HORSE-BACK RIDING. 125 



either in person or by proxy, in the persons of their 

 equerries. 



We can readily believe that on such occasions the 

 creative genius and the love of beauty inherent in 

 the Grecian mind would be displayed to the fullest 

 extent, even in a matter apparently so unimportant 

 as the decoration of a chariot. 



Diversity of ornament, nevertheless, does not 

 necessarily imply any noticeable diversity of con- 

 struction ; but great variety was gained, and games 

 and contests were multiplied according as the cars 

 were drawn by two horses or four, by young horses 

 or those over five years of age, by colts or mules. A 

 car to which two horses were yoked was termed in 

 Latin biga^ in Greek sunoria or- sujioris^ an expres- 

 sion which Plato happily uses to signify the union 

 subsisting between one soul and body. Racing be- 

 tween chariots drawn by two horses of five years was 

 made a prominent feature of the Olymxpic games in 

 the 93d Olympiad. 



At the period of the Trojan war the Greeks fre- 

 quently attached three horses to a chariot ; but this 

 practice was never introduced into any of the naiional 

 games. 



Four horses, however, were often yoked to a 

 chariot, and were called tcthrippos, tctroris, and 

 tctroria — in Latin, quadriga. 



This kind of race was the most honorable and 

 beautiful of all, and was either instituted or renewed 



