mountains; at least, the place is designated
as a narrow defile by the ancient historian who narrates these events,
though, from the number of men that were engaged in the action which
ensued, as well as from the nature of the action itself, as a
historian describes it, it would seem that there must have been a
considerable breadth of level ground in the bottom of the gorge.

The main body of Antigonus's troops was the phalanx. The Macedonian
phalanx is considered one of the most extraordinary military
contrivances of ancient times. The invention of it was ascribed to
Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, though it is probable that
it was only improved and perfected, and brought into general use, but
not really originated by him. The single phalanx was formed of a body
of about four thousand men. These men were arranged in a compact form,
the whole body consisting of sixteen ranks, and each rank of two
hundred and fifty-six men. These men wore each a short sword, to be
used in cases of emergency, and were defended by large shields. The
main peculiarity, however, of their armor, and the one on which the
principal power of the phalanx depended as a military body, was in the
immensely long spears which they carried. These spears were generally
twenty-one, and sometimes twenty-four feet long. The handles were
slender, though strong, and the points were tipped with steel. The
spears were not intended to be thrown, but to be held firmly in the
hands, and pointed toward the enemy; and they were so long, and the
ranks of the men were so close together, that the spears of the fifth
rank projected several feet before the men who stood in the front
rank. Thus each man in the front rank had five steel-pointed spears
projecting to different distances before him, while the men who stood
in ranks further behind rested their spears upon the shoulders of
those who were before them, so as to elevate the points into the air.

The men were protected by large shields, which, when the phalanx was
formed in close array, just touched each other, and formed an
impregnable defense. In a word, the phalanx, as it moved slowly over
the plain, presented the appearance of a vast monster, covered with
scales, and bristling with points of steel--a sort of military
porcupine, which nothing could approach or in any way injure. Missiles
thrown toward it were intercepted by the shields, and fell harmless to
the ground. Darts, arrows, javelins, and e