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[2] From each of these there projected out beyond the trace horses scythes three spans long,1 attached to the yoke, and presenting their cutting edges to the front. At the axle housings there were two more scythes pointing straight out with their cutting edges turned to the front like the others, but longer and broader. Curved blades were fitted to the ends of these.2

1 About twenty-seven inches.

2 Curtius 4.9.5 is a little clearer than Diodorus. He adds that a spear projected forward from the end of the chariot pole and that blades below the chariot reached towards the ground. He also mentions swords projecting from both ends of the yoke, as would be possible in a two-horse chariot. But Diodorus's trace horses would seem to make these impossible.

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