Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 257 



We can at least gather from the statement of Posidonius 

 that the Celtiberian horses, that is, those of northern Spain, 

 differed essentially in colour from those of the Iberians, that 

 is from the horses of Andalusia and other parts of southern 

 Spain. But as the former seem to have been grey, it is clear 

 that the latter were not that colour, but were probably mono- 

 chrome. 



Unfortunately Strabo gives us no information respecting 

 either the colour or form of the wild or feral horses which he 

 mentions incidentally. We have therefore no means of judging 

 whether they were more akin to the horses of the South or to 

 those of the North, but, as in modern times dun-coloured horses 

 (not unfrequently with a dorsal stripe) are found in the sierras 

 of Spain, it is not unfair to infer that the old dun-coloured 

 horses of upper Europe and Asia formed the substrate of the 

 grey Celtiberian horses, just as the upper Asiatic dun horse 

 is a main element in the grey horses of western Asia at the 

 present day. Whether these dun horses were indigenous in 

 Spain or brought in by the Celts in their invasion in the sixth 

 century B.C., or whether they were of the heavy type, or a 

 light type such as the ' Celtic ' pony, it is of course impossible 

 to say. A well-known story told by Pliny 1 indicates that horses 

 of extraordinary fleetness were bred in Lusitania, for the tale 

 went that in the region of the town of Olisipo and the Tagus 

 the mares were impregnated by the West Wind and brought 

 forth an offspring of surpassing fleetness, which however lived 

 only for three years. From this we may fairly infer that a very 

 swift breed of horses existed in that part of Portugal, and that 

 they were not the ordinary slow upper European horse ; but 

 whether they were a slight built indigenous race connected 

 with the ' Celtic ' pony, or whether they were the descendants 

 of horses introduced from Libya, it is of course impossible to 

 say. On the other hand, we also learn from Pliny 2 that north- 



1 H. N. vin. 166 : constat in Lusitania circa Olisiponem oppidum et Tagura 

 amnem equas Favonio flante obversas animalem concipere spiritum, idque 

 partum fieri et gigni permcisaimum ita, sed triennium vitae non excedere. 

 Cf. Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, canto vn. 



2 loc. cit.: in eadem Hispania Gallaica gens et Asturica equini generis, hi 



R. H. 17 



