OF HORSEMANSHIP. 31 



attention, fincc no fmall fhare of dexterity and habit is 

 neceffary to enable a man to vault alternately upon the 

 backs of four horfes running at full fpeed. Nor is the 

 whole praife due to the rider : the horfes niuft have 

 contributed their part, and been docile and govern- 

 able, otherwife it would have been impoffible for the 

 man to have difplayed his fkill ; and the manage- 

 ment of them demanding a certain degree of experi- 

 ence, we are naturally led to conclude, that the Gre- 

 cians were acquainted with the art before this period, 

 and left their knowledge to their defcendants, for 

 whofe inftrudlion and entertainment Homer compofed 

 his two immortal poems. 



The next teflimony comes from the OdyfTey, and is 

 likewife another fimile, which the poet makes of 

 UlyfTes, fhipwrecked, and fitting aflride a plank, which 

 was floating upon the waves, to a man beftriding an 

 horfe, and keeping his feat in fpite of all the motions 

 the animal could make. To the foregoing arguments, 

 we may Hill add another from the fame antient writer. 

 He tells us, that when Ulyfl'es and Diomed went by 

 night into the tent of Rha:fus ; UlylTes feeing his 

 horfes tied behind his chariot, immediately releafed 

 them from it, and mounting them, with Diomed, they 

 rode to the Grecian camp* 



Notwithllanding the force of thefe evidences, 

 which tend to prove fo clearly, that riding was known 

 before the Trojan war ; it yet mud be confeffed, 

 from the filence of the fame writer, that the Greeks, 



during 



