08-07-2014, 11:11 AM
Horatius (Satires 2.7) refers to Contento Poplite as the stance the Gladiators vividly depicted in drawings.
Vel cum Pausiaca torpes, insane, tabella, Qui peccas minus atque ego, cum Fulvi Rutubaeque Aut Pacideiani contento poplite miror Proelia rubrica picta aut carbone, velut si Re vera pugnent, feriant vitentque moventes Arma viri?
It most probably refers to the left forward leg bent, right rear leg straight position frequent in art, that can also be seen in the two upper scenes of the relief.
This is a very stable but not very mobile position, as to advance you have to bring the rear leg closer to the front first and then step out with the front leg.
The advantage in advancing in this way, as opposed to the "front leg first, rear leg follows" movement, is that you only close the range to your adversary with the second movement, so you are in a covered, stable stance once you have moved within his reach.
In the leaning back stance (what I call defensive Contento Poplite) it is true that you expose your front foot a little, but even if an adversary should notice this and then try to attack it, it is easily slipped back behind the Scutum, while the Scutum is still nicely braced by the shoulder and knee.
By keeping the upper body from leaning to much backward and the balance firmly on the back foot, this is still a very stable position, even against pushing from the front.
Of course, as a defensive movement, it has to be timed to the attacker’s action, who will either fall short or has to overextend himself to reach his intended target.
If an attacker actually tries to move in even more, to bridge the gap, you can very quickly pass with the front leg backward, attaining a stable stance with the left leg now straight to the rear.
This moves your left shoulder away from an attack even further, while your right shoulder is unmoved, so you do not lose any reach yourself (this results in the stance Vegetius describes, and which is also shown a few times in Gladiator iconography)
To attain the basic stance from this position you can either do another pass backward or pass forward again, depending on the actions of the adversary.
Of course in the confined space of a battle line moving or passing backward will be less useful, but in that case there is another of your fellow miles behind you so you could even brace yourself against his Scutum if pushed back.
Since I mainly focus on one on one combat, I have not put much thought into fighting in battle order, but I always wondered if the Miles second in line just stood there awaiting his turn, or if he would have considered himself to be a kind of Wing Man to the fighter up front.
In Phalanx or shield wall situations, where polearms are employed, the second line (and depending on the length of the pole more lines) can take an active part in the melee up front.
But when fighting with a Gladius, a second line Miles cannot do much in the way of attacking, simply because his reach is to short.
He can aid the front line fighter however by using his Scutum and Gladius to cover his front man.
Sadly Vegetius does not refer to training team tactics as this.
I am not sure the "push of the shields" would have been a viable battle tactic at all. Are there depictions or textual sources showing this kind of engagement in the late antiquity?
To dispatch your adversary standing in a battle line before you, you do not need to be so close to be in shield to shield contact. On the contrary this close engagement distance would put you in grave danger, as you could not hope to parry any thrust or blow directed at you fast enough.
This is not much of a problem, if you engage an enemy armed with spears, like in hoplite warfare as you only need to get past the point of the adversary to be safe from harm, but with swords this is a whole other matter.
A right forward basic stance would however create a tendency to close with your right neighbor, to get some cover from his shield to protect your exposed outer side. It would be interesting if ancient sources mention a drift to the right or a movement in a counterclockwise direction of two battle lines, like it is known from hoplite warfare.
Though you can step forward with the right leg when fighting with a rectangular Scutum, the shape of the Scutum does make it necessary to lower the shield below the armpit to allow for an unhindered thrust, if you still want to cover your right flank.
So it would not make any sense to stay right forward in basic stance with a rectangular shield.
A round or oval shield is much better suited to a right forward stance and allows for unhindered cutting or thrusting alongside the curved outer rim.
The right forward stance by the Celtic warrior depicted above might not reflect his basic stance, as he is moving forward in his attack, which is also very effective as a kind of lunge from the left forward position. His opponent does parry in the left forward position.
Vel cum Pausiaca torpes, insane, tabella, Qui peccas minus atque ego, cum Fulvi Rutubaeque Aut Pacideiani contento poplite miror Proelia rubrica picta aut carbone, velut si Re vera pugnent, feriant vitentque moventes Arma viri?
It most probably refers to the left forward leg bent, right rear leg straight position frequent in art, that can also be seen in the two upper scenes of the relief.
This is a very stable but not very mobile position, as to advance you have to bring the rear leg closer to the front first and then step out with the front leg.
The advantage in advancing in this way, as opposed to the "front leg first, rear leg follows" movement, is that you only close the range to your adversary with the second movement, so you are in a covered, stable stance once you have moved within his reach.
In the leaning back stance (what I call defensive Contento Poplite) it is true that you expose your front foot a little, but even if an adversary should notice this and then try to attack it, it is easily slipped back behind the Scutum, while the Scutum is still nicely braced by the shoulder and knee.
By keeping the upper body from leaning to much backward and the balance firmly on the back foot, this is still a very stable position, even against pushing from the front.
Of course, as a defensive movement, it has to be timed to the attacker’s action, who will either fall short or has to overextend himself to reach his intended target.
If an attacker actually tries to move in even more, to bridge the gap, you can very quickly pass with the front leg backward, attaining a stable stance with the left leg now straight to the rear.
This moves your left shoulder away from an attack even further, while your right shoulder is unmoved, so you do not lose any reach yourself (this results in the stance Vegetius describes, and which is also shown a few times in Gladiator iconography)
To attain the basic stance from this position you can either do another pass backward or pass forward again, depending on the actions of the adversary.
Of course in the confined space of a battle line moving or passing backward will be less useful, but in that case there is another of your fellow miles behind you so you could even brace yourself against his Scutum if pushed back.
Since I mainly focus on one on one combat, I have not put much thought into fighting in battle order, but I always wondered if the Miles second in line just stood there awaiting his turn, or if he would have considered himself to be a kind of Wing Man to the fighter up front.
In Phalanx or shield wall situations, where polearms are employed, the second line (and depending on the length of the pole more lines) can take an active part in the melee up front.
But when fighting with a Gladius, a second line Miles cannot do much in the way of attacking, simply because his reach is to short.
He can aid the front line fighter however by using his Scutum and Gladius to cover his front man.
Sadly Vegetius does not refer to training team tactics as this.
I am not sure the "push of the shields" would have been a viable battle tactic at all. Are there depictions or textual sources showing this kind of engagement in the late antiquity?
To dispatch your adversary standing in a battle line before you, you do not need to be so close to be in shield to shield contact. On the contrary this close engagement distance would put you in grave danger, as you could not hope to parry any thrust or blow directed at you fast enough.
This is not much of a problem, if you engage an enemy armed with spears, like in hoplite warfare as you only need to get past the point of the adversary to be safe from harm, but with swords this is a whole other matter.
A right forward basic stance would however create a tendency to close with your right neighbor, to get some cover from his shield to protect your exposed outer side. It would be interesting if ancient sources mention a drift to the right or a movement in a counterclockwise direction of two battle lines, like it is known from hoplite warfare.
Though you can step forward with the right leg when fighting with a rectangular Scutum, the shape of the Scutum does make it necessary to lower the shield below the armpit to allow for an unhindered thrust, if you still want to cover your right flank.
So it would not make any sense to stay right forward in basic stance with a rectangular shield.
A round or oval shield is much better suited to a right forward stance and allows for unhindered cutting or thrusting alongside the curved outer rim.
The right forward stance by the Celtic warrior depicted above might not reflect his basic stance, as he is moving forward in his attack, which is also very effective as a kind of lunge from the left forward position. His opponent does parry in the left forward position.
Olaf Küppers - Histotainment, Event und Promotion - Germany
