34 



torn to cover their Horses likewise with armour. Mares were generally 

 preferred to horses or geldings, both for war and the course. The 

 Scythians, from whom probably the modern Cossacks have descend- 

 ed, made choice of marcs in their predatory expeditions, according 

 to Strabo, as being able to retain their urine longer than Horses, or to 

 eject it with greater facility, whilst in the most rapid motion ; also as 

 more quiet and tractable, and less likely to neigh and thereby occasion 

 alarm. Both JEWan and Pliny suppose mares in general swifter than 

 Horses, and thence fitter for the Olympic course; and Virgil particu- 

 larly celebrates the mares of Epirus. Modern exjjerience, however, 

 has proved it one of those numerous popular errors, by which even the 

 most philosophical of the ancients suffered themselves to be deluded : 

 nevertheless this idea of the superior consequence of the female, when 

 carried into the breeding studs, possessed a real portion of truth and 

 consequence, not only as it relates to the purity of species, but to the 

 excellence and worth of the progeny. The superiority of the mule, 

 from the female of the nobler animal, is often adduced as a proof of this 

 position. 



The races of the ancients, were not only superior to those of modern 

 days in national consequence, and in the magnificence and splendor of 

 their celebration, but also in the skill required of the jockeys, and in 

 the obvious dangers incurred. The ancient jockeys, or rather noble 

 competitors, for they consisted of the first men of their country, as has 

 been said, rode without either saddle or stirrups; and exclusive of 

 the probability that crossing and jostling were not forbidden, there seems 

 to have been circumstances of difficulty in the course, under which a 

 degree of dexterity in the riders, and docility in the Horses, totally un- 

 known to the modern times, must have been absolutely necessary. 

 But the chariot races, for which no motive seems to exist in modern 

 times, since those vehicles have been long disused in war, must have 

 been attended with constant, imminent danger, and repeated break- 

 neck accidents. Contrary to modern usage, which clears the course of 

 every possible danger or embarrassment, that of the ancients was be- 

 set with artificial difficulties, in order to prove the skill of the riders 

 or drivers, and to enhance the honor of victory. The sharp turns 



which 



