ly, he added to this defence the protection of a
coat of mail, composed either of scale armor, or of quilted linen, like
the corselets of the Egyptians. Armor of the former kind was almost
impenetrable, since the scales were of metal--iron, bronze, or sometimes
gold--and overlapped one another like those of a fish.

The Persian cavalry was armed, in the early times of the monarchy,
almost exactly in the same manner as their infantry. Afterwards, however
a considerable change seems to have been made. In the time of the
younger Cyrus cavalry soldiers were very fully protected. They wore
helmets on their heads, coats of mail about their bodies, and greaves
on their legs. Their chief offensive arms seem, then, to have been the
short sword, the javelin, and the knife. It is probable that they were
without shields, being sufficiently defended by their armor, which (as
we have seen) was almost complete.

The javelin of the horseman, which was his special weapon, was a short
strong spear or pike, with a shaft of cornel-wood, and an iron point. It
was common for him to carry two such weapons, one of which he used as
a missile, while he retained the other in order to employ it in
hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. It was a stout manageable weapon,
and though no match for the longer and equally strong spear of
the Macedonian cavalry, was preferred by Xenophon to the long weak
reed-lance commonly carried by horse-soldiers in his day.

It was the practice of the later Persians to protect with armor, not
only the horseman, but the horse. They selected for the service large
and powerful animals, chiefly of the Nisaean breed, and cased them
almost wholly in mail. The head was guarded by a frontlet, and the neck
and chest by a breast-piece; the sides and flanks had their own special
covering and cuisses defended the thighs. These defences were not
merely, like those of the later Assyrian heavy cavalry, of felt or
leather, but consisted, like the cuirasses worn by the riders, of some
such material covered with metal scales. The weight which the horse had
to sustain was thus very great, and the movements of the cavalry force
were, in consequence, slow and hesitating. Flight was difficult; and, in
a retreat, the weaker animals were apt to sink under their burdens, and
to be trampled to death by the stronger ones.

There can be no doubt that, besides these heavy horsemen, the Persians
employed, even in the latest times, and much more in