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    The Cavalry General
    The Cavalry General
    The Cavalry General
    Ebook81 pages59 minutes

    The Cavalry General

    By Henry Graham Dakyns and Xenophon

    ()

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 2004
    The Cavalry General

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      Book preview

      The Cavalry General - Henry Graham Dakyns

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cavalry General, by Xenophon

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: The Cavalry General

      Author: Xenophon

      Translator: H. G. Dakyns

      Release Date: August 16, 2008 [EBook #1172]

      Last Updated: January 15, 2013

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALRY GENERAL ***

      Produced by John Bickers, and David Widger

      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.

      Contents

      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

      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 on horseback 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 seat of war. When, presently, your men have

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