Tactica

. . . the son of Pyrrhus, and Clearchus—not the one who led the Ten Thousand Greeks against the King, but a different Clearchus. And indeed there are writings of Pausanias on these matters; and you would find certain things of Evangelus as well, and of Polybius the Arcadian, who was a companion of Scipio the Roman while he was fighting many great wars to their conclusion, among them the one in which he took Carthage in Libya and reduced it to slavery. Certain things on these subjects have also been written by Eupolemus and Iphicrates—not the Athenian general, but a different man of that name. And Posidonius the Rhodian also left behind a work composing a certain art of tactics.

But all these writings are unhelpful for this reason above all: that they were composed as for men who already know. And so, as to the names both of each kind of armament and of the formation, some authors set them down as familiar, but these names, unless you expound them, are wholly unknown.

This very thing, then, I resolved first to remedy—their lack of clarity.

In order, therefore, that both the matters and the names may be as well known as possible to those who read, I shall begin my account from this point: that of the preparations for war, one kind happens to be by land, the other by sea—for enemies too are fought, some on land, some at sea. And of those who wage war in whatever fashion, one part is the fighting force, the soldiers themselves, while the other is gathered for the sake of the fighting force—all that is for hire, or medical, or commercial, or 2. for petty trade. Again, of the fighting force on land, one part is infantry, the other mounted upon one kind of vehicle or another. And of this second class, one part is cavalry, which uses horses, the other is mounted on elephants, as were the armies of the Indians and the Aethiopians, and in later times the Macedonians too, and the Carthaginians, and at some point even the Romans.

Of the force that fights from horses, one part might properly be called cavalry, the other fights from chariots. And of the cavalry, some are horsemen, others are amphippoi: horsemen are those carried on a single horse, while amphippoi are those mounted on two unsaddled horses bound together, so as to leap from one to the other. The fighting from elephants is simple, except that the elephants sometimes carried towers; 4. and the tusks of some of them were armed with sharp iron, both to be more cutting and not to be easily broken off. The fighting from chariots is of more various kinds than this: 5. for the chariots were either bare, as the Trojan ones, or scythe-bearing, as the Persian ones later; and either with the horses armoured or unarmoured; and with either a single pole or a double, the latter being also many-poled.

The infantry and cavalry formations and armaments are of many kinds and many fashions. To begin with, the armament of the foot, if one is to divide it into its highest classes, is distributed three ways: into the heavy-armed, the light-armed, and the peltast. The heaviest, the heavy-armed, has 2. breastplates and shields—either round shields or oblong oval ones—and swords and spears, as the Greeks have, or sarissas, as the Macedonians. The light-armed has everything most opposed to the heavy-armed, 3. inasmuch as, without breastplate and shield and greave and helmet, it makes use of long-range weapons—arrows or javelins or slings or stones thrown from the hand. 4. The peltast force happens to be lighter than the heavy-armed—for the pelta is smaller than the shield and lighter, and the javelins fall short of the spears and sarissas—but heavier 5. than the light-armed. To the exact and heavy heavy-armed are added helmets too, either Laconian or Arcadian felt caps, and greaves, as for the Greeks of old, or, as for the Romans, a single greave set before the shin that is advanced in battle; and breastplates, some of scale, others interlinked with fine iron chains.

Of cavalry armament, one kind happens to be armoured, the other unarmoured. Armoured is that which presents both the horses and the riders protected—the men with scale breastplates or breastplates of linen or of horn, and with thigh-guards; the horses with side-guards and frontlets— 2. while unarmoured is the opposite. Of these, some are spear-bearers, others skirmishers. Spear-bearers are those who draw near to the enemy's ranks and fight it out with spears, 3. while skirmishers are those who make use of skirmishing from a distance, like the Armenians and those of the Parthians who are not lance-bearers. 4. Of the former class, some carry oblong shields and are called shield-bearers, others without these fight with spears alone, and these are properly named spear-bearers, while by some they are called pike-bearers. 5. Skirmishers might be defined as those who do not come to close quarters but cast their weapons from a distance. And of these, some use short spears for the skirmish, others bows. Those who skirmish with short spears are called Tarentines, the others mounted archers. 6. And of the Tarentines themselves, some merely keep at a distance, or ride round in circles, and make use of skirmishing—these are properly Tarentines—while others first hurl their javelins and then close with the enemy, either keeping back one spear of those they had, or using the broadsword as well; and these are called light horse. 7. Among the Romans some of the horsemen carry lances and charge in the manner of the Alani and the Sarmatae, while others have javelins. A long broad sword hangs from their 8. shoulders, and they carry broad oblong shields and an iron helmet and a woven breastplate and small greaves. 9. They carry javelins for both purposes—both to throw from afar, when there is need of it, and to fight at close quarters from the hand; and if it should be necessary to close and come to grips, they fight with their broadswords. Some also carry small axes, edged all round in a circle.

Of each formation, both infantry and cavalry, there are units and leaders and a fixed number and names, of which we must now speak. 2. First, then, and greatest of the tasks in generalship, is to take a mass of men gathered in a throng and disorderly, and to set them in order and array; and this is to organize them into files and to combine the files, and to assign to the whole multitude a number that is well-proportioned and suited to battle. 3. For an army that is well-ordered is both lighter on the march and safer in encampment and more useful in battle; so that we know of great armies, even well-armed ones, destroyed through disorder by a smaller and not exactly armed force, while the weaker and ill-armed have prevailed over a superfluous multitude through good order. 4. To organize into files is to draw the men up into lochoi; and a lochos is the name for a number of men from the leader and those drawn up behind him down to the last man in depth, who is called the file-closer. As to the number of the lochos, some made it eight men, 5. some ten, some twelve, some even sixteen. Let its greatest depth be set by us at sixteen. For this is well-proportioned both with regard to the formation in length and to the depth of the phalanx, and with regard to being shot and javelined over the heads of the light-armed who stand behind. 6. And if it should be necessary to double the depth to thirty-two men, the formation will be well-proportioned; or again, if to lengthen the front to eight, the phalanx will not be wholly without depth. But if you should wish to extend the eight-deep to four, it becomes without depth. The file-leader, then, since he is stationed first in the file, must be chosen as the strongest man; he is himself also called the front-rank man and the leader.

Some already call the lochos a stichos too, others a "decany," 2. perhaps those whose lochos was of ten. Concerning the enōmotia there is dispute: some hold this to be another name for the lochos, others call the fourth part of the lochos an enōmotia, and the leader of this an enōmotarch, while the two enōmotiai they call a dimoiria and the leader of these a dimoirite. 3. Xenophon does not make clear what fraction of the lochos the enōmotia is; but that it is at all events less than half he shows in the passage where he says that the file-leaders each formed their own lochos by enōmotiai. 4. The man standing behind the file-leader is called the rear-rank man, the one behind him again a front-rank man, the one after him a rear-rank man, and so on in like manner, so that the whole stichos of the lochos 5. is drawn up of front-rank men and rear-rank men standing alternately. Not only must the file-leader be the strongest of the lochos, but the file-closer too must be chosen as one not much inferior; for to him also much, and not the meanest part, in matters of war is entrusted. 6. The lochos, then, would be a stichos composed of rear-rank men and front-rank men, with the file-leader and the file-closer at either end.

The combining of files is the placing of one lochos beside another. It comes about if upon the file-leader of the first stichos the file-leader of the second is set, and upon the rear-rank man of the first the rear-rank man of the second file-leader, and so on in succession. Everyone who is joined in a pair is called a yoke-fellow—the first file-leader to the second file-leader, the first rear-rank man to the second rear-rank man, and so on down to the file-closers of the lochoi. When, then, many lochoi are drawn up in succession, such a thing is called the combining of files.

The whole array of the multitude is called the phalanx. Its length would be, first of all, the array formed of the file-leaders, which some already call the front, others the face and the rank, and others again the very same thing the "mouth," and others the first-file. 2. The whole part behind the front, down to the file-closers, is called the depth. And to have the front-rank men in a straight line lengthwise with the front-rank men and the rear-rank men paired with the rear-rank men they call "yoking," while to have the file-closers and file-leaders in a straight line in depth they call "filing." The phalanx is divided into two greatest parts, 3. the whole front being cut in two down to the whole depth. And of this the half on the right is called the right wing and the head, while that on the left is called the left wing and the tail. 4. The point where the division of the length is made is called the navel and the mouth and the juncture. Behind the heavy-armed, for the most part, the light-armed are stationed,

so that the latter have shelter from the heavy weapons, while the heavy-armed in turn have the benefit of the javelins thrown from behind. Yet light-armed troops have also at times been stationed elsewhere, 2. when there was need of it: either on each wing, or, if there should be some protection of one wing—a river or a trench or the sea—on the other wing alone in a commanding position, to repel the enemy's approach there, or to prevent encirclement. For the cavalry formations too are placed now here, now there, wherever they are likely to be useful when stationed. 3. The whole number of the army, how great it ought to be, is not for the general to choose; but how he will marshal and train the force at hand, and shift it easily from one formation to another—this must be practised. 4. Yet I would advise the general to lead out from the whole multitude of the army for battle only so many as will be suited to the changes of formation and the shiftings—such as doublings and multiplyings and foldings and counter-marches, or any other changes of formation there may be. 5. Hence those skilled in these matters chose especially those numbers which can be divided in two down to the unit, such as is the formation of sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four, if it should happen to be a heavy-armed formation; of this, half is the number of the light-armed, and of that again half is the number of the cavalry. For this number is cut in two down to the unit, so that to double it by drawing it together in depth, and again to extend it by unfolding it, can be done easily, whenever there is need of it. 6. For instance, since we have set the depth of the lochos at sixteen men, the lochoi in this number will be one thousand and twenty-four, and these divided into divisions, to each of which a proper name is attached.

Two lochoi are called a dilochia, of thirty-two men, and the leader of these a dilochite; four lochoi a tetrarchia, and the leader of these a tetrarch, commander of sixty-four men. 2. Two tetrarchiai are a taxis, of eight lochoi and a hundred and twenty-eight men, and the leader of these a taxiarch. 3. Where the division is made of a hundred, its leader is called a hekatontarch. Two taxeis are called a syntagma, of sixteen lochoi and two hundred and fifty-six men, and the leader of these a syntagmatarch; some also call it a xenagia, and its leader a xenagos. To each syntaxis of two hundred and fifty-six men there are 4. chosen men: a standard-bearer, a file-closer, a trumpeter, an aide, and an army-herald. And the whole syntagma, drawn up in a square shape, has its length and depth at sixteen. 5. Two syntagmata make five hundred and twelve men, thirty-two lochoi, and the leader of these a pentakosiarch. This, doubled, becomes a chiliarchia, of one thousand and twenty-four men and sixty-four lochoi, with a chiliarch over them. Two chiliarchiai are a merarchia, of two thousand and forty-eight men and a hundred and twenty-eight lochoi, and the commander of these a merarch; some also call this a telos. Two merarchiai are a phalangarchia, 6. of four thousand and ninety-six men and two hundred and fifty-six lochoi, and the leader of these a phalangarch; some also call this a strategia, 7. and its leader a strategos. Two phalangarchiai are a diphalangarchia, of eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two men and five hundred and twelve lochoi. This division is also called both a meros and a keras. 8. For two diphalangarchiai are called a tetraphalangarchia and amount to one thousand and twenty-four lochoi and sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four men, 9. which whole number we set down for the infantry formation. And in this there would be two wings, four phalangarchiai, eight merarchiai, sixteen chiliarchiai, thirty-two pentakosiarchiai, sixty-four syntagmatarchiai, a hundred and twenty-eight taxiarchiai, two hundred and fifty-six tetrarchiai, five hundred and twelve dilochiai, and one thousand and twenty-four lochoi.

The phalanx is drawn up at length where it is more open in order, if the ground allows and it should be more useful; and in depth where it is more dense, if it should be necessary by sheer density and momentum to thrust back the enemy— 2. as Epaminondas drew up the Thebans themselves at Leuctra, and all the Boeotians before Mantinea, making as it were a wedge and bringing it against the formation of the Lacedaemonians—or again, if it should be necessary to repel chargers, as against the Sarmatae and the Scythians, one must so draw up. 3. And "densing" is the drawing together from the looser order into the denser, by yoke-fellow and rear-rank man, that is, in length and in depth; 4. while the locking of shields is when you have densed the phalanx to such a degree that, through the continuity, the formation no longer admits even a turning to either side. And from this locking of shields the Romans make the tortoise, for the most part square, but sometimes also round or oblong or however it may advance. 5. Those standing round the rectangle or the circle hold their shields out before themselves, while those set within, over their heads, each holding his shield aloft above another's, hold them out; 6. and the whole is so exactly fenced in that it can receive javelin-men running about above as if upon a roof, and stones the size of a wagon-load do not break up the closed array, but, rolling down by their own momentum, fall over onto the ground.

It is a good thing, if anything is, that the file-leaders be the greatest and strongest men and the most experienced in war; 2. for this rank holds the whole phalanx together, and provides in battle just what the cutting-edge provides to iron. For as the cutting of the iron is, so the whole iron accomplishes the same: the cut is made by its edge, while the rest, even if it should be soft, nevertheless presses on together with the cutting part by its weight. So too one might set down as the cutting-edge of the phalanx the array of the file-leaders, and as its bulk and weight the multitude behind these. 3. Second to these in valour ought to be the rear-rank men of the file-leaders; for their spear too reaches as far as the enemy, and they press the thrusts close upon those drawn up before them. Indeed, a man has even been able to reach the enemy with his sword, 4. carrying the blow over the head of the man drawn up in front; and when a leader has fallen, or even been wounded so as to be out of the fight, the first rear-rank man, leaping forward, has taken his place and standing in the file-leader's rank and rank of honour, and rendered the whole phalanx unbroken. 5. The third and fourth ranks must be filled with men chosen in proportion to their distance from the first; 6. and it was for this reason that the Macedonian phalanx appeared fearful to the enemy not only in action but also in mere sight. For with them a heavy-armed man stood at about two cubits' interval in the dense order, and the length of the sarissas covered sixteen feet; 7. and of these, four feet were lost on account of the hand of the man holding it and the rest of his body, while twelve projected before the body of each of the front-rank men. 8. Those in the second rank, set two feet behind the first, in turn held the sarissa thrust out beyond the front-rank men by ten feet; 9. those in the third by eight feet beyond the front-rank men; and those in the fourth by six, those in the fifth by four, those in the sixth by two. 10. Thus before each of the front-rank men six sarissas were held out, set one behind another in succession, so that each heavy-armed man was fenced with six sarissas and pressed forward with full force wherever they bore down. And those set behind in the sixth rank, even if not with the sarissas themselves, yet by the weight of their bodies pressed together upon those drawn up before them, so that the charge of the phalanx upon the enemy was not to be borne, and flight was impossible for the front-rank men. 11. The file-closers must be chosen not so much for strength as for intelligence and experience in war, so as to take care that the ranks keep their files and not to allow those who would play the coward to slink away out of the formation. And where there is need of a locking of shields, this is the man who chiefly draws together into density those drawn up before him, which gives the whole strength to this division.

The light-armed, however, must be drawn up now here, now there; for they prove useful when stationed now in one place, now in another, according as either the nature of the ground where the battle-line is formed allows, or the equipment of the enemy against whom we draw up. 2. For sometimes they will need to be drawn up before the phalanx, at another time on the right, now on the left; for the most part, though, standing behind the heavy-armed they are of service. And sometimes too, when the foot have been distributed into lochoi, lochoi of the light-armed have been interposed alternately.

We must now state the number of each formation and the names both of it and of its leaders. 2. First, then, as to the foot: we say that the light-armed ought to be half their number, if they are to be in due proportion to the work, and that their lochoi ought not to be of sixteen men but of eight, so that the one thousand and twenty-four lochoi fill out half the number of the infantry phalanx, and amount to eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two men. Their names and formations are these. 3. The four lochoi of the light-armed are called a systasis, and are of thirty-two men; the two systaseis a pentekontarchia, of sixty-four men; the two pentekontarchiai a hekatontarchia, of a hundred and twenty-eight men. 4. To each hekatontarchia let there be four supernumerary men: a standard-bearer, a trumpeter, an aide, and an army-herald. The two hekatontarchiai are of two hundred and fifty-six men, and the array is called a psilagia; the two psilagiai a xenagia, of five hundred and twelve men. 5. The two xenagiai, of one thousand and twenty-four men, are called a systremma. Two systremmata are called an epixenagia, of two thousand and forty-eight men; the two epixenagiai a stiphos, of four thousand and ninety-six men. The two stiphē they call an epitagma, of one thousand and twenty-four lochoi and eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two men. 6. With these too must be arrayed eight chosen men, of whom four will be epixenagoi and four systremmatarchs. Useful in battle are archers and javelin-men 1. and slingers and all who use long-range weapons, in many ways; 2. for they are able to shatter the enemy's arms—especially those who skirmish with stones—and to inflict wounds from afar; and if the blow should be more violent, even to kill. 3. They are useful too for drawing the enemy out of a strong position, by sending their missiles from a distance and so giving them the hope that they could not withstand the attackers. 4. Useful also for breaking up a phalanx in formation, for checking a charging cavalry, and for seizing commanding ground, both by being swift through their lightness and because, if they should seize it, by the continuity of their skirmishing no one can approach them without many wounds. 5. Useful too for dislodging from a position those who have seized it, since they do not stand the wounds; suited also for searching out suspect ground; useful also for taking their seat in ambush; and, in a word, good at fighting in advance of the foot and useful in fighting alongside them, and able by pressing the attack to make the rout of barbarians who have been turned by the foot complete.

The formations of the cavalry are varied and of many kinds: some square, some oblong, some rhomboid, some drawn together into a wedge. 2. All these formations are good when drawn up at the right moment, and one could not single out any one of them and judge it preferable to the others, since in another place and against other enemies and at another moment one would find some formation more useful than the one preferred. 3. The rhomboid formation the Thessalians for the most part used, and Jason the Thessalian, as the story goes, was the first to devise this figure; but to my mind he used one already devised and gained his reputation from it. And it is 4. most suited to every change of formation, and safest against being caught least of all in the rear or on the flanks. 5. For it has the leaders stationed at the corners of the rhombus: at the front the squadron-commander; at the right and the left the so-called flank-guards; at the remaining corner the file-closer; and along the sides of the rhombus the best of the cavalry. 6. The wedge-shaped formations we hear were used especially by the Scythians, and by the Thracians, who learned them from the Scythians. And Philip the Macedonian trained the Macedonians too to use this formation. 7. This formation also seems useful, because the leaders are stationed round about, and the front, ending in a point, allows it to cut through any enemy formation easily, and gives it the means to make its turns and wheelings sharp. 8. For the square formations are hard to wheel about; but that which is brought to a point, even if it advances forward into depth, yet, by turning the very beginning a little, easily presents the whole formation deploying. 9. The square formations the Persians used especially, and the barbarians in Sicily, and most of the Greeks and the most skilled in horsemanship; 10. for this formation is more easily kept in order than another, inasmuch as the men are drawn up both by file and by rank, and provides easier advances and retreats, and only thus do all the leaders fall upon the enemy together. 11. Best are those that have double the number in length than in depth: for instance, if they should be drawn up ten across the front and five deep, or twenty across the front and ten deep. 12. For such formations are oblong in number, but in shape are set into a square. For the length of the horse from head to tail fills out, in the square, just what is lacking in the number in depth; so that some have even made the number of those drawn up in length triple in proportion to the depth, thinking thus to set the shape into an exact square—since the length of the horse is triple the breadth of the man taken across the shoulders—so that, drawing up nine in length across the front, they drew up three in the depth. 13. For one must not be ignorant of this either: that cavalry drawn up in depth do not afford the same benefit as the depth among the foot. For they do not press forward those before them, since a horse cannot bear against a horse, as among the foot the pressings are made by the shoulders and the flanks; 14. nor, by becoming continuous with those drawn up before them, do they make up a single weight of the whole multitude, but if they should press together and crowd, they rather throw the horses into confusion.

The rhombus is as follows. The squadron-commander is stationed first, and the horsemen on either side of him are not in line on a level with him, but set back to such a degree that their heads are stationed about level with the shoulders of the horse on which the squadron-commander rides. And so, broadening the successive 2. files up to the half of the whole, from there in the same way drawing the rhombus together to a narrow point, they fill it out. 3. The half of the rhombus is a wedge, so that in the same figure the shape of the wedge too has been shown by me. An oblong formation is that which has the depth of the front greater than the front of the depth, and this is better than the former for engagements, unless we should wish somewhere to break through an enemy formation— 4. for then the deepest and narrowest formation across the front would be most useful—or if somewhere it should be necessary to conceal the multitude of the cavalry, so as to provoke the enemy to an unprofitable boldness. 5. The formation drawn up one deep across the front is suited to unsuspected plundering raids, or where we should wish to trample down or destroy something; but for engagements it is for the most part unprofitable.

If, then, the number of the cavalry should be as much as we set down, deducting both the heavy-armed and the multitude of the light-armed, it would be four thousand and ninety-six horsemen. 2. They made each ilē out of this number, of sixty-four horsemen, and they called those set over each ilē ilarchs. The two ilai they named an epilarchia, and it was of a hundred and twenty-eight horsemen; the two epilarchiai a tarantinarchia, 3. of two hundred and fifty-six horsemen; the two tarantinarchiai a hipparchia, of five hundred and twelve horsemen, which the Romans call an ilē; 4. the two hipparchiai an ephipparchia, of one thousand and twenty-four men; a telos, the two ephipparchiai, of two thousand and forty-eight; the two tele they now named an epitagma, of four thousand and ninety-six. As for the formations of chariots and elephants, and the names of the formations and the commands and these names again,

it seemed to me a vain labour to go through them, since I was going to be speaking of things that have long since been abandoned. 2. For the Romans never practised the fighting from chariots; and of the barbarians, the Europeans did not themselves make use of chariots either, except for those in the so-called British isles. For these for the most part use pairs of horses, small 3. and poor ones, and their cars are suited for being driven over all sorts of ground. 4. Of the Asians, the Persians of old practised the driving of scythe-bearing chariots and of armoured horses, beginning from Cyrus; 5. and still before these, the Greeks with Agamemnon and the Trojans with Priam practised that of the unarmoured. The Cyrenaeans too fought largely from chariots. 6. But all these practices have been abandoned; and the use of elephants in war, except perhaps among the Indians or the upper Aethiopians, this too has been abandoned.

Now we shall go through the names of the movements according to the manner of one or another army, and the meaning of each name. 2. One movement is called a turn, and of this there are two kinds, the one to the spear, the other to the shield; another is the about-face; another the wheel, and the counter-wheel is another; the about-wheel is named, and the about-counter-wheel is another, and the filing and the yoking, and the restoring to the upright, and the counter-march, and the doubling. 3. There is also spoken of a leading-on, and a right lateral-leading, and another left lateral-leading; and there is a sidelong phalanx, and another an upright phalanx, and an oblique phalanx, and an insertion; and further still the addition, the in-ranking, and the under-ranking.

The turn, then, is the movement man by man, and of the turn, that to the right is called "to the spear," where the spear is for the heavy-armed man, while that to the left is "to the shield," where he carries the shield. 2. And if the turn is single, it brings the face only to the side; but if it should be double, it turns the face to the rear. This is now called the about-face. 3. The wheel is when, having densed the whole array by yoke-fellow and rear-rank man, we incline it as if it were the body of a single man to the spear or to the shield, the whole division wheeling round the file-leader as round a pivot, and taking in front the place that was, but the exposed surface that was on the right, while each of the rear-rank men and yoke-fellows keeps his place. 4. The counter-wheel is the restoration of the wheel to the former position. The about-wheel is called the movement of the division from two wheels, so as to take the place behind; 5. the about-counter-wheel is the movement of the whole from three continuous wheels, so as to take—if it is made to the spear—the surface on the left, but if to the shield, the surface on the right. Filing is said of going in a straight line with the file-leader 1. and the file-closer, keeping one's proper intervals; yoking is going in a straight line lengthwise with each of those in the lochos that is yoked alongside. 2. All the file-leaders are yoked with the file-leader, the rear-rank men of the other file-leaders with his rear-rank man, and so on in like manner. 3. To restore to the upright is said of setting the face back to the surface established from the beginning—as if someone facing the enemy were ordered to turn to the spear, and then again were commanded to restore to the upright, he would need once more to face the enemy. Of counter-marches there are two kinds, one by lochoi, the other 1. by ranks. And each of these again is distributed three ways. For one counter-march is named Macedonian, another Laconian, another Cretan; and this same one I find called both Persian and "chorios." 2. The Macedonian, then, is that in which the front place of the phalanx is taken, and instead of the surface to the front the one behind; the Laconian is that in which the 3. rear place of the phalanx is taken, and likewise instead of the surface to the front the one behind. The one named Cretan and Persian makes the whole array hold 4. the same place of the phalanx, but each of the heavy-armed in his turn take a different place instead of that which he held before—the file-leader that of the file-closer, the file-closer that of the file-leader—and instead of the surface to the front the one behind. 5. The counter-marches by ranks are made when one wishes to set the wings on the centre-divisions and the centre-divisions on the wings, and to make the middle of the whole phalanx strong; and likewise it sets the right among the left and the left among the right. 6. But if it should not allow counter-marches to be made by the greater parts of the phalanx, the enemy now drawing near and it being necessary to counter-march the formation, then they counter-march by divisions.

The counter-march by files is again called Macedonian, when the file-leader faces about, and those behind, marching past to the spear, station themselves one after another. 2. The Laconian counter-march is named when the file-leader, facing about, shifts the whole lochos from the spear to another place equal to the former, and the rest, following, are stationed one after another behind him; or when the file-closer faces about, and the man stationed behind him, marching past from the spear-side of the file-closer, is stationed in front of him, and the rest likewise, each stationed behind another, again make the file-leader the front-rank man. 3. The "chorios" counter-march is made when the file-leader, facing about, advances to the spear along the lochos until he occupies the place of the file-closer, and the file-closer that of the file-leader. 4. These, then, are made by lochoi; and likewise those completed by ranks are not hard to understand.

Of doublings there are two kinds, either 2. by ranks or by depth. And each of these is doubled either in number or in place. In number, if instead of one thousand and twenty-four we should make the length two thousand and forty-eight, the whole phalanx occupying the same place. 3. This comes about when we insert into the spaces between the heavy-armed the rear-rank men from the depth. And thus the front of the 4. phalanx is densed for us. When we wish to restore it, we shall give the command thus: "Let the man inserted into the length return to his rank." 5. But if we should wish to double the length also in place, so as to extend the formation from five stadia to ten, we shall order those inserted from the depth into the space in the length between the heavy-armed to deploy to the right, and the rest, half of them, to the left, beginning from the second lochoi next the wings; and thus the whole formation will occupy double the ground. 6. When we wish to restore it, we shall again give the command to those stationed at the wings to deploy back into the places they had before. Doublings are not very useful when the enemy is near, 7. because they will give the enemy the impression of confusion in our army, and because the army itself is rendered, in the shifting, at once weaker and more disordered. But it is better to extend the light-armed and 8. the cavalry, so as to produce on the enemy the consternation that comes from the doubling without movement of the infantry phalanx. The doubling becomes necessary 9. either when we wish to outflank beyond the enemy's wing, or to prevent them from outflanking us. 10. The depth is doubled if the second lochos should be set upon the first, so that the file-leader of the second lochos becomes the rear-rank man of the first file-leader, and the first rear-rank man becomes the rear-rank man of that man's rear-rank man; for thus the man who before was first of the second 11. lochos is second of the first lochos, and the second man in the second lochos is fourth of the first, and so on in succession, until the whole second lochos is set in alternately, in a straight line by the first, into the depth. For thus the fourth lochos too will deepen the third, being arrayed with it, and in short the even-numbered will be set among the odd-numbered. 12. It is not hard to understand how there will also be a doubling of the very ground in depth, and the restoration from this.

The sidelong phalanx is that which has the length many times the depth; the upright, when it marches by the wing—and so in turn it presents the depth many times 2. the length. And in general, a division is called sidelong whenever it has the length greater than the depth, and upright whenever the depth is greater than the length. 3. The oblique phalanx is named that which has one wing—whichever the general wishes—near the enemy and fights with it alone, while the other it keeps back by withdrawal. 4. They name it an insertion when, certain men having been drawn up in front at intervals, others from those drawn up behind are set among them in a straight line, so as to fill up the empty space left in front of the 5. phalanx; an addition, when either from both parts of the formation or from one of them, at the wing itself, some body is added to the whole phalanx straight along the front of the formation. 6. They name it an in-ranking when they rank the light-armed into the spaces of the foot, setting man by 7. man; and an under-ranking, when one ranks the light-armed at the extremities of the phalanx as into a return-bend.

The army must be accustomed to receive the commands quickly—some by the voice, some by visible signals, 2. some by the trumpet. And those made clear by speech happen to be clearer, since by this means the showing forth of the whole meaning is made, and not merely some token seen or heard. 3. But since there are many things that hinder, in battle, the showing forth by voice—the clash of arms, and the exhortations to one another, and the cries of the wounded, and the riding past of a force of cavalry—the army must also be accustomed to the visible signals. Yet even with respect to these there are some things 4. that become impossible: such as mist, or much dust borne aloft, or the sun shining against the face, or continuous snowfall, or violent rain from the sky, or wooded places, or rising hillocks, so that the signals are not visible to the whole phalanx. 5. When hillocks shut off the view, more visible signals must be made; but against the hindrances from the air the trumpet is useful. Concerning the marches that armies make,

one must bear this in mind: that in marches one is called a leading-on, the other a lateral-leading. 2. And a leading-on is when one division follows another in a straight line—as, when a tetrarchia leads, the rest of the tetrarchiai march set behind it; or again, when a xenagia leads, the rest of the xenagiai follow; and, in a word, when the leaders of the division next behind join up with the file-closers of the division in front. 3. A lateral-leading is when the whole phalanx marches having made its leaders either on the left or on the right. And if it makes them on the left, it is called a left lateral-leading, but if on the right, a right one. 4. However the march is made, whether by leading-on or in lateral-leading, the army will march either with the division single-sided, or double-sided, or triple-sided, or four-sided: single-sided, 5. when the general has one suspect quarter; double-sided, when two; triple-sided, when three; four-sided, when the enemy seem likely to set upon it from all sides. And indeed sometimes the march 6. is made in a single phalanx, sometimes in a double phalanx, and likewise in a triple and a quadruple phalanx. And these are not hard to infer from the formations stated before.

Further, a double-mouthed phalanx is called that which has half the men in the lochoi turned away from themselves, so as to be back to back; 2. a double-mouthed double-phalanx is that which on the march has the leaders drawn up on each of the two parts in lateral-leadings—some in a right lateral-leading, some in a left—and the file-closers stationed within; while an opposite-mouthed double-phalanx is that which has the leaders stationed in the middle and the file-closers turned outward on each of the two parts in lateral-leadings. 3. A different-mouthed phalanx is that which has the leading half, on the march, in a left lateral-leading—that is, the leaders on the left—while the leaders of the remaining half of the phalanx are in a right 4. lateral-leading. A like-mouthed double-phalanx on the march is that which has the leaders of each phalanx drawn up on the same sides, either on the right or on the left of each phalanx. 5. When the double-mouthed double-phalanx joins its leading ends and parts its following ones, such a thing is called a wedge. 6. When the opposite-mouthed double-phalanx joins its following ends and parts its leading ones, such a thing is called a hollow wedge. 7. It is named a plaision when one draws up against all the sides in an oblong 8. shape; a plinthion, when one does this same thing in a square shape, which Xenophon the son of Gryllus calls an equal-sided plaision. And they name outflanking the projection beyond the enemy at each end of the phalanx, and outwinging that at one wing or the other. 9. And the outwinging follows upon the outflanking, but not the reverse. 10. Thus it is possible to overlap at either wing even with fewer in number, and keeping the whole formation at equal depth; but to outflank with equal numbers, or even fewer, without extending the line thin, is not possible. The trains of the baggage-carriers should be conducted with a leader.

There are five ways of doing this: either they must lead the army with their own guard, or follow, or go on the flank—and this is twofold, either on the right or on the left—or be conducted within the arms. 2. Before the phalanx the baggage must be led when you are withdrawing from enemy country; following the phalanx, when you invade enemy country; led on whichever flank, when we fear for the flanks; within the phalanx, if there is suspicion on all sides. The commands must be made as concise as possible 1. and as clear as possible. And this will be so if we guard against whatever the soldiers may be able to take ambiguously. 2. For instance, if you should say "turn," adding "to the spear" or "to the shield," those accustomed to hear the commands quickly, taking it differently, have acted differently. One ought not, then, to say "turn to the spear" or "turn to the shield," but, reversing it, "to the spear turn" or "to the shield turn"; for thus all will hear and do the same. 3. Likewise one ought not to command "face about" or "counter-march"; for these, indicating the action of the genus, will lead the hearers to different deeds. But the species must be set before the genera—for example, "to the spear face about" or "to the shield." 4. And again we shall say thus: "the Laconian counter-march," or "the chorios," or "the Macedonian." But if, without adding which, you should say merely "counter-march," some will go to one counter-march, some to another. 5. Nothing is so good, both on marches and in battles, as silence of the whole army. And this Homer too showed forth in his poetry: for of the leaders of the Greeks he says, "each of the leaders gave commands to his own men"; but of the army, "the others went in silence—nor would you think that so great a host followed, having a voice in their breasts—in silence, fearing their commanders." But when he wished to show the disorder of the barbarians, he says the Trojans went "with clamour and shouting" like birds. And again in other verses he says, "of these, as of winged birds, many tribes, of geese or cranes or long-necked swans"; and, going on to the din of the birds, he says, "so the shouting of the Trojans rose up through the wide army; for not all had one cry nor a single voice." But of the Greeks he says, "and they went in silence, breathing might, the Achaeans, eager in spirit to defend one another." For thus the leaders give their commands quickly, and the army quickly receives what is given.

Let the commands be such as these: "To arms." "Let the armour-bearer withdraw from the phalanx." "Silence, and attend to the command." "Spears up." "Lower the spears." "Let the file-closer straighten the lochos." "Keep the intervals." "To the spear turn." "To the shield turn." "Forward." "Hold so." "Restore to the upright." "Double the depth—restore." "The Laconian counter-march—restore." "To the spear about-counter-wheel—restore." These things, 2. as in an art, I have shown forth in a few words, enough concerning the formations of the ancient Greeks and Macedonians, for anyone who would not wish to be inexperienced in these matters at least. But I, having gone through at present the cavalry exercises 3. as many as the Roman horsemen practise—since I have already shown the infantry ones in the work I composed about the Emperor himself—will make an end of my treatise on tactics. And yet I am not unaware that the showing forth of each of the names 1. will be difficult, since not even among the Romans themselves do most of them belong to the native tongue, but there are some of the Iberians or of the Celts, since they took over the very things, being Celtic, when the Celtic cavalry won a high reputation among them in battle. 2. For if for anything else, in this too the Romans deserve praise, that they did not so love their own and ancestral things as not to pick out what was fine from every quarter and make it their own. 3. So you would find that they took over certain armaments from others—and these are now called Roman, because the Romans used them to best effect—and military exercises from others, and the thrones of the magistrates and the purple-bordered garment. Some even, having taken over the very gods, others from others, 4. worship them as their own. At any rate, the rites performed in their honour are still, to this day, said to be performed some by the custom of the Achaeans, some by the common custom of the Greeks. And some Phrygian rites too are performed; for the Phrygian Rhea is honoured among them, having come from Pessinus, and the mourning over Attis, being Phrygian, is mourned at Rome, and the bath which Rhea takes, after which she ceases from mourning, is taken by the custom of the Phrygians. 5. And of the laws which they first wrote on the Twelve Tables, you would find that they took most from the Athenians. 6. And it would be a great labour to go through these, both how each stands and from whom it was appropriated. But for me it is now time to speak about the cavalry exercises.

The ground where their exercises are performed they not only choose to be level, but they work it over to such a degree that they dig the middle of it to a moderate depth and break up the clods into fineness and softness, cutting off, from the whole field, the part before the platform into the shape of an equal-sided rectangle. 2. They themselves come on armed, with helmets of iron or of gilded bronze—all those who are distinguished by their rank or excel in horsemanship—so as by this very thing to draw upon themselves the eyes of the spectators. 3. These helmets are not, like those made for battle, set out only before the head and the cheeks, but are made wholly equal to the faces of the riders, opened at the eyes, only so far as not to obstruct the sight while giving cover to the face. 4. Yellow plumes hang from them, not for use any more than for the beauty of the spectacle; and these, in the charges of the horses, if even a slight breeze should arise, appear more pleasing as they wave aloft. 5. They carry oblong shields too, not those for battle, but lighter in weight, since they make their exercises for sharpness and beauty, and decorated for pleasure; and instead of breastplates, 6. Cimmerian tunics, equal and like to the breastplates, but in colour some of scarlet, some of hyacinth, some decorated in one way and another; 7. and trousers about the legs, not loose like those of the Parthians and Armenians, but drawn tight about the legs. Their horses are exactly fenced with frontlets, but have no need of side-guards; for the javelins used in the exercise, being without iron, would do some harm to the horses' eyes, but fall harmless upon their flanks, especially as these are for the most part covered by the saddle-cloths. First, then, a charge is made by them onto the appointed 1. field, trained as splendidly as possible for beauty and brilliance, from where they would seem most to ride out from concealment and to make the sally not simple but as varied as may be. 2. They charge with distinguishing signals—not the Roman ones only, but also the Scythian—so that the charge may be more varied and at the same time more terrible. 3. The Scythian signals are serpents hung aloft on poles of suitable length. They are made stitched together out of dyed rags, likened, in their heads and in the body down to the tails, to snakes, so as to be made as terrible as possible. And these are the contrivances. 4. While the horses are at rest, you would see nothing more than decorated rags hanging down; but when they are driven, they are filled with wind and swell out, so as to resemble the beasts as closely as may be, and even to hiss somewhat at the violent motion, the air passing through them under the strong blast. 5. And these signals afford pleasure or consternation not to the sight only, but are useful also for distinguishing the charge and for keeping the formations from falling foul of one another. For those who carry them, 6. being the most skilled in the deployings and wheelings, choose now these, now those circles, or now these, now those straight sallies, while the multitude has practised nothing else than to follow each his own signal. 7. And thus, varied as the wheelings are, and of many kinds the deployings, and of many fashions the charges made now here, now there, they nevertheless keep the formations unconfused. But should signal collide with signal, or horse fall upon horse, it would throw the whole formation into confusion, and would destroy not the beauty only but also the usefulness of the work.

Together the charge ceases for them, and on the left of the platform horsemen halt one behind another, having turned the heads of their horses to the rear, and holding their shields out before their own backs and before the horses' backs. And this formation, like the locking of shields of the foot, is called a tortoise. 2. Two horsemen, keeping back from this file as far as to allow the friendly horsemen room to sally, are set out before the right wing of the tortoise, to receive the javelins of those who charge straight on. 3. Thus half the horsemen stand fenced for defence; but when the trumpet sounds, the other half charge in turn, hurling as many and as continuous javelins as may be—first the best man first, and after him the second, and the rest likewise. 4. And the beauty of the performance lies in this: who, charging straight on with his horse, hurls as many and as continuous javelins as possible against the two men set out before the [left] wing of the tortoise, hitting their very shields as much as may be. 5. Having charged straight on, they incline in turn to the side, wheeling as into a circle. And the inclining 6. is made to their right; for thus nothing stands in the way of the throwing, and the shields are held out before those who throw in the charge. 1. And one must carry so many javelins as to keep throwing through the whole defence as one rides past. And both the continuity of the skirmishing and the unbroken din appear, like nothing else, productive of consternation. 2. Between the right wing of the formation and the defence of the two horsemen, horsemen run out from concealment, riding in advance of their own formation and throwing at those riding past. And for these the inclining is made to the shield, and in this way they ride past more exposed. Here indeed there is most need of a good horseman, 3. so that he may be able at once to throw at the chargers and at the same time to cover his right side with the shield's defence. 4. And in the riding-past the throw with the right-hand wheel becomes necessary for him, while in the complete wheel comes the one called the "petrinos" in the Celtic tongue, which is the hardest of all. 5. For one must, having wheeled, as far as the strength of the supple flanks allows, throw to the rear, as straight back over the horse's tail as may be, and having done this, quickly wheeling again, throw the shield over his back, because the unprotected parts are thus given over to the enemy, if he should wheel without his shield's defence. Together the charge now ceases, and those who charged 1. before halt in formation in their turn on the right of the platform, just as the others on the left, and the two horsemen stand keeping back the same distance from the wing of the defence; and again those who run out between these two and the whole formation throw in the same manner at those riding past. Here indeed they choose whatever is best of the horsemen for this skirmishing. 2. Those who begin from the right [of the platform] afford nothing but the continuity of the skirmishing and the unbroken din; for they afford no other spectacle to those watching from the platform, since the right of the horsemen is turned away from them in such a charge. 3. But when they charge from the left, then the whole skirmishing becomes clearly visible: the holding out of the shields, and the swift passing of the javelins from the left hand to the right, and how the right, catching them up and carrying them round over the head as in the whirling of a wheel, at once threw and at once caught up the one left over, and this in turn, carrying it over, threw it. The horseman's seat upon the very horse is always kept graceful and upright in the skirmishing, and this the more, because in the charging there are seen both the brilliance of the arms and the swiftness of the horses and their pliancy in the wheelings, and how the charges of the horsemen are made at equal intervals. 4. For those that leave a great gap, by this very thing destroy the continuity of the skirmishing, while those too close upon one another stand in the way of the exactness of the spectacle, robbing it of its fairness; for the bad horseman, charging close behind him, has already obscured the good one, and another good man, borne on gracefully behind the bad, has thrown his unseemliness into the shade. 5. But, the continuity being preserved, the praise must be kept whole and fitting for the good man, and the deserved reproach assigned to the bad.

Having twice changed the formations and the defences and the skirmishings and the wheelings, when they make the second and left-hand charge, they do not simply incline to the spear and, riding their horses past the platform, depart, but the sharpest of them at the work leave themselves each one javelin, and the very best two. 2. And when they draw near the platform riding past, they wheel the horse into a circle, and still keeping it in the wheel, throw obliquely toward the end of the field; and this must reach as far as possible and quivering as much as possible. Those who keep back two, when they charge, 3. now throw the one left over under the shield, inclining the head and the right side a little, as far as may be, and twisting round, to the rear. After this there is a certain charge called the Cantabrian,

which, as it seems to me, was named from the Cantabri, an Iberian people, because the Romans took it over from there for themselves. 2. It is as follows. The defence of the horsemen, just as from the beginning, is drawn up fenced on the left of the platform, except for the two horsemen who receive the javelins thrown straight on. 3. They charge from the right, just as before, inclining to the spear; and as they charge, another charge, beginning on the left of the platform, is made, wheeling into a circle. 4. These horsemen no longer use light javelins, but smoothed spears, without iron, but in weight neither easy for the throwers to carry nor harmless to those at whom they are sent. 5. And in this it is commanded neither to aim at the helmet of those riding past nor to let the spear fly at the horse, but, before the horseman inclines and bares some part of his side or shows his back as he wheels, to aim at the very shield and drive the spear in as violently as possible. And the exactness of this work lies in this: 6. if the man set in this Cantabrian circle, drawing as near as possible to those riding past, throws his spear as much as may be against the middle of the shield, and the spear falling on the shield makes a clatter or even passes right through it; and the second man after him reaches the second man's shield, and the third likewise the third's, and the rest of the rest in file in the same way. 7. For the clatter is assuredly productive of consternation, and the deploying appears graceful in such a thing, and to some there is practice of good aim and force in the throwing, to others of safety and guard against the attackers. 8. After these things, practice and display of the continuity of throwing is made by the horsemen—not all of them, for not all are suited to this swiftness, but those of them who are foremost in horsemanship. 9. These set their horses with the edge of the platform on their right, and from there, the horse advancing gently up to the brow of the dug ground, one must let fly into the broken ground as many javelins as possible, and as continuous as possible, and reaching as far and at the same time quivering as much as may be. 10. And he is good who has managed to let fly fifteen javelins as he ought before the horse passes out of this ground. But far more justly would he be praised who advanced even to twenty. 11. For beyond this it is done no longer by men keeping to exactness, but for the most part by men who cheat, slowing the standing of the horse so as, while it still stands, to get in two or three throws before it, or after it has passed the brow of the dug ground; 12. but I for my part praise far more what is done according to rule than what is contrived for the consternation of the spectators.

From here they now arm themselves as for battle, with iron breastplates and helmets and shields no longer the light ones. 2. And first the formations charge their horses at speed; and, carrying a single javelin, this they must, before drawing near the platform, hurl quivering as much as may be and at the same time clattering, aiming at the mark, which is fixed on the left of the platform for this very work. 3. And those of them who are good charge a second and a third time too, not from necessity but glorying in the very work and the praise that comes of it. 4. The second charge is made with two javelins, and these one must hurl, charging straight with the horse, as much on the mark as may be. And when the willing part of this throwing too has been gone through, 1. then those who are good leaders of the army order all the horsemen to be called up by name in succession—first the dekadarch, and after him the dimoirite, and whoever is on pay-and-a-half, then the rest of the dekadarchia. And so the calling is made through all the dekadarchiai. 2. The man called must at once both answer the caller with a great shout, "I am here," and at once ride out his horse carrying three javelins. And the first he must hurl from the edge of the dug ground as toward the mark, the second from the platform itself, and this still with the horse straight; the third, if he should do the things prescribed and ordained by the Emperor, with the horse inclining to the right, toward the other mark, which they set for this very thing by the Emperor's prescription, for the receiving of the third javelin. 3. This is the hardest throw of all, if it should somehow be made before the horse is wholly turned away, while it is still in the very bend. For the release called the "xynema" in the Celtic tongue 4. is made thus, since not even with an iron-less javelin is it easy to throw. And before now some man, out of swiftness and ambition, has even managed to hurl four javelins with the horse straight at the first mark, or three with the horse straight, and the fourth as it wheels, as the Emperor ordained; 5. and here the good javelin-man and the bad are above all distinguished, since the work is done not in an undistinguished file nor in confusion. And whatever charge affords the most men distinguished in the throwing of the javelins, this I have praised more than any other, as trained toward the truth of warlike deeds.

After this, however, there are now various throwings, either of light darts or even of bolts—these not from a bow but discharged from an engine—or of stones from the hand or from a sling at the mark, which stands between the two of which I have already made mention. And here again it is fine, if they should shatter the mark with the stones; but it happens not to be easy to shatter. 2. Yet not even with these things do their exercises cease, but, carrying their lances at first upright as if for defence, they charge; then they reach as if at a fleeing enemy; while others, as if against another enemy, in the wheeling of the horse, having raised their shields over their heads, carry them to their own rear, and, twisting their lances over, reach as if at another enemy charging. And this work is called in the Celtic tongue "toloutegon." 3. And after this, having drawn their broadswords well, they bring now this blow, now that, as much as may be—either to reach a fleeing enemy, or to kill one fallen, or to do something while running past from the flanks. After this, moreover, they make leaps onto their horses as varied as may be, in as many kinds and as many fashions as a horse is mounted by a rider; 4. and last of all they display the armed leap with the horse running, which they call the "marching" leap.

These are the things customary and practised from old by the Roman horsemen; but the Emperor further devised that they should practise barbarian exercises as well—all that the mounted archers of the Parthians or Armenians practise, and all the wheelings and turnings-back of the horses that the lance-bearers of the Sarmatae or Celts practise while charging by turns, and the manifold and many-fashioned skirmishings in this, and the ancestral war-cries of each race—Celtic for the Celtic horsemen, Getic for the Getae, Raetic for those from the Raeti. 2. And their horses practise to leap a trench and to vault a little wall; and, in a word, there is nothing of the ancient practices of the Romans, whatever has been abandoned, that is not practised anew, and whatever has been further devised by the Emperor, some toward beauty, some toward sharpness, some toward consternation, some toward usefulness in the work. 3. So that to this present reign, which Hadrian rules now this twentieth year, these verses seem to me to apply far more than to ancient Lacedaemon: "There the spear of the young men flourishes, and the clear-voiced Muse, and Justice in the broad streets, the helper of fair deeds."