| Title: | Military dances |
| Original Title: | Danses militaires |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 4 (1754), p. 627 |
| Author: | Louis de Cahusac (biography) |
| Translator: | Tamara Caulkins [Oregon State University] |
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.681 |
| Citation (MLA): | Cahusac, Louis de. "Military dances." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Tamara Caulkins. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2019. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.681>. Trans. of "Danses militaires," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 4. Paris, 1754. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Cahusac, Louis de. "Military dances." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Tamara Caulkins. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.681 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Danses militaires," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 4:627 (Paris, 1754). |
Military dances. This is the name given to all the ancient dances that were executed with weapons, and in which the dancers moved in military drill formations. Several authors attribute the invention of these dances to Castor and Pollux; [1] but this is a mistake as is sufficiently demonstrated by what we have already said about the armed dance . [2] These two young heroes undoubtedly executed [this dance] with greater success than other heroes who were their contemporaries; and that is the cause of the mistake.These dances were much in use throughout Greece, but in Sparta above all; they formed part of the education of young people . The Spartans always approached the enemy dancing. What courage ought we not to expect from this mass of young warriors, accustomed since childhood to regard as a game the most terrible battles!
Notes
1. In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux were twin brothers born to Leda of different fathers: Tyndareus (king of Sparta) and Zeus (ruler of the gods of Mount Olympus) respectively.
2. See Cahusac, “Danse armée.”