16 THE HORSE. 



tween them, and, so doing, he will have a prouder and stronger 

 gait and action, and will in all respects be the better on them/^ 



Here we have described, in most exact terms, a cobby but spirited 

 and corky horse, with a light and somewhat peculiar carriage of 

 the head and neck, just as we see represented in the Elgin niarbles 



THE ROMAN HORSE. 



Of the Roman Horse we know far less than of that of the 

 Oreeks -, but the fact of its inferiority to those of the surrounding 

 nations is established, for no sooner were they brought into col 

 lision with the cavalry of Macedonia and Epirus than they suc- 

 cumbed. This could only be owing to the quadruped, for the 

 Roman foot-soldier was still unmatched. Ca3sar depended for his 

 cavalry upon Gallic horses, which were able to ride down the Ro 

 man horses of his rival Pompey without the slightest difficulty. 

 So also Crassus was unable to make head in Asia against the Par- 

 thian horse; and from his day until British horses were trans- 

 ported to Oriental soil, the superiority of Asiatic horses remained 

 undisputed. 



THE ARAB OF ANTIQUITY. 



The Arab of the present day is said by his countrymen to 

 be the same in form, in courage, and in enduwince, with the horse 

 which existed in Arabia before the time of Christ, I have shown 

 that there is every reason to believe that the Israelites who dwelt 

 in Arabia had no horses in the time of Jacob, and therefore it is 

 scarcely likely that this variety could have arrived at its present 

 state of excellence much before the commencement of the Chris- 

 tian era. But beyond the traditional accounts which are preserved 

 in the various tribes, there is no means of arriving at the truth, 

 and they are to be regarded with considerable suspicion. Buffon 

 comes to the conclusion, nevertheless, that Arabia is the birthplace 

 of this animal, and his opinions are followed by a host of subse- 

 quent writers ; but I have already given the reasons for the con- 

 trary conclusion. The dry nature of the country, and the scanti- 

 ness of herbage, show that in a wild state the horse could hardly 

 exist there, and that it is only by the care and superintendence of 

 man that the Arabian horse has become so famous. 



EGYrTIAN, LIBYAN, NUMIDIAN, AND MOORISH HORSES. 



The Egyptian Horse is handed down to us on some of the 

 sculptures found in the ruins of Nineveh ; the carvings of which 

 are in a high state of preservation, and are very elaborate and 

 spirited. Even the superficial veins are carefully rendered ; and 

 hence we may place some reliarce upon the fidelity of the por- 

 traiture. In all these bas-reliefs the animal is represented with a 



