10 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



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army covering its advance, the warriors in them using 

 missile Aveapons only, but never coming to close quarters, 

 and retiring when the javelin men and heavy-armed 

 infantry came into action. 



The Trojan way of managing chariots has already 

 been described, and these two methods were alone in use 

 in the time of Cyrus. 



Cyrus seems to have perceived a great waste of power 

 in both these systems, and to have been the first to 

 endeavour to use the momentum of the weight and 

 .speed of the horse and chariot, as an offensive (we may 

 almost say projectile) weapon. He held the opinion that 

 when the bravest of the men were mounted upon chariots, 

 men who naturally constituted the chief strength of the 

 army, they acted the part only of skirmishers at a dis- 

 tance, and contributed nothing of any importance to the 

 attainment of victory. He saw that 300 chariots re- 

 quired 300 combatants, and 1200 horses, and that the 

 drivers were picked men in whom the warriors could 

 best confide, and there were three hundred of them who 

 did not do the enemy the least harm.^ 



He therefore abolished both these methods of using 

 them, and invented a new sort of chariot, with wheels of 

 great strength so as not to be easily broken, and with 

 long axletrees to prevent it being overturned. The 

 driver's seat M'^as like a turret of strong timber. The 

 driver himself was covered to the eyes in complete 

 armour, and could manage the horses by reaching over 

 the seat which came up to his elbows. '^ The axletrees on 

 each side of the wheels had steel scythes attached about 

 three feet in length, and others below pointing to the 

 ground, evidently to prevent an enemy seeking safety l)y 

 falling down and allowing the chariot to pass over. The 

 horses were also clad in armour, with forehead pieces, 

 breastplates, and sideplates, and the whole formed an 

 engine intended by its momentum to break through the 

 line of the enemy, and create loss and confusion in his 

 ranks.^ Cyrus himself equipped 100 chariots in this 



* Xenophon, Cyropaedia, ri. 1, 27, 28, 29, 30. « ibid. vi. 1, 29 ; 

 vi. 2. 17. « Ibid. vi. 1, 50; vi. 4, 1. 



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