ERICHTHONIUS 5 



pastured along the marsh meadow, rejoicing in 

 their tender foals," a statement that indirectly 

 recalls the fine lines in Longfellow's " The 

 Minnisink" : 



" They buried the dark chief — they freed 

 Beside the grave his battle steed ; 

 And swift an arrow cleaves its way 

 To his stern heart ! One piercing neigh 

 Arose, — and on the dead man's plain 

 The rider grasps his steed again." 



Erichthonius, according to Virgil, was the first 

 to handle a four-in-hand, for in the third book of 

 his " Georgics " we are told how 



" Bold Erichthonius first four coursers yok'd 

 And urg'd the chariot as the axle smok'd." 



Rather a risky proceeding and one from which 

 we may conclude that bold Erichthonius would 

 have flouted the axiom promulgated recently by 

 the more prudent members of a well-known coach- 

 ing club that "no team ought to be driven faster 

 than ten miles an hour, upon an average " ! 



Though allusions to the horse are made re- 

 peatedly in the Bible, they give us little or no 

 insight as to the horse's influence upon the nations 

 and their development. The notorious steed of 

 Job that when among the trumpets exclaimed 



