MACEDONIAN PHALANX. 59 training his poor Macedonian infantry to the systematic use oi the long two-handed pike. The Theban colunui, charging a pha« hinx so armed, found themselves unable to break into the array of protended pikes, or to come to push of shield. We are told that at the battle of Chseroneia, the front rank Theban soldiers, tli; chosen men of the city, all perished on the ground ; and this w not wonderful, when we conceive them as rushing, by their own courage as well as by the pressure upon them from behind, upon a wall of Pikes double the length of their own. "We must look at Philip's phalanx with reference to the enemies before him, not with reference to the later Roman organization, which Polybius brings into comparison. It answered perfectly the purposes of Philip, who wanted mainly to stand the shock in front, thus over- powering Grecian hoplites in their own mode of attack. Now Polybius informs us, that the phalanx was never once beaten, in front and on ground suitable for it ; and wherever the ground was fit for hoplites, it waa also fit for the phalanx. The incon- veniences of PhiHp's array, and of the long pikes, arose from the incapacity of the phalanx to change its front or keep its order on unequal ground ; but such inconveniences were hardly less felt by Grecian hoplites.^ The Macedonian phalanx, denominated the Pezetajri'- or Foot Companions of the King, comprised the general body of native ' The impression of admiration, and even terror, with which the Roman general Paulus Emilius was seized, on first seeing the Macedonian phalanx in battle array at Pydna — has been recorded by Polybius (Polybius, Fragm. xxix. 6, 11 ; Livy, xliv. 40).
- Harpokration and Photius, v. Ue^eraipot, Demosth. Olyntli. ii. p. 23 ;
Arrian, iv. 23, 1. tuv nE^eraipuv KaTiovfiivuv rdf Ta^eic, and ii. 23, 2, etc. Since we know from Demosthenes that the pezetteri date from the time of Philip, it is probable that the passage of Anaximenes (as cited by Har- pokration and Photius) which refers them to Alexander, has ascribed to the son what really belongs to the father. The term kralpoi, in reference to the kings of Macedonia, first appears in Plutarch, Pelopidas, 27, in reference to Ptolemy, before the time of Philip ; see Otto Abel, Makedonien vor Konig Philip, p. 129 (the passage of iElian referred to by him seems of little moment). The term Companions or Comrades had under Philip a meaning purely military, designating foreigners as well as Macedonians serving in his army: see Thcopompus, Frag. 249. The term, originally applied only to a select. few. was by degrees extended to the corps generally.
