Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
book:
Chapter Headings of Book I
Book II
Book III
Book IV
Book V
Chapter headings of Book VI
Book VII
Book VIII
BOOK IX
Book X
Book XI
Book XII
Book XIII
Chapter Headings of Book XIV
Book XV
Book XVI
Book XVII
Book XVIII
Book XIX
Book XX
Preface
BOOK I
Book II
Book III
BOOK IV
Book V
The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius: Book VI
BOOK VII
Book VIII
Book IX
Book X
BOOK XI
BOOK XII
Book XIII
Book XIV
Book XV
Book XVI
Book XVII
BOOK XVIII
Book XIX
Book XX
chapter:
section:
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
THERE are military terms which are applied to an army drawn up in a certain manner: “the front,” [p. 237] “reserves,” “wedge,” “ring,” “mass,” “shears,” “saw,” “wings,” “towers.” 1 These and some other terms you may find in the books of those who have written about military affairs. However, they are taken from the things themselves to which the names are strictly applied, and in drawing up an army the forms of the objects designated by each of these words is represented.
1 The globus was a detached body of troops, qui a sua acie separatus incursat. The forfex or forceps was arranged in the form of a letter V, to take in the enemy's wedge (cuneues) and attack it on both sides (Veget. iii. 19). The serra was a constant advance and retreat, corresponding to the motion of a saw (Paul. -Fest. p. 467, Linds.). The turris was probably a kind of square formation for attack.
The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1927.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.