EARLY IIISTGRY OF THE IIORSl^l. 11 



of tlie time of Pericles, about 430 years before the Christian era ; but tlio 

 head-gear of the bridle had not been long introduced , the bit being sup- 

 ported, in som(3 figures, by the buckling or tying of the bridle about the 

 nose, a little above the muzzle. These, however, soon disappear, and v/o 

 have the present snaffle, with very little alteration excejDt a straight leather 

 or cord from the head to the noseband, and that not always found. The 

 chain under the chin is occasionally observed, probably for the sake of 

 keeping the bit steady in the mouth. 



In no period of Grecian history, so far as the author is aware, was the 

 severe and often cruel curbed-bit known. This was an invention of aftei'- 

 times. The only instrument of punishment which was then attached to 

 the bit was found in the knobs at the corners of the mouth ; they had 

 sharp or rough points on their inner surface, which by a turn or twist of 

 the bridle might easily be brought to bear painfully on the cheeks and 

 angles of the mouth. A bit so constructed was tei-med a hipcctum, from 

 the supposed resemblance of these sharp projections to the teeth of a wolf. 

 It would seem that this was, among the Romans, almost coeval with the 

 introduction of the bit, for the poet attributes it to N'eptune, the fabulous 

 parent of the horse. 



Neptunns pqiio, si ccrta pi'iorum, 



Fama patet, primus teneris Igesisse Iiipatis 



Ora, et littoreo domuisse in pulvere fertur. 



Neptune, if we may credit give to fame, 



First taught witli bits the generous horse to tame. 



No mention is made of saddles, such as are used in modern times ; but 

 by way of ornament, and partly of convenience too, the horses are often 

 covered with beautiful cloths, or with skins of wild beasts, secured by a 

 girth or surcingle. Thus the horse of Parthenopius was covered with the 

 skin of a lynx, and that of .^neas with a lion's skin. In their religious 

 or triumphal processions the housings of the horse were particularly 

 magnificent, being frequently adorned Avith gold and silver and diamonds. 

 Rich collars were also hung round their necks, and bells adorned their 

 crests. The trappings of the young knight in the days of chivalry did not 

 exceed those of the Grecian warrior on days of ceremon3^ 



The stirrup was likewise unknown. The adoption of that convenient 

 assistance in mounting the horse was of singularly late date. The first 

 mention of it occurs in the works of Eustathius, about the 1158th year of 

 the Christian era ; but it was used in the time of William the Conqueror, 

 nearly a century before that. Berenger gives the fig-ure of a horse saddled, 

 bridled, and with stirrups, copied from the Bayeux tapestry, which was 

 embroidered in the time of the Conqueror by his wife, and describes the 

 circumstances preceding and attending his descent into England. The 

 heroes of ancient times trusted chiefly to their own agility in leaping on 

 their horses' backs, and that whether standing on the right side or the left. 



They who fought on horseback \\ath the spear or lance had a projection 

 on the spear, or sometimes a loop of cord, about two feet from the bottom 

 of it, which served at once for a firmer grasp of the Aveapon, and a step on 

 which the right or the left foot might he placed, according to the side on 

 Avhich the warrior intended to mount, and from which he could easily vault 

 on his courser's back. The horse was sometimes taught to assist the rider 

 in mounting by bending his neck or kneeling down. The magnates always 

 had their slaves by their horse's side to assist them in mounting and dis- 

 mounting. Some made use of a short ladder ; and it was the duty of the 

 local magistracy, both in Rome and Greece, to see that, convenient stepping- 

 ntones Avere placed at short distances along all the roads. 



The boot for the defence of the leg from the dangers to which it Avas 



