sham-fight

sham-fight: pugnae sĭmŭlācrum: he exhibited a naval s.-f., classem ostendit simulacrum edentem navalis pugnae, Liv. 29, 22: so, id. 26, 51: cf. Virg. Aen. 5, 585, pugnae cient [prose, edunt] simulacra sub armis (a phr. borrowed from Lucr.). Phr.: they executed a s.-f. with wooden swords, rudibus inter se in modum justae pugnae concurrerunt, Liv. 26, 51. (Not decursio, which, like the verb decurrere, denotes simply the performance of military evolution, as in a review.)