30 THE HISTORY AND ART 



In the firft we read to the following effect. '« Juft 

 as a fldlful horfeman riding four chofen horfes along 

 a public road, to fome great city, where his courfe is 

 to terminate : 



" The whole town afTembles to behold him, and 

 gaze upon him with wonder and applaufe, while he 

 leaps at pleafure from the back of one horfe, to ano- 

 ther, and flics along with them." 



It is to be obferved, that the poet makes this compa- 

 lifon, when he defcribes Ajax fighting in defence of the 

 Grecian fhips, attacked by the Trojans ; and to give a 

 livelier idea of that hero's ftrength and adlivity, he fays, 

 that Ajax leaped from one fliip to another, with the 

 fame readinefs and addrefs, with which a fkilful 

 horfeman would vault from the back of one horfe to 

 that of another ; and confeqiienily that by his nim- 

 blenefs and force, he was able to defend many Ihips 

 at a time, as an accompliflied rider is capable of ma- 

 naging and controlling feveral horfes at the fame 

 time. 



From this comparifon two obfervations will occur .- 

 the firft is, that riding mult have been commonly 

 known at the time when Homer wrote, otherwife he 

 could not have alluded to it, in order to illuftrate, and 

 give a full idea of Ajax's manner of fighting when he 

 defended the Grecian fliips. 



The fecond remark to be made, is, that this art was 

 not only knpwn at that time in Greece, but alfo that 

 it muft have been lludied and cultivated with care and 



attention. 



