12 



from Xeno[)hon, who says that Cyrus hunted to exercise himself and 

 his Horses, and there seems to be an allusion to the chace on horse- 

 back, of" the Ostrich, in the book of Job. 



Since the rich and fertile country of Egypt, distinguished also for 

 its early maturity in the arts and sciences, abounded so much in 

 Horses, in the earliest ages, as to make them a great article of com- 

 merce with Judea and the neighbouring countries, it has been assumed 

 by the learned, that in Egypt, the Horse w^as first reduced to obedi- 

 ence, and educated for the service of man ; a not improbable and very 

 harmless assumption. The Horses of ancient Egypt were celebrated 

 for war, and from thence chiefly it may be presumed, that king Solo- 

 mon supplied his chariots and horsemen. Indeed, the breeding of 

 Horses in these early ages, must have been conducted upon an im- 

 mense scale, if we may credit the report of Herodotus, that the king of 

 Babylon maintained a stud of sixteen thousand Mares and eight hun- 

 dred Stallions. 



To content ourselves, as we rationally ought, with so much as may 

 be obtained from fairly authenticated sources, and to steer clear of 

 those too common illusions, created by the desire of passing the impe- 

 netrable barriers of antiquity, we may, with the utmost safet}^ assume, 

 that the commerce of Horses, and the art of horsemanship, with the other 

 arts and sciences, originated in Egypt, and proceeding from thence to 

 the neighbouring nations, were, in the course of ages, and more espe- 

 cially through the medium of commercial intercourse, communicated 

 to the whole of the civilized globe. Thus the art of horsemanship, 

 probably the Horse himself, passed from Egypt to Greece, from 

 Greece to Italy, and from Italy, were disseminated throughout the 

 European continent. It should seem, by the authority of Herodotus, 

 that the use of the Horse was more ancient, at least more general, in 

 Egypt, than in Arabia, since the Arabian auxiliaries who accom- 

 panied Xerxes, in his grand expedition against Greece, were mounted, 

 not on Horses, but Dromedaries : and it is curious that another an- 

 cient author describes these as having more speed than the swiftest 

 Horse, but without stoutness or continuance ; a character very differ- 

 ent, or rather opposite to that of the modern Dromedary, which is cele- 

 brated. 



