THE HERO'S HORSE 



"So Darius the son of Hystaspes had been declared King. At first he 

 caused to be made a carving in stone and set it up, and in it there was the 

 figure of a man on horseback and he wrote upon it writing to this effect 

 " Darius the son of Hystaspes by the virtue of his horse obtained the kingdom 

 of Persia." — Herodotus. 



" It is noteworthy concerning Bucephalus that when dressed in his trappings 

 and his armour for battle he never allowed himself to be mounted by anyone 

 but the King. This too is recorded about the horse, that when Alexander 

 mounted him in the Indian war, and performing prodigies of valour, hurled 

 himself upon a mass of foemen without sufficient regard for himself, weapons 

 poured down on him from every side and his horse was pierced in back and 

 side with grievous wounds. Yet, dying as he was and almost drained of blood, 

 he brought back the King from the midst of the foe with his most rapid speed 

 and when he had carried him beyond weapon range he fell down on the spot, 

 assured of his master's safety and breathed his last almost, as it were, with the 

 consolation of human feeling. Then King Alexander, when he had gained 

 the victory founded a city on that site, and in honour of his horse called it 

 Bucephalon." — Aulus GelHus v. ii. 



" Erechthon was the first who dared command 



A chariot yoked with horses four in hand." — Georg. III. 



" And first bow down the bridled strength of steeds 

 To lose the wild wont of their birth and bear 

 Clasp of man's knees and steerage o his hand." 



— Swinburne's Erechtheus. 



HE hero always has his horse. 



Whether it be Alexander and Bucepha- 

 lus, Rosinante and Don Quixote, Dick 

 Turpin and Black Bess, Prince Pertap and 

 his grey horse Chytuc, or Siegfried and 

 Doomsted, the man and the beast have 

 gone together through the heroic history, and have gone 

 down together into the world's memory of that history. 



