he meditated within himself; if he had company,
he asked them, "If an enemy should appear in that place, what course
ought he to adopt, if they should attack him in front; what, if on
this flank, or on that; what, if on the rear; for he might happen to
meet them while his men were formed with a regular front, or when they
were in the loose order of march, fit only for the road." He would
proceed to examine, either in his own mind, or by asking questions,
"What ground he himself would choose; what number of soldiers, or what
kind of arms (which was a very material point) he ought to employ;
where he should deposit the baggage, where the soldiers' necessaries,
where the unarmed multitude; with what number and what kind of troops
he should guard them, and whether it would be better to prosecute his
march as intended, or to return back by the way he came; what spot,
also, he should choose for his camp; how large a space he should
enclose within the lines; where he could be conveniently supplied
with water; where a sufficiency of forage and wood could be had; which
would be his safest road on decamping next day, and in what form the
army should march?" In such studies and inquiries he had, from his
early years, so frequently exercised his thoughts, that, on any thing
of the kind occurring, no expedient that could be devised was new to
him. On this occasion, he first ordered the army to halt; then sent
forward to the van the auxiliary Cretans, and the horsemen called
Tarentines, each leading two spare horses; and, ordering the rest of
the cavalry to follow, he seized on a rock which stood over a rivulet,
from which he might be supplied with water. Here he collected together
all the baggage with all the suttlers and followers of the army,
placing a guard of soldiers round them; and then he fortified his
camp, as the nature of the place required. The pitching of tents in
such rugged and uneven ground was a difficult task. The enemy were
distant not more than five hundred paces. Both drew water from the
same rivulet, under escorts of light troops; but, before any skirmish
took place, as usual between men encamped so near to each other, night
came on. It was evident, however, that they must, unavoidably,
fight next day at the rivulet, in support of the watering parties.
Wherefore, during the night, Philopoemen concealed, in a valley remote
from the view of the enemy, as great a number of targeteers as the
place was capable of hidi