Alexander’s cap, the shaved beard, and the Roman kit
A sign that the fighters' faces were left free under a Laconian felt cap in the Macedonian arming: they call this thing, and this practice, the soldier-king's. Alexander himself ordered the soldiers to shave their beards, and when someone rebuked him for shearing off the ornament of the face, he said: "You do not know, you unmilitary man, that there is no more convenient grip in a fight than a beard." Coming to close quarters with this arming, no barbarian would hold out, however he was equipped.
The Romans have a helmet of a single material, leaving the faces a little open for breath and sight, reaching down to the shoulder-blades, and tightening the neck so that it cannot turn; a chain-mail breastplate; one greave; a long sword; and a rectangular shield carried as a screen by the end of the hand. In the locking of shields this is weaker for the body, because the soldier cannot throw his whole shoulder into the weapon. Their spears are shorter than the Greek.
They fight with success against the panoply already described. They have safety from things nearly equal, but they have the advantage in lightness: they are easy for attacks and withdrawals, quicker at taking high ground, and by the use of the long sword they are ready to strike the Greek neck, getting the blow in before the close fight. They too have trained every art of fighting at close quarters, so that the experience is equal on both sides, and the advantage is the lightness of the dress.
So that the point of their spears may not be blunted, and so that they may not be broken against the Greek breastplates, they fitted a missile with skill and, pushing, pierced the scales.
So those who have always been beaten by the Greeks — the very men who have almost always beaten the Greeks — rarely beat them. The first cause is this: they do not rush running into the clash, so as not to leave the baggage behind; they are always shut up in the brick-shape of the army; and they go down on the knee, tiling the army with overlays of shields, in their eagerness to spend the Parthian missiles. This practice makes them both idle and unharmed, worn by sun and toil, while the barbarians come on in relays and withdraw again, resting by the interval-sendings of the nations. Further, no Roman fights by himself, nor does any become a champion fighting the mass in single combat.
Greek
σημεῖον δὲ <τὸ> ἐλευθέρας τῶν μαχομένων τὰς ὄψεις ὑπὸ πίλῳ Λακωνικῷ ἐν τῇ Μακεδονικῇ γεγενῆσθαι· καλοῦσι δὲ χρῆμα καὶ ἐπιτήδευμα <τοῦτο> τὸ τοῦ στρατιώτου βασιλέως. Αὐτός τε γὰρ καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκέλευσε ξυρεῖσθαι τοὺς πώγωνας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος καί τινος ἐπιτιμήσαντος ὅτι τοῦ προσώπου τὸν κόσμον ἀποκείροι, ὃ δὲ «οὐκ οἶσθα γὰρ» ἔφη «ὦ ἀστράτευτε, πώγωνος ἐν μάχῃ μὴ εἶναι εὐκαιροτέραν λαβήν». Τήνδε οὖν τὴν ὅπλισιν ἐν χρῷ γενόμενος οὐκ ἂν οὐδεὶς ὑπομείνειεν, ὅπως ἂν ᾖ ἐσταλμένος, βάρβαρος. Ῥωμαίοις δὲ κράνος ὕλης ἁπλῆς, τοῖς μὲν προσώποις λεῖπον ὀλίγον ἀναπνοῆς τε καὶ ὄψεως, ἄχρις <δ'> ἐπὶ τὰς ὠμοπλάτας καθῆκον, ἀπερίστροφον τὸν αὐχένα σφίγγον, ἁλυσιδωτὸς θώραξ, κνημὶς μία, μακρὰ ἡ σπάθη, θυρεὸς πρόβλημα ἄκρᾳ χειρὶ φορούμενον· ἀδρανέστερον εἰς τὸ σῶμα τῷ συνασπισμῷ γίνεται, τοῦ στρατιώτου μὴ ἔχοντος παντὶ τῷ ὤμῳ ἐς τὸ ὅπλον ἐμπεσεῖν· δόρατα δ' αὐτοῖς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν κολοβώτερα. Μάχονται δὲ κατὰ τῆς προειρημένης πανοπλίας εὐτυχῶς· τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀσφάλειαν ἔχουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν σχεδὸν ἴσων, πλεονεκτοῦσι <δὲ> τῇ κουφότητι, εἴς τε ἐφόδους καὶ ἀναχωρήσεις εὔκολοι καὶ ἐπὶ κατάληψιν ὑπερδεξίων χωρίων θάττονες, τῇ τε τῆς σπάθης χρήσει εὐκατάφοροι εἰς τὴν τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ αὐχένος κροῦσιν, προλαμβάνοντες τῇ πληγῇ τὴν συμπλοκήν. Πρὸς δὲ καὶ πᾶσαν ἀγχεμάχου παρατάξεως καὶ αὐτοὶ γεγυμνάκασι τέχνην, ὡς εἶναι τὸ μὲν ἐμπειρίας παρ' ἀμφοτέροις ἴσον, πλεονεκτεῖν δὲ τῷ τῆς στολῆς κούφῳ. Ὡς δὲ μὴ ἀμβλύνεσθαι αὐτοῖς τὴν τῶν δοράτων κεντότητα μηδὲ θραύεσθαι τῇ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν θωράκων προσβολῇ, βέλος ἐντέχνως ἐφαρμόσαντες, τὰς φολίδας διέπειρον ὤσαντες. Τοὺς οὖν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων αἰεὶ νενικημένους οἱ τοὺς Ἕλληνας σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν ἀεὶ νενικηκότες σπανίως ἐνίκησαν. Αἴτιον δὲ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ <μὴ> ἵεσθαι δρόμῳ ἐς τὰς συμπλοκὰς τῷ μὴ τὰ σκευοφόρα ἀπολιπεῖν· ἀεὶ δὲ τῷ πλινθίῳ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐγκέκλειται· καθιᾶσίν τε ἐς γόνυ, κεραμώσαντες τὸν στρατὸν ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς τῶν ἀσπίδων τῇ σπουδῇ τοῦ ἀναλῶσαι τὰ Πάρθων βέλη· τόδε δὲ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα καὶ ἀπράκτους ᾗ καὶ ἀπαθεῖς καθίστησιν ἡλίῳ καὶ κόπῳ ταλαιπωρουμένους, τῶν βαρβάρων ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἐπιόντων καὶ ἀναχωρούντων πάλιν, ταῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκ διαλείμματος ἐπιπομπαῖς ἀναπαυομένων. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ μάχεται Ῥωμαῖος καθ' αὑτὸν οὐδείς, οὐδέ τις γίνεται πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος μονομαχῶν ἀριστεύς·