CHAP. 111.] 



ROMAN CAVALRY. 



also, although invested with supreme power, was not 

 allowed to ride on horseback unlefts he first obtained 

 permission from the people.^ 



If the early legends which form the basis of the first 

 period of Roman history are entitled to any credence, 

 it is clear that the mounted service was both understood 

 and made use of \o a certain extent from the very 

 foundation of the state — although the persons whose 

 names are mentioned in connection with it were probably 

 mythical. 



Up to the time of the second Punic War, however, 

 the Koman cavalry were weak in numbers, and, although 

 brave and gallant soldiers, were not very efficient as 

 horsemen. In their early wars we see that the issue of 

 nearly all the battles depended almost entirely upon the 

 exertions of the legionary infantry, and there are not 

 many instances of successes gained through the eflforts 

 of the cavalry ; the most noted being the capture of the 

 town of Trossulum in Tuscany by the Roman knights 

 alone without assistance.^ On account of this feat the 

 equites were sometimes called Trossuli.^ 



When Romulus, according to the legend, organised the 

 new community, and divided it for civil and military 

 purposes into tribes and curiae, each tribe maintained ten 

 curiae of 100 men each ; so that the three tribes together 

 furnished a force of 3,000 infantry, which was the main 

 military strength of the state.* In addition to this 

 Romulus also instituted a body of horsemen caUed celeres 

 or equites, who were formed into three centuries of 100 

 men each, taken equally from the three tribes. They are 

 said to have been armed with the sword and javelin,^ and 

 were accustomed to fight either on foot or on horseback. 

 They were of patrician rank, and were chosen young men 

 who served about the person of the king in peace and 

 war, as a species of body-guard.^ 



Tarquinius Priscus seems to have valued the cavalry 

 service more highly than his predecessors, and made 



' Roman Antiquities, 117. ^ Bardin, 1118. ^ Lempri^re, 

 Trossulum. * Roman Antiquities, 137. * Bardin, 1118. 



® Lempri6re, Celeres; Livy, i. 15. 



