10 t HISTORY OF THE 



In Ovid's beautiful fable of Phaeton, a descrip- 

 tion is given of the horses which were supposed 

 to draw the chariot of the sun, and which we 

 find thus alluded to by our own immortal bard : 



*' Gallop apace, ye fiery-footed steeds. 

 To Phoebus mansion ; such a waggoner 

 As Phaeton would whip you to the west. 

 And bring in cloudy night immediately."* 



The goddess Aurora is represented, by the an- 

 cient poets, drawn in a rose coloured chariot by 

 milk white horses, and preceding the sun at his 

 rising. It was one of the labours of Hercules to 

 destroy Diomedes, king of Thrace, a tyrant who 

 is said to have fed his horses on human flesh. 

 Mars, the god of war, was generally represented 

 as riding in a chariot, drawn by furious horses, 

 named Flight and Terror ; and horses were 

 offered up on his altars, to propitiate his warlike 

 spirit. The origin of the Centaurs, half man 

 half horse — a favourite fable of the ancients, 

 some of whom, as Plutarch and even Pliny, 

 have actually maintained that these monsters 

 existed — is thus given by Palsephatus, in his 

 book, De Incredibilibus Historiis. This author 

 relates, that in the reign of Ixion, king of Thes- 



* Romeo and Juliet, Act III, scene 2 



