The aged Nestor remembers and approves of a mode of fighting which, at Troy, has become obsolete, owing to the new system of dismounting the men-at-arms and arraying them in line or in column of attack. He says to his Pylians (_Iliad_, iv. 303 _seqq_.), "Neither let any man, trusting to his horsemanship and valour, be eager to fight the Trojans alone before the rest, nor yet let him draw back.... But whensoever a warrior from his own chariot can come at the chariot of the foe, let him thrust forth with his spear, even so is the far better way," the _old_ way. "The style of fighting is not Epic," says Mr. Leaf. It is meant not to be "Epic"; it is old-fashioned, like Nestor. We know "the old way" from pictures on Egyptian monuments, showing the charge of squadrons using the bow, and routing an irregular advance of Hittite chariotry, using the spear. But, under Troy, the combatants usually fight dismounted; always, in the opening of a general action. But though Nestor recommends the old chariotry tactics, Herr Mülder says that he is recommending the historic, "the modern method," and attributing it to the old military school of his youth (οἱ πρότεροι).[27] The general purpose is to prove that "edifying passages from the old Ionic hortatory writers seem to have been introduced into Homer."[28] The tactics and military formations of Homer are as intelligible as those of Chandos and Henry v. They can only be misunderstood by critics under the suggestion of the idea that the _Iliad_ is riddled with Ionian tamperings. The Ionians never touched the matter of the _Iliad_. [1] _Iliad_, xi. 49, _ αὐτοὶ δὲ πρυλέες σὐν τέύχεσιθωρηχθέντες_. Cf. v. 744, _πρυλέες_ "may mean either _footmen_ or _champions_." Leaf. [2] _Iliad_, xi. 59-66. [3] xi. 67-69. [4] θαλάγγαι, xi. 90. [5] _Iliad_, xii. 3, _μάχοντο ὀμιλαδόν_. Cf. xii. 35, 36. [6] xii. 66-107. [7] _Iliad, xiii_. 81-124. [8] xiii. 80-90. [9] πτύσσοντο, xiii. 134. [10] xiii. 128-133. [11] xiii. 144-148. [12] xiii. 789-906. [13] xiii. 833-837. [14] xv. 299-301. [15] _Iliad_, xv. 328. [16] xv. 343-366. [17] i. 241-244. [18] i. 409-412. [19] ix. 653-656. [20] xvi. 1-155. [21] Rapid retreat, xi. 359-360. Rapid pursuit, viii. 87-90, 340-349. Leaf on viii. 348. Cf. Caesar, _Bellum Gallicum_, iv. 33. Chariot in attendance to remove wounded hero, xi. 273, 399. Quick mounting and dismounting, xvi. 426, 427. [22] Ridgeway, _E. A. G._, vol. i. pp. 313-315. [23] _R. G. E._ pp. 141-143. _Homer und die altjonische Elegie_, pp. 32-41. [24] _R. G. E._ p. 143.