76 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



at Rome ; and which were sometime afterwards added to 

 Mr Townley's collection. The bas-relief exhibits a 

 chariot-race, having something of the Greek character in 

 design. The charioteer, wearing a helmet and what 

 Suetonius calls the ' quadrigarian ' dress/ stands in a two- 

 wheeled cur ri cuius or car, drawn by four horses, which are 

 galloping towards the metce or pillars, round which the 

 competitors were obliged to turn in these contests of the 

 circus. The upper part of his body appears to be swathed 

 in his robe, and the reins, four in number, two in the left 

 and two in the right hand, according to the fashion of the 

 times, encircle his waist."" 



The bits are the simple snaffle, and not the curb, 

 which we know the Romans introduced ; and Combe,^ who 

 has made these terra-cottas his particular study, says the 

 instructions of Nestor,-* that in turning round the goal, 

 the right-hand horse should be urged on with a loose rein, 

 are exactly followed in this instance. The reverse, how- 

 ever, appears to be the case. At the base of the metag, 

 there may have happened an accident ; but this part is 

 rather disfigured ; while turning the goal the back of a 

 horseman is seen, with what seems to be reins round his 

 body, and who may only be keeping the course clear. On 



' Suetonius, Vita Calig. cap. 19. ' Per hunc pontem ultro citroque 

 commeavit, biduo continenti. Prinio dei phalerato equo — Postridie 

 quadrigario habitu, curriculoque bijugi famosorum equorum, prae se 

 ferens Darium puerum ex Parthorum obsidibus; comitante praetoria- 

 norum agmine, et in essedis cohorte amicorum.' 



Lampridius (Vit. Commodi, cap. 2) has also ' Aurigse habitu currus 

 rexit.' 



^ Statius, Theb., lib. vi. 104. 



3 Description of the Ancient Terra-cottas in the British Museum. 



' Iliad, 335—341- 



