96 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



such as vase-paintings, in which he appears 

 side by side with men standing on the ground. 

 The unthinking observer, comparing the 

 height of the horses with the height of the 

 men in the same composition, and finding 

 that the men are usually as tall or even 

 taller than the horses, concludes that the 

 Greek horse must have been a very small 

 animal indeed. But such a conclusion is 

 made in ignorance or in neglect of an impor- 

 tant principle of Greek art. By this it was 

 required that in a composition of numerous 

 figures the heads of all should be nearly 

 upon a level, whether the men were walking, 

 riding, or driving. This principle, called 

 Isokelismos, does not in practice offend the 

 eye, which, recognizing the effect of the 

 whole as a work of art, is not troubled by 

 the exactness of levels, untruthful to nature 

 though it may be. But of course it utterly 

 forbids us to use the apparent height of the 

 men in such a composition as any standard 

 for the real height of animals. A better 

 means of judging from the frieze is by ob- 

 serving how far the feet of the riders hang 

 down below the bellies of their horses. The 



