rly no
Persian was ever to be seen on foot, but the sole object of the custom
was to make them perfect horsemen. Now they lay more rugs on their
horses' backs than on their own beds; it is not a firm seat they care
for, but a soft saddle.

[20] As soldiers we may imagine how they have sunk below the ancient
standard; in past times it was a national institution that the
land-owner should furnish troopers from his own estate, and men were
bound to go on active service, while the garrison troops in the country
received regular pay; but now the Persian grandees have manufactured
a new type of cavalry, who earn their pay as butlers and cooks and
confectioners and cupbearers and bathmen and flunkeys to serve at table
or remove the dishes, and serving-men to put their lords to bed and help
them to rise, and perfumers to anoint them and rub them and make them
beautiful. [21] In numbers they make a very splendid show, but they are
no use for fighting; as may be seen by what actually takes place: an
enemy can move about their country more freely than the inhabitants
themselves. [22] It will be remembered that Cyrus put a stop to the
old style of fighting at long range, and by arming men and horses with
breastplates and giving each trooper a short spear he taught them to
fight at close quarters. But nowadays they will fight in neither one
style nor the other. [23] The infantry still carry the large shields,
the battle-axes, and the swords, as if they meant to do battle as they
did in Cyrus' day. [24] But they will never close with the enemy. Nor do
they use the scythe-bearing chariots as Cyrus intended. By the
honours he gave he raised the dignity and improved the quality of his
charioteers till he had a body of men who would charge right into the
enemy's ranks; but the generals of to-day, though they do not even know
the charioteers by sight, flatter themselves that untrained men will
serve their purpose quite as well as trained. [25] So the charioteers
will dash off, but before they reach the enemy half the men have fallen
from their boxes, and the others will jump out of their own accord,
and the teams, left without their drivers, will do more harm to their
friends than to their foes. [26] And since in their hearts the Persians
of to-day are well aware what their fighting condition really is, they
always give up the struggle, and now none of them will take the field
at all without Hellenes to help them, whether they are fightin