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CHAP. II.] 



THE GREEK CAVALRY. 



45 



He advises a commander of cavalry to acquire in time 

 of peace an accurate knowledge of the enemy's country 

 as well as his own, for he says truly that " a leader who 

 knows the roads is a totally different person from one 

 who is totally ignorant of them ; and in forming plans 

 against the enemy, he who has a knowledge of the 

 country has a vast advantage over him who is a stranger 

 to it." When General Von Moltke, in the summer of 1 868, 

 travelled incognito over the eastern districts of France, 

 in anticipation of the war which broke out two years 

 later, he was following to the letter the advice given by 

 Xenophon to his son over 2,200 years previously. The 

 result proved that the advice had not lost its value by 

 the lapse of so many centuries. 



The instructions as to the posting of pickets and 

 sentries are admirable. He advises secresy, so that 

 they may be a security to their friends and an ambush 

 for the enemy. Outposts concealed are less liable to 

 surprise, and more to be dreaded by the enemy, and 

 an attacking force not knowing where to meet resistance, 

 watches every spot with suspicion, and cannot move so 

 freely or so rapidly. 



The whole treatise shows a great experience in 

 the cavalry service, a complete knowledge of the 

 duties of a commander, and is marked throughout by 

 a keen appreciation of human nature and of those 

 moral influences which so much affect a body of 

 soldiery. 



