Let us now discuss in more detail the close-in combat at the front line. What was happening at the point of attack? One calls to mind othismos, the term that refers to the pushing that occurred when two phalanxes encountered each other. There has been much debate about this; how much pushing took place and what it accomplished during battle. The Romans did not fight this way. Their shields were not designed to use as a battering ram and the notion of a unified force pushing on the line would contradict the Roman design for mobility and flexibility. Caesar once commanded his maniples to spread out and make fighting room – opposite of what he would say if a concentrated force was his aim.
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