or corrupted by the Enemy, so that to rely upon them either in part or in whole, they concluded would be dangerous: wherefore all their Guards were within their Trenches, placed with such diligence and exactness, that it was no less than death for any man to desert his post. How these Guards were disposed by them, I think it unnecessary to relate, because if you have not seen it already, you may do it when you please; only this I shall tell you in short what I would do in the Case. I would have every night one third of the Army in Arms, and of them a fourth part upon the Guard, distributed all along the works, and in all convenient places quite thorow the Camp: with a main Guard in each of the four quarters of your Camp, of which a party should remain constantly upon the Guard, and another party should Petrole from one quarter to the other. And this order I would use likewise in the day time, if my Enemy was near. As for giving the word, and changing it every night, and other things which are observable in the like cases, I shall pass them by as notorious and known. One thing only I shall mention, as being of importance, and that which brings much advantage to any man that uses it, and as much disadvantage where it is neglected.