and taking a very small amount of oil, then after moderately crushing it somewhat, pour the complete mixture through a horn into the left nostril of pack-mules and full-grown draft animals, but for horses half of the mixture, and for three-year-old mules or two-year-old other animals, and they stay healthy, each year, three times, which would be for three consecutive days; and for an animal that has fallen sick with a fatal illness it will likewise be sufficient, with the rest of the customary care, as is fitting, being provided to them; for it is necessary to provide some things against the lesser ailments, and other things against the troublesome ones. [A cure for coughing horses.] For a coughing horse, the cure is hulled lentil, if you give it to drink with water after thoroughly grinding or pulverizing it without the husks; a suitable measure of the legume for any animal by itself would be a quarter of a xestes. You might cure any animal exhausted by toil or afflicted with shortness of breath thus: give it lice or bugs pulverized in wine to drink, or liquid pitch with barley-groats. You will not be at a loss for other cures, which are set down sporadically elsewhere in these writings. 1.13 For a kicking mule But there is no advantage in a draft animal being healthy, if it is unruly or otherwise disobedient or even kicks. For making horses obedient, the Roman word is recommended. But you will stop a kicking mule by boiling box-tree seed and caltrops in wine and giving it to drink; and it will remain tame for you for two months. 1.14 Military Hunting And instead of exercise for an army, a hunt of lions shall be added. Lions overtake swift animals by their speed, and they subdue strong ones by their strength. So no one could take them alive by force, but by opportunity and skill and contrivance; for whatever things are not achieved by strength, these are accomplished by ingenuity. Therefore the most dominant of beasts, the most agile and swiftest and most warlike, is taken by various methods, of which, in this writing, I shall relate those useful for an army . When the polemarch will exercise with the army and try to hunt, he leads out all the infantry for the hunt, clothed in their battle gear. And the trackers of strong beasts have reported a target where a lion dens. Therefore approaching quietly, man next to man, they stand in a circle, surrounding it with their shields and fitting them to each other and over each other, so that their overlapping is the image of tiles. The trumpets sound loudly and the men shout together loudly. And the beast leaps from its lair agitated, and seeing both the wall of hoplites and lit torches being brought forward (for the hoplites carry these instead of spears), it grows quiet and remains and does not leap over the dense mass of shields. And where the place is more sloping, a machine is brought up on which a wide and spread-out cage-trap is set, carrying a kid. And behind the lion, armored men, holding dry and whole hides, shout, striking them with sticks. And it, terrified by the sound and the sight and the shouting, rushes toward the cage-trap at a run, while the hoplites [and] those behind the machine are bent down and unseen by the beast and the area around the cage-trap is walled with high planks, so that, thinking to escape by that way alone, it might be captured. This, then, is one method of hunting for the phalanx while it is exercising; the others I have related elsewhere. 1.15 To find the width of a river and the height of a wall Those moderately acquainted with the general education have, as is likely, to some extent grasped Euclid’s “Elements.” It is not, then, difficult through the first book to establish these things as well: to measure out the width of a river, when the other bank is inaccessible because of enemies stationed on it, in order to bring a suitable pontoon bridge for bridging it, and by the same reasoning to take the height of a wall from a distance in order to bring to bear city-taking machines of equal height. And toward an easy understanding of the proof, the following theorem will lead: "If one of the sides around the right angle of a right-angled triangle is cut in half, and from the point of section a straight line is raised at right angles, and through the point at which it cuts the remaining side a parallel line is drawn, and the remaining
καὶ ὀλίγιστον ἐλαίου προσλαβών, εἶτά τι μετρίως ἀνακόψας, ἔγχει κατὰ τῆς εὐωνύμου ῥινὸς διὰ τοῦ κέρως ἡμιόνοις νωτοφόροις τε καὶ τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις τελείοις μίξιν τὴν τελείαν, ἵπποις δὲ τῆς κράσεως τὸ ἥμισυ τριετέσι τε ἡμιόνοις ἢ διετέσι τῶν ἄλλων κτηνῶν, καὶ ὑγιαίνουσι, καθ' ἕκαστον ἔτος, τρίς, ὅπερ ἂν εἴη τριῶν ἐφεξῆς ἡμερῶν· καὶ νοσήσαντι δὲ τῷ ζῴῳ τὸ θανατήσιον ὁμοίως ἐπαρκέσει, τῆς λοιπῆς ἐπιμελείας, ὥσπερ εἰκός, προσφερομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐξ ἔθους· ἄλλα γὰρ κατὰ τῶν μικροτέρων παθῶν, κατὰ τῶν ὀχληρῶν δὲ τὰ ἄλλα εὐπορεῖν ἀναγκαῖον. [Θεραπεία βησσόντων ἵππων.] Ἵππῳ βήσσοντι θεραπεία φακὸς ἐπτισμένος, ἢν δίχα τῶν ἐλύτρων ἄκρως ἀλέσας ἢ λειώσας ἅμα ὕδατι ποτίσῃς· μέτρον δὲ τοῦ ὀσπρίου ζῴῳ παντὶ καθ' αὑτὸ ξέστου τέταρτον ἂν εἴη σύμμετρον. Πᾶν δὲ κτῆνος καμάτῳ ἔκλυτον ἢ ὀρθοπνοίᾳ περιπετὲς οὕτως ἰάσαιο· φθεῖρας ἢ κόρεις οἴνῳ λελειωμένους πότιζε, ἢ πίσσαν ἅμ' ἀλφίτοις τὴν ὑγράν. Τῶν δ' ἄλλων ἀλλαχόσε θεραπειῶν τοῖσδε τοῖς συγγράμμασι σποράδην ἐγκειμένων οὐκ ἀπορήσεις. 1.13 Πρὸς ἡμίονον λακτίζουσαν Οὐδὲν δὲ ὄφελος ὑγιαίνοντος μὲν ὑποζυγίου, στασιάζοντος δὲ ἤτοι ἄλλως ἀπειθοῦντος ἢ καὶ λακτίζοντος. Εἰς μὲν οὖν τῶν ἵππων τὸ πειθήνιον ἡ Ῥωμαία πρόκειται φωνή. Λακτίζουσαν δὲ παύσεις ἡμίονον, τὸ τῆς πύξου σπέρμα <καὶ> τοὺς τριβόλους οἴνῳ ἀφεψήσας καὶ ποτίσας· καί σοι ἐπὶ μῆνας ʹ τιθασὸς μενεῖ. 1.14 Θήρα στρατιωτική Ἀντὶ δὲ γυμνασίας στρατεύματι καὶ θήρα προσκείσεται <λεόντων>. Λέοντες τὰ μὲν ὠκέα καταλαμβάνουσι τάχει, τὰ δὲ ἄλκιμα καθαιροῦσιν ἀλκῇ. Κατὰ κράτος μὲν οὖν <ἂν> αὐτοὺς ἕλοι ζῶντας ἀνθρώπων οὐδείς, καιρῷ δὲ καὶ τέχνῃ καὶ μηχανῇ· ὅσα γὰρ οὐ γίνεται ῥώμῃ, ταῦτ' ἐπινοίᾳ κατορθοῦται. Τὸ οὖν ἡγεμονικώτατον τῶν θηρίων κουφότατόν τε καὶ τάχιστον καὶ μαχιμώτατον λαμβάνεται τρόποις ποικίλοις ὧν, ἐν τῷδε τῷ συγγράμματι, <τὰ στρατεύματι> χρησιμεύοντα διηγήσομαι. Ἡνίκα ὁ πολέμαρχος γυμνάσεται ἅμα τῷ στρατεύματι καὶ θηρᾶσαι δοκιμάσει, πᾶν ἐπὶ κυνηγέσιον τὸ πεζικὸν ἐξάγει τὰ ἐμπολέμια ἑσσάμενον. Σκοπὸν δὲ προηγγέλκασιν οἱ τῶν ἀλκίμων θηρίων ἰχνευταὶ ἔνθα φωλεύει λέων. Ἡσυχῆ τοιγαροῦν ἐπελθόντες, ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὸς ἐχόμενος, ἵστανται κύκλῳ, περιβαλλόμενοι τὰς ἀσπίδας καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλαις καὶ ἐπ' ἀλλήλας ἁρμόσαντες, ὡς εἶναι κεράμων εἰκόνα τὴν ἐπιπτυχὴν αὐτῶν. Ἠχοῦσιν αἱ σάλπιγγες σφοδρὸν καὶ συμβοῶσιν οἱ ἄνδρες μέγα. Ὃ δ' ἐξάλλεται τῆς εὐνῆς τεταραγμένος ὁ θήρ, καὶ ἰδὼν τό τε τῶν ὁπλιτῶν τεῖχος καὶ προσφερομένας λαμπάδας ἡμμένας (ταύτας γὰρ ἀντὶ δοράτων οἱ ὁπλῖται φέρουσιν), ἡσυχάζει καὶ μένει καὶ τὸ στῖφος τῶν ἀσπίδων οὐχ ὑπεράλλεται. Καθὸ δ' ἔστιν τοῦ χωρίου καταντέστερον, προσάγεται μηχανὴ ἐφ' ᾗ πλατεῖα καὶ ἡπλωμένη γαλεάγρα ἵδρυται ἔριφον φέρουσα. Ὄπιθεν δὲ τῷ λέοντι ἄνδρες κατάφρακτοι, βύρσας αὔας καὶ ὁλοκλήρους ἔχοντες, ἐμβοῶσι, κρούοντες ξύλοις. Ὃ δὲ τόν τε ἦχον καὶ τὴν ὄψιν καὶ τὴν κραυγὴν καταπλαγείς, ἐπὶ τὴν γαλεάγραν δρόμῳ ἵεται, τῶν τε ὁπλιτῶν [καὶ] τῶν κατόπιν τῆς μηχανῆς κεκλιμένων καὶ ἀσυνόπτων τῷ θηρίῳ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν γαλεάγραν σανίσιν ὑψηλαῖς τετειχισμένων, ἵν' ἐκείνῃ μόνῃ διεκφυγεῖν δοκῶν κρατηθῇ. Οὗτος μὲν οὖν θήρας τρόπος εἷς γυμναζομένῃ τῇ φάλαγγι· τοὺς δ' ἄλλους ἀλλαχόθι διηγησάμην. 1.15 Ποταμοῦ πλάτος εὑρεῖν καὶ τείχους <ὕψος> Οἱ τῆς ἐγκυκλίου μετρίως ἐπήβολοι παιδείας τῶν Εὐκλείδου «Στοιχείων» ἐπὶ ποσόν, ὡς εἰκός, ἐφήψαντο. Οὐ δὴ χαλεπὸν διὰ τοῦ πρώτου συστῆσαι καὶ τάδε· ποταμοῦ πλάτος ἐκμετρῆσαι, τῆς ἑτέρας ὄχθης ἀβάτου διὰ τοὺς ἐφεστῶτας αὐτῇ πολεμίους, πρὸς τὸ γεφυρῶσαι σύμμετρον ἐπαγαγόντας ζεῦγμα, τῷ τ' αὐτῷ λόγῳ τείχους ὕψος ἐκ διαστήματος λαβεῖν εἰς τὸ τὰς ἑλεπόλεις μηχανὰς ἰσοστασίους ἐπενεγκεῖν. Εἰς εὐμαθίαν δὲ τῆς ἀποδείξεως ἡγήσεται θεώρημα τόδε· «Ἐὰν ὀρθογωνίου τριγώνου μία τῶν περὶ τὴν ὀρθὴν γωνίαν <πλευρῶν> δίχα τμηθῇ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς τομῆς πρὸς ὀρθὰς <εὐθεῖα> ἀναταθῇ, καὶ διὰ τοῦ σημείου καθὸ τέμνει τὴν λοιπὴν πλευρὰν παράλληλος ἀχθῇ, καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ