The Janissaries had a regular ladder of promotion through the offices of their _odas_ and above, as far as the position of _Segban-bashi_, which was the office next below that of _Agha_.[317] One hundred and fifty of their best bowmen were honored by being detailed to accompany the sultan on the march, as his _Solaks_.[318] They might also for distinguished ability or service be taken into the regular cavalry, and have all its opportunities open to them. No less than the rest of the army, they kept marvellous order in camp, and, except at the crises above described, were completely obedient to their officers.[319] They were punishable only by their own officers, not even the grand vizier having direct jurisdiction over them.[320] They had a strong sense of maintaining their privileges and what they considered to be their rights. Busbecq, who gives illumination at so many points, shows how the grand vizier Rustem, and even Suleiman himself, felt toward these men when they were all together and their blood was hot. On one occasion Busbecq’s servants quarreled with some Janissaries, and he was disposed to back his men up; whereupon Rustem sent a trusty messenger to him with a verbal message, asking him “to remove every cause of offence which might occasion a quarrel with those atrocious scoundrels. Was I not aware,” he asked, “that it was war time, when they were masters, so that not even Solyman himself had control over them, and was actually himself afraid of receiving violence at their hands?”[321] Great care had to be taken to keep the Janissaries under control, for they were capable of wrecking the whole government. They were, to be sure, constantly drained of their ablest men by promotion; but this only left the others the more liable, like sheep, to follow a new leader into evil. They could be repressed more or less by punishment: now and then an especially active promoter of trouble was executed;[322] officers who offended were sometimes sent to command distant garrisons, and sometimes they were stricken from the roll.[323] Suleiman succeeded, on the whole, in keeping the Janissaries in hand, and he was able to lead them farther east than could his father Selim. They never revolted against him,[324] and they supported him against Bayezid. THE SPAHIS OF THE PORTE[325] The regular cavalry were all included under the general name of _Spahis_, or horsemen; but the name was also applied to one of the four divisions into which Osman’s corps of daring riders had been organized after the model of the cavalry of the caliph Omar I.[326] Their organization was older than that of the Janissaries; it had come down continuously from the early days.[327] The members were not organized into a single body, they had high pay, and they were in the presence of excellent opportunities to acquire wealth and to rise with rapidity. Accordingly, they appear never to have caused Suleiman any special trouble.[328]