He read the Iliad with avidity, called this the guide to the
military art, and desired to imitate its heroes. He was truly born to
conquer, for he loved to fight and was ambitious to distinguish
himself. His father said to him, "Macedon is too small to contain
you."
=The Phalanx.=--Philip left a powerful instrument of conquest, the
Macedonian army, the best that Greece had seen. It comprised the
phalanx of infantry and a corps of cavalry.
The phalanx of Macedonians was formed of 16,000 men ranged with 1,000
in front and 16 men deep. Each had a sarissa, a spear about twenty
feet in length. On the field of battle the Macedonians, instead of
marching on the enemy facing all in the same direction, held
themselves in position and presented their pikes to the enemy on all
sides, those in the rear couching their spears above the heads of the
men of the forward ranks. The phalanx resembled "a monstrous beast
bristling with iron," against which the enemy was to throw itself.
While the phalanx guarded the field of battle, Alexander charged the
enemy at the head of his cavalry. This Macedonian cavalry was a
distinguished body formed of young nobles.
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