Subarmalis in the literary sources

[D B Campbell]

Neither does Tomlin argue that by subarmalis he means a lance couched in the arm-pit. Tomlin cites Josephus to show that a rider carried javelins in a quiver slang alongside, and thus under or below rider's arm.

To be honest, I think Tomlin has gone waaay out on a limb here, and it's starting to crack behind him.

He obviously has Cornelius Nepos' phrase subalare telum rattling around in his head. Nepos is telling the story of how Alcibiades was caught without his sword, so he appropriated a friend's subalare telum. The phrase seems to be a hapax, so its meaning must be deduced from the context (subalare is literally "under the wing", telum is a weapon). There is a similar Greek phrase, rather better documented and definitely more common, ὑπὸ μάλης, "under the arm-pit" -- Plato, for one, mentions that a dagger might be concealed there.

Tomlin adds the two together to get a meaning for subarmalis, but what he has really got is a meaning for subalaris. He thinks that's close enough. I don't.