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There was one very strange thing which greatly advantaged the
Persians, and was of equal disservice to the Scyths, in these
assaults on the Persian camp. This was the braying of the asses and
the appearance of the mules. For, as I observed before, the land of
the Scythians produces neither ass nor mule, and contains no single
specimen of either animal, by reason of the cold. So, when the asses
brayed, they frightened the Scythian cavalry; and often, in the
middle of a charge, the horses, hearing the noise made by the asses,
would take fright and wheel round, pricking up their ears, and showing
astonishment. This was owing to their having never heard the noise,
or seen the form, of the animal before: and it was not without some
little influence on the progress of the war.
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