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The Book of the Sword

Note 1002 — Chapter XIII · THE SWORD AMONGST THE BARBARIANS (EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE).

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Jähns (p. 439) quotes Asclepiodotus (vii. 3) and Ælian (xviii. 4), who describe the cuneus as Scythian and Thracian, i.e. barbarous. Unfortunately Jähns also cites the ‘Boar’s head’ of the Laws of Menu (Houghton’s Manava-Dharma Shastra, vii. 187), in the eighth century b.c.; Menu being centuries after Tacitus. I have noticed that the disposal of our chessmen shows the Hindú form of attack, the infantry in front, the horse and elephants (castles) on either wing, and the Rajah or Commander-in-chief in the centre and not in front.

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