HISTORY OF THE SADDLE. 287 



cannot be a more agreeable sigbt, to such as take 

 pleasure in horses and riclmg, than to see four 

 thousand men here daily at work in their shops, 

 each striving to excel the rest in the curiosity of 

 his artifice. You shall see one busy in spangling 

 a saddle with great Oriental pearls and unions in- 

 termixed, for some Arabian horse, belonging, per- 

 haps, to the Vizier Azem ; another fitting a curb 

 or bit of the purest gold to a bridle of the most 

 precious Russian leather. Some adorn their trap- 

 pings with choice Phrygian work ; others with 

 diamonds, rubies, and the most costly jewels of the 

 east." 



But to return to the history of the saddle, its 

 invention, and general use, the latter a point very 

 difficult to be ascertained. The word epMppium, 

 by which the ancient Romans expressed it, being 

 merely derived from the Greek words scr/, tipon^ and 

 /'77ro$, a Jiorse^ leads us to conclude that, by degrees, 

 the covering spoken of was converted into a saddle. 

 The Greek word £%«, used by ancient authors, is 

 believed to have been to express a saddle, and is 

 more than once used by Xenophon, in his De Re 

 Equestri ; and Vegetius, who wrote on the vete- 

 rinary art nearly 400 years b. c, speaks of the 

 saddle-tree. Perhaps the clearest proof of the use 

 of any thing approaching to the form of the mo- 

 dern saddle, is the order of Theodosius (see his 

 Code,) in the year 385, by which such persons as 

 rode post-horses in their journeys were forbidden to 

 use those which weighed more than sixty pounds ; 

 if heavier, they were ordered to be cut to pieces. 



