196 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



The name Acrasia means self-indulgence, 

 and this witch was particularly dreaded because 

 of her partiality for transforming her lovers 

 into monstrous shapes and then keeping them 

 captive. 



The story of Sir Guyon's stealthy approach 

 while Acrasia lay unsuspectingly in her bower, 

 and of the way in which he succeeded in throwing 

 a net over her, subsequently in binding her firmly 

 in chains of adamant, then in breaking down "her 

 accursed bower " and burning it to ashes, is too 

 well known to need description here, and of course 

 it has no direct bearing upon Brigadore. 



So far as we can judge, the horses of Anatolia 

 and Syria must have been well known in Europe 

 by about the middle of the sixteenth century, 

 though one or two writers aver that they did not 

 come over until later. 



An artist who died about the year 1603, an d 

 whose name was Stradamus, produced, not long 

 before his death, a series of drawings, and a set 

 of these was subsequently issued under the title, 

 " Equile Johannis Ducis Austriaci," which means, 

 " The Stable of Don John of Austria." 



It is interesting to note in this connection 

 that practically all the horses and mares im- 

 ported between the year 1660 and the year 1685 

 came from Smyrna, though the renowned Darley 

 Arabian and several more came from Aleppo. 



This is of particular importance in relation to 



