62 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



Catullus, is of opinion that this solea was drawn over the 

 hoof, and not fastened with nails, and in this opinion he is 

 perhaps justified. An ordinary leather sock, such as 

 would prove serviceable for the wear of a camel, would 

 soon be found to be but little adapted to tlie rough usage 

 of a horse or mule ; the sharp unyielding margin of the 

 hoof-wall must in a very brief space, and particularly on 

 paved roads or rocky ground, have cut through any 

 envelope of hide or other soft material ; so borrowing the 

 idea from their own caliga or calceus, or the wheel — the 

 ferati orbes of Virgil, they shod this covering with stronger 

 materials, such as brass, iron, or even silver, or gold, but 

 most frequently iron. Like their shoes, these solecp, or 

 horse-sandals, were in all probability fastened round the 

 legs with loops and straps, or fillets. It may be observed 

 here that the name given to their own shoe or sandal — • 

 calceus or calceamentum — was never given to this ap- 

 pliance for horses and mules, which is always designated 

 solea ; the act of shoeing, however, is found expressed 

 by the verb calceo, and is alike employed for man and 

 beast. 



The fastening with thongs or straps must of course 

 have been a very insecure one, as modern experience has 

 taught us, and the leathern sole covering the ground 

 surface of the foot would still further tend to weaken it, 

 particularly in marshy or clayey soil. Even now, with 

 our incalculably firmer-attached armature, it is well 

 known that in the hunting-field, when crossing heavy 

 ground, a leather sole acts like a sucker, and is almost 

 certain to cause the shoe which covers it to be left in the 

 mire. Such must have been a frequent occurrence with 



