ABSTRACT
In the summer of 423, the allied forces led by the Spartan Brasidas faced the threat of an imminent attack from a far greater army of Illyrians. At its core, Brasidas' speech sounds like a lesson on the basic principles of the hoplite style of fighting. Aside from what was explicitly said on the importance of 'standing one's ground' Brasidas also seems to suggest the existence of a relationship between the type of fighting style adopted by an army and the frame of mind prevailing amongst its ranks. The Syracusan soldiers ought to combine it with εὐταξία, a term conventionally regarded as a technical principle of warfare and translated accordingly as 'order in the ranks'/'discipline'. When framed within a military context shaped after Hermocrates' technical view on warfare, the term εὐταξία would seem to be defined accordingly and acquire the 'technical' sense after which scholarship usually understands it.
