10 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



subsequently driven in the chariot race by 

 Menelaus ; or Phallas, the horse of Heraclios ; 

 or the horses of the Pylian breed of which Homer 

 speaks at length ; or Galathe, Ethon, Podarge or 

 any of the other steeds of which Priam's eldest 

 son, " magnanimous and noble Hector," was so 

 justly proud. Also the horses of mythology do 

 not possess great interest for the majority of 

 modern readers other than classical scholars. 



That Homer himself, however, had sound 

 knowledge of the qualifications which go to make 

 up what in latter-day English we probably should 

 term a " finished charioteer" is shown by the 

 following rather well-known lines that here are 

 translated almost literally : 



" But he who in his chariot and his steeds 

 Trusts only, wanders here and there 

 Unsteady, while his coursers loosely rein'd 

 Roam wide the field ; not so the charioteer 

 Of sound intelligence ; he, though he drive 

 Inferior steeds, looks ever to the goal 

 While close he clips, not ignorant to check 

 His coursers at the first, but with tight rein 

 Ruling his own, and watching those before." 



Menesthus, emphatically one of the finest of 

 the many fine riders spoken of in the " Iliad," or, 

 as Homer himself describes him, " foremost in 

 equestrian fame," is typical of the horsemen of 

 that period. 



In the " Iliad" too we find what I believe I 



