^w 



18 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period r. 



li 



I 



consequently gathered all the camels that were with his 

 army carrying provisions and baggage, and ounted 

 upon them men in cavalry accoutrements, he placed 

 these in the first line, commanded his infantry to 

 follow, and his newly-organized cavalry were all placed 

 behind the infantry, showing that he had not yet 

 learned to place much reliance upon his horsemen. 

 By this stratagem the horses of the Lydian cavalry, 

 alarmed at the appearance and smell of the camels, 

 wheeled round and. recoiled in confusion, and although 

 the Lydians dismounted and engaged valiantly with the 

 infantry of Cyrus, after a hardly-contested struggle they 

 were defeated.^ Xenophon, in his account of this battle, 

 gives much credit to the Persian cavalry, but the 

 account above, which follows closely the text of 

 Herodotus, is likely to be the more truthful.^ 



After Cyrus the cavalry became the most important 

 part of the Persian armies. They were very heavily 

 armed, both men and horses, in iron and bras&, and so 

 laden with it as to be able to compete with difficulty 

 with horsemen more lightly equipped.^ They were 

 accustomed, as were the Assyrians, to fetter their horses 

 at night, ^ a pernicious habit which ren4ered them useless 

 in case of a surprise, and rendered intrenchments around 

 the camp a necessity,^ 



When Xerxes invaded Greece, 480 B.C., he had in 

 his army 80,000 cavalry, besides camels and chariots. 

 Among them were 8,000 Sargatians, a nomadic race of 

 Persian extraction, armed with lassoes and daggers only. 

 Their mode of fighting was to throw the lasso at a 

 distance, and having entangled their enemy they drew 

 him towards them and despatched him with the dagger.® 

 The Median cavalry wore sleeved breastplates, with iron 

 scales like a fish. They carried bucklers made of osiers, 

 short spears, long bows and arrows, and a dagger upon 

 the right thigh. The Cissians were similarly equipped. 

 The Caspian cavalry wore goatskin mantles, and carried 



' Herodotus, i. 79, 80, ^ Xenophon, Cyropsedia, vii. 2, 46. 



' Duparcq, 27. * Xenophon, Cyropaedia, iii. 3, 24, 27. * Xenophon, 

 Anabasis, 100, 101. ^ Herodotus, vii. 85. 



Iii 111 I i 

 itillll 



