EGYPTIAN uousKs.] MODERN VETEKINAUY PKACTICE. [rERSiAN uonBEs. 



for their horses." In the very minutely de- 

 tailed euumeration of the cattle stores of Abra- 

 ham, Isaac-, Esau, Laban, Job, &l'., thoii'^'li 

 there is a superabuiulauco of other (iiiadrupcil 

 property, no mention whatever is made of 

 horses. Neither in the fourth or tenth com- 

 mandments are horses noticed with the other 

 working animals. In the enumeration, how- 

 ever, of the Eu^yptian cattle property aflected 

 by tlie murrain, they are mentioned in 

 precedence of the rest : " Behold the hand of 

 tlie Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the 

 field, upon the horses, upon tlie asses, upon the 

 camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep." 



In Deuteronomy, chap. xvii. 16, Moses for- 

 bids the Israelites, in the event of their electing 

 from among themselves a king, to allow him 

 "to multiply to himself horses," and thereby 

 foster a lust of dominion and belligerent pro- 

 pensities ; at the same time also creating, what 

 the Lawgiver wished much to prevent — too 

 frequent a communication with Egypt. In 

 the Psalms of David, we find — 



" A horse for prescn'ation is 

 But a deceitful thing." — Psalm xxxiii. 17. 



And in Eccles. x. 7, " I have seen servants on 

 horses." Of Dan, Jacob says, on his death-bed, 

 that, "he shall be a serpent by the way, an 

 adder in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, 

 so that his rider shall fall backwards." By 

 this time, it is evident that the horse is now 

 tamed and reduced to perfect subjection, for 

 he is ridden. 



Erom whatever country the horse was de- 

 rived, Egypt was undoubtedly, in the most 

 early times, his great breeding-place. The Old 

 Testament proves this by many references; and 

 Colonel Smith says, that to " Egypt we appear 

 to be indebted for the first systematic attention 

 for reviving and improving the breeds of 

 horses. Numerous carved or outlined pictures 

 represent steeds, whose symmetry, beauty, 

 and colour, attest that they are designed for 

 high-bred types." At Jacob's funeral in Judea, 

 there came forth, from Egypt, " chariots and 



* The achievements of this monarch are supposed to 

 have been the labours of several kings, attributed by 

 Egyptian priests to Sesostris alone, whose very existence 

 is a matter of doubt. Be this as it may, however, there 

 is no date, perhaps, in the vehole range of profane chro- 

 nology, more disputed than that of the age in which he 

 is said to have ascended the throne. Various epochs 

 have been assigned, with a difference between them of 



horsemen a very great company." The He- 

 brews were pursued into the Ked Sea by 

 Egyptian horaemnu ; horso and rider bein{> 

 tlu're overwhelnu'd : and Pliaraoh "took G(K) 

 ciiosen chariot.s, and all tlie hor-sen and chariots 

 of Egypt, and all the horsemen, and pursued 

 the Israelites to the lied Sea." Solomon, 

 several ccMituries afterwards, obtained all his 

 horses from I'^gypt. This monarch had 1,1()0 

 chariots, and 12,000 cavalry, and stalling for 

 40,000 horses. With this testimony, tho 

 account given by the Greek writers concurs. 

 According to them, Sesostris (or Sesonchosi'^, 

 as others write his name) was the first who 

 taught men to tame horses and to ride them.* 

 In Solomon's days, the price of a single horso 

 from Egypt was 150 shekels, which, according 

 to Bishop Cumberland's calculation of tho 

 shekel, is about £17 10*. of our money ; a 

 great sum in those times. 



In this inquiry, tho next in order, after tho 

 Egyptians, are the Assyrians, who became tho 

 celebrated cavaliers of the ancient world. Tiiese 

 people are repeatedly alluded to by the Jewish 

 prophets, not only as excelling in the beauty 

 of their horses, and the skill of their horsemen, 

 but also in all the showy ornaments of eques- 

 trian garniture. Their proficiency, however, 

 in this branch of art, did not take place till 

 long after the Egyptians had invented it, and 

 attained to some degree of excellence in its 

 manipulation. Then the Modes, Assyrians^ 

 and Persians, being possessed of more gold 

 and silver than the Egyptians, decked and 

 bespangled the animals they rode, with blue, 

 with purple, and with gold. Persia latterly 

 became most renowned for its horse-riding, 

 and clothed its horsemen most gorgeously. 

 Xenophon says, however, that, before the age of 

 Cyrus, that country had, from its want of wealth, 

 or its mountainous character, no horses ; but 

 that, after his time, from the personal example, 

 encouragements, and recommendations of their 

 king, every man in Persia rode on horse - 

 back.t 



nearly COO years: 1618, 1308, and 972 B.C., have all 

 been given as the periods of his rule. — Ed. 



t In the history of Cyrus, furnished by Xenophon, it 

 is said that this sovereign was the son of Camby.-^es, 

 king of Persia, by Mandana, the daughter of Astya^es, 

 king of the Medes. Conformably to the Persian edura- 

 tional curriculum, he was trained to endure every kind of 

 l)rlvation, exposure to hardships, constant and laborious 



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