^2 THE HISTORY AND ART 



b^nt upon thofe who undertook to breed and manage 

 them ■, for it is certain, from the concurrent accounts 

 of many writers, that the Grecians were fo ill furniflied 

 with thefe animals, that in the feveral wars in which 

 they were engaged from time to time, they could not 

 mufter a fufficient number, although they were fo ufe- 

 ful andnecefTary. At length, however, things grew better; 

 laws were made, and rewards given to encourage the 

 breeding, and managing of them ; for which laft purpofe, 

 fkilful people, who profefled the art of riding, under- 

 took to inftru(5t the youth, efpecially fuch of them as 

 were to ferve in war, in the fcience of horfemanfhip *. 

 Befides this, the privileges and honours which were 

 conferred upon thofe who gained the prize in the 

 Olympic Games, mufl have contributed greatly to pro- 

 mote this end ; and fo great was the zeal, and even 

 juftice of the Greeks upon thefe occafions, that even 

 the horfes were not forgot, but, when vitftorious, were 

 crowned amidft the fliouts and applaufes of the multi- 

 tude t- 



Neverthelefs, however exaft and zealous the Greci- 

 ans might have been, and notwithfhanding the pomp 

 and magnificence of thefe games, the ceremonies of 

 religion obferved at their celebration, and the venera- 

 tion in which they were held by all Greece, feveral 

 particulars are wanting, which, had they been tranfr 



* Hefych. and Xenophon. 



t Weft's Diflertat. on the Olympic Games. Plut. Sym. lib. 2. 

 Paufan. lib. 6. 



mitted 



