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ἄνοπλοι need only mean ‘without shields’, though the strong expressions below (63. 2) seem to imply that they were also without cuirass or corselet. This was true of the Bactrians, Indians, and Sacae, but some at least of the Persians and Medes wore cuirasses (viii. 113; vii. 61. 1 n.) quilted with scales of metal.

The skill (σοφίη) of the Lacedaemonians may have been shown as at Thermopylae (vii. 211. 3) by a feigned retreat, as is definitely stated in Plato, Laches 191 C. For similar tactics against a shieldwall cf. the Normans at Hastings.

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