Simplicissimus by Johann Grimmelshausen Read Free Book Online Page B

honours
     
    This annoyed one sergeant so much that he began to complain loudly, but a lordling said, ‘Do you not know that the high ranks in the army have always been filled with nobles, they being most suited to those offices? Grey beards alone do not defeat the enemy, otherwise one could hire a herd of billy-goats. People say,
    Choose a bull that’s young and strong
To make the herd obey.
Despite the claims of older beasts,
He’ll see they do not stray.
The herdsman can rely on him
Although he’s in his youth.
That wisdom comes with age alone
Is prejudice, not truth.
     
    Tell me, thou old cripple, are not nobly born officers better respected by the troops than those who have been common soldiers? And how can you keep discipline in war when there is no respect? Cannot the general trust a nobleman better than a peasant lad who has run away from the plough and has no thought of doing good by his own parents? A true nobleman would rather die with honour than bring dishonour on his family through treason, desertion or behaviour of that kind. It is laid down that the nobility should be given precedence in all things and John of Platea expressly states that the nobility should have preference in filling offices and that it is proper that they should be preferred to commoners. This is usual in all legal systems and is confirmed by the Bible, for it says in Ecclesiastes 10, 17, ‘Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles’, a magnificent testimony to the precedence due to the nobility. And even if one of your kind is a good soldier, inured to the smell of gunpowder and able to give a good account of himself in every action, yet that does not mean he is equally capable of giving orders to others. This quality, on the other hand, is innate to the nobility, or acquired in earliest youth. Seneca says, ‘A heroic soul has this quality, that it is urged on towards honour; no noble spirit takes pleasure in small and worthless things.’ Publio Fausto Andrelini expressed this in a distich:
    If you are low-born of rustic stock,
Nobility of soul will never be yours.
     
    Moreover the nobility has greater means to aid their subordinates with money and find recruits for weak companies than a peasant. As the saying has it, setting the peasant above the nobleman is a recipe for disorder. Also the peasants would become much too arrogant if they were made lords straight away, for it is said,
    You’ll never find a sharper sword
Than a peasant who’s been made a lord.
     
    If the peasants, by reason of ancient and acknowledged custom, had military and other offices in their possession, as the nobility does, they would certainly do all they could to stop a nobleman acquiring them. In addition, although people are often keen to help you soldiers of fortune (as you are called) to rise to high honours, you are generally so old by the time you have been tested out and found worthy of higher things that one must have misgivings about promoting you. By then the fire of youth has gone out and your only thought is how best to pamper and protect your sick bodies, worn out by all the hardships you have been through and of little use for warfare, caring not who fights and gains honour. A young hound is much more willing in the chase than an old lion.’
    The sergeant answered, ‘Who would be foolish enough to serve in the army if he had no hope of being promoted for his good conduct and thus rewarded for his loyal service? The Devil take such wars. The way things are at present, it makes no difference whether one does one’s duty properly or not. I have often heard our old colonel say he wanted no one under his command who did not firmly believe he could rise to be a general through performing his duty well. The whole world must acknowledge that those nations which promote common but honest soldiers and reward their courage most often triumph in battle. One can see this in the Persians and Turks. It is said,
    A lamp gives light,