340 HISTORICAL TALES. —

general of the cavalry, and at once set himself to
reform its discipline and improve its tactics. By
his example he roused a strong warlike fervor among
the people, inducing them to give up all display and
exercise but those needed in war. “ Nothing then
was to be seen in the shops but plate breaking up or
melting down, gilding of breastplates, and studding,
buckles and bits with silver; nothing in the places
of exercise but horses managing and young men ex-
ercising their arms; nothing in the hands of the
women but helmets and crests of feathers to be
dyed, and the military cloaks and riding frocks to be
embroidered. ... Their arms becoming light and
easy to them with constant use, they longed for
nothing more than to try them with an enemy, and
fight in earnest.”

Two years afterwards, in 208 B.c, Philopcemen
was elected strategus, or general-in-chief, of the
Achean league. The martial ardor of the army he
had organized was not long left unsatisfied. It was
with his old enemy, the Spartans, that he was first
concerned. Machanidas, the Spartan king, having
attacked the city of Mantinea, Philopcemen marched
against him, and soon gave him other work to do.
A part of the Achean army flying, Machanidas
hotly pursued. Philopcemen held back his main
body until the enemy had become scattered in pur-
suit, when he charged upon them with such energy
that they were repulsed, and over four thousand
were killed. Machanidas returning in haste, strove
to cross a deep ditch between him and his foe; but
as he was struggling up its side, Philopcemen trans-