The Cavalry General | Page 3

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Etext prepared by John Bickers, [email protected].

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 settle in Corinth. He died in 354
B.C.

The Cavalry General is a discourse 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.

PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though there
is doubt about some of these) is:
Work Number of books
The Anabasis 7 The Hellenica 7 The Cyropaedia 8 The Memorabilia 4
The Symposium 1 The Economist 1 On Horsemanship 1 The
Sportsman 1 The Cavalry General 1 The Apology 1 On Revenues 1
The Hiero 1 The Agesilaus 1 The Polity of the Athenians and the
Lacedaemonians 2
Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English
using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical
marks have been lost.

The Cavalry General
By Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns

THE DUTIES OF A HIPPARCH[1]
or
Commander of Cavalry at Athens

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 increase to yourself, and friends, and to the state at large of
affection, glory, and wide usefulness. 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 reserve of
remounts, or else 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 unserviceable.
[1] For the title, etc., see Schneid. "Praemon. de Xeno." {Ipp}. Boeckh,

"P. E. A." 251.
[2] Or, "with sacrifice to ask of Heaven those gifts of thought and
speech and conduct whereby you will exercise your office most
acceptably to the gods themselves, and with . . ." Cf. Plat. "Phaedr."
273 E; "Euthr." 14 B.
[3] The Greek phrase 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 suppose the complement of cavalry is levied,[5] the duty will
devolve on you of seeing, in the first place, that your horses are well
fed and in condition to stand their work, since a horse which cannot
endure fatigue will clearly be unable to overhaul the foeman or effect
escape;[6] and in the second place, you will have to see to it the
animals are tractable, since, clearly again, a horse 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 himself. Lastly, you must pay
attention to the horses' feet, and see that they will stand being ridden
over rough ground. A horse, one knows, is practically useless where he
cannot be galloped without suffering.
[5] Lit. "in process of being raised."
[6] Or, "to press home a charge a l'outrance, or retire from the field
unscathed."
And now, supposing that your horses are all that they ought to be, like
pains must be applied to train the men themselves. The trooper, in the
first place, must be able to spring