114 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period I. 



awakened them to their danger. The Koman troops, 

 composed of cowardly mercenaries, betrayed the most 

 important posts, and took service under the standard of 

 the invader from fear of the punishment due to their 

 tre ;hery. The inhabitants of the Koman province of 

 Mcesia ransomed their lives and property by the pay- 

 ment of a largj sum of money.' 



A year or two later, the Goths attacked the same 

 province again, and the Koman army was destroyed, 

 and the Emperor Decius killed ; and from this time the 

 great power, whose troops for so many years had been so 

 unifonnly victorious, was continually suffering defeats 

 and losses, and was learning year by year to place less 

 reliance upon the infantry legions.^ The decline of the 

 Koman infantry gave the barbarian horsemen, who 

 swarmed around the frontiers, frequent opportunities to 

 gain successes, and in time gave to the cavalry service a 

 somewhat fictitious reputation, and led the Komans to 

 believe that their defeats were to be attributed more to 

 the superiority of the cavalry service as an arm, than to 

 the insubordination and degeneracy of their own troops. 



This idea gaining ground, the Komans naturally turned 

 their attention more to the cavalry, increased that force 

 considerably, and relied much upon it to maintain their 

 position in the field. 



By the year 312 the cavalry force had much increased. 

 In the battle fought in that year near Turin, between 

 Constantine and the generals of Maxentius, the principal 

 strength of the army of the latter consisted in its heavy 

 cavalry. The horses of this force, as well as the men, 

 were clothed in complete armour, well fitting and adapted 

 to the motions of their bodies.'^ They were very heavy, 

 and in the direct charge were almost irresistible, They 

 sometimes, is they did in this battle, charged in a mass 

 of wedge shape, the point directed towards the enemy. 

 They must, however, have been unwieldy and unmanage- 

 able, for Constantine, by skilful evolutions and mancBuvres, 

 succeeded in dividing the heavy body of horsemen, and 

 by his superior tactical skill gained a decisive victory. 



' Gibbon, i. 290. 



2 Ibid. 291. 



8 Ibid. 477. 



