Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/135

 LENGTH OF THE MACEDONIAN PIKE. 103 puoh a point. He Tvas above thirty years of age at the time of the last Avar of the Komans ajiainst the Macedonian king Perseus, in which Avar he himself served. He Avas intimately acquainted Avith Seipio, tl)e son of Paulus Emilius, Avho gained the battle of Pydna. Lastly, he had paid great attention to tactics, and had even Avritten an express work on the subject. It might indeed be imagined, that the statement of Poly bins, though ti'ue "^s to his own time, Avas not true as to the time of Philip and Alexander. But there is nothing to countenance such a suspicion — which moreover is expressly disclaimed by RiistoAv and Kochly. Doubtless tAventy-one feet is a prodigious length, unmanageable, ex- cept by men properly trained, and inconvenient for all evolutions, ^ut these are just the terms under Avhich the pike of the phalangite is always spoken of. So Livy, xxxi. 39, " Erant jaleraque silvestria circa, cncommoda phalangi maxima Macedonum : qua;, nisi iibi prcelonght /imtis velut vallum ante clypeos objecit (quod ut fiat, libero oampo opus est) nullius admodum usus est." Compare also Livy, xliv. 40, 41, where, among other intimations of the immense length of the pike, Ave (5nd, " Si carptim aggrediendo, circumagere immob'dein longiludine el graritate hastam cogas, confusi strue implicatur : " also xxxiii. 8, 9. Xenophon tells us that the Ten Thousand Greeks in their retreat had to fight their Avay across the territory of the Chalybes,Avho carried a pike fifteen cubits long, together Avith a short sword ; he does not mention a «hield, but they Avore greaves and helmets (Anab. iv. 7, 15). This is a /ength grcHter than whatPolybius ascribes to the pike of the Macedonian j)halangile. The Mosynoeki defended their citadel " Avith pikes so long and thick t}iat a man could hardly carry them " (Anabas. v. 4, 25). In the IliaiJ, when the Trojans are pressing hard upon the Greek ships, and seeking to set them on fire, Ajax is described as planting himself upon the poop, and keeping off the assailants Avith a thrustlng-plkc of twenty-two cubiis or thirty-three feet in length (S,vgjov vav^nc/ov iv nahijuijotr — dvoyy.ai£iy.ooiTZ)jXv, Iliad, xv. G78). The spear of Hek- tor is ten cubits, or eleven cubits, in length — Intended to be hurled (Iliad, vi. 319 ; A'iii. 494) — the reading Is not settled, whether i'yj^og i/ sydiy.a7Trjyv, or £//ot," t/ev deyunrj)^v. The Swiss infantry, and the Gennan Landsknechte, In the sixteenth century, Avere in many respects a reproduction of the Macedonian phalanx : close ranks, deep files, long pikes, and the three or four first ranks, composed of the strongest and bravest men in the regiment — either ofiicers, or picked soldiers receiving double pay. The lengtli and impenetrable array of their pikes enabled them to resist the charge of the heavy cavalry or men at arms : they Avere irresistible in front, unless an enemy could find means to break in among the pikes, Avhich was sometimes, though rarely, done. Their great confidence Avas in the length of the pike — Macciavelll says of them (RitrattI dell' Ala- magna, Opere t. iv. p. 159 ; and Dell' Arte della GuciTa, p. 232-236),