Polibio y el arte de la guerra: propuesta de identificación de algunos pasajes de su Tratado de táctica perdido

Abstract

Polybius and the art of war: proposal for the identification of some passages from his lost Treatise on tactics – Polybius retains in his Histories traces of an expert in military historiography, a genre that he had previously cultivated, probably in early youth years. From testimonies such as Aelianus Tacticus (I 2) including Polybius among the writers of military genre, the author’s own testimony regarding a lost treatise on Commentaries on military tactics (Ὑπομνήματα περὶ τὰς τάξεις, IX 20, 4) can be agreed, even though only the title has been preserved. Nevertheless, the place in which this bibliographical citation is found and the prevailing scientific style, in addition to application of intertextuality criteria, encourages us to propose, furthermore, the chapters from 12 to 20 in book IX as indirect evidences of this lost handbook. Likewise, chapters of book X dealing with the issue of signals on fire (X 43-45), would support the hypothesis that a meaningful part of the treatise is preserved in both consecutive books.