The Art of War - Khamkoo

the more he should penetrate into it, so much harder would he find it:
but the arrangement made by you appears to me results, that the more
one enters into it, the more he finds it weak.
FABRIZIO
If you would remember that the Triari, who were the third rank of the
Roman Legions, were not assigned more than six hundred men, you
would have less doubt, when you leave that they were placed in the last
ranks, because you will see that I (motivated by this example) have
placed two companies in the last ranks, which comprise nine-hundred
infantry; so that I come to err rather with the Roman people in having
taken away too many, than few. And although this example should suffice,
I want to tell you the reasons, which is this. The first front (line) of
the army is made solid and dense because it has to withstand the attack
of the enemy, and does not have to receive any friends into it, and because
of this, it must abound in men, for few men would make it weak
both from their sparseness and their numbers. But the second line, because
it has to relieve the friends from the first who have withstood the
enemy, must have large intervals, and therefore must have a smaller
number than the first; for if it should be of a greater or equal number, it
would result in not leaving any intervals, which would cause disorder,
or if some should be left, it would extend beyond the ends of those in
front, which would make the formation of the army incomplete
(imperfect). And what you say is not true, that the more the enemy
enters into the Battalions, the weaker he will find them; for the enemy
can never fight with the second line, if the first one is not joined up with
it: so that he will come to find the center of the Battalion stronger and not
weaker, having to fight with the first and second (lines) together. The
same thing happens if the enemy should reach the third line, because
here, he will not only have to fight with two fresh companies, but with
the entire Battalion. And as this last part has to receive more men, its
spaces must be larger, and those who receive them lesser in number.
LUIGI
And I like what you have said; but also answer me this. If the five
companies retire among the second three, and afterwards, the eight
among the third two, does it not seem possible that the eight come together
then the ten together, are able to crowd together, whether they are
eight or ten, into the same space which the five occupied.
FABRIZIO
The first thing that I answer is, that it is not the same space; for the five
have four spaces between them, which they occupy when retiring
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