310 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



field 10,000 horse and twice that number of infantry. Micipsa 

 had two legitimate sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and a bastard, 

 Jugurtha, who far exceeded the others in energy and ability. 

 Micipsa at his death divided the kingdom between all three, 

 but quarrels soon broke out, and Jugurtha in no long time 

 became master of the whole. Then commenced the long 

 struggle between Rome and Jugurtha in which the latter 

 routed the Romans more than once, and even made a consular 

 army pass under the yoke. It was not until Rome had found 

 a military genius in Gains Marius, a rude soldier of fortune, 

 and had been induced by him to remodel her whole military 

 system, that Jugurtha was at last vanquished and led in triumph 

 to the Capitol. I have already shown that Micipsa and his 

 successors paid great attention to the breeding of horses and 

 that no less than 100,000 colts were bred annually in their 

 dominions. It was by means of his overwhelming superiority 

 in cavalry that the Numidian king was able for so long to bid 

 defiance to the legions of Rome. 



In B.C. 125 the Romans had for the first time permanently 

 established themselves in Gaul, after the overthrow of the 

 powerful Ligurian tribe of Saluvii\ and we have seen how in 

 one of their campaigns against the Ligurians a Roman army 

 had been saved from destruction by a body of Numidian cavalry 

 in the Roman service. 



When Julius Caesar commenced his war of conquest (B.C. 

 60 — 56), he found that the chief strength of the Gauls lay 

 in their cavalry, which was composed of the ruling class who 

 had crossed the Rhine and become the overlords of the indi- 

 genous population, the latter forming their serfs and dependents 

 and following them to war. The Gauls, as has been repeatedly 

 shown, possessed horses of fine quality, derived from southern 

 lands at great cost. The conquest of Spain had supplied the 

 Roman army with some good horses and cavalry, and now the 



1 W. H. Hall [The Romans on the Riviera and the Rhone, pp. 49, 53, etc.) 

 gives the best account of the Ligurians and the Eoman conquest. As these 

 pages are passing through the press, the news of the sudden death of my gifted 

 friend has reached me. The memory of his rare qualities of heart and brain will 

 be long cherished by his many friends. 



