Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises (Penguin Classics) (13 page)

What about the responsibilities of the cavalry commander himself? [1] In the first place, it is his duty to sacrifice to the gods, seeking favourable omens for the cavalry. Secondly, he has to see that the cavalcades during religious festivals are spectacular. Thirdly, he has to ensure that all the other public displays – in the Academy, the Lyceum, Phalerum and the Hippodrome – are as magnificent as possible.
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Again, these are no more than notes; I shall now go on to explain the best way for the cavalry commander to carry out each of these functions.

It seems to me that the way to make the processions particularly [2] enjoyable for gods and spectators alike is to have the cavalry make a circuit of the city square,
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starting at the Herms, and pay their respects to
all
the gods whose shrines and statues are to be found. So during the Dionysia the choruses’ dancing pays homage to other deities as well as the Twelve. Once they have completed the circuit and are back at the Herms, I think it would be nice if they charged their horses by regiments up to the Eleusinium. I should also say something [3] about how the riders should stop their spears getting tangled up with one another. If every man carries his spear so that it points between the ears of his horse, the spears will create a fearsome impression and be sharply delineated, and the overall appearance will be of a multitude of spears. After this galloped cavalcade, they should ride slowly back [4] along the same route towards the shrines. This programme will allow both gods and men to enjoy the spectacle of all the pleasing sights a horse being ridden can afford.

I am aware that our cavalrymen are not used to this kind of [5] manoeuvre, but I feel that it is beneficial and worthwhile, as well as being enjoyable for the spectators, and it has not escaped my notice that our horsemen have in the past put on other novel forms of contest in the days when the cavalry commanders were capable of getting people to comply with their wishes.
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When the Lyceum is the venue for the parade, before the javelinthrowing [6] it is advisable to have them divide into two contingents of
five regiments each and deploy in an extended line, so that they occupy the entire width of the course, with the cavalry commander and the regimental commanders leading them as if they were going [7] into battle. Once they have passed the highest point of the theatre facing them, it would serve a useful purpose, in my opinion, if you also displayed the men’s ability to gallop downhill in moderately sized [8] groups. I am sure they will not be reluctant to show off their ability to ride at the gallop, as long as they are confident that they can do it; anyway, it is not the kind of thing that should be omitted from their training, in case their first experience of it comes when the enemy force them to it.

[9] I have already described the formation the cavalry should adopt during the reviews to make the best impression. If his horse is up to it, the leader should keep to the outside file during the troop’s circuits, because then he will always be galloping, accompanied by those of his men who are taking the outside at the time. And so there will always be galloping for the Council to watch, and the horses will not get tired because they will be taking turns to rest.

[10] When the cavalry display takes place in the Hippodrome, it would be nice, in the first place, to have the men deploy in an extended line so that the entire width of the Hippodrome is filled with horses and [11] they can drive the men in the middle out of the area. During the mock battle, which involves the regiments galloping away from and after one another, with the cavalry commanders leading their contingents of five regiments, another good idea is to have each of the two contingents ride through the other one. Imagine the scene: the lively advance of the two opposing lines towards each other, the splendour as they stand facing each other again after riding the length of the Hippodrome, the thrill as the trumpet sounds and they charge once [12] more, faster this time. Once they have come to a halt for a third time, the trumpet should sound again, and the two lines should charge each other flat out; after they have crossed, every single man should rest in battle order and await dismissal, and then ride up to the Council [13] in the customary fashion. It seems to me that these manoeuvres will look more warlike than the usual programme and will also have the appeal of novelty. But for a cavalry commander to ride more slowly
than the commanders of the regiments, and to play the same part in the manoeuvres, seems to me to be unworthy of his rank.

My advice for when your men have to ride on the hard ground of [14] the Academy is that they should lean back as they ride to avoid being thrown from their horses and should check their horses at the turns to stop them falling. They should gallop down the straights, however. If you follow this advice, the Council will have a safe as well as an attractive spectacle to watch.

During expeditions a cavalry commander constantly has to think ahead [1] and plan to have his men alternate reasonable periods of riding with reasonable periods of going on foot, because their walking gives not only them but the horses’ seats a rest. It is easy to form a correct notion of what constitutes a reasonable period, because every individual is himself a measure whereby you can observe when they are getting exhausted. However, if you cannot tell, while you are on your way [2] somewhere, whether or not you will meet the enemy, you should have each regiment take turns to rest, since it would be awkward to encounter the enemy with
all
your men dismounted.

On narrow roads, you should order your men to form a column [3] and then lead them on; on any broad highways you come across, you should instruct every regiment to form an extended front; when you come to a plain, you should <arrange>
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all the regiments in line of battle. This not only provides valuable training, but also helps to make the journey more pleasant for the men, as they do not spend whole expeditions in a single monotonous formation.

When you are riding off the beaten track through difficult countryside,[4] it is very useful, no matter whether you are in enemy or friendly territory, to have a few of your light cavalry ride ahead of each regiment, to find easy ways around any impassable glens they come across and then show the rest of the men where to go; otherwise you might get whole regiments wandering around aimlessly.

In hostile territory, a sensible cavalry commander will have some [5]
of his skirmishers posted in advance of the rest as scouts, because the earliest possible notice of the enemy is useful both for attack and for defence. Another sound principle is to wait after fording a river, because otherwise the men bringing up the rear will have to wear out their horses trying to catch up with the front man. Although these rules will come as a surprise to hardly anyone, few people are prepared to go to the bother of observing them.

[6] It is a cavalry commander’s job to make sure that he is familiar with both hostile and friendly territory even in times of peace. If he lacks first-hand knowledge, he should enlist the help of those of his men who are best acquainted with various places. A leader who knows the routes has a huge advantage over one who does not, and in planning tactics against the enemy a commander who knows the region is far better off than one in the opposite situation.

[7] It is also a cavalry commander’s job to have recruited spies, before the outbreak of war, from citizens of neutral states and from merchants – the latter because every state always welcomes people importing [8] goods. False deserters can occasionally be useful too. However, he should never rely on spies so much that he neglects to post guards; on the contrary, he should constantly be in the same state of readiness as he would be if he had received a report that a hostile force was on its way. After all, in wartime it may very well be difficult for even the most trustworthy spy to get a message through at the critical moment.
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[9] The enemy will be less likely to become aware of the cavalry leaving the camp if the order is given by word of mouth rather than by crier or by posted notices. So it is advisable, to help the transmission of the command to move out, to appoint not only leaders for every section of ten, but also leaders for every half section of five, so as to reduce to a minimum the number of people to whom each of these officers [10] has to pass the message. Another function these half-section leaders can perform is to facilitate the extension of the regiment’s line, when it is time for this formation, by deploying the men smoothly in their new posts.

What about when you need to post guards? I for one always recommend keeping your lookouts and sentries hidden,
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because then they can serve a dual purpose: they can ambush the enemy as well as
guard their friends. At the same time, their invisibility makes them [11] less vulnerable to a surprise attack and more frightening to the enemy. I mean, knowing that there are guards somewhere, but not knowing exactly where or how many of them there are, not only saps the enemy’s morale, but also inevitably makes every location a source of suspicion. Visible guards, however, show him which places are safe and which are unsafe. Besides, hidden guards create the possibility of [12] posting a few men on patrol out in the open in front of their concealed comrades and trying to lure the enemy into an ambush. Another trick for ensnaring the enemy is sometimes to post guards out in the open
behind
the hidden ones; this can prove just as effective a way of taking the enemy in as the trick I have just mentioned.
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It is also a mark of a sensible commander never to take risks, if he [13] can help it, except when it is obvious that he will have the enemy at a disadvantage. Doing the enemy favours should be regarded as a betrayal of one’s side rather than as courage. Another sound principle [14] is always to aim for the weak point of the enemy’s position, even if it is a long way off. After all, pushing yourself to make a great effort is less risky than engaging a superior force. However, if the enemy [15] has managed to come between you and a friendly stronghold, then even if they are the superior force, the right thing to do in this situation is to attack them, either on the flank where your presence has gone unnoticed, or on both flanks at once, because as one of your contingents is retiring, the other one can charge the other flank, throw the enemy into chaos and rescue your friends.

The value of spies as a means of trying to get information about [16] the enemy has long been recognized, but I am sure that the best plan of all is for the cavalry commander to try to observe the enemy himself, if he can find a safe vantage-point, and watch out for any mistakes they might make. You should send suitable men to pilfer anything [17] that can be stolen and dispatch raiders to seize anything they can make off with. If the enemy is on the march somewhere and a part of his force which is weaker than your own becomes detached or rashly fans out from the main body, you should not let this escape your notice, either; but remember that the hunter must always be stronger than the hunted.

[18] This is not a difficult principle to grasp if you think about it. Even wild animals, which are less intelligent than human beings, put it into practice. Kites, for instance, have the ability to seize anything left unprotected and withdraw to a place of safety before being caught; wolves prey on anything which has been left alone and unguarded [19] and steal things from nooks and crannies. And suppose a dog sets out after a wolf and catches up with it: if the wolf is stronger it attacks the dog, but if it is weaker it tears off as much of its haul as it can and retreats. Again, sometimes, when wolves are not put off by watch-dogs, they organize themselves into two groups, one of which drives off the watch-dogs, while the other carries out the raid. That is how they [20] get their provisions. If wild beasts can plunder with such intelligence, surely a human being may be expected to display greater skill, given that animals themselves actually fall victim to human expertise.

[1] A true horseman should know how long it takes for a horse to overtake a man on foot and how much start slow horses need to escape from fast ones. It is also the job of a cavalry commander to be able to recognize terrain which suits infantry rather than cavalry and vice [2] versa. In addition, he should be so resourceful that he can make a small body of cavalry seem large and a large one small, give an impression of presence when he is not there and of absence when he is, and know how to achieve stealth not only when pilfering the enemy’s property, but also when concealing his own men in the course of making a surprise [3] attack on the enemy. Another good ploy is for him to be able to undermine the enemy’s confidence when his own position is weak, and so deter them from attacking, and give them grounds for hope when he is in a strong position, so that they make an assault. This will enable you to minimize the losses sustained by your own men, while taking maximum advantage of the enemy’s mistakes.

[4] In case you think that my instructions are impossible to put into practice, I will next take the ones that are apparently the most difficult and explain how they can be implemented.

It is experience of horses and what they are capable of that guarantees the success of operations such as the pursuit and retreat. But how do you gain this experience? By paying careful attention during friendly mock battles to the state of the horses after they have practised the pursuit and retreat.

When you want to give the impression that you have a large body [5] of cavalry, the first principle to adhere to if you can is never to try to trick the enemy when they are near by. Distance affords greater safety and increases the illusion. Secondly, a useful piece of information is that when bunched together horses look numerous, but when spread out they become easy to count; this phenomenon is due to a horse’s size. Another way of increasing the apparent size of your force is to [6] get the grooms to stand among the actual cavalrymen with spears or, failing that, with fake spears.
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You can do this not only when your men are halted for inspection, but also when you are bringing them up into a new formation. This is bound to exaggerate the apparent size and density of your troop.

Suppose, on the other hand, you want to make a large force appear [7] small. If the countryside offers hiding-places, the obvious course of action is to conceal the number of your men by keeping some of them out in the open while hiding the rest. However, if the area is completely exposed, you should first form the sections of ten into rows and then deploy them, with gaps between each section; during this manoeuvre the men from whichever section is nearest the enemy should keep their spears upright, while everyone else keeps them low down and out of sight.
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You can undermine the enemy’s confidence by laying false [8] ambushes, making false sorties and creating false intelligence; and nothing raises his hopes like hearing that his opponents are experiencing problems and complications.

So much for my suggestions, but a cavalry commander should also 9 devise tricks of his own, suitable for his situation. The basic point is that deceit is your most valuable asset in war. Even children playing [10] ‘How Many?’ prove themselves capable of trickery: they hold out their hands in a way that makes it seem as though they have quite a few pebbles
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when they have hardly any, and make it look as though
they have few when they are actually holding out a lot. So surely grown men can devise equivalent tricks when they put their minds [11] to it. If you think about it, you will find that the majority of important military successes have come about as a result of trickery. It follows, then, that if you are to take on the office of commander, you should ask the gods to allow you to count the ability to deceive among your qualifications, and should also work on it yourself.
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[12] If you have access to the sea, a good trick is to get a fleet ready for battle and then make an assault by land, or alternatively to launch an attack by sea while pretending that you are planning a land attack.

[13] It is the job of a cavalry commander to instruct the state in the relative weakness of a cavalry unit unsupported by infantry, compared to the strength of a combined force of both infantry and cavalry – and once he has got his infantry, it is a cavalry commander’s job to make use of them. Infantry soldiers can be concealed both among and behind mounted horsemen, since a rider is much taller than a man on foot.
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[14] Whatever you do to defeat your enemies – whether it takes force of arms or skill, and whether you use the tactics I have mentioned or come up with additional stratagems – I would advise you to enlist the help of the god,
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because if the gods are well disposed towards you, fortune will favour you as well.

[15] Another trick that proves very effective at times is to pretend to be over-cautious and totally disinclined to take risks. This may well tempt the enemy to make a fairly serious error in a fit of recklessness. Alternatively, once you have gained a reputation for risk-taking, you can also confuse your opponents by staying in one place and pretending to be about to do something.