02-09-2010, 05:22 AM
Quote:...I haven't seen Duncan's article, but if we take stola/spolas to mean simply 'organic' body armour, generally of 'skin/rawhide/leather', then the passage seems to make sense. The 'felt stola' could be simply a felt trapper, similar to mediaeval knightly ones, which also covered the horse completely except for eyeholes.
( the "whole body except for the eyes" would be a reference to the horse's body - note that 'body' is singular, not plural so presumably does not refer to the rider).
The cavalryman with his normal equipment would already be protected against arrows. The phrase "...distributed to them and their horses.." I would interpret as in the sense of issued to the troopers for their horses.......
I haven't consulted the Greek for the rest of the passage, so I wouldn't go drawing fine distinctions from the grammar of that translation... I'll see if I can get a hold of Burstein's edition, which features the original Greek.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
