THE HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 
421 
Judea by the Babylonians, it is said, ” their horses’ hoofs shall be 
counted as flint;” and it is necessary to observe that this people 
were noted for their power in horses and chariots. 
Xenophon, in the 2d book of the Cyropsedia, represents Cyas- 
cares as stating to Cyrus the force which the allies opposed to him 
might bring into the field. The number of the Babylonians was 
set down at 20,000 horse and 200 chariots, double the number of 
any other power of Western Asia. 
The allusion to the hardness of the horse’s hoofs is conjectured 
to arise from the fact, that the ancients did not shoe their horses 
by nailing iron plates to the foot. They had, indeed, shoes of lea¬ 
ther, gold, and silver; but these enclosed the whole hoof, and were 
bound or tied on, being used very rarely, and only on particular 
occasions. Hence the hardness of the hoofs was a very important 
consideration, and Xenophon lays much stress on this point, ob¬ 
serving, that “ the good hoof is hard and hollow, and, when struck 
on the ground, sounds like a cymbal.” He also suggests means by 
which the hoofs may be hardened. The necessity of such hard 
hoofs in war-horses did not escape Homer, who continually applies 
to them the epithet brazen-hoofed. 
The fable of the centaur Chiron, the tutor of Esculapius and 
Achilles, is conjectured to have originated in the Thessalians 
having acquired the art of the manege from the Egyptians, who 
were, we know, acquainted with the value of the horse for riding 
and driving, first, from the ancient sculptures, in which both are 
represented; and, secondly, by Joseph’s bartering the hoarded corn 
for horses and asses; and Miriam, in chanting the deliverance of 
Israel, celebrating the overthrow of both horse and rider. 
The poetry of Homer abounds in allusions to steeds and chariots, 
which, with beauty and armour, constituted the most attractive 
portions of the spoils taken in battle. The coursers of Rhesus, 
fleet as the wind and white as the driven snow, were an inesti¬ 
mable prize to Tydides; and it was the hope of obtaining the im¬ 
mortal-bred steeds of Achilles that urged Dolon to the adventure 
that cost him his life. One of this “ heavenly race” was subse¬ 
quently endowed with the gift of speech and prophecy ; but, like 
Cassandra, raised his voice in vain. 
The military strength of Greece did not consist in her cavalry, 
which was composed only of men possessed of estates, and able to 
furnish horses at their own charge. 
The ptactice of human and veterinary surgery appear at this 
time to have been exercised by the same person. Hippocrates, 
the most celebrated Greek physician, and father of medical science, 
practised indiscriminately on the horse and his rider, (see La 
Fosse’s Diet. d’Hippiatrique); and in addition to his medical works, 
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