the enemy. Abradates, leaving his chariot in the charge of
his driver, descended and came to Cyrus, and remained in conversation
with him for a few moments, to receive his last orders. Cyrus directed
him to remain where he was, and not to attack the enemy until he
received a certain signal. At length the two chieftains separated;
Abradates returned to his chariot, and Cyrus moved on. Abradates then
moved slowly along his lines, to encourage and animate his men, and to
give them the last directions in respect to the charge which they were
about to make on the enemy when the signal should be given. All eyes
were turned to the magnificent spectacle which his equipage presented
as it advanced toward them; the chariot, moving slowly along the line,
the tall and highly-decorated form of its commander rising in the
center of it, while the eight horses, animated by the sound of the
trumpets, and by the various excitements of the scene, stepped
proudly, their brazen armor clanking as they came.

When, at length, the signal was given, Abradates, calling on the other
chariots to follow, put his horses to their speed, and the whole line
rushed impetuously on to the attack of the Egyptians. War horses,
properly trained to their work, will fight with their hoofs with
almost as much reckless determination as men will with spears. They
rush madly on to encounter whatever opposition there may be before
them, and strike down and leap over whatever comes in their way, as if
they fully understood the nature of the work that their riders or
drivers were wishing them to do. Cyrus, as he passed along from one
part of the battle field to another, saw the horses of Abradates's
line dashing thus impetuously into the thickest ranks of the enemy.
The men, on every side, were beaten down by the horses' hoofs, or
over-turned by the wheels, or cut down by the scythes; and they who
here and there escaped these dangers, became the aim of the soldiers
who stood in the chariots, and were transfixed with their spears. The
heavy wheels rolled and jolted mercilessly over the bodies of the
wounded and the fallen, while the scythes caught hold of and cut
through every thing that came in their way--whether the shafts of
javelins and spears, or the limbs and bodies of men--and tore every
thing to pieces in their terrible career. As Cyrus rode rapidly by, he
saw Abradates in the midst of this scene, driving on in his chariot,
and shouting to his men in a phrensy