INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



11 



manner; liis ally, Abradatus of Susa, provided 100 more, 

 and Cyrus persuaded Cyaxarcs to alter another 100 of 

 the Medean chariots from the Trojan and Libyan form 

 to his new pattern, so tliat at the battle of Thymbra 

 Cyrus had 300 chariots armed with scythes.^ They did 

 good service, and according to Xenophon, charged with 

 impetuous fury upon the heavy masses of the enemy, 

 closely followed by the infantry, who rushed in and cut 

 to pieces those whom the chariots had thrown into dis- 

 order.'-^ The success of the invention was so great, that 

 the scythed chariots were retained in use for many 

 generations by the successive kings of Persia.' 



The ancient Britons used war-chariots against the 

 Romans. They drove them among their enemies, throw- 

 ing javelins until they had penetrated their ranks, when 

 they dismounted and fought as infantry, the drivers 

 taking the chariots out of the meUe, and placing them 

 within reach of their masters, to be ready in case they 

 found themselves too closely pressed. Caesar speaking 

 of them says, "Thus these barbarians had the agility of 

 cavalry, and the steadiness and firmness of infantry," 

 and he bears strong testimony to their skill and useful- 

 ness in war.* 



Herodotus mentions the Zaveces, a nation of Africa, 

 bordering upon the Maxyan Libyans, among whom it 

 was customary to employ the women to drive the 

 chariots.® 



' Xenophon, Cyropaedia, vi. 2, 7, 8. « jbid. vii. 1, 31, 32. s Ibid. 

 vii. 1, 47. * Caesar, Com. iv. 33. ^ Herodotus, iv. 193. 



