98 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



ent breeds may have had their distinctions 

 in this respect; but, as I have said, we know 

 nothing of them. It may be significant, how- 

 ever, that on Thessahan and Macedonian 

 coins the riding-horses often appear equal 

 in size to our own. Little, if anything, can 

 be inferred from the almost giraffe-like pro- 

 portions of the animal on the most archaic 

 vases. 



From the physique of the horse I pass to 

 his nature. In reading Xenophon's treatise 

 one may be struck by the frequency with 

 which this man, well used to riding as he 

 was, refers to the horse as a dangerous ani- 

 mal to come near. While it should be 

 remembered that the Greeks generally used 

 entire horses, not geldings, for all purposes 

 and especially for war, yet this will not wholly 

 account for Xenophon's constant tone of cau- 

 tion ; and it is probable that the process of 

 domestication, extending through centuries, 

 has made a very great difference in the tem- 

 perament of the animal, as we know it, from 

 what it was in the classical period. Ancient 

 literature is not without its stories ^9 of the 

 devotion of the horse to his master; but even 



