Chap. 57.] THE INVENTORS OE YAIUOUS THINGS. 
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ing-horse, for the destruction of walls, which is at the present # 
day styled the ram," was invented hy Epeus, at Troy.^ 
Bellerophon was the first who mounted the horse bridles and 
saddles for the horse were invented by Pelethronius.*^ The 
Thessalians, who are called Centauri, and who dwell along 
Mount Pelion, were the first to fight on horse-back. The people 
of Phrygia were the first who used chariots with two horses ; 
Erich thonius first used four.^^ Palamedes, during the Trojan 
war, was the first who marshalled an army, and invented 
watchwords, signals, and the use of sentinels. Sinon, at 
the same period, invented the art of correspondence by signals. 
Lycaon was the first to think of making a truce, and Theseus 
a treaty of alliance. 
The art of divination by means of birds^* we owe to Car, 
^ This has been supposed to have been the real origin of the Trojan 
horse, on which Virgil has built one of his most interesting episodes ; tlie 
horse, as described by Virgil, was, however, in every respect, different from 
the battering ram. — B. 
1" In consequence of some false charges brought against him, Bellero- 
phon was sent to combat with a monster called the Chimsera, in the ex- 
pectation that he would perish in the attempt; but Minerva, pitying his 
situation, provided him with a winged horse, named Pegasus, by means of 
which he accomplished his perilous task in safety.— B. 
11 Pelethronius is said to have been a king of the Lapithse, a people of 
Thessaly, who were celebrated for their skill in the management of the 
horse. — B. 
1'^ According to Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. iii. c. 23, Minerva was the 
first who used a chariot with four horses. Hardouin supposes that tl]e 
Erichthonius here mentioned was not the king of Athens, but the son of 
Dardanus, the king of Troas ; he does not state the ground of his opinion, 
and ^lian, Hist. Var. B. iii. c. 38, expressly speaks of him as an Athe- 
nian. Virgil, Geor. B. iii. 11. 113, 114, speaks of Erichthonius as the in- 
ventor of the chariot with four horses ; he is supposed to have lived about 
1450 B.C. As Hardouin justly remarks, we have an account, in the writings 
of Moses, of chariots being used by the Egyptians long before this period. 
It is not, however, stated what was the number of horses used for these 
chariots. — B. 
13 " Tesserae," in the original, which is also the name of the dice used in 
various games. But the connection in which the word is here placed 
makes it more probable that it refers to some military operation ; Virgil 
employs it in this sense, jEneid, B. vii. 1. 637, as also Livy, B. vii. c. 35. 
There is, however, a tradition that Palamedes invented the games in which 
dice are used, during the siege of Troy. — B. 
1* The words are " auguria ex avibus," while the art which is said to 
have been taught by Tiresias, is termed " extispicio avium." The first of 
these consists in foretelling future events, by observing the flight, the 
