Book 4
3.14
What one might have most of all to fear, however, is that in case it is necessary for us to go into action on horseback before we have thoroughly mastered this task, we shall then be no longer infantrymen and not yet competent cavalrymen. But not even this is an insurmountable difficulty; for whenever we wish, we may at once fight on foot; for in learning to ride we shall not be unlearning any of our infantry tactics.
3.15
Thus Cyrus spoke; and Chrysantas secondedChrysantas supports the proposition him in the following speech: I, for one, am so eager to learn horsemanship, that I think that if I become a horseman I shall be a man on wings.
3.16
For as we are now, I, at least, am satisfied, when I have an even start in running a race with any man, if I can beat him only by a head; and when I see an animal running along, I am satisfied if I can get a good aim quickly enough to shoot him or spear him before he gets very far away. But if I become a horseman I shall be able to overtake a man though he is as far off as I can see him; and I shall be able to pursue animals and overtake them and either strike them down from close at hand or spear them as if they were standing still; and they seem so, for though both be moving rapidly, yet, if they are near to one another, they are as if standing still.
