EARLY DOMl'STICATION. 417 



mounted troops, and every Persian boy was taught "to ride, to shoot, 

 and to speak the truth." The provinces of the Persian Empire contained 

 many excellent breeds of horses, Armenia and Cappadocia being the most 

 famous in this respect. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian power, devoted 

 himself to the improvement of native horses, and declared it ignominious 

 for a Persian to be seen in public except on horseback. The Persian 

 horseman mounted on the right side, and his horse was carefully taught 

 to have a high action, and was ridden by a halter. We first see the bit 

 in some of the Grecian sculptures, and this Greek bit is the common 

 snaffle of the present day. To their great credit, the Greeks never rode 

 with a curb. The Romans invented a cruel bit with sharp projections 

 like the teeth of a wolf. No mention is made by ancient writers of 

 saddles such as are used in modern times ; the back of the horse was 

 covered with a cloth or a skin, which was kept in its place by a 

 surcingle. Stirrups, too, were unknown ; in fact, they are first men- 

 tioned in the year 11 58 A. D., but are represented in the Bayeux tapestry 

 executed nearly a century earlier, and representing William the Con- 

 queror's invasion of England. The ancient heroes trusted chiefly to 

 their own agility in leaping on their horses' backs ; sometimes they 

 climbed up by the aid of the loop of their lance, sometimes the horse 

 was taught to kneel ; wealthy men were assisted to mount by their 

 slaves. Shoes of metal were not fixed to the hoof by nails, but both the 

 Greeks and Romans were accustomed to fasten on the foot a sort of 

 shoe of leather, which was sometimes strengthened with a plate of iron, 

 or adorned with silver or gold. 



Next to war, the race was the chief field on which the ancients 

 exercised their horses. The favorite race was the chariot race, each 

 chariot having four horses attached to it ; the circus was about one-third 

 of a mile in length, and six laps formed the course. In the later Roman 

 Empire and the Empire of Constantinople, the passion for the circus 

 reached such a point that the history of the city became a history of the 

 struggle between the blue and green parties, as they were called, from 

 the colors of their drivers. This was at a time, too, when the use of 

 chariots in war had fallen into disuse, and when cavalry was the impor- 

 tant part of the army. 



The Romans were the first to introduce the custom of employing 

 horses in ordinary agricultural or mercantile pursuits, and they hav 

 from that time, in every part of Europe and North America, gradua" 

 53 



