Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-12-06
ANCIENT AND NoDKRN WAR
SFARL

III winch IL In IuOu0tts
The first Of these Is that the vast ar
maments Of which we read as having
been brought into the field by Semi
ramis. Sesostris, Xerxes. and Others,
In which the number Of combatants
was estimsted BY hundreds Of thous-
ands, and even by millions, were, In
reality, composed Of a host Of non
comba.ants, as we'll as Of combatants.
Xerxes, It Il said, led an army OF p
900, 600 men Into Greece, yet 1t does
not appear that one-tenth of that num-
Der took part In the battle of Mara
thon. which efectually checked his
aspirations for a while. The Greek
army there engaged consisted Of 3d.
600 men. heavily armed and well dis
ciplined, drawn up In a strong posi-
ton, and ably Differed. Not one Of
them was a useless man or M incum-
brance. But the Persian host was
made Of about 100000 fighting men,
lightly armed and indiffersntly led,
while the remainder were slaves,
cooks, BARRIERS, and every species Of
camp-followers, together with tho
throng Of personal attendants, male
and female, Of "the Great King and
his court, to say nothing 81 innumer-
able horses, mules, camels and other
animals required to drag these luxu-
rious jewellers and their baggage from
Persia to Greece. Now 1t Is evident
that 1t required Ear more to feed and
clothe this horde of supernumeraries
than the fighting men; indeed, max
ing due allowance for Oriental exag-
geration 1t may we'll be doubted
whether the numbers who accompa-
MED Xerxes did amount to 1000, 900
or even half that, though some nc
counts 60 tho extravagant length of
$4,000 OO. They might have subsisted
OH the fertile plains Of Asia Minor,
but when they reached the rugged
mountains and defles of Thrace and
Thessaly, 1t must have gone hard with
them to procure supplies. And. doubt
less, this was why, after witnessing
the destruction OF his fleet at Salamis,
Xeixes fastened back to Persia, leav-
Ing his generals to prosecute the war,
with 800, 900 men, the vast bulk Of his
non.combatants returning with him.
He was beaten by want Of supplies,
quite as much as by the herolsm Of the
Greeks. Now. If we can suppose that
this system of carrying about with an
army = horde of "useless mouths "
prevailed at the present day, and that
the King Of Prussia had collected half
Germany to follow him to the war.
would he have achieved one-tenth part
Of what he has? Would not the very
numbers he brought with him have
impeded and stopped his operations?
Yet this was the ancient mode Of car
rying OH war, until the Greeks and
the Romans, but especially the latter,
invented the military organization,
upon which modern armies are based,
whereby all useless hands are ordered
to the rear or left entirely behind.
The second Of these differences con
sists In n practice which has been very
much lost sight Of when comparisons
are made between the sauguinary re-
salts Of ancient and modern battles.
The slaughter vas much greater in
ancient conflicts in proportion to num-
b,rs than 1t Is In modern. 1t Is a COM
mon thing to attribute this to the sys-
t IN Of hand-to-hsnd fighting which
then prevailed. The only projectiles
the ancients had were darts, arrows
and stones, but these were not etfec-
tive at long ranges, and, indeed, were
generally successfully resisted by
shields Of rhinoceros skin, or of tough
leather, studded with nails, and by
arn,or, Of iron helmets and breast
plates. This Is insufficient to account
for the very disproportionate losses we
almost always find recorded between
the victors and tho vanquished, the
difference being sometimes twice or
thrice as great. The true reason Of
this difference Is That when the van
pushed were driven Off the field the
victors put to death the wounded Of the
enemy whom they found OH the
ground. Thus up to a certain point In
the conflict the losses might have been
nearly equal In killed and wounded ;
but when the tide turned against II
party the victors recovered their W
wounded aud killed those Of their ad-
versariss. Let 1t be supposed that TO-
0W killed and 10000 wounded had
fallen OH each side until victory was
declared, the victors would then re-
cover their 10000 wounded and kill
the 10000 OF their opponents. and the
10 ses would then stand 10000 to 3d.
900. How different u the modern syL
tenn! A defeated foe Is driven or the
field, and the victor occupies it. In
his real follow surgeons with ambu-
l~ances; they take up the wounded of
both parties Unfortunately, with the
greatest are and tenderness, IL the
latter can be removed, II not they are
attended TO on the ground. What
would be the surprise Of an ancient
warrior could he rise out Of the grave
aud see foes taking as much pains to
care, as they had previously taken to
kill, each other? Would he not ex-
claim "what an sbsurdity war is?"
Tux Treasury vaults at Washington
are at present sncunbersd with a num-
. miscellaneous articles Dre3entpu