Vjkg//'s Hoksf.. 



49 



At any rate, the pictures do not justify the reputation of the Mantuan breed. 



The wars that took place after 1628 between the Empire and France, as to the succession 

 of the Duchy of Mantua, were fatal to this breed of horses. It disappeared with the great 

 family of Gonzaga that had fostered it for centuries with so much care. 



It has usually been taken for granted that Peter Paul Rubens took the models of the 

 war-horses on which he mounted his kings and military chiefs from Flemish models, such as 

 may still be seen, yoked in pairs, ploughing the fat land of Flanders. But Rubens resided, in 

 1600 and for several following years, in Mantua. Amongst his pictures is one of a bison hunt. 

 Now Paul the Deacon makes particular mention of the bisons of Pannonia, enormous beasts 

 which the Lombards encountered in the Monte Reggio, by which the Lombards arrived in 

 Italy. 



Whether in the time of Rubens the Mantuan horses had improved in beauty since the 

 days of Giulio Romano, or whether Rubens improved them to please his own artist eye, cannot 

 be settled. 



Virgil had a better notion of a good horse than the Italians of the seventeenth century, if 

 we may judge from the following passage from the 3rd Georgics : — 



Virgil 



' Conlinuo pecoris generosi piilhis in arvis 

 Allius ingreditur, et mollia cmra reponit ; 

 Primus et ire viam, et fluvios tentare minaces 

 Audet et ignoto sese committere ponti. 

 Nee vanos horret strepitus. lUi ardua cervix, 

 Argutumque caput, brevis alvus, obesaque terga, 

 Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. Honesti 

 Spadices glaucique, color deterrimus albis, 

 Et gilvo. Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dedere, 

 .Stare loco nescit ; micat auribus et tremit artus ; 

 Collectunique fremens volvit sub naribus ignem. 

 Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in arnio. 

 At duplex agitur per lumbos spina ; cavatque 

 Tellurem et solido gravi'er sonat iingula cornu. 

 Talis AmycL^i doinitus PoUucis habenis 

 Cyllarus, et quorum Graii meminere poettie, 

 Martis equi l)ijuges, et magni currus Achillis." 



-Georg. iii., 75 — 91. 



"The colt of a generous breed, from the very first, has a 

 lofty tread, stepping daintily on his tender pisterns. He is the 

 first that dares to lead the way, to ford a threatening stream, to 

 tnist himself on an unknown bridge. No empty noises frighten 

 him. His neck is carried erect ; his head is small ; his belly short ; 

 his back broad. Brawny muscles swell upan his noble che^t. A 

 bright bay or a good grey is the best colour ; the worst is 

 white or dun. If from afar the clash of arms be heard, he 

 knows not how to stand still ; his ears prick up — his limbs 

 quiver ; and, snorting, he rolls the collected fire under his 

 nostrils ; and his mane is thick, and reposes tossed back 

 on his right shoulder. A double spine runs along his loins. 

 His hoof scoops out the ground, and sounds deep with solid horn. 

 Such a steed was Cyllarus, tamed to the rein of Amyclean 

 Pollux ; such were the two steeds of Mars, famous in Greek 

 poetry ; such a team drew the chariot of Achilles." 



II 



