07-10-2013, 06:14 PM
Mark wrote:
I'll illustrate that by the example we used earlier......Polybius' own puzzlement that apparently the individual Roman soldier, with no one else sufficiently near him, could somehow withstand the 32 men of a pike phalanx opposing him. Obviously something is awry with his own observations simply from a basic physics POV. So we can try and understand, for not to is to be blinkered.
Like I pointed out in the last thread, Polybius wasn't puzzled, he wrote two massive paragraphs (Pol 18, 31-32) explaining why Romans win against phalanx. Whether you want to believe him is up to you. And physics has nothing to do with this.
Lets try to stay on topic.
I'll illustrate that by the example we used earlier......Polybius' own puzzlement that apparently the individual Roman soldier, with no one else sufficiently near him, could somehow withstand the 32 men of a pike phalanx opposing him. Obviously something is awry with his own observations simply from a basic physics POV. So we can try and understand, for not to is to be blinkered.
Like I pointed out in the last thread, Polybius wasn't puzzled, he wrote two massive paragraphs (Pol 18, 31-32) explaining why Romans win against phalanx. Whether you want to believe him is up to you. And physics has nothing to do with this.
Lets try to stay on topic.
