Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/108

 89 by oxen,** but the horses are led along by a halter, that their legs may not be galled and inflamed, nor their spirits damped by drawing chariots. ^*In addition to the charioteer, there are two fighting men who sit up in the chariot beside him. The war-elephant carries four men — three who shoot arrows, and the driver. || (Fragm. XXVII. follows.) Feagm. XXXV. -^lian, Hist Anim. XlII. 10. Of the use of Horses and UlepJianis, Cf. Fragm. XXXIV. 13-15. When it is said that an Indian by springing forward in front of a horse can check his speed and hold him back, this is not true of all Indians, but only of such as have been trained from boy- hood to manage horses ; for it is a practice with them to control their horses with bit and bridle, and to make them move at a measured pace and in a straight course. They neither, however, gall their tongue by the use of spiked muzzles, nor torture the roof of their mouth. The pro- fessional trainers break them in by forcing them to gallop round and round in a ring, es- pecially when they see them refractory. Such as undertake this work require to have a strong hand as well as a thorough knowledge of II" The fourfold division of the army (horse, foot, chariots, and elephants) was the same as that of Menu ; but Strabo makes a sextuple diviaion, by adding the commissariat and naval department." Digitized by Google