78 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



of property ; and indeed horse-owning, with 

 all that was too apt to follow it, became a 

 synonym for extravagance. 



Horse-raising was a pursuit for which the 

 nature of the Greek soil was not well fitted; 

 the countries were too rugged and mountain- 

 ous, the plains in them few and small. Chief 

 among the breeds for beauty, courage, and 

 endurance was the Thessalian. It was re- 

 nowned in the very earliest times, but then 

 of course for driving and not for riding. The 

 mares of King Diomedes which ate human 

 flesh, the horses of Rhesus, of Achilles, and 

 of Orestes in the race described by Sophocles 

 in the " Electra," — finally, to come down from 

 mythology to history, Alexander's charger, 

 Bucephalas, were all of this famous breed. 

 Others in high favour were the Argive, 

 Acarnanian, Arcadian, and Epidaurian ; but 

 nothing is known of the differences between 

 these breeds or of the peculiar merits of 

 each. 



In spite of the natural disadvantages of the 

 soil of Attica, the Athenian young men de- 

 voted themselves with much zeal to the rais- 

 ing and training of horses for the turf or for 



