05-15-2011, 05:10 PM
@ Macedon: I can see why either might be used, but what we did was simply to copy what we found. Some singular, some plural, without any particular discernable pattern as far as we could tell. We started off with a rule that we would convert them all to plural, then decided it would be better just to mimic the original text where we could find it.
@ Andre: Have you looked at the copious footnotes in the Tactica?
If it took 3 months to learn the military step as relates to how to prevent the marching column to be broken up, it must have been more complicated instruction than "Keep this distance between you and the guy in front of you" That could be done in an afternoon.
And again, we use Mauritius because it exists. We are intellectually certain he built on older works and probably many authors, but we don't have those works to cite. Yes, 500 years is a long time, but amazingly, he duplicates commands that we DO have from Julius Caesar's day, which led us to the conclusion that perhaps his other commands were likewise based on previously known command sets.
As to Adamklissi vs Trajan's Column (different artists, different place) the soldiers on TC are shown not in step, on Adamklissi in step. We concluded that both are correct, and sometimes soldiers were in lockstep, and sometimes not. A testudo formation in random step gets people's feet stepped on. Seems plausible that it would be easier to learn to march in step first, then close up for testudo at the right time. But anyone is certainly allowed to disagree, and march in route step any or all the time.
***
One thing we found in great supply while putting together the Tactica were people who told us, "I know you're doing it wrong" but were not so forthcoming when we asked them "Ok, so what is right, then?" I'm not picking on anyone's statements in particular here. Just sayin'--
@ Andre: Have you looked at the copious footnotes in the Tactica?
If it took 3 months to learn the military step as relates to how to prevent the marching column to be broken up, it must have been more complicated instruction than "Keep this distance between you and the guy in front of you" That could be done in an afternoon.
And again, we use Mauritius because it exists. We are intellectually certain he built on older works and probably many authors, but we don't have those works to cite. Yes, 500 years is a long time, but amazingly, he duplicates commands that we DO have from Julius Caesar's day, which led us to the conclusion that perhaps his other commands were likewise based on previously known command sets.
As to Adamklissi vs Trajan's Column (different artists, different place) the soldiers on TC are shown not in step, on Adamklissi in step. We concluded that both are correct, and sometimes soldiers were in lockstep, and sometimes not. A testudo formation in random step gets people's feet stepped on. Seems plausible that it would be easier to learn to march in step first, then close up for testudo at the right time. But anyone is certainly allowed to disagree, and march in route step any or all the time.
Quote:but I think a far more useable method would have been to use contemporary descriptions of battle manouvers and work backward from them instead.Actually, there was a bunch of that involved in the setup. But really, do you have some sources you can cite that would shed some light on the subject?
***
One thing we found in great supply while putting together the Tactica were people who told us, "I know you're doing it wrong" but were not so forthcoming when we asked them "Ok, so what is right, then?" I'm not picking on anyone's statements in particular here. Just sayin'--
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
