CHAP. II.] 



THE GREEK CAVALRY. 



41 



using pikes without iron points. The cavalry soldiers 

 were'' carefully trained to mount and dismount from their 

 horses, and were exercised in vaulting upon wooden 

 horses in order to become proficient in an accomplish- 

 ment that was very necessary in an age when they had 

 not the aid of the stirrups by which modern horsemen 

 mount so easily. 



Xenophon has described the steps taken by Agesilaus 

 to form a body of cavalry when in Phrygia, and that 

 skilful general seems to have taken the greatest pains in 

 getting recruits to obtain approved riders, drawing his 

 levies from horse-breeding districts, in the idea that the 

 recruits from those sections would be expert horsemen. 

 When he had collected his forces at Ephesus, he drilled 

 them continually, and to incite them to take pains he 

 offerc 1 prizes to the troops of horse to such as should 

 ride best. The places of exercise were consequently 

 crowded with men practising, the horse course full of 

 horsemen riding about, and javelin men and archers 

 aiming at marks. This cavalry, so carefully drilled, 

 aided materially in gaining the successes which followed 

 in the campaign. 



In his " Treatise on Horsemanship," Xenophon gives 

 an elaborate description of the method of mounting in 

 use in his age, and it seems that even then the horse was 

 mounted from the left side. He says the rider " must 

 take the rein, which is fastened to the lower part of the 

 bit, or to the chain that goes under the chin, in his left 

 hand in a convenient manner, and so loosely that he may 

 not, either as he raises himself by grasping the mane 

 near the ears, or jumps on the horse's hack with the 

 assistance of the spear, pull the animal back." This 

 seems to intimate that there were two methods of vault- 

 ing upon the horse ; one somewhat similar to tlie way in 

 which a groom will now get on a horse bare-back by 

 vaulting with the hands resting on the withers ; the 

 other by means of the assistance of the spear. There is, 

 according to Berenger, a collection of antique plates in 

 the British Museum in which there is one representing a 

 soldier going to mount his horse by the aid of his spear. 



