tle order; and, as now
customary, (19) ride up to salute the senate, and disband. These
evolutions will at once approve themselves, I think, not only for
their novelty, but for their resemblance to real warfare. The notion
that the hipparch is to ride at a slower pace than his phylarchs, and
to handle his horse precisely in their style, seems to me below the
dignity of the office.

(16) In the hippodrome near Munychia, I suppose.

(17) Lit. "... it would be beautiful to form with extended front, so
as to fill the hippodrome with horses and drive out the people
from the central space, beautiful to..." The new feature of the
review would seem to have been the introduction of a sham fight in
three parts, down to the customary advance of the whole corps,
{epi phalaggos}. Cf. Virg. "Aen." v. 545 foll. But see Martin, op.
cit. 197.

(18) Lit. "the anthippasia."

(19) "As is your custom." See "Mem." III. iii. 6.

When the cavalry parade takes place on the hard-trodden (20) ground of
the Academy, I have the following advice to give. To avoid being
jolted off his horse at any moment, the trooper should, in charging,
lean well back, (21) and to prevent his charger stumbling, he should
while wheeling hold his head well up, but along a straight stretch he
should force the pace. Thus the spectacle presented to the senate will
combine the elements of beauty and of safety.

(20) Cf. Thuc. vii. 27.

(21) See "Horsemanship," vii. 17.

IV

To pass to a different topic: on the march, the general will need to
exercise a constant forethought to relieve the horses' backs and the
troopers' legs, by a judicious interchange of riding and of marching.
Wherein consists the golden mean, will not be hard to find; since
"every man a standard to himself," (1) applies, and your sensations are
an index to prevent your fellows being overdone through inadvertence.

(1) The phrase is proverbial. Cf. Plat. "Theaet." 183 B.

But now supposing you are on the march in some direction, and it is
uncertain whether you will stumble on the enemy, your duty is to rest
your squadrons in turn; since it will go hard with you, if the enemy
come to close quarters when the whole force is dismounted. (2) Or,
again, suppose the roads are narrow, or you have to cross a defile,
you will pass, by word of mouth, the command to diminish the front; (3)
or given, again, you are debouching on broad roads, again the word of
command