Πῖλοι means stuffed clothing of wool or felt, whether employed to protect head, body, or feet: and I conceive, with Poppo and others, that it here indicates the body-clothing of the Lacedæmonian hoplite; his body being the part most open to be wounded on the side undefended by the shield, as well as in the rear. That the word πῖλοι will bear this sense may be seen in Pollux, vii, 171; Plato, Timæus, p. 74; and Symposion, p. 220, c. 35: respecting πῖλος as applied to the foot-covering,—Bekker, Chariklês, vol. ii, p. 376.
[551] Thucyd. iv, 35.
[552] Thucyd. iv, 33. τῇ σφετέρᾳ ἐμπειρίᾳ χρήσασθαι, etc.
[553] Thucyd. iv, 36.
[554] Thucyd. iv, 37.
[555] Thucyd. iv. 38. Οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κελεύουσιν ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς περὶ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν βουλεύεσθαι, μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ποιοῦντας.
[556] Thucyd. iv, 38; v, 15.
[557] Thucyd. iv, 39.
[558] Thucyd. iv, 40. παρὰ γνώμην τε δὴ μάλιστα τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτο τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο, etc.
[559] To adopt a phrase, the counterpart of that which has been ascribed to the Vieille Garde of the Emperor Napoleon’s army; compare Herodot. vii, 104.