By the Rev. W. C. Flenderleath. 15 



Haco was at this time a Christian king, though he is said afterwards 

 to have relapsed into idolatry, and you will readily understand that 

 what was '^^ well-pleasing ^^ to his heathen subjects was very far 

 from being so to the ecclesiastical authorities of the day. And we 

 accordingly find that the eating of horseflesh was prohibited under 

 the severest penalties by several popes. Gregory Til. (A.D. 731 — • 

 741) in his Epistle to Bonitaee, the Apostle of Germany, says : 

 " You have mentioned to me among other things, that some persons 

 eat the flesh of the wild horse, and most persons that of the do- 

 mesticated one. This, very holy Brother, you must on no account 

 allow for the future, but restrain in every possible way, and impose 

 a suitable penance upon the oflPenders. For it is an unclean and 

 execrable thing to do.'^ Conf. Phil. Labbei and Gabr. Cossartii 

 SS. Cone. VI., p. 1468. And his successor, Zachary (A.D. 741 — 

 752), says " even beavers and hares, much more wild horses are to 

 be avoided [for food.]'' See Serar. Epist., 142. 



In the Saga of Olaf which I have before quoted, I also find the 

 Swedes spoken of as " horse eaters.'' " Equorum voratores nobis non 

 esse timendos." Saga, c. 66, p. 230. 



Perhaps it may not be altogether foreign to our subject, con- 

 sidering the extensive connection of the greatlndo-Germanic nations, 

 to refer in passing to the Aswamedha or Ashummeed (for I find it 

 spelled thus diiferently by different writers), i.e., the sacrifice of a 

 horse enjoined by the rites of the Hindoo mythology, and to the 

 reverence paid to the consecrated animal previous to the consummation 

 of the sacrifice. The description given by Southey in his Curse of 

 Kehama singularly reminds us of some of the very phraseology of 

 Tacitus, to which I have referred before : — 



" Along the mead the hallowed steed 



Still wanders wheresoe'er he will, 

 O'er hill, or dale, or plain; 



No human hand hath tricked that mane 



Frem which he shakes the morning dew; 

 His mouth has never felt the rein, 



His lips have never frothed the chain ; 

 For pure of blemish and of stain 



His neck unbroke to mortal yoke 



Like Nature free" the steed must be 



Fit offering for the Immortals he. 



