anion of the first cohort, consisted of a hundred and thirty-two
men; whilst each of the other nine amounted only to sixty-six. The
entire establishment formed a regiment, if we may use the modern
expression, of seven hundred and twenty-six horse, naturally connected
with its respective legion, but occasionally separated to act in the
line, and to compose a part of the wings of the army. [50] The cavalry of
the emperors was no longer composed, like that of the ancient republic,
of the noblest youths of Rome and Italy, who, by performing their
military service on horseback, prepared themselves for the offices
of senator and consul; and solicited, by deeds of valor, the future
suffrages of their countrymen. [51] Since the alteration of manners and
government, the most wealthy of the equestrian order were engaged in
the administration of justice, and of the revenue; [52] and whenever they
embraced the profession of arms, they were immediately intrusted with a
troop of horse, or a cohort of foot. [53] Trajan and Hadrian formed their
cavalry from the same provinces, and the same class of their subjects,
which recruited the ranks of the legion. The horses were bred, for
the most part, in Spain or Cappadocia. The Roman troopers despised the
complete armor with which the cavalry of the East was encumbered. Their
more useful arms consisted in a helmet, an oblong shield, light boots,
and a coat of mail. A javelin, and a long broad sword, were their
principal weapons of offence. The use of lances and of iron maces they
seem to have borrowed from the barbarians. [54]

[Footnote 50: Veget. de Re Militari, l. ii. c. 6. His positive
testimony, which might be supported by circumstantial evidence, ought
surely to silence those critics who refuse the Imperial legion its
proper body of cavalry. Note: See also Joseph. B. J. iii. vi. 2.--M.]

[Footnote 51: See Livy almost throughout, particularly xlii. 61.]

[Footnote 52: Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 2. The true sense of that very
curious passage was first discovered and illustrated by M. de Beaufort,
Republique Romaine, l. ii. c. 2.]

[Footnote 53: As in the instance of Horace and Agricola. This appears to
have been a defect in the Roman discipline; which Hadrian endeavored to
remedy by ascertaining the legal age of a tribune. * Note: These details
are not altogether accurate. Although, in the latter days of the
republic, and under the first emperors, the young Roman nobles obtained
the