74 THE HISTORY AND ART 



much commended for its race of horfes. Ajlurla^ 

 GalHcia^ and A>idahiJIa, then called Bxtica, were known 

 to produce the fined of their kind. The Jjliirian and 

 GalUcian horfes are defcribed by Pliny to have been of a 

 middling fize (like the prefent Gcnnets) and remarkable 

 for the opennefs of their paces, their pliancy of limb, 

 and the time and exadnefs with which they dealt their 

 feet, and regulated their motion, fo, as it were, to 

 count their Heps. Pliny calls them ThieJdones, which 

 word is explained to mean the fame as if he had called 

 them tellers or numberers of their ileps. Martial de- 

 fcribes this diftindl and bold acTiion with great pro- 

 priety, when, fpeaking of a Spanifli horfe, he fays, 



Hie brevis ad numerum rapidos qui colligit ungues^ 

 Fenit ab auriferis gentibus Jjiiir. eqiius. 



This little horfe, which moves his feet in time, 

 Comes from Afturia's gold-producing clime. 



Claudian alfo celebrates this country for breeding 

 numbers of fine and beautiful horfes : 



Dives equis, fnigum facilis, pretiofa metallis. 



De Laudibus Seren. Reg. 



Horfes who had this high adion, were alfo called 

 Tolutarii; derived from the word tollo, to lift up 5 becaufe 

 they lifted their feet confiderably above the ground. 



Strabo, 



