Memorabilia

It is well to understand tactics too; for there is a wide difference between right and wrong disposition of the troops,[*](ibid. VI. iii. 25.) just as stones, bricks, timber and tiles flung together anyhow are useless, whereas when the materials that neither rot nor decay, that is, the stones and tiles, are placed at the bottom and the top, and the bricks and timber are put together in the middle, as in building, the result is something of great value, a house, in fact.

Your analogy is perfect, Socrates, said the youth; for in war one must put the best men in the van and the rear,[*](ibid. VII. v. 4.) and the worst in the centre, that they may be led by the van and driven forward by the rearguard.

Well and good, provided that he taught you also to distinguish the good and the bad men. If not, what have you gained by your lessons? No more than you would have gained if he had ordered you to put the best money at the head and tail, and the worst in the middle, without telling you how to distinguish good from base coin.I assure you he didn’t; so we should have to judge for ourselves which are the good men and which are the bad.

Then we had better consider how we may avoid mistaking them.I want to do so, said the youth.Well now, said Socrates, if we had to lay hands on a sum of money, would not the right arrangement be to put the most covetous men in the front?I think so.And what should we do with those who are going to face danger? Should our first line consist of the most ambitious?Oh yes: they are the men who will face danger for the sake of glory. About these, now, there is no mystery: they are conspicuous everywhere, and so it is easy to find them.

But, said Socrates, did he teach you only the disposition of an army, or did he include where and how to use each formation?Not at all.And yet there are many situations that call for a modification of tactics and strategy.I assure you he didn’t explain that.Then pray go back and ask him. If he knows and has a conscience, he will be ashamed to send you home ill-taught, after taking your money.

One day when he met a man who had been chosen general, he asked him,[*](Cyropaedia VIII. xi. 14.)For what reason, think you, is Agamemnon dubbed Shepherd of the people by Homer?[*](Hom. Il. 2.243) Is it because a shepherd must see that his sheep are safe and are fed, and that the object for which they are kept is attained, and a general must see that his men are safe and are fed, and that the object for which they fight is attained, or, in other words, that victory over the enemy may add to their happiness?

Or what reason can Homer have for praising Agamemnon as

1. both a good king and a doughty warrior too’?
[*](Hom. Il. 3.179)