Sayfa 35 / 62

'The army when you took it in hand was sunk in luxury and

revelry, and corrupted with long inactivity. At Antiochia the

soldiers had been Wont to applaud at the stage plays, knew more

of the gardens at the nearest restaurant than of the battlefield.

Horses were hairy from lack of grooming, horsemen smooth because

their hairs had been pulled out by the roots[39] a rare thing it

was to see a soldier with hair on arm or leg. Moreover, they were

better drest than armed; so much so, that Laelianus Pontius, a

strict man of the old discipline, broke the cuirasses of some of

them with his finger-tips, and observed cushions on the horses'

backs. At his direction the tufts were cut through, and out of

the horsemen's saddles came what appeared to be feathers pluckt

from geese.