104 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



The Veneti, who lived at the head of the Adriatic, and who 

 have left their name in Venice, had a peculiarly good breed of 

 horses at an early date, or to speak more accurately one family 

 among them owned this valuable possession. These horses 

 were branded with a representation of a wolf. "They were 

 remarkable," says Strabo 1 , "more for speed than for beauty." 

 According to the story the breed had its origin thus : A man 

 notorious for the readiness with which he became surety for 

 others happened to fall in with some hunters who had a wolf 

 in their nets. They asked him in jest if he would go bail for 

 the wolf on condition that he would become responsible for all 

 the damage the beast had done. He agreed, and the wolf being 

 set free at once went and drove a herd of unbranded horses to 

 the steading of his benefactor; he accepted the gift and branded 

 them with a representation of a wolf. His descendants kept 

 both breed and brand, and in order to retain the pure strain 

 in their own hands made it a rule never to part with a mare. 

 The statement that these horses were more remarkable for 

 speed than for beauty would of itself suggest that they were 

 only an improved breed of the little horses of central Europe. 

 This is actually confirmed by ancient testimony, for Aelian 2 

 when describing under the name of Lycospades the horses called 

 Lycophori by Strabo, speaks of them as in appearance thickset 

 and short, and also with flat noses. 



Dionysius, the despot of Syracuse (B.C. 405-367), got some 

 of the Venetian breed for his stud, in consequence of which 

 Venetian colts became known in Greece and the breed long 

 enjoyed a high repute 3 . But by Strabo's time it had died 

 out and the Veneti had given up altogether the breeding of 

 horses 4 . There was a shrine in their land said to be dedicated 

 to Diomedes, in which white horses were sacrificed to the hero 5 . 



White horses, such as those bred by the Veneti, were held 

 in great esteem in Sicily, and it is highly probable that the 

 famous four- horse chariot drawn by white horses in which 

 Dionysiijs regularly rode was horsed by the imported Venetian 



1 215. 



2 H. A. xvi. 24, TTJV o\f/iv fyovo-i (rweo-Tpafj.fji.frav /cat j3paxeiai>, t 



3 Strabo, 215. 4 Id. 211. 5 Id. 215. 



