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TPITON,
 

CHAPTER   I.
 

ARGUMENT.
 

The first seven chapters of Book HI. relate to the duties of those who
engage in the management of civil and military affairs, and comprise a
more complete refutation of that branch of the second accusation of
Socrates, stated and briefly controverted in I. 2. 9 sq.

The subject of this chapter is, the duties and quahfications of a mili¬
tary commander.

Socrates urged a young Athenian, who desired to become a general,
to put himself under the instruction of a professed teacher of the art of
managing an army. Knowledge is the more necessary for the general,
since the whole State in time of danger is intrusted to him, and the most
important consequences are dependent upon his skill in the duties of his
calling (§ 1—3). When the pupil returned, thinking himself, without
doubt, qualified for any office in the army, Socrates sportively inquired
of him, what and how he had been taught, and was told that he learned
only tactics (§ 4, 6). Socrates explained to him that although "the ability
to arrange an army is important, still it is but one among many pre¬
requisites for a good general (§ 6—8). He further shows him that arbi¬
trary rules for arranging an army, without discrimination in regard to
the character of the troops, and without reference to time, place, and
other contingencies, are of little value, and sends him back to his teacher
to question him on these points (§ 9—11).
 

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