the cavalry.  Perhaps nothing short of an invasion of his country by the Parthian king in person would have prevented Artavasdes from detaching a portion of his troops to act in Mesopotamia.  And no doubt it is also true that Orodes had great confidence in his general, whom he may even have felt to be a better commander than himself.  Surenas, as we must call him, since his name has not been preserved to us, was in all respects a person of the highest consideration.  He was the second man in the kingdom for birth, wealth, and reputation.  In courage and ability he excelled all his countrymen; and he had the physical advantages of commanding height and great personal beauty.  When he went to battle, he was accompanied by a train of a thousand camels, which carried his baggage; and the concubines in attendance on him required for their conveyance two hundred chariots.  A thousand horseman clad in mail, and a still greater number of light-armed, formed his bodyguard.  At the coronation of a Parthian monarch, it was his hereditary right to place the diadem on the brow of the new sovereign.  When Orodes was driven into banishment it was he who brought him back to Parthia in triumph.  When Seleucia revolted, it was he who at the assault first mounted the breach and, striking terror into the defenders, took the city.  Though less than thirty years of age at the time when he was appointed commander, he was believed to possess, besides these various qualifications, consummate prudence and sagacity.

The force which Orodes committed to his brave and skillful lieutenant consisted entirely of horse.  This was not the ordinary character of a Parthian army, which often comprised four or five times as many infantry as cavalry.  It was, perhaps, rather fortunate accident than profound calculation that caused the sole employment against the Romans of this arm.  The foot soldiers were needed for the rough warfare of the Armenian mountains; the horse would, it was known, act with fair effect in the comparatively open and level Mesopotamia.  As the king wanted the footmen he took them, and left to his general the troops which were not required for his own operations.

The Parthian horse, like the Persian, was of two kinds, standing in strong contrast the one to the other.  The bulk of their cavalry was of the lightest and most agile description.  Fleet and active coursers, with scarcely any caparison but a headstall and a single rein, were mounted by riders clad only in a tunic and trousers, and armed with nothing but a strong bow and a quiver full of arrows.  A training begun in early boyhood made the rider almost one with his steed; and he could use his weapons with equal ease and effect whether his horse was stationary or at full gallop, and whether he was advancing towards or hurriedly retreating from his enemy.  His supply of missiles was almost inexhaustible, for when he found his quiver empty, he had only to retire a short distance and replenish his stock from magazines, borne