SPURS, ANCIENT AND MODERN 163 



And we might add that antique equestrian figures 

 disprove it. Consequently at this period we have 

 to cope with either a coincidence or an unac- 

 countable mystery. Does it not appear inexpli- 

 cable that Greek and Roman sculptors did not 

 model horsemen with spurs on ? Of course we 

 can only judge from the work they left behind. 

 But the old historians were more thoughtful. As 

 proof of this, Cicero used the word calcar in a 

 double sense : as an ordinary spur, and also meta- 

 phorically as " such an one wants a bridle, such 

 an one a spur," signifying that one person was too 

 quick and the other too slow. Again, the well- 

 known phrase, a " heel shod with iron," is used 

 by Virgil ; and Plautus and several others, who 

 lived in that remote time, have passively alluded 

 to spurs, but have never attempted to fix the 

 date of their invention. 



The earliest pattern is called the primitive 

 "pryck" spur. And here comes the gap which 

 no author can satisfactorily fill, because we natur- 

 ally want to know the connection between this 

 early " pryck " spur worn by the Romans and 

 those used by the Anglo-Saxons. Now it is 

 easy to conjecture. But we must go a step 

 further, and consider every link in the chain of 

 evidence. The Saxons used a " spuran," as they 

 called it, which was similar to those used by the 

 Romans, who conquered Britain. Plainly, the 

 Saxons borrowed the idea of their spurs from the 

 Romans ; this is the logical deduction. 



In as few words as possible let us trace this 

 interesting subject from the Augustan age up to 



