174 On the Animals represented 



have indicated these differences as well in their paintings, as in 

 their statues. 



The monuments of antiquity are not the only proofs we can 

 adduce to demonstrate that the ancients had very exact ideas of 

 the different varieties of domestic animals, and amongst others 

 of the horse. The war-horse, for example, which Xenophon 

 has described in detail (De Re Equestri, I. 1.) has nothing in 

 common with the herd of horses which are represented on some 

 monuments. On the contrary, it is represented on the Parthe- 

 non ; in equestrian statues ; in some Greek bas-reliefs, also on 

 Trajan's pillar, and sculptors have received this as the model of 

 the war-horse. It is this model Virgil had in view in the Geor- 

 gics (III. 72, 88), and Varro in his immortal work, De Re rus- 

 tica. 



The horses represented on the medals of Carthage do not be- 

 long to the same race, and they also differ much from those 

 which we see on the medals of Alexander Thaos, and Achelaus, 

 king of Macedon. Those which we observe on the coins of 

 Syracuse, and the medals of Philistis and of Gelo have but a 

 very remote resemblance to the preceding races. The horses 

 designed upon the monuments of Persepolis exhibit the race of 

 Persia, very different from that of Egypt, which are figured on 

 the ancient monuments of Thebes. This last variety has the 

 greatest alliance to the war-horses described by Xenophon, and 

 which came from Thessaly, as also with the bronze horses of 

 Venice, and those that are upon the friezes of the Parthenon. 

 Though we may not hope to meet on the ancient monuments 

 with all the remarkable races of horses which Oppien has de- 

 scribed, and which amount to fifteen, it will, nevertheless, be 

 possible to discover the greatest number of them. 



These facts which we have pointed out, sufficiently prove the 

 attention which the ancient statuaries have bestowed on the va- 

 rious races of domestic animals. We have, therefore, judged 

 that we might dispense with other similar researches, notwith- 

 standing the great interest which they afford. 



Finally, besides the artists of the Greek and Roman schools, 

 and some Egyptian, there are few who have represented the 

 different animals with any fidelity. Thus, for example, the 

 hieroglyphic paintings of the Americans, and particularly those 



