01-24-2014, 12:42 AM
Polybius does suggest a standerd "quincunx" (as Duncan Campbell pointed out, not modern coinage) schema of maniples covering down on the gaps in front, although the context is Scipio's unorthodox tactics at Zama, in which his maniples were instead arrayed in column.
(Polybius 15.9.6-7, Loeb via Lacus Curtius)
Scipio drew up his army in the following fashion. In front he placed the hastati with certain intervals between the maniples and behind them the principes, not placing their maniples, as is the usual Roman custom, opposite to the intervals separating those of the first line, but directly behind these latter at a certain distance owing to the large number of the enemy's elephants.
πλὴν ὁ μὲν Πόπλιος ἔθηκε τὰς τάξεις τῶν
ἰδίων δυνάμεων τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον. πρῶτον μὲν
τοὺς ἁστάτους καὶ τὰς τούτων σημαίας ἐν διαστήμασιν,
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις τοὺς πρίγκιπας, τιθεὶς τὰς
σπείρας οὐ κατὰ τὸ τῶν πρώτων σημαιῶν διάστημα,
καθάπερ ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, ἀλλὰ καταλλήλους
ἐν ἀποστάσει διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἐναν-
τίοις ἐλεφάντων·
(Polybius 15.9.6-7, Loeb via Lacus Curtius)
Scipio drew up his army in the following fashion. In front he placed the hastati with certain intervals between the maniples and behind them the principes, not placing their maniples, as is the usual Roman custom, opposite to the intervals separating those of the first line, but directly behind these latter at a certain distance owing to the large number of the enemy's elephants.
πλὴν ὁ μὲν Πόπλιος ἔθηκε τὰς τάξεις τῶν
ἰδίων δυνάμεων τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον. πρῶτον μὲν
τοὺς ἁστάτους καὶ τὰς τούτων σημαίας ἐν διαστήμασιν,
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις τοὺς πρίγκιπας, τιθεὶς τὰς
σπείρας οὐ κατὰ τὸ τῶν πρώτων σημαιῶν διάστημα,
καθάπερ ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, ἀλλὰ καταλλήλους
ἐν ἀποστάσει διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἐναν-
τίοις ἐλεφάντων·
