316 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



wandered into southern lands. The occurrence of horsemen 

 dressed and armed in the fashion of the early Iron Age proves 

 that the Gauls on the north-east of the Adriatic had learned by 

 that time freely to ride on horseback. But as the tribes on the 

 north side of the Danube continued to fight in chariots because 

 their horses were so small, we may infer that the Celts of St}Tia 

 had been able to obtain horses of a better kind from the lower 

 Balkan peninsula. 



It was almost certainly owing to this advantage that the 

 Gauls of that region had been able to develope a very re- 

 markable cavalry organization, which formed the chief element 

 of success in their invasions of Macedonia and Greece. The 

 description of the admirable cavalry system of those who 

 invaded Greece and got as far as Delphi in 279 B.C., de- 

 monstrates that they had long before procured good strains of 

 horses from Macedonia and northern Greece, and had learned 

 to utilise them, just as quickly as at a later time did their 

 kinsfolk in Gaul, as soon as they had obtained horses of superior 

 quality from Italy or Spain : " When Brennus persuaded his 

 people to invade Greece the assembled army numbered one 

 hundred and fifty-two thousand foot, and twenty thousand 

 four hundred horse. But though that was the number of 

 cavalry always on service, the real number was sixty-one 

 thousand two hundred ; for every trooper was attended by two 

 serfs, who were themselves good riders and were provided 

 with horses. When the cavalry was engaged, the serfs kept 

 in the rear, and made themselves useful thus : If a trooper 

 (ol i7r7revovT€<;) had a horse killed, the serfs brought him 

 a fresh mount : if the trooper himself was slain, the serf 

 mounted his master's horse ; but if both horse and man 

 were killed, the serf was ready mounted to take their place. 

 If the master was wounded, one of the serfs brought the 

 wounded man off the field to the camp, while the other took 

 his place in the ranks. These tactics, it seems to me, were 

 copied by the Gauls from the Persian corps of the Ten 

 Thousand, known as the Immortals. The difference was that 

 in the Persian corps the places of the dead were filled up by 

 enlistment after the action, while with the Gauls the squadron 



