THE EMPEROR CALIGULA. 67 



on with nails, particularly in Suetonius' and Nero's 

 time. 



Aklrovandus ' remarks, that Suetonius, in his Life of 

 Caligula (a.d, 40), expressly notices the iron shoe, with 

 eight or more nails ; and Colonel Smith,^ who quotes this 

 naturalist, appears to think him correct. ' We read con- 

 cerning Caligula, in Suetonius, that the day previous to 

 the races in the circus, he ordered the soldiers to maintain 

 strict silence in the neighbourhood, lest his horse should 

 be disturbed. He remembered when a journey was to be 

 undertaken, if the country to be traversed was mountain- 

 ous or rough, that, instead of eight, fourteen nails were to 

 be affixed ; because such ground wore away the nails 

 rapidly.' I have carefully read two editions of Suetonius 

 (one of them the ' Bibliotheca Classica Latina ' of C. B. 

 Hase; Paris, 1828), but do not find the most distant allu- 

 sion to horse-shoes in the ' Life of Caligula.' The refer- 

 ence is not trustworthy. 



For reasons which will be hereafter given, it might be 

 concluded, that when shoes for horses or mules are men- 

 tioned by any of the Roman or Greek writers immediately 

 preceding or following the commencement of our era, that 

 the modern method of applying a shoe to these animals' feet 

 is not meant, and that there is no proof that it was known. 

 But as additional evidence that the solea was a temporary 



' De Quadrupedibus, p. 50. Fnmcoflirti, 1623. ' De Caligula 

 itaque legimus apud Suetonium pridie quam Circensis fierent, viciniae 

 silentium per milites indixisse ne eques saus incitatus inquietaretur. 

 Cum iter faciendum est, meminerit, per quae loca fiet eundem nam si 

 per montes vel quaevis asperiora loca fuerit agitandus, loco octo clavorum, 

 quatuordecim inv^enio affigendos, quod plurimum illic atterantur clavi.' 



' Naturalists' Library, vol. xii. Edinburgh, 1841. 



