12 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



" Let but the Thunderer and Minerva grant 

 The pillage of fair Ilium to the Greeks, 

 And I will give to thy victorious hand, 

 After my own, the noblest recompense, 

 A tripod or a chariot with its steeds, 

 Or some fair captive to partake thy bed." 



I recollect how at school this passage, with 

 several others, used to be rigorously excluded 

 when Homer was being construed, with the result 

 that Kelly's famous " Keys to the Classics " used 

 afterwards to be produced surreptitiously, and the 

 "censored" lines turned carefully into English. 



From what Homer tells us elsewhere, and from 

 additional sources, we may conclude that of all 

 the races that bred horses and took just pride 

 in them in the early centuries before Christ the 

 Thracians were probably the most renowned. 



The brilliant horsemanship of " noble Patroclus 

 of equestrian fame," the amiable and staunch 

 friend of Achilles, must not be passed unmen- 

 tioned ; nor the deeds of prowess that are at- 

 tributed to Euphorbus, " famous for equestrian 

 skill, for spearmanship, and in the rapid race past 

 all of equal age " ; nor yet the deeds of Hypere- 

 nor whose skill in handling horses may be likened 

 to the skill of Rarey in our own time. 



The following lines from the " Iliad " are of 



