130 HORSE-BACK RIDING. 



hend very easily that contests like these could not 

 fail to be exceedingly perilous. Sometimes a horse 

 would stumble, and the light chariot receive a shock 

 sufficient to shake the charioteer from his position, 

 which was generally a standing one ; sometimes the 

 four horses, impelled to. their utmost speed, and be- 

 coming excited beyond all control, would seize the 

 bits between their teeth, and gallop madly over the 

 course, dragging their luckless master helplessly 

 along. " Fertur equis auriga neque audit curius 

 habenas." Again, an axletree would break, and the 

 driver, falling to the ground, was fortunate indeed if 

 he escaped being trampled beneath the hoofs of the 

 flying coursers. Homer and the Greek tragedians 

 furnish us many examples of such accidents. 



But even more perilous was the encounter of one 

 chariot with another, in the endeavor to gain the 

 slightest advantage ; for naturally each charioteer, 

 regardless, in his excitement, of the probable conse- 

 quences to himself, did all in his power to hinder or 

 overturn his rival. 



The space, too, in which they contended was by 

 no means very extensive ; and being compelled to 

 follow almost the same path, in order to attain the 

 goal, the highest degree of skill and dexterity could 

 hardly suffice to prevent casualties of the most 

 serious nature. As it was a point of honor to make 

 the nearest possible approach to the goal, here was 

 another source of danger ; and Nestor, in his counsel 



