The regulations which I have mentioned are beneficial alike in peace
and in war; but if any one wishes to learn what the lawgiver contrived
better than other legislators with reference to military proceedings,
he may attend to the following particulars:
In the first place, then, the ephors give the cavalry and infantry
public notice of the years during which they must join the army, as
well as the artizans; for the Lacedæmonians provide themselves in the
field with an abundance of all those things which people use in a
city; and of whatever instruments an army may require in common,
orders are given to bring some on wagons and others on beasts of
burden, as by this arrangement anything left behind is least likely to
escape notice.
For engagements in the field he made the following arrangements: He
ordered that each soldier should have a purple robe and a brazen
shield; for he thought that such a dress had least resemblance to that
of women, and was excellently adapted for the field of battle, as it
is soonest made splendid, and is longest in growing soiled. He
permitted also those above the age of puberty to let their hair grow,
as he thought that they thus appeared taller, more manly, and more
terrible in the eyes of the enemy.
When they were thus equipped, he divided them into six moræ of cavalry
and heavy-armed infantry. Each of these moræ of the citizens has one
polemarch, four centurions, eight captains of fifty, and sixteen
enomotarchs. The men of these moræ are sometimes, according to the
command issued, formed in enomotiæ, sometimes by threes, sometimes by
sixes. As to what most people imagine, that the arrangement of the
Lacedæmonians under arms is extremely complex, they conceive the exact
contrary to what is the fact; for in the Lacedæmonian order the
officers are placed in the front ranks, and each rank is in a
condition to perform everything which it is necessary for it to
perform. So easy is it to understand this arrangement that no one who
can distinguish one man from another would fail of learning it; for it
is assigned to some to lead, and enjoined on others to follow.
Shiftings of place, by which the companies are extended or deepened,
are ordered by the word of the enomotarch, as by a herald; and in
these there is nothing in the least difficult to learn.
But how it is possible for men in this arrangement, even if they are
thrown into confusion, to fight with an enemy presenting themselves on
any quarter alike, it is not so easy to understand, except for those
who have been brought up under the institution of Lycurgus. The
Lacedæmonians do with the greatest ease what appears extremely
difficult to other men that are even accustomed to arms. For when they
march in column, one enomotia follows in the rear of another; and if,
when they are in this order, a body of the enemy shows itself in
front, orders are given to each enomotarch to bring up his enomotia to
the front on the left; and this movement is made throughout the whole
army, until it presents itself in full array against the enemy. But if
again, while they are in this order, the enemy should show themselves
in the rear, each rank performs the evolution, that the strongest may
always be presented to the enemy.
But when the commander is on the left, they do not in that case
consider themselves in a worse condition, but sometimes even in a
better; for if an enemy should attempt to encompass them, he would
come round, not on the defenseless, but on the armed side. If on any
occasion, again, it should appear advantageous, for any particular
object, that the commander should occupy the right wing, they wheel
the troop toward the wing, and maneuver the main body until the
commander is on the right, and the rear becomes the left. But if,
again, the body of the enemy appear on the right, marching in column,
they do nothing else but turn each century round, like a ship, so as
to front the enemy; and thus the century which was in the rear comes
to the right. But if the enemy approach on the left, they do not allow
them to come near, but repulse them, or turn their centuries round to
face the enemy; and thus again the century that was in the rear takes
its place on the left.