WARFARE OF ANTIQUITY. 13 



formed " en-potence" on the flanks of the phalanx, in order to cover them, 

 that was called hypotaxis (fig. 15). The march of the troops was either 

 paragogic or epagogic. In the epagogue {fig. 16), the front was parted 

 into subdivisions, which marched one behind the other (in sections). In 

 the paragogue (fig. 17), the files faced to the right or left about, and 

 gained ground by a flank movement. The flank nearest the foe was 

 always strengthened. The column was composed of two or more pha- 

 langes ; usually there were two of these, which marched with a flank of 

 32 files (fig. 18). Had a phalanx two opposite fronts, so that one half 

 of it turned their backs to the other half (fig. 19), it was called antistomos. 

 Were two phalanges so united that the lochages formed the two fronts, 

 while the urages stood in the middle (fig. 20), they called this a dipha- 

 langia with two fronts ; while the reversed position (fig. 21), where the 

 lochages were in the middle and the urages formed the outer fronts, was 

 the diphalangic antistomos. Finally, we must mention a particular form of 

 diphalangia, namely that of two equal fronts (fig. 22), which arose where 

 the urages of one phalanx and the lochages of another stood in the middle. 

 A particular order of battle was the wedge (embolon), which was either 

 solid or hollow. The solid wedge (pi. 13, fig. 3, and jp/. 4, fig. 25 a b c), which 

 .^lian describes, was a triangle at whose apex c a single man, or accord- 

 ing to others, three men stood. The hollow wedge (fig. 23) was formed 

 when two phalanges, a b and c d, so united, under an acute angle, that the 

 flanks b and d met at the vertex. This order of battle was used to break 

 with irresistible force the hostile ranks. The reversed wedge, koilem^ 

 holon (fig. 24), had the open side made by the phalanges a b and c dy 

 from 6 to c turned towards the foe, and was used to inclose the hostile 

 wedge, wherefore this manoeuvre was called the forceps. The rhombus 

 was a combination of the embolon and the koilembolon. Here belongs 

 also another order of battle, which was called the boars-head, and which 

 is represented in pi. 4, fig. 30. It will be seen at once that it is really 

 nothing but a solid wedge, as the sections ab, cd, ef, gh, ik, Im, no, pqy 

 r s, tv, and v are integral parts of a phalanx (pi. IS, fig. 4). The simplest 

 order of battle, however, and therefore generally the best, is the square, 

 which was likewise applied in various ways by the Persians and Greeks. 

 That this square should have a good proportion for cavalry, it was requisite 

 that the front should be at least twice the depth, and thus the ulamos of 

 the Spartans had ten horsemen in front and five in file, in all therefore 

 fifty men. For a perfect square, three men were placed in front on one 

 in depth. The plaision was an oblong figure inclining to oval, and the 

 plinthion was in the form of a parallelogram. Here belongs also that 

 arrangement of the phalanx which was not rectilinear, namely the con- 

 cave phalanx (pi. 4, fig. 27), in which the flanks were thrown forward 

 and the centre retired ; and the convex phalanx (fig. 26), in which the 

 flanks were retired and the centre advanced. In actual combat, however, 

 these evolutions were not carried out exactly as represented in the above 

 figures, but a movement as in figs. 28 and 29 found preference, which 

 nearly resembled our formation in echelon. 



489 



