File:Scribner's magazine (1887) (14595298818).jpg

Identifier: scribnersmagazin16newy (find matches)
Title: Scribner's magazine
Year: 1887 (1880s)
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Publisher: New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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em. Althoughthe naturalist of to-day perceives theimpossibility of there ever having beenon this earth a form uniting the tninkand fore-limbs of a quadruped to theupper part of a mans body, such sci-entific concejitions are a part of ourmodern, recently acquired store ofknowledge. To the Greeks of the myth-making age the creature, half man, halfhorse, added but one more wonder to the vast store the world already con-tained. The currency of this fableshows us very clearly how great wasthe impression which the horse madeuj^on primitive peoples. To jierceive the value of the horse inthose ancient contests which openedthe paths of civilization, we must notethe fact, that until the invention of gun-powder, success in breaking the ranksof an enemy depended mainly on thecharge. With a large body of A-igoroushoi*semen it was generally possil^le tooverwhelm an enemys line of battle,either by direct assault or by an attackon its fiank or rear. If the reader iscurious to see the value of horsemen
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cDeLo.^ i . Plough Horses, France. in ancient warfare, he should read thestory of the campaigns of Hannibalagainst the Romans in Italy. The firstsuccesses of that great commander—victories which came near changing thehistory of the western world—were al-most altogether due to the strengthlying in his admirable Numidian cav-alry. The Romans were already goodsoldiers, their footmen more trust-worthy than those which the Cartha-ginian general could set against them,but with his horsemen, as at Can-nae, he could wrap in the Roman lineand reduce the most valiant legions to the confused herd which awaited thebutcher. Although the invention of firearmshas somewhat changed the conditionsunder which cavalry may be used, mak-ing indeed the direct charge more costlyto the assailant than the assailed, it hasin no wise diminished, but rather in-creased, the value of horses in militarycampaigns. In the line of battle horseshave become more than ever necessaryfor the conveyance of field officers

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