ACHAEAN HORSEMEN 117 



her robes of massive gold. Outside their holy- 

 faith nothing was taken very seriously, and the 

 people had special delight in nonsense animals. 

 The centaur or man-horse was a prime favour- 

 ite, and they did not worry over his stable 

 management, a most revolting job. The man 

 mouth would refuse the forage urgently re- 

 quired by the horse-body, and if they compro- 

 mised on oats as porridge, even that would 

 pall. Still centaurs would be gentle, and less 

 likely to butt, than the buck unicorn of our 

 own mythology. The Centaur Cheiron indeed 

 was not only gentle but the eminent headmaster 

 of the earliest public school. Solving the diet 

 question with fish, game, fruit and wine, he 

 lived to a good old age. 



For a people of so lively a mind as the 

 Greeks, progress was rather slow in the use of 

 horses. Supposing the siege of Troy to have 

 happened about 1000 b.c. they were solely 

 dependent on chariotry in war while King 

 Solomon had 12,000 cavalry. 



Three centuries later the Greek colonists of 

 African Cyrene, that " city of fair steeds and 

 goodly chariots," sent home shipments by 

 direct sea trade of desert Bays for breeding. 

 With the improvement of the horse stock four- 

 horse chariots began to compete in the Olympic 



