Chap. 57] THE INVENTORS OY VAillOUS THINGS. 229 



ing-horse, for the destruction of walls, which is at the present 

 day styled the " ram," was invented by Epeus, at Troy.^ 

 Bellerophon was the first who mounted the horse ;'° bridles and 

 saddles for the horse were invented by Pelethronius.^^ The 

 Thessalians, who are called Centauri, and who dwell along 

 Mount Pelion, were the first to fight on horse-back. The people 

 of Phrygia were the first who used chariots with two horses ; 

 Erich thonius first used four.^- Palamedes, during the Trojan 

 war, was the first who marshalled an army, and invented 

 watchwords, ^^ signals, and the use of sentinels. Sinon, at 

 the same period, invented the art of correspondence by signals. 

 Lycaon was the first to think of making a truce, and Theseus 

 a treaty of alliance. 



The art of divination by means of birds^^ we owe to Car, 



5 This has been supposed to have been the real origin of the Trojan 

 horse, on which Virgil has built one of his most interesting episodes ; the 

 horse, as described by Virgil, was, however, in every respect, different from 

 the battering ram. — B. 



^" In consequence of some false charges brouglit against him, Bellero- 

 phon was sent to combat with a monster called the Chirasera, in the ex- 

 pectation that he would perish in the attempt; but Minerva, pitying his 

 situation, provided him with a winged horse, named Pegasus, by means of 

 which he accomplished his perilous task in safety.— B. 



^^ Pelethronius is said to have been a king of the Lapithae, a people of 

 Thessaly, who were celebrated for their skill in the management of the 

 horse. — B. 



^'^ According to Cicero, De Xat. Deor. B. iii. c. 23, Minerva was the 

 first who used a chariot with four horses. Hardouiu supposes that the 

 Erichthonius here mentioned was not the king of Athens, but the son of 

 Dardanus, the king of Troas ; he does not state the ground of his opinion, 

 and ^lian. Hist. Var. B. iii. c. 38, expressly speaks of him as an Athe- 

 nian. Virgil, Geor. B. iii. 11. 113, 114, speaks of Erichthonius as tlie in- 

 ventor of the chariot with four horses ; he is supposed to have lived about 

 1450 B.C. As Hardouin justly remarks, we have an account, in the writings 

 of Moses, of chariots being used by the Eg)'ptians long before this period. 

 It is not, however, stated what was the number of horses used for these 

 chariots. — B. 



^3 " Tesserae," in the original, which is also the name of the dice used in 

 various games. But the connection in which the word is liore placed 

 makes it more probable that it refers to some military operation ; Virgil 

 employs it in this sense, -S^ueid, B. ^^i. 1. 637, as also Livy, B, vii. c. 35. 

 There is, however, a tradition tliat Palamedes invented the games in which 

 dice are used, during the siege of Troy. — B. 



^* The words are '' auguria ex avibus," while the art which is said to 

 have been taught by Tiresias, is termed " extispicio avium." The first of 

 these consists in foretelling future events, by observing the flight, the 



