Part 28 (2/2)

[Footnote 17: Any one who wishes to read in extenso is referred to the fight of the ten thousand against Pharnabazus in Bithynia, Xenophon, par. 34, page 569, Lisken & Sauvan edition.--In Polybius, the battle of the Tecinus, Chapt. XIII, of Book III.--In Caesar or those who followed him the battles against Scipio, Labienus, and Afranius, the Getae and the Numidians, par. 61, page 282, and par. 69, 70, 71 and 72, pp. 283, 285, and 286, in the African war, Lisken & Sauvan edition.]

[Footnote 18: In ancient combat, there was almost only, dead or lightly wounded.

In action, a severe wound or one that incapacitated a man was immediately followed by the finis.h.i.+ng stroke.]

[Footnote 19: Hand-to-hand, sword-to-sword, serious fighting at short distances, was rare then. Likewise in the duels of our day blades are rarely crossed in actual practice.]

[Footnote 20: To-day, it is the riflemen who do nearly all the work of destruction.]

[Footnote 21: Considering Caesar's narrative what becomes of the mathematical theory of ma.s.ses, which is still discussed? If that theory had the least use, how could Marius ever have held out against the tide of the armies of the Cimbri and Teutons? In the battle of Pharsalus, the advice given by Triarius to Pompey's army, a counsel which was followed and which was from a man of experience, who had seen things close at hand, shows that the shock, the physical impulse of the ma.s.s was a by-word.

They knew what to think of it.]

[Footnote 22: The individual advance, in modern battle, in the midst of blind projectiles that do not choose, is much less dangerous than in ancient times, because it seldom goes up to the enemy.

At Pharsalus, the volunteer Crastinius, an old centurion, moved ahead with about a hundred men, saying to Caesar: ”I am going to act, general, in such a way that, living or dead, to-day you may have cause to be proud of me.”

Caesar, to whom these examples of blind devotion to his person were not displeasing, and whose troops had shown him that they were too mature, too experienced, to fear the contagion of this example, let Crastinius and his companions go out to be killed.

Such blind courage influences the action of the ma.s.s that follows.

Probably for that reason, Caesar permitted it. But against reliable troops, as the example of Crastinius proves, to move ahead in this way, against the enemy, is to go to certain death.]

[Footnote 23: The men of the maniple, of the Roman company, mutually gave their word never to leave ranks, except to pick up an arrow, to save a comrade (a Roman citizen), or to kill an enemy. (Livy).]

[Footnote 24: A small body of troops falling into a trap might present a sort of melee, for a second, the time necessary for its slaughter. In a rout it might be possible at some moment of the butchery to have conflict, a struggle of some men with courage, who want to sell their lives dearly. But this is not a real melee. Men are hemmed in, overwhelmed, but not thrown into confusion.]

[Footnote 25: The Greek phalanx.]

[Footnote 26: The Romans lost no one as their companies entered the openings in the phalanx.]

[Footnote 27: The Roman velites, light-armed soldiers, of the primitive legion before Marius, were required to stand for an instant in the intervals of the maniples, while awaiting the onset. They maintained, but only for an instant, the continuity of support.]

[Footnote 28: A result forced by the improvement of war appliances.]

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