DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0481
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OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE. 465
hived a place, where altars were erected to the gods and all parts of di-
vine service solemnly performed: in the same place public assemblies
were called together, when the general had any thing to communicate to
his soldiers ; and courts of justice were held, wherein all controversies
among the soldiers were decided, and criminals sentenced to punishment:
which custom was as ancient as the Trojan war, and is mentioned by Ho-
mer (1) ;
-Kurd viiac 'OJWirSioc •S'skho
\$i S-ffflv Tla.rpox.'Kas, Iva. <rp' ttyofi ts. Tt
"Hkv' th tT>) xai <7<pi 3-suiv 1t6T«^cto Sai/Aoi,
Soon as he came, where, on the crowded strand,
The public mart and courts of justice stand;
"Where the tall fleet of great Ulysses lies,
And altars to the guardian gods arise. pope,
When they were in danger of having their camp attacked, it was usual
to fortify it with a trench and rampire, or wall, on the sides whereof they
erected turrets not unlike those upon the walls of cities, out of which
they annoyed their enemies with missive weapons. Thus, the Grecians
in Homer were forced to defend themselves in the ninth year of the Tro-
jan war, when Achilles refused to assist them ; whereas, till that time,
they had wanted no fortifications, but immured the Trojans within their
own walls.
The manner of living in camps depended upon the disposition of their
generals, some of which allowed their soldiers all sorts of excess and
debauchery ; others obliged them to the strictest rules of temperance
and sobriety ; a remarkable instance whereof we have in Philip of Ma-
cedon, who (as Polybius reports) condemned two of his soldiers to ba-
nishment for no other offence, than because he had found them with a
singing-woman in his camp. But the Grecian discipline was not always so
severe and rigid, as may appear from Plutarch (2), who tells us, that the
Lacedaemonians alone, of all the Grecians, had no stage-players, no jug-
glers, no dancing or singing-women attending them, but were free from
all sorts of debauchery and looseness, of gaudy pomp and foppery; the
young men, when commanded nothing by their general, were always em-
ployed in some exercise, or manly study ; the old were busied in giving
instructions, or receiving them from persons more skilful than themselves;
and their looser hours were diverted with their usual drollery, and ral-
lying one another facetiously after the Laconic fashion : yet their lawgiver
allowed them greater liberty in the camp than at other times, to invite
them to serve with delight in the wars ; for whilst they were in the fieldt
their exercises were more moderate than at home, their fare not so hard,
nor so strict a hand kept over them by their governors ; so that they
were the only people in the world, to whom war gave repose. They
were likewise allowed to have costly arms, and fine clothes, and frequent-
ly perfumed themselves and curled their hair: whence we read, that
Xerxes was struck with admiration, when the scouts brought him word,
the Lacedaemonian guards were at gymnical sports, and curling their
hair (3).
It was also customary at Athens for horsemen to nourish their hair,
Hence the following words of Aristophanes (4) ;
(1) Iliad. V. 806.
(2) Cleomene, p= 8t0. edit. Paris, et Lycur-
(3) Herodotus, lib. vii. cap. 208,et209
(4) Nubibus, act. i. sc. 1.
OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE. 465
hived a place, where altars were erected to the gods and all parts of di-
vine service solemnly performed: in the same place public assemblies
were called together, when the general had any thing to communicate to
his soldiers ; and courts of justice were held, wherein all controversies
among the soldiers were decided, and criminals sentenced to punishment:
which custom was as ancient as the Trojan war, and is mentioned by Ho-
mer (1) ;
-Kurd viiac 'OJWirSioc •S'skho
\$i S-ffflv Tla.rpox.'Kas, Iva. <rp' ttyofi ts. Tt
"Hkv' th tT>) xai <7<pi 3-suiv 1t6T«^cto Sai/Aoi,
Soon as he came, where, on the crowded strand,
The public mart and courts of justice stand;
"Where the tall fleet of great Ulysses lies,
And altars to the guardian gods arise. pope,
When they were in danger of having their camp attacked, it was usual
to fortify it with a trench and rampire, or wall, on the sides whereof they
erected turrets not unlike those upon the walls of cities, out of which
they annoyed their enemies with missive weapons. Thus, the Grecians
in Homer were forced to defend themselves in the ninth year of the Tro-
jan war, when Achilles refused to assist them ; whereas, till that time,
they had wanted no fortifications, but immured the Trojans within their
own walls.
The manner of living in camps depended upon the disposition of their
generals, some of which allowed their soldiers all sorts of excess and
debauchery ; others obliged them to the strictest rules of temperance
and sobriety ; a remarkable instance whereof we have in Philip of Ma-
cedon, who (as Polybius reports) condemned two of his soldiers to ba-
nishment for no other offence, than because he had found them with a
singing-woman in his camp. But the Grecian discipline was not always so
severe and rigid, as may appear from Plutarch (2), who tells us, that the
Lacedaemonians alone, of all the Grecians, had no stage-players, no jug-
glers, no dancing or singing-women attending them, but were free from
all sorts of debauchery and looseness, of gaudy pomp and foppery; the
young men, when commanded nothing by their general, were always em-
ployed in some exercise, or manly study ; the old were busied in giving
instructions, or receiving them from persons more skilful than themselves;
and their looser hours were diverted with their usual drollery, and ral-
lying one another facetiously after the Laconic fashion : yet their lawgiver
allowed them greater liberty in the camp than at other times, to invite
them to serve with delight in the wars ; for whilst they were in the fieldt
their exercises were more moderate than at home, their fare not so hard,
nor so strict a hand kept over them by their governors ; so that they
were the only people in the world, to whom war gave repose. They
were likewise allowed to have costly arms, and fine clothes, and frequent-
ly perfumed themselves and curled their hair: whence we read, that
Xerxes was struck with admiration, when the scouts brought him word,
the Lacedaemonian guards were at gymnical sports, and curling their
hair (3).
It was also customary at Athens for horsemen to nourish their hair,
Hence the following words of Aristophanes (4) ;
(1) Iliad. V. 806.
(2) Cleomene, p= 8t0. edit. Paris, et Lycur-
(3) Herodotus, lib. vii. cap. 208,et209
(4) Nubibus, act. i. sc. 1.