THE GREEK RIDING-HORSE. 79 



war;' and old Strepsiades * was not the only 

 father who had to lament that he was ruined 

 by a horse-complaint. The great space de- 

 voted on the frieze of the Parthenon to the 

 Athenian cavalry shows clearly what a high 

 estimation was set upon the possession of 

 beautiful horses, and on dexterity in the man- 

 agement of them. Instruction in riding 

 began to form a special branch in the educa- 

 tion of the higher classes, j and it was there- 

 fore natural that men should begin to write 

 on the art of horsemanship. 



The celebrated rider Simon, of whom more 

 hereafter, was the earliest writer on this art 

 whose name is known to us. He was soon 

 followed by Xenophon. From the latter's 

 treatise we can discover the point which the 

 art had reached in the first half of the fourth 

 century before the Christian era. We learn 

 from it that the only gaits of the horse were 

 the walk, the trot, and the gallop with both 

 leads ; that he was trained in leaping as well 

 as in the demi-pesade, the volte, and the 

 oblong career with sharp turns at both ends ; 



* In the comedy of the " Clouds" by Aristophanes, 

 t See page 169. 



