DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0459
OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
487
ranks, head foremost, whereby the iron spikes being fastened to what-
ever came in their way, they burned down all before them (1) : where-
fore they seem to have been of the greatest use to leaguers, to demolish
the enemy's works ; though my author mentioned no such thing.
Concerning military apparel, nothing certain or constant can be relat-
ed ; only it may be observed, that Lycurgus ordered the Lacedaemonians
to clothe their soldiers with scarlet: the reason of which institution seems
either to have been, because that colour is both soonest imbibed by cloth,
and most lasting and durable (2) ; or on the account of its brightness -ind
splendour, which that lawgiver thought conducive to raise men's spirits,
and most suitable to minds animated with true valour (3) ; or, lastly, be-
cause it was most proper to conceal the stains of blood, a sight of which
might either dispirit the raw and unexperienced soldiers of their own
party, or inspire their enemies with fresh life and vigour (4) : which
Eustathius observes to have been well and wisely considered, when he
comments on that passage of Homer, where the cowardly Trojans, upon
seeing Ulysses's blood flow from his wound, receive new courage, and
animating one another, rush with united force upon the hero (5) :
T/>w6f cTs y.vy&QvfAot, kvu /<Pov tLifjC OS'uctmo;.
-The Trojans saw Ulysses' blood
Gush from his wounds ; then with new life inspir'd
Each stir'd the other up, and with joint force
Rush'd on the hero.
It is farther remarkable of the Lacedemonians, that they never engaged
their enemies but with crowns and garlands upon their heads (6\ though
at other times they were unaccustomed to such ornaments : hereby as-
certaining themselves of success, and, as it were, anticipating their vic-
tory, crowns being the ordinary rewards presented to conquerors in all
the parts of Greece. So wonderful, indeed, were the old Lacedaemonian
courage and fortune, that they encountered their enemies fearless and
unconcerned, joining battle with assurance of victory j which was a thing
so common to them, that for their greatest successes, they seldom sacri-
ficed to the gods any more than a cock : nor were they much elevated
when the happy news arrived, nor made presents of any value to the
messengers thereof, as was usual in other cities : for after the famous bat-
tle of Mantinea, we find the person that carried the express of victory,
rewarded only with a piece of powdered beef (7).
The soldiers usually carried their own provisions, which consisted, for
the most part, of salt meat, cheese, olives, onions, &c. To which end
every one had a vessel of wickers (8), with a long, narrow neck, called
yuXiov, whence men with long necks are by the comedian termed in deri-
sion yvXtav-^svss (9).
(1) Suidas. (5) Iliad. V. v. 459.
(2^ Xenoph. de Rep. Laced. (6) Xenophon, item Plut. Lycurgo.
(3) Plutarch, Institut Laconic. (7) Plutarchus A^esilao.
(4) Plut. loc. cit. iElianus, lib. vi. cap. 6. Ya- (8) Aristophan. Soijol. Acbarnens.
lerius Maximus. lib. ii. cap. 6. (9) Pace.
487
ranks, head foremost, whereby the iron spikes being fastened to what-
ever came in their way, they burned down all before them (1) : where-
fore they seem to have been of the greatest use to leaguers, to demolish
the enemy's works ; though my author mentioned no such thing.
Concerning military apparel, nothing certain or constant can be relat-
ed ; only it may be observed, that Lycurgus ordered the Lacedaemonians
to clothe their soldiers with scarlet: the reason of which institution seems
either to have been, because that colour is both soonest imbibed by cloth,
and most lasting and durable (2) ; or on the account of its brightness -ind
splendour, which that lawgiver thought conducive to raise men's spirits,
and most suitable to minds animated with true valour (3) ; or, lastly, be-
cause it was most proper to conceal the stains of blood, a sight of which
might either dispirit the raw and unexperienced soldiers of their own
party, or inspire their enemies with fresh life and vigour (4) : which
Eustathius observes to have been well and wisely considered, when he
comments on that passage of Homer, where the cowardly Trojans, upon
seeing Ulysses's blood flow from his wound, receive new courage, and
animating one another, rush with united force upon the hero (5) :
T/>w6f cTs y.vy&QvfAot, kvu /<Pov tLifjC OS'uctmo;.
-The Trojans saw Ulysses' blood
Gush from his wounds ; then with new life inspir'd
Each stir'd the other up, and with joint force
Rush'd on the hero.
It is farther remarkable of the Lacedemonians, that they never engaged
their enemies but with crowns and garlands upon their heads (6\ though
at other times they were unaccustomed to such ornaments : hereby as-
certaining themselves of success, and, as it were, anticipating their vic-
tory, crowns being the ordinary rewards presented to conquerors in all
the parts of Greece. So wonderful, indeed, were the old Lacedaemonian
courage and fortune, that they encountered their enemies fearless and
unconcerned, joining battle with assurance of victory j which was a thing
so common to them, that for their greatest successes, they seldom sacri-
ficed to the gods any more than a cock : nor were they much elevated
when the happy news arrived, nor made presents of any value to the
messengers thereof, as was usual in other cities : for after the famous bat-
tle of Mantinea, we find the person that carried the express of victory,
rewarded only with a piece of powdered beef (7).
The soldiers usually carried their own provisions, which consisted, for
the most part, of salt meat, cheese, olives, onions, &c. To which end
every one had a vessel of wickers (8), with a long, narrow neck, called
yuXiov, whence men with long necks are by the comedian termed in deri-
sion yvXtav-^svss (9).
(1) Suidas. (5) Iliad. V. v. 459.
(2^ Xenoph. de Rep. Laced. (6) Xenophon, item Plut. Lycurgo.
(3) Plutarch, Institut Laconic. (7) Plutarchus A^esilao.
(4) Plut. loc. cit. iElianus, lib. vi. cap. 6. Ya- (8) Aristophan. Soijol. Acbarnens.
lerius Maximus. lib. ii. cap. 6. (9) Pace.