|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: see his horse's hoofs grow just as round and solid as the cobbles.
[23] See below, "Horse." iv. 4. The Greeks did not "shoe" their
horses.
Assuming, then, your horses are all that horses ought to be, how is
the trooper to attain a like degree of excellence? To that question I
will now address myself. The art of leaping on to horseback is one
which we would fain persuade the youthful members of the corps to
learn themselves; though, if you choose to give them an
instructor,[24] all the greater credit to yourself. And as to the
older men you cannot do better than accustom them to mount, or rather
to be hoisted up by aid of some one, Persian fashion.[25]
|
