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ridden without any shoes, and the Cossacks' on the banks of the Jaïk, he adds, are never shod.'

Of the evil effects of prolonged marches, and consequent excessive wear of the undefended hoofs in the Greek armies, we find casual mention now and again in the early historians. Diodorus Siculus (B.C. 44) in one of his volumes, when describing the victories of Alexander, states that 'the hoofs of the horses, through ceaseless journeying, had been worn away, and the matériel of war was used up.'1

And Cinnamus speaks in the same strain of the war in Attalia. He ordered them to await the rest of the army in Attalia, and to look after the horses, for a disease to which they are liable had attacked their hoofs, and had done serious hurt.'2

In the account which Appian gives of the victory achieved by Lucullus over Mithridates, King of Pontus, at the siege of Cyzicum (B.c. 73), we find that Mithridates sent part of his cavalry back to Bithynia, such as were useless, feeble from want of forage, and footsore or lame in consequence of their hoofs being worn out (xaì χαλεύοντας ἐξ ὑποτριβῆς).3

This description has been differently given by H. Stephanus (edit. Stephanus, 1592, p. 221), and this has

Diod. Siculus, lib. xvii. cap. 94, p. 233. Edit. Weissilingii. 'Equorum ungulæ propter itinera nunquam remissa detritæ et armorum pleraque absumptæ erant.'

Edit. Tollii Traject. ad Rhenum, 1825. Lib. iv. p. 194. Cæteras copias manere in Attalia et equos curare jussit, nam malam cui est obnoxium equinum genus plantes pedum acciderat, graviterque etficerat.'

3 De Bello Mithrid. p. 371. Edit. Tollii.

ARRIAN AND ARTEMIDORUS.

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given rise to a serious mistake. His translation is as follows: 'Equos vero tum inutiles et infirmos ob inediam, claudicantesque solearum inopia, detritis ungulis, aversis ab hoste itineribus, misit in Bithyniam.' No such words as solearum inopia occur in the original text; they are an interpolation by the learned translator without the faintest authority, and have led several writers of note to believe that horse-shoes were then in use: whereas the contrary may be inferred, for the horses, it is explicitly mentioned, were lame by the attrition of their hoofs; which implies that horses were not shod. Montfauçon was led astray by this addition to the original account. He writes: 'There are certain and undoubted proofs that the ancients shod their horses; thus much Homer and Appian say;' and Fosbrooke remarks that an iron horse-shoe is mentioned by Appian; so that the conclusion from Xenophon's recommendation for hardening the hoof, that the ancients did not shoe beasts of burden, is too rash.'

Subsequent to the Christian era, we find Arrian 3 (A.D. 200) comparing the human body to a pack-ass-ováρsov ἐπισεαγμένον, and speaking of a kind of shoe for that animal: Όταν έχεῖνο ἀνάριον ᾖ, τἄλλα γίνεται χαλινάρια τοῦ ὀναρίου, σχημάτια, ὑποδηματία, κριθαί, χόρτος. Some translators have rendered wodnμaria as 'ferreæ calces;' but Didot, in his new Collection of Classical Greek authors, translates it as spartea calces: 'Si asselus est corpus, cetera freni erunt aselli, clitellæ, spartea calces, hordeum, fœnum.' Artemidorus, in his Interpretation of Dreams, about

'Antiquité Expliquée, vol. iv. p. 50.

Ency, of Antiquities. London, 1840.

3 Commentar. in Epictetum, lib. iii.

the same period as Arrian, also speaks of a horse shod with a sock or shoe, iwonua, which was probably made of spartea, like the above.

I find on a silver coin of Tarentum,' now in the British Museum, and struck, it is surmised, about B.C. 300, a curious representation of a horse and two men, which might, at the first glance, be supposed to be connected with our subject (fig. 1).

fig. 1.

The horse is beautifully delineated, and admirably represents the breed then famous in this part of Magna Græcia. A groom or boy, nude as the horse attendants are generally represented on ancient Greek vases and sculpture, is seated on the horse's back, and strokes his

Tarentum, the modern Taranto, an ancient town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, is built on a small island, in the Gulf of Taranto, near Brindisi. It was founded B.C. 700, as a Greek colony, by Lacedæmonian Parthenii, the descendants of a people noted for their love of horses and excellent horsemanship. This city was one of the most flourishing and powerful of Magna Græcia, and was distinguished for its luxury and splendour, as well as for its encouragement of the fine For a long time it resisted the Romans, but at last submitted to them, B.C. 272. The above drawing is twice the size of the coin.

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mane as if to soothe him, while another individual, also nude, holds up one of the fore feet, as if to apply a shoe. The attitude is very striking, and it would be interesting to discover why such a group should be represented on a coinage.

the

It may be observed, however, that there is no instrument in the hands of the dismounted figure whereby to fasten on the shoe, if such be his vocation, and that his attitude is not a very convenient one. This is, nevertheless, the posture assumed on the continent of Europe, and generally all over the East, by the workman who arms the hoofs, but then there is another up person to hold limb. In this example he may be only trying on a shoe; though the figure on the horse's back would not add to the facility with which this operation might otherwise be performed. I may mention that I have seen and heard of troop horses which, though otherwise tractable, would scarcely allow themselves to be shod unless a man were seated on their backs, stroking their ears and necks in the manner shown on the Greek coin; and Cæsar Fiaschi,1 in the fifteenth century, recommends for horses that will not be shod quietly, that 'mots plaisants' be used, and 'faire mettre un cavalier sur le dos.' It has been suggested that a stone is being removed from the sole; but without shoes it is almost, if not quite, impossible that a stone could lodge in the foot. Might he not be fastening on a temporary shoe or sock?

Beyond the illustration this affords, we have no evidence of shoeing among the Greeks; and, after all, this may be only an allegorical representation, or a reference to some mythological subject.

'Maréchalerie. 3rd French edit., cap. 29. Paris, 1563.

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CHAPTER II.

THE HORSE WITH THE ROMANS. THEIR CAVALRY.

PLINY. CAMEL SHOEING. SILENCE OF ROMAN HIPPIATRISTS IN REGARD TO SHOEING. CATO, VARRO, HORACE, VIRGIL, LUCAN, CLAUDIANUS, FITZSTEPHEN. ROMAN ROADS, AND COURIERS. COLUMELLA, JULIUS POLLUX. DIOCLETIAN'S EDICT. HOOF INSTRUMENTS.

PALLADIUS,

APSYRTUS,

VEGETIUS RENATUS, RENATUS FLAVIUS. POLYBIUS. CARBATINAI AND EMBATTAI. SOLEE FERREA. CATULLUS, SCALIGER, SUETONIUS. GOLD AND SILVER SOLEA. EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE ROMANS. CALIGULA, NERO, POPPÆA, AND COMMODUS. THEOMNESTUS. SOLEA SPARTEA, AND THE GLANTE FERREO. HIPPOPODes. CHARIOT-RACING. OPINIONS AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF SHOEING WITH THE ANCIENTS. MONTFAUÇON, WINCKELMANN, FABRETTI, CAMERARIUS, PANCIROLUS, VOSSIUS, PEGGE, SMITH, HEUsinger, RICH. SUPPOSED NEGATIVE EVIDENCE OF WRITTEN HISTORY AND SCULPTURE. TEMPORARY SHOES AND OTHER EXPEDIENTS TO PRESERVE THE HOOFS IN JAPAN, CHINA, MANILLA, SINGAPORE, ETC. STRAW SHOES. ICELAND AND CENTRAL ASIA.

THE Romans began to use the horse at a very early period, but not with much advantage until seven hundred years after he had been introduced into Greece; so that the Greeks were well advanced in the management of that animal, and skilled in its employment long before the Romans. For this reason it is that we find much in the writings of the latter that was borrowed from the older civilization; while their system of equitation and general care of the horse was altogether Grecian. During a long time, and even up to a comparatively late date, the army

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