^sr 



20 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[PEBIOD I. 



and the horsemen carried swords. At the battle of 

 Cunaxa he charged with his 600 horse against the guard 

 of 6,000 who were stationed in front of the king Arta- 

 xerxes, put them to flight, and killed their commander 

 Artagerses with his own hand; the fighting being 

 evidently close hand-to-hand work. Tissaphernes, who 

 commanded the cavalry of Artaxerxes in this action, 

 charged with his horsemen through the Greek peltasts. 

 The Greeks opened their ranks and cut down the horse- 

 men with their swards and hurled their javelins at 

 them, which proves that the cavalry must have ridden 

 boldly on. 



After the death of Cyrus the younger, Xenophon de- 

 scribes how the 10,000 Greeks suffered from the want of 

 cavalry, being harassed by the Persian bowmen, archers, 

 and slingers, who, keeping at a safe distance, hurled 

 their missiles upon the heavily armed Greeks, and if 

 attacked, retreated swiftly, shooting backwards as they 

 rode.^ Xenophon organized a small force of cavalry 

 with the baggage horses. They were provided with 

 leathern jackets and breastplates, and were most 

 serviceable in the retreat. 



In the war between Darius and Alexander the Great, 

 the Persians still retained the war-chariots, which seem 

 to have lost their effect to a great extent by the skill 

 with which the soldiers of Alexander attacked and 

 evaded them. The cavalry were very numerous, and 

 consisted of heavy-armed horsemen, who fought at close 

 quarters with both swords and lances, and light cavalry, 

 who used bows and arrows and javelins, and depended 

 entirely upon harassing their opponents with their 

 missile weapons. 



' Xenophon, Anabasis, iii. 3, 7. 



