68 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period I. 



.vi 



!li 



I .'l' 



Alexander at Issus and at Arbela. The whole details of 

 the fight at Cannae, as given by the ancient historians, 

 prove that the cavalry must ha', j attained a very high 

 degree of discipline, or they could never after a victorious 

 charge have been kept so well in hand, have been recalled 

 so readily, and so soon led again to the charge, to be 

 again recalled, and again thrown into action. 



His extraordinary skill displayed in the distribution 

 of his cavalry, hv which he opposed 8,000 to 2,400, and 

 held back his Numidians on the left, until they were 

 assisted by the victorious horse from the other wing, is 

 beyond all praise, and proves how thoroughly he appre- 

 ciated one of the best established principles of modern 

 war, that of opposing masses of your own army to 

 fractions of the enemy. 



The wars with Hannibal and the numerous defeats 

 suffered by the Eomans through the want of good 

 cavalry, soon caused them to make great efforts to supply 

 the deficiency. Publius Scipio, the son of the Roman 

 Consul who commanded at the battle of the Ticinus, 

 was appointed to the command of the Roman armies in 

 Spain, after the death of his father and uncle. ^ This 

 great general, afterwards surnamed Africanus, the con- 

 queror of Hannibal at Zama, was no sooner intrusted 

 with high command than he devoted himself with 

 energy to the improvement of the cavalry service. 



The cavalry were modelled upon the Greek system, 

 which was then considered the best. They \vere pro- 

 vided with the casque, the cuirass, the oblong buckler, 

 boots, a double ironed lance, a javelin, and a curved 

 sabre.' Scipio took the greatest pains to superintend 

 persona' y their drill and exercises. We find from 

 Polybius (who gives an account in the second chapter of 

 the tenth book of the manoeuvres that he introduced) 

 that each horseman was taught individually to make the 

 right or left about face or turn. The decuriae and turmse 

 were exercised in wheeling to the right and left, then 

 going about by files, and wheeling back again, so as to 

 occupy the same ground as before the first wheel was 

 ^ ildBkenne, ii. 31. > Ibid. 



