8 THE PERSIAN HORSE. 



Of the horses in the south of Asia and the east of the Indus little mention 

 occurs, except that both chariots and cavalry were summoned from this distant 

 region to swell the army of Xerxes. 



Celebrated as the horses of Persia afterwards became, they were few, and 

 of an inferior kind, until the reign of Cyrus. That monarch, whose life was 

 devoted to the amelioration and happiness of his people, saw how admir- 

 ably Persia was adapted for the breeding of horses, and how necessary was 

 their introduction to the maintenance of the independence of his country. 

 He therefore devoted himself to the encouragement and improvement of the 

 breed of horses. He granted peculiar privileges to those who possessed a certain 

 number of these animals; so that at length it was deemed ignominious in a Persian 

 to be seen in public, except on horseback. At first the Persians vied with each 

 other in the beauty of their horses, and the splendour of their clothing ; and 

 incurred the censure of the historian, that they were more desirous of sitting 

 at their ease than of approving themselves dexterous and bold horsemen* ; 

 but under such a monarch as Cyrus they were soon inspired with a nobler 

 ambition, and became the best cavalry of the East. The native Persian horse 

 was so highly prized, that Alexander considered one of them the noblest gift 

 he could bestow ; and when the kings of Parthia would propitiate their divini- 

 ties by the most costly sacrifice, a Persian horse was offered on the altar. 



Vegetius has preserved a description of the Persian horse, which proves him 

 to have been a valuable animal, according to the notions of those times ; but 

 capable of much improvement, according to the standard of a more modern 

 period. He says that " they surpassed other horses in the pride and grace- 

 fulness of their paces, which were so soft and easy as to please and relieve, 

 rather thaii fatigue the rider, and that the pace was as safe as it was pleasant ; 

 and that, when they were bred on a large scale, they constituted a considerable 

 part of their owner's revenue." He adds, as a commendation, " the graceful 

 arcliing of their necks, so that their chins leaned upon their breasts, while their 

 pace was something between a gallop and an amble." The horsemen of the 

 present day would decidedly object to both of these things, and that which 

 follows would be a still more serious cause of objection : " They were subject 

 to tire upon a long march or journey, and then were of a temper which, unless 

 awed and subdued by discipline and exercise, inclined them to obstinacy and 

 rebellion ; yet, with all their heat and anger, they were not difficult to be 

 pacified." 



Both the soldier and the horse were often covered with armour from head to 

 foot. They adopted much of the tactics of the Parthians in their pretended 

 flight. Even when retreating in earnest, they annoyed their pursuers by the 

 continual discharge ot their arrows. A man gives a curious account of their 

 manner of riding. They had no bridles, like the Greeks ; but they governed 

 their horses by means of a thong or strap, cut from the raw hide of a bull, and 

 which they bound across their noses. On the inside of this noseband were 

 little pointed pieces of iron, or brass, or ivory, moderately sharp. In the 

 mouth was a small piece of iron, in the form of a small bar, to which the reins 

 were tied, and with which the noseband was connected. When the reins were 

 pulled, the small teeth on the noseband pinched the horse, and compelled him 

 to obey the will of the rider. The modern caveson was probably derived from 

 this inventionf. 



It is time to proceed to the early history of the horse in Europe. Many 

 colonies of Egyptians emigrated to Greece. They carried with them the love 

 of the horse, and as many of these noble animals as their ships would contain. 



* Atheuaeus, lib. xii. 4. f Anian. Hist. lud. lib. 17. Bercnger, vol. i. p. 301. 



