THE GRECIAN HORSE. g 



It would appear that the first colony, about the time of the birth of Moses, 

 landed in 'fhessaly, in the north of Greece. Their appearance mounted on 

 horseback, according to the old fable, terrified the native inhabitants, and they 

 fled in all directions, imagining that their country was attacked by a set of 

 monsters, half horse and half man, and they called them Centaurs. Such was 

 the origin of the figures which are not unfrequent among the remains of ancient 

 sculpture. 



Another and a more natural interpretation offers itself to the mind of the 

 horseman. The Thessalians were the pride of the Grecian cavalry. Before the 

 other provinces of Greece were scarcely acquainted with the name of the horse 

 their subjugation of him was so complete, that, in the language of another poet 

 of far later days, but not inferior to any that Greece ever knew, 



" These gallants 

 Had witchcraft in't — they grew unto their scat, 

 And to such wondrous doing brought their horse 

 As they had been incorpscd, and demi-natured 

 With the bravo beast *." 



Hence the origin of the fable and of all the expressive sculptures. Bucephalus, 

 the favourite war-horse of Alexander, was probably of this breed. He would 

 permit no one to mount him but his master, and he always knelt down to 

 receive him on his back. Alexander rode him at the battle of the Hydaspes, 

 in which the noble steed received his death-wound. For once he was disobe- 

 dient to the commands of his master : he hastened from the heat of the fight ; 

 he brought Alexander to a place where he was secure from danger ; he knelt 

 for him to alight, and then dropped down and diedf. 



Sixty years afterwards, another colony of Egyptians landed in the southern 

 part of Greece, and they introduced the knowledge of the horse in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Athens. Their leader was called Erichthonius, or the horse- 

 breaker ; and after his death, like the first Centaur, he found a place in the 

 Zodiac under the name of " The Archer." Erichthonius likewise occupied a 

 situation among the constellations, and was termed Auriga, or the charioteer. 



The Thessalians always maintained their character as the first and the 

 choicest of the Grecian cavalry. In point of fact, it was the only part of the 

 country in which horses could with decided advantage be bred. It abounded in 

 rich pastures, whereas the rest of Greece was comparatively dry and barrenj. 



From various of the Greek authors we can very satisfactorily trace the rapid 

 improvement which about this time took place in the character and management 

 of the horse. It has been stated that the soil and produce of Greece were not 

 favourable for the breeding of horses, and that it could be a matter of profit 

 only in Thessaly. They soon, however, became necessary in almost every part 

 of the country, both for offence and defence ; therefore, in most of the cities, and 

 particularly in Athens and in Sparta, in order to induce the inhabitants to keep 

 the requisite number, a new order of citizens was instituted, deemed the second 



* Shakspcarc, Hamlet, Act iv. scene 7. authors arc most celebrated. For which cause 



f Plutarch, in Alex., Arrian. v. c. 3. Xerxes, on his comming into Greece, made n 



+ Blundcville, who was an excellent classic running of horses in chariots to be proclaymcd 



as well as horseman, says : — " The horses of only in Thcssalia, because bee wouldo have his 



Greece have good legges, great bodyes, comely ownc horses to runnc wythc the best horses in 



heads, and are of a high stature, and very Greece. Julius Cresar, also, bcying Dictatour 



well made forewarde, but not backwardc, of Rome, knowyng the courage of these horses, 



because they arc pyn-buitocked. Notwith- was the first that ordeyncd them as a spectacle 



standing, they are vcryc swift, and of a boldo beforo the people to fyghte wythc wyldc bulls, 



courage. But of all the races in Greece, both and to kyll them." — The Power Chiefest 



the horses and marcs of Thessaly for their Offices belonging to Horsemanship, p. 4. 

 bewtic, bignesse, bountic and courage, of al 



