Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/163

 STRATAGEMS, II. iii. 16-17

Against this formation Scipio drew up the flower of his leirioiis in tliree successive front lines, arran<red accordin<^ to liaslali, principes, and Iriarii,^ not making the cohorts touch, but leaving a space between the detached companies through which the elephants driven by the eneni}' might easily be allowed to pass without throwing the ranks into confusion. These intervals he filled with light-armed skirmishers, that the line might show no gaps, giving them instructions to withdraw to the rear or the flanks at the first onset of the elephants. The cavalry he distributed on the flanks, jilacing Laelius in charge of the Roman horsemen on the right, and Masinissa in charge of the Numidians on the left. This shrewd scheme of arrangement was undoubtedly the cause of his victory. 2

In the battle against Lucius Sulla, Archelaus placed his scythe-bearing chariots in front, for the j>urpose of throwing the enemy into confusion ; in tiie second line he posted the Macedonian phalanx, and in the third line auxiliaries armed after the Roman way, with a sprinkling of Italian runaway slaves, in whose doggedness he had the greatest confidence. In the last line he stationed the light- armed troops, while on the two flanks, for the purpose of enveloping the enemy, he placed the cavalry, of whom he had a great number.

To meet these dispositions, Sulla constructed trenches of great breadth on each flank, and at their ends built strong redoubts. By this device he avoided the danger of being enveloped by the enemy, who outnumbered him in infantry and especially in cavalry. Next he arranged a triple line of infantry, leaving intervals through which to send, according

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