178 
£Biut\Umx. 
The Stables of the Ancients. 
In The Veterinarian for November, we described the 
methods practised by the ancients in breaking their horses. The 
following description of their stables is equally interesting, not 
only to the antiquary, but to the veterinary surgeon. 
Stable was a generic term, applied to retreats of animals of all 
sorts, and to brothels and road inns; prcesepe was loosely used in 
the same manner, but equile was the definite term for our stable, 
and prasepe for the manger # . The latter was called also by 
Vegetius patenaf, defined by Columella vas latum , a broad 
vessel. 
The Greek and Roman heroes were horse-breakers. Andro¬ 
mache watered the horses of Hector, and Xenophon wrote an 
elaborate treatise upon horsemanship. From him BerengerJ 
extracted the following description of a Greek stable:—It was 
to be so situated, with respect to the house, that the owner could 
see his horse frequently ; and the stall was to be so managed, that 
the provender could not be easily stolen out of the manger. 
The floor was to decline, and to be pitched with stones, each 
being about the size of the horses foot, a practice still in use; 
and, as now, the horses were confined to the manger by a halter. 
The stable-yard was also paved with round stones, bound with a 
rim of iron to keep them close together. The intention of this 
paving was to harden the hoofs, shoes not being then worn. 
Besides the stable-vard, there was a place for the horses to roll 
themselves, and Apuleius, when metamorphosed, mentions the 
pleasure which he found in such an act. 
When the horse was to be cleaned he was muzzled, and led 
out of the stable. The groom stood sideways, that the horses 
might have a better appetite : they were turned away from the 
manger after the first meal. 
As to the Roman stables, they had, of course, distinctions of 
elegance, according to the rank of the parties; and the accounts 
of the old authors shew that the construction of the rack, 
manger, and windows were connected with fanciful medical prin¬ 
ciples, one of which was that moonlight was injurious to horses§. 
In a general view. Columella recommends that the stables should 
not be built of a height greater than that under which a horse or 
an ox could conveniently stand. The goddess Hippona , which 
Luterius contends ought to be denominated Epona, was the pa- 
• f r * 
* Suet. Calig. iv, Burm. Petron. 41 . + Re Veterin. i, 56 . 
X Horsemanship, i, 232, 238. § Alberti, f. lxxiv, b. 
