- Source
- Polybius. Vols. 1-4. Büttner-Wobst, Theodor, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.24.1-10.24.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
Philopoemen consolidated the cavalry from various cities to conduct armed exercises. He criticized contemporary commanders who merely led from the front, and practiced a method of supervising and correcting individual soldiers.
κατὰ μέρος ἡγεμόνων ἐμπειρίας.1 προκατασκευασάμενος δὲ τὰ προειρημένα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον, συνῆγε τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἐκ τῶν πόλεων εἰς ἕνα τόπον, καὶ διʼ αὑτοῦ τὰς κινήσεις ἐπετέλει καὶ τὸν ὅλον χειρισμὸν αὐτὸς ἐποιεῖτο τῆς ἐξοπλισίας, οὐ προηγούμενος πάντων, ὅπερ οἱ νῦν ποιοῦσιν ἡγεμόνες, ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἡγεμονικὴν εἶναι τὴν πρώτην χώραν.
individual commanders’ experience. Having prepared the aforementioned things in this manner, he assembled the cavalrymen from the cities into one place, and personally conducted the maneuvers and himself took charge of the entire management of the armed exercises, not marching at the head of all, which is what the commanders of today do, conceiving that the front rank is the proper place for a leader.
τί γὰρ ἀπειρότερον, ἅμα δʼ ἐπισφαλέστερον ἄρχοντος, ὃς ὁρᾶται μὲν ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων, ὁρᾷ δʼ οὐδένα;
For what is more inexperienced, and at the same time more hazardous, than a commander who is seen by all his subordinates, but himself sees no one?
οὐ γὰρ στρατιωτικῆς ἐξουσίας, ἀλλʼ ἡγεμονικῆς ἐμπειρίας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ δυνάμεως δεῖγμα δεῖ φέρειν τὸν ἱππάρχην ἐν ταῖς ἐξοπλισίαις, ποτὲ μὲν ἐν πρώτοις, ποτὲ δʼ ἐν ἐσχάτοις, ποτὲ δὲ κατὰ μέσους γινόμενον.2
For the commander of cavalry, in armed exercises, must exhibit a proof not of military power but of commanding experience, and at the same time of capacity, by appearing now in the front, now in the rear, and now in the middle.
ὅπερ ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ ἐποίει, παριππεύων καὶ πάντας ἐφορῶν αὐτός, καὶ προσδιασαφῶν αὐτοῖς ἀποροῦσι καὶ διορθῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς πᾶν τὸ διαμαρτανόμενον.
This is what the aforementioned man used to do, riding along the ranks and himself inspecting everyone, explaining further to those who were in difficulty and correcting from the very beginning everything that was done wrong.
ἦν δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα τελέως βραχέα καὶ σπάνια διὰ τὴν προγεγενημένην ἐν τοῖς κατὰ μέρος ἐπιμέλειαν.
And such occurrences were extremely slight and rare on account of the care previously bestowed upon the individual parts.
Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἕως λόγου3 τὸ τοιοῦτον ὑπέδειξε, φήσας ὅτι καθάπερ ἐν οἰκοδομίαις, ἐὰν κατὰ μίαν πλίνθον θῇς καὶ καθʼ ἕνα δόμον ἐπιμελείας τύχῃ τὸ παρατεθέν, οὕτως ἐν στρατοπέδῳ τὸ κατʼ ἄνδρα καὶ κατὰ λόχον ἀκριβωθὲν4 ὅλην ποιεῖ τὴν δύναμιν ἰσχυράν. —
Demetrius of Phalerum indicated this principle in words, saying that, just as in buildings, if you lay each brick and each course of stone with care, so in an army, that which has been made precise man by man and section by section makes the whole force strong.
- 10.24.1κατὰ μέρος ἡγεμόνων ἐμπειρίας
This phrase is the continuation of the genitive comparison construction 'οὐδὲν ἀναγκαιότερον εἶναι τῆς τῶν...' from the end of the previous section (10.23.10), completing the meaning 'than the experience of the individual commanders'. Due to the chunk division, the syntactical connection can be difficult to recognize immediately.
- 10.24.4ποτὲ μὲν ἐν πρώτοις, ποτὲ δʼ ἐν ἐσχάτοις, ποτὲ δὲ κατὰ μέσους γινόμενον
The accusative participle 'γινόμενον' modifies 'τον ἱππάρχην', which is the subject accusative of the infinitive depending on the impersonal verb 'δεῖ'. It describes the manner or condition under which the cavalry commander should demonstrate his capability ('by appearing now in the front, now in the rear, now in the middle').
- 10.24.7ἕως λόγου
A restrictive adverbial phrase meaning 'as far as words go' or 'theoretically', contrasting Demetrius's theoretical articulation of the principle with Philopoemen's practical implementation.
- 10.24.7τὸ κατʼ ἄνδρα καὶ κατὰ λόχον ἀκριβωθέν
The neuter singular participle 'ἀκριβωθέν' with the article 'τό' functions substantively ('that which has been made precise') as the subject of the 'οὕτως...' clause. 'κατʼ ἄνδρα' ('man by man') and 'κατὰ λόχον' ('section by section') act as adverbial modifiers to this participle.