Note 6 — Chapter III · PREPARATION

A complete description of the organization of the Macedonian army would be out of place in a book of this kind. Any reader who may be anxious to make himself acquainted with the subject will find it treated with much fulness in Grote’s “History of Greece” (vol. xii. pp. 75-89). For my purposes a brief outline will suffice. The Macedonian infantry consisted (1) of the Pezetæri, or Foot Companions, who made up the phalanx, of which I shall have occasion to say something hereafter; (2) the Hypaspistæ, i.e., “shield-bearers,” originally a bodyguard for the person of the king, but afterwards, as has been in the case of many modern armies, our own included, enlarged into a considerable force of light infantry; (3) irregular troops, javelin-throwers, archers, &c. A select corps of actual body-guards was chosen out of the Hypaspistæ. The horse was divided into (1) heavy cavalry, armed with a xyston or thrusting pike; (2) light cavalry, who carried a lighter weapon. These may be called Lancers.