222 RIDING 



distinguish an enclosed spot, where the luxurious Romans were 

 carried in litters to enjoy the air. To support his statement 

 regarding the porticoes, Adams refers to Ovid (Art. Amor. i. 67)- 

 and Cicero (Dom. 44), but neither of those writers intimates 

 that the porticoes were used by horsemen. I think it more 

 probable that the large hippodrome (Pliny, Epistle V. 6) was- 

 intended for pleasure riding, as well as for racing, as its name 

 implies. 1 



As in the public games of Greece so in those of the 

 Romans the horsemen played a prominent part. 2 The riders 

 would mount their barebacked steeds and run the course 

 standing upright. Sitting upon the naked horses they would 

 at full gallop pick up objects from the ground. One class of 

 riders, known as desultores, would leap from one horse to 

 another at speed. 



In the time of Caesar the youths of the noblest families used 

 to practise these feats. 



The horses of the Romans were taught the ambling pace 

 (tolutaris\ as those luxurious people could not endure the 

 roughness of the trot ; and Fossbrooke 3 describes several 

 movements that correspond with the piaffer and the passage of 

 the modern manege. 



The Romans took great pride in the beauty and decoration 

 of their steeds. Gold and jewels, rich and gay colours, orna- 

 mented the saddles, the collars, and the other trappings that 

 were employed to set off the graces of the animals they rode. 

 And we are told (Pliny, Ep. IX. 6) that in the races a popular 

 colour worn by a rider dictated to the mob the selection of a 

 favourite from among the competitors. 



While it is probable that the saddle-tree was used for 

 pack-animals from a very early date, we have no proof of the 

 fact. The earliest evidence of the existence of the saddle-tree 

 is in the time of Theodosius (408-450 A.D.), when the weight 



1 Since the above was written a friend has called my attention to the fact 

 that in Smith's Classical Dictionary (v. ' Hortus ') this theory is given. 

 ' 2 Fossbrooke's Antiq. ii. 725. 5 md. ii. 726. 



