DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0436
414
OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
as we find every where in Homer, and the rest of the poets. So Hercu-
les and Cycnus, about to engage,
---suTTKiniiev cft'pgaiti &opov at^' 'nri yctitnv (1).
Leap'd from their chariots on the ground.
When they were weary, which often happened bj reason of their armour
being heavier than any other, they retired into their chariots, and thence
annoyed their enemies with darts and missive weapons.
Besides these, we find frequent mention in historians of chariots, call-
ed currus falcati, and J'gsdrasvopofoi, because armed with hooks or scythes,
with which whole ranks of soldiers were cut off together. But after-
wards, it being considered they were never of any use but in plain and
open ground, and were frequently turned back by affrighted and ungo-
vernable horses, upon their own party, to its confusion and ruin, several
methods also being contrived to defeat or elude their force, these and all
other chariots were wholly laid aside. Accordingly, when military disci-
pline was carried to its height, though sometimes they were brought into
battles by barbarians, as may be observed of the Persians in Curtius ; yet
we never find the Grecians making any use of them, or much damaged by
them; but, contemning that old and unskilful method of fighting, they
chose rather to ride on horseback ; which custom seems to have been
received in a short time after the-heroic wars.
Of all the Grecians, the Thessalians have the greatest name for horse-
manship ; and in all wars we find their cavalry most esteemed. The Co-
lophonians had once, by many remarkable actions, arrived to such a pitch
of glory, as to be esteemed invincible. In all long and tedious wars, their
assistance was courted, and the party that obtained supplies from them,
was certain of success and victory ; insomuch, that xoAo^wva nSivai, and in
Latin, colophnnem imponere, was used proverbially for putting a conclu-
sion to any affair (2). The Lacedaemonians were but meanly furnished
with cavalry : and, till the Messenian wars, it does not appear, that ei-
ther they, or the rest of the Peloponnesians, employed themselves in
horsemanship, but reposed their chief confidence in foot (3) ; Peloponne-
sus being a mountainous and craggy country, and therefore unfit for horse-
men 4), who in such places become almost useless in fight. But the
Messenians being subdued, the Spartans, carrying their arms into other
countries, soon found the great occasion they had of horses to support
and cover their foot ; and in a short time supplied that defect, by instruct-
ing their youth in horsemanship ; to which end we find they had masters
in that art, called j/vio^a^*<rai (5). But the greatest part of their cavalry
was furnished from Sciros (6), a town not far distant from Sparta, the in-
habitants of which claimed, as their proper post, the left wing in the La-
cedaemonian armies (7). Attica was likewise a hilly country, and there*
fore not designed for breeding horses ; we find accordingly, the Athenian
cavalry to have been exceeding tew in number, consisting only of ninety-
six horsemen ; for the whole Athenian nation being anciently divided into
forty-eight naucratiae. we are told by Pollux, that the number of horses
each of these was obliged to furnish to the war, was no more than two
(1) Hesiodus Scuto.
(2) Strabo, lib. xiv.
(3) Pausanias, lib. iv,
(5) Hesychius.
(6) Xenophon Ku?oirai5. lib. iv.
(4) Plato. *(7) Thucydides, lib. v.
OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF GREECE.
as we find every where in Homer, and the rest of the poets. So Hercu-
les and Cycnus, about to engage,
---suTTKiniiev cft'pgaiti &opov at^' 'nri yctitnv (1).
Leap'd from their chariots on the ground.
When they were weary, which often happened bj reason of their armour
being heavier than any other, they retired into their chariots, and thence
annoyed their enemies with darts and missive weapons.
Besides these, we find frequent mention in historians of chariots, call-
ed currus falcati, and J'gsdrasvopofoi, because armed with hooks or scythes,
with which whole ranks of soldiers were cut off together. But after-
wards, it being considered they were never of any use but in plain and
open ground, and were frequently turned back by affrighted and ungo-
vernable horses, upon their own party, to its confusion and ruin, several
methods also being contrived to defeat or elude their force, these and all
other chariots were wholly laid aside. Accordingly, when military disci-
pline was carried to its height, though sometimes they were brought into
battles by barbarians, as may be observed of the Persians in Curtius ; yet
we never find the Grecians making any use of them, or much damaged by
them; but, contemning that old and unskilful method of fighting, they
chose rather to ride on horseback ; which custom seems to have been
received in a short time after the-heroic wars.
Of all the Grecians, the Thessalians have the greatest name for horse-
manship ; and in all wars we find their cavalry most esteemed. The Co-
lophonians had once, by many remarkable actions, arrived to such a pitch
of glory, as to be esteemed invincible. In all long and tedious wars, their
assistance was courted, and the party that obtained supplies from them,
was certain of success and victory ; insomuch, that xoAo^wva nSivai, and in
Latin, colophnnem imponere, was used proverbially for putting a conclu-
sion to any affair (2). The Lacedaemonians were but meanly furnished
with cavalry : and, till the Messenian wars, it does not appear, that ei-
ther they, or the rest of the Peloponnesians, employed themselves in
horsemanship, but reposed their chief confidence in foot (3) ; Peloponne-
sus being a mountainous and craggy country, and therefore unfit for horse-
men 4), who in such places become almost useless in fight. But the
Messenians being subdued, the Spartans, carrying their arms into other
countries, soon found the great occasion they had of horses to support
and cover their foot ; and in a short time supplied that defect, by instruct-
ing their youth in horsemanship ; to which end we find they had masters
in that art, called j/vio^a^*<rai (5). But the greatest part of their cavalry
was furnished from Sciros (6), a town not far distant from Sparta, the in-
habitants of which claimed, as their proper post, the left wing in the La-
cedaemonian armies (7). Attica was likewise a hilly country, and there*
fore not designed for breeding horses ; we find accordingly, the Athenian
cavalry to have been exceeding tew in number, consisting only of ninety-
six horsemen ; for the whole Athenian nation being anciently divided into
forty-eight naucratiae. we are told by Pollux, that the number of horses
each of these was obliged to furnish to the war, was no more than two
(1) Hesiodus Scuto.
(2) Strabo, lib. xiv.
(3) Pausanias, lib. iv,
(5) Hesychius.
(6) Xenophon Ku?oirai5. lib. iv.
(4) Plato. *(7) Thucydides, lib. v.