The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
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The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
[172] Evelyn narrates how he went to see some Turkish horses captured
at the siege of Vienna; he admired their spirit, and says they were,
‘with all this, so gentle and tractable as called to mind what I
remember Busbequius speaks of them to the reproch of our groomes in
Europe, who bring up their horses so churlishly as makes most of them
retain their ill habits.’—Evelyn, _Diary_, p. 461, Chandos Edition.
[173] ‘They were shod with yron made round and closed at the heele
with a hole in the middle about as wide as a shilling. The hoofes most
intire.’—Evelyn, _Diary_, p. 462.
[174] See note 2, page 299.
[175] Cyrus, in his expedition against his brother Artaxerxes, took
with him 400 waggons loaded with barley and wine that, in case
provisions should be very scarce, he might have the means of supplying
the Greeks, who were the flower of his army.—Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i.
10.
[176] The quotation is from Suetonius, _Life of Julius Cæsar_, chap.
67. Suetonius observes that sometimes Cæsar, after a great victory,
relaxed the strict rules of discipline, and allowed his army to abandon
themselves to the utmost license, boasting that ‘his soldiers, even
if perfumed for a banquet, would fight well.’ The conference with
Ariovistus is described in Cæsar _de Bello Gallico_, i. 43-45, and in
Merivale, chap. vii.: ‘Each was attended by a squadron of cavalry of
equal numbers. Cæsar had no Roman cavalry, nor could he safely confide
in his Gaulish auxiliaries: yet he would not reject the arrangement
proposed by his adversary, nor betray any appearance of distrust
or dread. He caused a party of Gauls to dismount, and placed upon
their horses the infantry of his favourite legion’ (the tenth). The
conference was interrupted by the impatience of the German horse, who
suddenly assailed the Romans with stones and arrows. See also pages 48
and 49.
[177] The Venetian ambassador to the Porte bore the title of Bailo
or Baily. This title was probably given to him on account of the
protection and jurisdiction he exercised with regard to the persons
and goods of all Venetian subjects, who lived and traded in all the
factories of the Levant. He, with the ambassadors of the Pope and
the Emperor, took precedence of all other ambassadors. On account of
the importance of the post, appointments to it were not made by the
Senate, but by the Great Council. Marc Antonio Barbaro, the subject
of Yriarte’s interesting work, _La Vie d’un Patricien de Venise_, was
appointed to this office in 1568.
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