rough the course he came back, and Socrates
proceeded playfully to banter him.

Soc. Behold our young friend, sirs, as Homer says of Agamemnon, of mein
majestical, (6) so he; does he not seem to move more majestically, like
one who has studied to be a general? Of course, just as a man who
has learned to play the harp is a harper, even if he never touch the
instrument, or as one who has studied medicine is a physician, though he
does not practise, so our friend here from this time forward is now and
ever shall be a general, even though he does not receive a vote at the
elections. But the dunce who has not the science is neither general
nor doctor, no, not even if the whole world appointed him. But (he
proceeded, turning to the youth), in case any of us should ever find
ourselves captain or colonel (7) under you, to give us some smattering
of the science of war, what did the professor take as the starting-point
of his instruction in generalship? Please inform us.

(6) "Il." iii. 169, 170.

(7) Or, "brigadier or captain," lit. taxiarch or lochagos.

Then the young man: He began where he ended; he taught me tactics
(8)--tactics and nothing else.

(8) Cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 12 foll.; VIII. v. 15.

Yet surely (replied Socrates) that is only an infinitesimal part of
generalship. A general (9) must be ready in furnishing the material of
war: in providing the commissariat for his troops; quick in devices, he
must be full of practical resource; nothing must escape his eye or tax
his endurance; he must be shrewd, and ready of wit, a combination at
once of clemency and fierceness, of simplicity and of insidious
craft; he must play the part of watchman, of robber; now prodigal as
a spendthrift, and again close-fisted as a miser, the bounty of his
munificence must be equalled by the narrowness of his greed; impregnable
in defence, a very dare-devil in attack--these and many other qualities
must he possess who is to make a good general and minister of war; they
must come to him by gift of nature or through science. No doubt it is a
grand thing also to be a tactician, since there is all the difference in
the world between an army properly handled in the field and the same
in disorder; just as stones and bricks, woodwork and tiles, tumbled
together in a heap are of no use at all, but arrange them in a certain
order--at bottom and atop materials which will not crumble or rot,
such as stones and earthen tiles, and in the middle betw