[79] All this is from Thucydides V. 66 and V. 68. The drill of each company was carried to the highest pitch of perfection: this at least is clear from the description of their evolutions given in the treatise from which I have so often quoted[80]. The number of men in a company seems to have been normally twenty-five, since two companies were sometimes called a fifty[81]: on some occasions it might be thirty-two or thirty-six. As it was usual at the beginning of a war to call out all the Spartans who were below a certain age[82], it is probable that none but men of the same age were placed together in a company, since in the absence of such an arrangement the proclamation of war might have divided each company into two parts, one part going to fight and the other staying at home. And if each company consisted of equals in age we may conjecture that when a Spartan attained the age of manhood he was immediately sworn in as a member of a company, and with that company he remained throughout his life unless he had to be drafted into another company to fill a vacancy. [80] [Xenophon] _De Rep. Lac._ 11. The description takes up the second half of the chapter. [81] Thus in [Xenophon] _De Rep. Lac._ 11 a commander of two companies is called πεντηκοστήρ or πεντηκοντήρ a captain of fifty. [82] [Xenophon] _De Rep. Lac._ 11: at the beginning of the chapter. On the march one company led the way and the others followed in order. When an enemy came in sight, each regiment was able by means of evolutions of companies to form itself for battle in the dense array of the phalanx; and further by varying the evolutions the phalanx was made to face in any direction that was desired, and it was ensured that the front rank was composed entirely of the very best of the warriors[83]. [83] [Xenophon] _De Rep. Lac._ 11. The description of the evolutions there given is well explained in Smith, _Dictionary of Antiquities_, third edition, vol. I. p. 770, under the word Exercitus. The Spartan soldiers seem to have had no defensive armour except a large brazen shield: their dress was of a bright red[84] colour, and probably consisted of a single large plaid which could be fastened with a brooch at the shoulder[85]: for offensive weapons they had a long spear and short sword[86]. A regiment arranged in phalanx had a front rank of about sixty-four men as in the great battle in 418 B.C.: each of the ranks behind contained the same number, and there were in some cases as many as eight ranks[87]. For a body thus arranged the long spear for thrusting was obviously the best weapon: but the short sword was also needed whenever there was a close combat between man and man. [84] [Xenophon] _De Rep. Lac._ 11: at the beginning of the chapter, στολὴν φοινικίδα. [85] Smith, _Dict. Ant._ third edition, article Tribon. [86] Smith, _Dict. Ant._ third edition, vol. I. p. 773. [87] Thucydides V. 68.