Noun

(-)

* {{quote-book, year=1560, author=Peter Whitehorne, title=Machiavelli, Volume I, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=Those capitaines whiche come to faight a field, cannot stand behind a wal, or behind bankes, nor where thei maie not be reached: therfore it is mete for them, seyng thei cannot finde a waie to defende them, to finde some mean, by the whiche thei maie be least hurte: nor thei cannot finde any other waie, then to prevente it quickly: the waie to prevent it, is to go to finde it out of hande, and hastely, not at leasure and in a heape: for that through spede , the blowe is not suffered to bee redoubled, and by the thinnesse, lesse nomber of menne maie be hurt. }}