HORSE-BACK RIDING. 119 



games at Olympus, in honor of Jupiter, with more 

 pomp and splendor, according to Pausanias, than any 

 of his predecessors. This prince had just gained a 

 signal triumph over CEnomaus in that renowned 

 chariot race in which the reward of victory was no 

 more insignificant prize than the sovereignty of Pisa 

 and the hand of Hippodamia, the most beautiful 

 princess of the age ; we can readily believe, there- 

 fore, that horse and chariot as well as foot races were 

 a prominent feature in the games of Pelops. Still, 

 until a period long subsequent to this, horses were a 

 rare and valuable possession, a fact which explains 

 the fables so numerous in the ancient mythologies. 

 Poets wove into song and story how " the father of 

 gods and king of men," having spirited away the 

 beauteous Ganymede, gave to Zeus, the father of the 

 youthful cupbearer, in order to console him for the 

 loss of his son, horses of marvellous qualities ; how 

 Neptune sent as a gift to Copreus, King of Haliar- 

 tus, in Boeotia, the famous charger Areion, endowed 

 with a human voice and the gift of prophecy ; how, 

 at the marriage of the heaven-born Thetis with 

 Peleus, child of earth, the gods who had honored 

 the nuptials with their presence, wishing to testify 

 their liberality and good-will, Neptune gave as his 

 contribution to the marriage portion two magnificent 

 horses ; and how, at the games of Patroclus, Mene- 

 laus harnessed his horse, Podarge, with Agamem- 

 non's mare, the superb ^thea, which derived her 



