vour beforehand to put
your men through their practice on ground resembling a real battlefield?

(6) e.g. the hippodrome at Phaleron.

Hipp. That would be better, no doubt.

Soc. Well, shall you regard it as a part of your duty to see that as
many of your men as possible can take aim and shoot on horseback? (7)

(7) Cf. "Hipparch," i. 21.

Hipp. It will be better, certainly.

Soc. And have you thought how to whet the courage of your troopers? to
kindle in them rage to meet the enemy?--which things are but stimulants
to make stout hearts stouter?

Hipp. If I have not done so hitherto, I will try to make up for lost
time now.

Soc. And have you troubled your head at all to consider how you are to
secure the obedience of your men? for without that not one particle
of good will you get, for all your horses and troopers so brave and so
stout.

Hipp. That is a true saying; but how, Socrates, should a man best bring
them to this virtue? (8)

(8) {protrepsasthai}. See above, I. ii. 64; below, IV. v. 1.

Soc. I presume you know that in any business whatever, people are more
apt to follow the lead of those whom they look upon as adepts; thus in
case of sickness they are readiest to obey him whom they regard as
the cleverest physician; and so on a voyage the most skilful pilot; in
matters agricultural the best farmer, and so forth.

Hipp. Yes, certainly.

Soc. Then in this matter of cavalry also we may reasonably suppose that
he who is looked upon as knowing his business best will command the
readiest obedience.

Hipp. If, then, I can prove to my troopers that I am better than all of
them, will that suffice to win their obedience?

Soc. Yes, if along with that you can teach them that obedience to you
brings greater glory and surer safety to themselves.

Hipp. How am I to teach them that?

Soc. Upon my word! How are you to teach them that? Far more easily, I
take it, than if you had to teach them that bad things are better than
good, and more advantageous to boot.

Hipp. I suppose you mean that, besides his other qualifications a
commandant of cavalry must have command of speech and argument? (9)

(9) Or, "practise the art of oratory"; "express himself clearly and
rationally." See Grote, "H. G." VIII. lxvii. p. 463 note;
"Hipparch," i. 24; viii. 22.

Soc. Were you under the impression that the commandant was not to open
his mouth? Did it never occur to you that all the noblest things
which cus