The Cavalry General | Page 6

xi. 17. Cf. Theophr. "Ch." viii. "The Late Learner":
{kai eis agron eph' ippou allotriou katakhoumenos ama meletan
ippazesthai, kai peson ten kephalon kateagenai}, "Riding into the
country on another's horse, he will practise his horsemanship by the
way, and falling, will break his head" (Jebb).
[28] = L10,000 circa. See Boeckh, op. cit. p. 251.
It would be no bad thing either, to forewarn your troopers that one day
you will take them out yourself for a long march, and lead them across
country over every kind of ground. Again, whilst practising the
evolutions of the rival cavalry display,[29] it will be well to gallop out
at one time to one district and again to another. Both men and horses
will be benefited.
[29] Lit. "the anthippasia." See iii. 11, and "Horsemanship," viii. 10.
Next, as to hurling the javelin from horseback, the best way to secure as
wide a practice of the art as possible, it strikes me, would be to issue an
order to your phylarchs that it will be their duty to put themselves at the
head of the marksmen of several tribes, and to ride out to the butts for
practice. In this way a spirit of emulation will be roused--the several
officers will, no doubt, be eager to turn out as many marksmen as they
can to aid the state.[30]
[30] On competition cf. "Cyrop." II. i. 22, and our author passim.

And so too, to ensure that splendour of accoutrement which the force
requires,[31] the greatest help may once again be looked for from the
phylarchs; let these officers but be persuaded that from the public point
of view the splendid appearance of their squadrons[32] will confer a
title to distinction far higher than that of any personal equipment. Nor
is it reasonable to suppose that they will be deaf to such an argument,
since the very desire to hold the office of phylarch itself proclaims a
soul alive to honour and ambition. And what is more, they have it in
their power, in accordance with the actual provisions of the law, to
equip their men without the outlay of a single penny, by enforcing that
self-equipment out of pay[33] which the law prescribes.
[31] Or, "a beauty of equipment, worthy of our knights." Cf. Aristoph.
"Lysistr." 561, and a fragment of "The Knights," of Antiphanes, ap.
Athen. 503 B, {pant' 'Amaltheias keras}. See "Hiero," ix. 6; "Horse." xi.
10.
[32] Lit. "tribes," {phulai} (each of the ten tribes contributing about
eighty men, or, as we might say, a squadron).
[33] i.e. the {katastasis}, "allowance," so technically called. Cf. Lys.
"for Mantitheos"; Jebb, "Att. Or." i. 246; Boeckh, "P. E. A." II. xxi. p.
263; K. F. Hermann, 152, 19; Martin, op. cit. p. 341.
But to proceed. In order to create a spirit of obedience in your
subordinates, you have two formidable instruments;[34] as a matter of
plain reason you can show them what a host of blessings the word
discipline implies; and as a matter of hard fact you can, within the
limits of the law, enable the well-disciplined to reap advantage, while
the undisciplined are made to feel the pinch at every turn.
[34] "The one theoretic, the other practical."
But if you would rouse the emulation of your phylarchs, if you would
stir in each a personal ambition to appear at the head of his own
squadron in all ways splendidly appointed, the best incentive will be
your personal example. You must see to it that your own bodyguard[35]
are decked with choice accoutrement and arms; you must enforce on
them the need to practise shooting pertinaciously; you must expound to
them the theory of the javelin, yourself an adept in the art through
constant training.[36]
[35] Techn. {prodromoi}, possibly = the Hippotoxotai, or corps of 200
mounted archers--Scythians; cf. "Mem." III. iii. 11. Or, probably,

"mounted skirmishers," distinct from the {ippotexotai}. Cf. Arrian,
"An." i. 12. 7. See Aristot. "Ath. Pol." 49. 5.
[36] Reading as vulg. {eisegoio}, or if with L. D. {egoio} (cf. above, S.
21), trans. "you must lead them out to the butts yourself."
Lastly, were it possible to institute and offer prizes to the several tribal
squadrons in reward for every excellence of knighthood known to
custom in the public spectacles of our city, we have here, I think, an
incentive which will appeal to the ambition of every true Athenian.
How small, in the like case of our choruses, the prizes offered, and yet
how great the labour and how vast the sums expended![37] But we
must discover umpires of such high order that to win their verdict will
be as precious to the victor as victory itself.
[37] See "Hell." III. iv. 15; "Hiero," ix. 3; "Cyrop." I. vi. 18; Martin, op.
cit.