Note 6 — BOOK IX.
Rowland Smith translation
The following passage in Ammianus Marcellinus illustrates the account here given of the Καταφράκτοι ἳπποι—or barbed cavalry of the Persians.
"Erant autem omnes catervæ ferratæ, ita per singula membra densis laminis tectæ, ut juncturæ rigentes compagibus artuum convenirent: humanorumque vultuum sumulacra ita capitibus diligenter aptata, ut imbracteatis corporibus solidis, ibi tantum incidentia tela possint hærere, quà per cavernas minutas et orbibus oculorum affixas, parcius visitur, vel per supremitates narium angusti spiritus emittuntur. Quorum pars contis dimicatura, stabat immobilis, ut retinaculis æreis fixam existimares."—Book xxv.
Thus, by an anticipation of 600 years, we have brought before us a picture of the times, when,
"Their limbs all iron, and their souls all flame, A countless host, the red-cross warriors came."