It will be seen by the maxims which I have laid down in this work, on what the theory
turns of those evolutions which I have introduced amongst my troops. The object of these
manoeuvres is to gain time on every occasion, and decide an affair more quickly than has
heretofore been the custom; and, in short, to overset the enemy by the furious shocks of
our cavalry. By means of this impetuosity, the coward is hurried away, and obliged to do
his duty as well as the bravest; no single trooper can be useless. The whole depends on
the spirit of the attack. I therefore flatter myself that every
general, convinced of the necessity and advantage of discipline, will do every thing in
his power to preserve and improve it, both in time of war and of peace.
The enthusiastic speech made by Vegece respecting the Romans, will never leave my
memory: "And at length," says he, "the Roman discipline triumphed over the
hordes of Germans, the force of the Gauls, the German cunning, the barbarian swarm, and
subdued the whole universe." So much does the prosperity of a state depend on the
discipline of it's army.
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