37 



the Race Horse, is not ascertained, but the riders were obhged to un- 

 dergo a thirty days' preparation, and were subjected to certain laws 

 and conditions appointed by the judges. The victors in these races, 

 and even the Horses, were crowned amidst the most enthusiastic shouts 

 and plaudits of the multitude; and upon the former, considerable re- 

 wards and honorable privileges were conferred. 



The Romans, who were indebted to Greece for most of the arts and 

 sciences, whether useful or refined, in which at length, by the force of 

 their natural genius and their industry, they were able to rival their pre- 

 ceptors, also imported from that country their games, their amusements 

 and their fashions. Upon the model of the Olympic games, arose the 

 Roman Certamina Equestria, or Horse and chariot races of the Circus; 

 for although those conquerors did not adopt the use of chariots in war, 

 they preferred them in their games to the race of single Horses. Even 

 as early as the reign of Romulus, an order of equites, or iiorsemen, was 

 instituted, in imitation of that already established at Athens and Sparta. 

 The vicAv of the Roman monarch in founding this order of knights, 

 was both to encourage the breed of Horses and the art of horsemanship, 

 by imposing an obligation upon his wealthy subjects, who alone were 

 equal to the expence of importing and propagating these costly ani- 

 mals. Here also, according to the universal fashion of antiquity, the 

 games of the Circus were implicated with religion, and performed as 

 sacred rites, dedicated to certain deities whose attributes were thereby 

 typefied. 



The Race Horse at Rome, with other Saddle Horses, was called celer, 

 singularis and soUtarius, swift, single-horse, or solitary, from being alone 

 and not with other Horses, as when j'oked or harnessed to the chariot. 

 In the latter ages of the Romans, and after the discovery of saddles, he 

 was styled sellarius, as carrying a saddle. On the bare backs of these, 

 the jockies frequently not only rode their races, but at the same time per- 

 formed feats of agility, whilst at full speed, leaping from one Horse to 

 another, picking up from the ground small coin, standing upright, or 

 lying along the Horse's back. The riders trained to these performances 

 were known by the distinguishing title of desultores or leapers. Such a 

 species of racing certainly doe^ not impress us with the idea of that degree 



of 



