than three cubits; and this, when they engage in close fight (which they do with reluctance), they wield with both hands to fetch down a lustier blow. The horsemen are equipped with two lances like the lances called Saunia, and with a shorter buckler than that carried by the foot-soldiers. For they do not put saddles on their horses; nor do they curb them with bits in use among the Greeks or the Kelts, but they fit on round the extremity of the horse's mouth a circular piece of stitched raw ox-hide studded with pricks of iron or brass pointing inwards, but not very sharp; if a man is rich he uses pricks made of ivory."
The laws of war were more humane among the Hindus than among other nations in the world, and Apastamba declares that "the Aryans forbid the slaughter of those who have laid down their arms, of those who beg for mercy with flying hair or joined hands, and of fugitives," while Baudhayana says: "Let him not fight with those who are in fear, intoxicated, insane, or out of their minds, nor with those who have lost their armour, nor with women, infants, aged men, and Brahmans." Megasthenes also vouches for the humane laws of war among the Hindus. "For whereas among other nations it is usual in the contests of war to ravage the soil and thus to reduce it to an uncultivated waste, among the Indians, on the contrary, by whom husbandmen are regarded as a class that is sacred and inviolable, the tillers of the soil, even when battle is raging in their neighbourhood, are undisturbed by any sense of danger; for the com-
