THE HORSE-HKTORY. 461 



Roman Horse Inferior to the Greek. From the history 

 of the Roman Empire we find that, while the people learned much 

 from the civilization of the Greeks in the way of art, poetry, 

 and oratory, they did not profit by the example of the noble 

 Greek in the improvement of horses. They imitated the games 

 of Greece, so far as they were theatrical and spectacular enter- 

 tainments, but they lost the central idea of the later Olympiads, 

 where the Grecian games were made to develop the speed, 

 docility, and endurance of the Greek horses. Italy may be un- 

 favorable in climate and soil, and this may be another cause for 

 the Roman cavalry always proving inferior to that mustered by 

 their enemies in Macedonia, Thessalia, Epirus, Parthia, and 

 farther east and north. 



Caesar, with the cavalry he had drawn from Gaul, easily rode 

 down that of Pompey, drawn from Italy. During the dissen- 

 sions that wrecked the empire the best cavalry was made up of 

 horses from bordering tribes and nations. After conquest be- 

 came the ruling idea in the Roman Empire, agriculture in all its 

 parts declined, and the Romans procured better horses for cav- 

 alry from surrounding provinces than could be found in Italy. 

 The intelligence of a people, in the case of the Romans, does 

 not seem to be as important a factor in the development of the 

 highest type of horses, as do the agencies of food, climate, and 

 soil, and the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. 



The Arab Horse illustrates this. The devotion of the 

 Arab to his horse atones for the want of fertile fields and abun- 

 dant stores for the support of his horses. Barley and straw 

 and milk form the diet of the horse of the Bedouins, Mame- 

 lukes, and Arabs. But these are not the breeders of the Ara- 

 bians that have had so wonderful an influence on the blood of 

 horses in England, France, and America. Burckhardt says it is 

 a mistaken idea that Arabia is very rich in horses. The breed 

 in that country is limited to the extent of its fertile pasturing 

 districts, and it is in these parts only that the breed prospers ; 

 while the Bedouins, who are in possession of poor ground, sel- 

 dom possess any horses. We, therefore, see that the tribes 

 richest in horses are those who dwell in the comparatively fertile 



