Cyropaedia

When it seemed to him that affairs in Babylon[*](Cyrus goes to Persia) were sufficiently well organized for him to absent himself from the city, he began to make preparations for his journey to Persia and issued instructions to the others accordingly. And as soon as he had got together in sufficient quantity, as he believed, everything that he thought he should need, he started at once.

We will relate here in how orderly a manner[*](An oriental camp) his train packed up, large though it was, and how quickly they reached the place where they were due. For wherever the great king encamps, all his retinue follow him to the field with their tents, whether in summer or in winter.

At the very beginning Cyrus made this rule, that his tent should be pitched facing the east; and then he determined, first, how far from the royal pavilion the spearmen of his guard should have their tent; next he assigned a place on the right for the bakers, on the left for the cooks, on the right for the horses, and on the left for the rest of the pack-animals. And everything else was so organized that every one knew his own place in camp—both its size and its location.

And when they come to pack up again, every one gets together the things that it is his business to use and others in turn pack them upon the animals, so that the baggage-men all come at the same time to the things they were appointed to transport, and all at the same time pack the things upon their several animals. Thus the amount of time needed for striking a single tent suffices for all.

The unpacking also is managed in this same manner; and in order to have all the necessaries ready at the right time, each one has assigned to him likewise the part that he is to do. In this way the time required for doing any one part is sufficient for getting all the provisions ready.

And just as the servants in charge of the[*](Cyrus’s perfect organization) provisions had each his proper place, so also his soldiers had when they encamped the places suitable to each sort of troops; they knew their places, too, and so all found them without the slightest friction.

For Cyrus considered orderliness to be a good thing to practise in the management of a household also; for whenever any one wants a thing, he then knows where he must go to find it; but he believed that orderliness in all the departments of an army was a much better thing, inasmuch as the chances of a successful stroke in war come and go more quickly and the losses occasioned by those who are behindhand in military matters are more serious. He also saw that the advantages gained in war by prompt attention to duty were most important. It was for this reason, therefore, that he took especial pains to secure this sort of orderliness.

Accordingly, he himself first took up his[*](The arrangement of his camp) position in the middle of the camp in the belief that this situation was the most secure. Then came his most trusty followers, just as he was accustomed to have them about him at home, and next to them in a circle he had his horsemen and charioteers;

for those troops also, he thought, need a secure position, because when they are in camp they do not have ready at hand any of the arms with which they fight, but need considerable time to arm, if they are to render effective service.

To the right and left from him and the cavalry was the place for the targeteers; before and behind him and the cavalry, the place for the bowmen.

The hoplites and those armed with the large shields he arranged around all the rest like a wall, so that those who could best hold their ground might, by being in front of them, make it possible for the cavalry to arm in safety, if it should be necessary.

Moreover, he had the peltasts and the bowmen sleep on their arms, like the hoplites, in order that, if there should be occasion to go into action even at night, they might be ready for it. And just as the hoplites were prepared to do battle if any one came within arm’s reach of them, so these troops also were to be ready to let fly their lances and arrows over the heads of the hoplites, if any one attacked.

And all the officers had banners over their tents; and just as in the cities well-informed officials know the residences of most of the inhabitants and especially those of the most prominent citizens, so also in camp the aides under Cyrus were acquainted with the location of the various officers and were familiar with the banner of each one; and so if Cyrus wanted one of his officers, they did not have to search for him but would run to him by the shortest way.

And as every division was so well distinguished, it was much more easy to see where good order prevailed and where commands were not being executed. Therefore, as things were arranged, he believed that if any enemy were to attack him either by night or by day, the attacking party would fall into his camp as into an ambuscade.

He believed also that tactics did not consist[*](Cyrus as a tactician) solely in being able easily to extend one’s line or increase its depth, or to change it from a long column into a phalanx, or without error to change the front by a counter march according as the enemy came up on the right or the left or behind;[*](We learn from Aelian (Tact. 27) that this was either a countermarch by files (κατὰ ξυλά), in which the wings only changed places, or a countermarch by companies (κατὰ λόχους or στίχους) when the whole line turned and the rearguard marched in front, so that there was a change of front as well as of wings. The object of the last-named movement was to put τοὺς κρατίστους the best men forward. (Holden.)) but he considered it also a part of good tactics to break up one’s army into several divisions whenever occasion demanded, and to place each division, too, where it would do the most good, and to make speed when it was necessary to reach a place before the enemy—all these and other such qualifications were essential, he believed, to a skilful tactician, and he devoted himself to them all alike.

And so on his marches he always proceeded giving out his orders with a view to existing circumstances; but in camp his arrangements were made, for the most part, as has been described.