318 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



page, how one of these dependents of Agamemnon had to 

 purchase exemption from following his lord to Troy by pre- 

 senting him with a famous mare. 



It is clear then that long before the Christian era the 

 plains of the Danube were producing horses of excellent 

 quality, and this they continued to do under Roman rule 1 . 

 The Huns of course brought their own hardy horses from the 

 steppes, but it is almost certain that these were soon improved 

 by crossing with the already improved breeds developed by the 

 old Celtic occupants of that region. Certainly by the fourth 

 century A.D., when Vegetius 2 wrote, the Huns were famous 

 for their horsemanship, and he praises the horses of the Huns 

 and other northern peoples for their hardiness and freedom 

 from disease, though left out on pasture through the winter 

 frosts, and never stabled. He remarks that from the example 

 of the Huns the Romans of his own time, who wished to save 

 expense in matters of careful grooming and horse-doctoring, 

 pretended to follow the example of the Huns, whose horses, 

 though left uncared, had such excellent constitutions 3 . But 

 Vegetius points out that the northern horses were naturally 

 of a hardier stock, whilst the Roman horses were not only of 

 a more delicate constitution, but were reared more tenderly, 

 being housed from the time they were foals. 



Accordingly when he describes the chief breeds of horses 

 fitted for the war, the race-course, and for the road, he puts 

 the Hunnish horses at the head of the war-horses, next in order 

 being the Thuringian and the Burgundian, and thirdly the 

 Frisian 4 . He 5 gives a very full account of the Hunnish horse, 

 which I give here in Thomas Blundeville's admirable version. 



1 E.g. Dalmatian and Epirote horses (Veg. Ars Vet. iv. 6). 



2 Re Mil. in. 26. 15. 3 Ars Veterinaria, in., prol., sect. 1. 



4 Veg. Ars Veterinaria, iv. 6. 3. The MSS. read Frigiscos. The Frigisci 

 cannot mean anything else than Frisian, for they must be a northern breed 

 owing to their association with Toringos. 



5 Ars Vet. iv. 6. 5: Hunniscis grande et aduncum caput, extantes oculi, 

 angustae nares, latae maxillae, robusta cervix et rigida, iubae ultra genua 

 pendentes, maiores costae, incurva spina, cauda silvosa, validissimae tibiae, 

 parvae bases, plenae ac diffusae ungulae, ilia cavata, totumque corpus angu- 

 losum, nulla in clunibus arvina, nulli in musculis tori, in longitudine magis 



