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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: be the feet. Just as a house would be of little use, however beautiful
its upper stories, if the underlying foundations were not what they
ought to be, so there is little use to be extracted from a horse, and
in particular a war-horse,[4] if unsound in his feet, however
excellent his other points; since he could not turn a single one of
them to good account.[5]
[4] Or, "and that a charger, we will suppose." For the simile see
"Mem." III. i. 7.
[5] Cf. Hor. "Sat." I. ii. 86:
regibus hic mos est: ubi equos mercantur, opertos
inspiciunt, ne, si facies, ut saepe, decora
On Horsemanship |
