07-03-2009, 02:34 AM
Quote:Yet, I believe that this sort of open order is much more quick to deploy than having your left files marching 500 meters to the center to complete the maneuver and would have been used...
A gross lateral movement of files over large distance seems to be what is described at Cynocephalae. I agree with the notion of doubling files, though not to four, but I also think Aelian is describing a wide variety of maneuvers that accomplish the same goal. For example, he describes "doubling" by moving every other man in a file left and forward to form a new file in more detail than he does bringing up the rear half of the file. Why so many? Were they all expected to be done by a well trained force or was it a compilation of known maneuvers, perhaps from different times and places?
Paul M. Bardunias
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A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
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A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
