22 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



Prince Gautama, but nothing need be said 

 about it here, trustworthy records being unpro- 

 curable. 



The great cities of Magna Graecia — Sybaris, 

 Tarentum, Croton, and so on — obviously had for- 

 midable cavalry in the sixth century B.C.; Sicily 

 and Southern Italy being almost equally renowned 

 for the riding horses obtainable there. The 

 statagem to which the Crotonians had recourse 

 in 510 B.C. to bring about the fall of Sybaris has 

 been described, and it is said that for some years 

 prior to the destruction of the city some five or 

 six thousand of the inhabitants were in the habit 

 of riding in procession on horseback upon the 

 occasions of the great festivals held there. 



