05-22-2007, 11:53 PM
You could make a case for the poet Tyrtaeus having commands. 
hock:
The commands in Tactica are quite extensive and although for phalanx tactics, I don't think there should be any issue using them in non-phalanx conexts considering they survived until at least the mid second century AD. Not to mention that phrases like 'shieldward turn' could only be said in limited number of ways. So even though not for 'Roman' tactics I think many would be usable (or at least easily adaptable with the weight that they are 'period' and they continued into the Byzantine period - well, at least the MSS do)
(I won't transliterate the Greek and I have omitted some commands)
Aelian Tactica 42.1:
To your arms
Stand by to take arms
Baggage-men fall out
Silence in the ranks
Attention
Take up arms
Shoulder arms
Take up intervals
Up spears
Dress files
Dress ranks
Keep your original intervals
Spearward face
Forward March
Halt
As you were
Shieldward face
Spearward about face
Shieldward about face
Spearward quarter-turn
Shieldward quarter-turn
Spearward half-turn
Shieldward half-turn
Cheers
Murray
hock: The commands in Tactica are quite extensive and although for phalanx tactics, I don't think there should be any issue using them in non-phalanx conexts considering they survived until at least the mid second century AD. Not to mention that phrases like 'shieldward turn' could only be said in limited number of ways. So even though not for 'Roman' tactics I think many would be usable (or at least easily adaptable with the weight that they are 'period' and they continued into the Byzantine period - well, at least the MSS do)
(I won't transliterate the Greek and I have omitted some commands)
Aelian Tactica 42.1:
To your arms
Stand by to take arms
Baggage-men fall out
Silence in the ranks
Attention
Take up arms
Shoulder arms
Take up intervals
Up spears
Dress files
Dress ranks
Keep your original intervals
Spearward face
Forward March
Halt
As you were
Shieldward face
Spearward about face
Shieldward about face
Spearward quarter-turn
Shieldward quarter-turn
Spearward half-turn
Shieldward half-turn
Cheers
Murray
Murray K Dahm
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
Moderator
\'\'\'\'No matter how many you kill, you cannot kill your successor\'\'\'\' - Seneca to Nero - Dio 62
\'\'\'\'There is no way of correcting wrongdoing in those who think that the height of virtue consists in the execution of their will\'\'\'\' - Ammianus Marcellinus 27.7.9
