The Cavalry General
By Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to ttle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Cavalry General is a discour on the merits a cavalry general, or hipparch, in Athens should have. Xenophon also describes the development of a cavalry force, and some tactical details to be applied in the field and in festival exhibition.
The Cavalry General
I
Your first duty is to offer sacrifice, petitioning the gods to grant you such good gifts[2] as shall enable you in thought, word, and deed to discharge your office in the manner most acceptable to Heaven, and
with fullest increa to yourlf, and friends, and to the state at large of affection, glory, and wide ufulness. The goodwill of Heaven[3] so obtained, you shall proceed to mount your troopers, taking care that the full complement which the law demands is reached, and that the normal force of cavalry is not diminished. There will need to be a rerve of remounts, or el a deficiency may occur at any moment,[4] looking to the fact that some will certainly succumb to old age, and others, from one reason or another, prove unrviceable.
[1] For the title, etc., e Schneid. "Praemon. de Xeno." {Ipp}. Boeckh, "P. E. A." 251.
[2] Or, "with sacrifice to ask of Heaven tho gifts of thought and speech and conduct whereby you will exerci your office most acceptably to the gods themlves, and with . . ." Cf. Plat. "Phaedr." 273 E; "Euthr." 14 B.
[3] The Greek phra is warmer, {theon d' ileon onton}, "the gods being kindly and propitious." Cf. Plat. "Laws," 712 B.
[4] Lit. "at any moment there will be too few." See "Les Cavaliers Atheniens," par Albert Martin, p. 308.
But now suppo the complement of cavalry is levied,[5] the duty will devolve on you of eing, in the first place, that your hors are well fed and in condition to stand their work, since a hor which cannot endure fatigue will clearly be unable to overhaul the foeman or effect escape;[6] and in the cond place, you will have to e to it the animals are tractable, since, clearly again, a hor that will not obey is only fighting for the
enemy and not his friends. So, again, an animal that kicks when mounted must be cast; since brutes of that sort may often do more mischief than the foe himlf. Lastly, you must pay attention to the hors' feet, and e that they will stand being ridden over rough ground. A hor, one knows, is practically uless where he cannot be galloped without suffering.
家风家训内容[5] Lit. "in process of being raid."
[6] Or, "to press home a charge a l'outrance, or retire from the field unscathed."
And now, supposing that your hors are all that they ought to be, like pains must be applied to train the men themlves. The trooper, in the first place, must be able to spring on horback easily--a feat to which many a man has owed his life ere now. And next, he must be able to ride with freedom over every sort of ground, since any description of country may become the at of war. When, pres
ently, your men have got firm ats, your aim should be to make as many members of the corps as possible not only skilled to hurl the javelin from horback with precision, but to perform all other feats expected of the expert horman. Next comes the need to arm both hor and man in such a manner as to minimi the risk of wounds, and yet to increa the force of every blow delivered.[7] This attended to, you must contrive to make your men amenable to discipline, without which neither good hors, nor a firm at, nor splendour of equipment will be of any u at all.
[7] Lit. "so that whilst least likely to be wounded themlves, they may most be able to injure the enemy."
The general of cavalry,[8] as patron of the whole department, is naturally responsible for its efficient working. In view, however, of the task impod upon that officer had he to carry out the various details single-handed, the state has chon to associate[9] with him certain coadjutors in the persons of the phylarchs (or tribal captains),[10] and has besides impod upon the nate a share in the superintendence of the cavalry. This being so, two things appear to me desirable; the first is, so to work upon the phylarch that he shall share your own enthusiasm for the honour of the corps;[11] and condly, to have at your disposal in the nate able orators,[12] who language may instil a wholesome fear into
the knights themlves, and thereby make them all the better men, or tend to pacify the nate on occasion and disarm unasonable anger.
[8] See "Mem." III. iii.
[9] Cf. Theophr. xxix. "The Oligarchic Man": "When the people are deliberating whom they shall associate with the archon as joint directors of the procession." (Jebb.)
[10] Or, "squadron-leaders."
[11] "Honour and prestige of knighthood."
[12] "To keep a staff of orators." Cf. "Anab." VII. vi. 41; "Cyrop."
头晕是什么原因引起的I. vi. 19; "Hell." VI. ii. 39.
上标
The above may rve as memoranda[13] of the duties which will claim your chief attention. How the details in each ca may best be carried out is a further matter, which I will now endeavour to explain.
徐悲鸿励志学画[13] "A sort of notes and suggestions," "mementoes." Cf. "Hormanship," iii. 1, xii. 14.
As to the men themlves--the class from which you make your pick of troopers--clearly according to the law you are bound to enrol "the ablest" you can find "in point of wealth and bodily physique"; and "if not by persuasion, then by procution in a court of law."[14] And for my part, I think, if legal pressure is to be applied, you should apply it in tho cas where neglect to procute might fairly be ascribed to interested motives;[15] since if you fail to put compulsion on the greater people first, you leave a backdoor of escape at once to tho of humbler means. But there will be other cas;[16] say, of young men in whom a real enthusiasm for the rvice may be kindled by recounting to them all the brilliant feats of knighthood; while you may disarm the opposition of their guardians by dwelling on the fact that, if not you, at any rate some future hipparch will certainly compel them to breed hors,[17] owing to their wealth; whereas, if they enter the rvice[18] during your term of office, you will undertake to deter their lads from mad extravagance in buying hors,[19] and take pains to make good hormen of them without loss of time; and while pleading in this strain, you must endeavour to make your practice correspond with what you preach.
宽带叠加[14] Lit. "by bringing them into court, or by persuasion," i.e. by
legal if not by moral pressure. See Martin, op. cit. pp. 316, 321 foll.
我眼中的项羽[15] i.e. "would cau you to be suspected of acting from motives of gain."
[16] Reading {esti de kai ous}, or if as vulg. {eti de kai}, "More than that, it strikes me one may work on the feelings of young fellows in such a way as to disarm." See Hartmann, "An. Xen. N." 325.
[17] Cf. Aesch. "P. V." 474; Herod. vi. 35; Dem. 1046. 14; Thuc. vi. 12; Isocr. {peri tou zeugous}, 353 C. {ippotrophein d' epikheiresas, o ton eudaimonestaton ergon esti.} See Prof. Jebb's note to Theophr. "Ch." vi. p. 197, note 16.
试工期
[18] Lit. "if they mount."
[19] Like that of Pheidippides in the play; e Aristoph. "Clouds," 23 foll. And for the price of hors, ranging from 3 minas (= L12 circa) for a common hor, or 12 minas (say L50) for a good saddle or race-hor, up to the extravagant sum of 13 talents (say 3000 guineas) given for "Bucephalus," e Boeckh, "P. E. A." (Eng. tr.) p. 74. Cf. Isaeus, 55. 22; 88. 17; Lys. "de Maled." 133. 10; Aul. Gell. "Noct. Att." v. 2.
To come to the existing body of knights,[20] it would tend,[21] I think, to better rearing and more careful treatment of their hors if the nate issued a formal notice that for the future twice the amount of drill will be required, and that any hor unable to keep up will be rejected. And so, too, with regard to vicious hors, I should like to e an edict promulgated to the effect that all such ani
李忠
mals will be rejected. This threat would stimulate the owners of such brutes to part with them by sale, and, what is more, to exerci discretion at the time of purcha. So, too, it would be a good thing if the same threat of rejection were made to include hors that kick on the exercising-grounds, since it is impossible to keep such animals in the ranks; and in ca of an advance against a hostile force at any point,[22] they must perforce trail in the rear, so that, thanks to the vice of the animal which he bestrides, the trooper himlf is rendered uless.
[20] Or, "As regards tho who are actually rving in the cavalry." For a plausible emend. of this passage (S. 13) e Courier ("Notes
