have been entirely of iron, suspended to the hoof by a bandage, or strap and buckle.

It is satisfactory that Vegetius has so particularly described the mode of attaching this garniture to the limb: 'et addita fasciola diligentissime colligabis;' because it elucidates what might have otherwise been an obscure reference in Apsyrtus, a Greek veterinarian who lived more than a century before Vegetius. In chapter 107 of that writer's work, in the Hippiatrica, is found the heading: "Apsyrtus on the injuries from foot defences or fastenings of the same.' And the chapter goes on to relate: ‘It happens that the legs (peroxúvia, the parts from the knees to the hoofs) of the horse, from the foot defences or shackles (iTOTέons), or its fastenings by the thong or cord, become injured, so that the skin is torn off or destroyed, and the tendons of the fetlock are laid bare. There is danger of this accident proving fatal if it happen to both joints. It is proper, therefore, in the first instance, to apply wine, vinegar, or brine and vinegar; next, to use the lipara and soft applications of white plasters; and, to complete the cure, of ceruss one part, of ammoniacum one half, of myrtle-berries a sufficient quantity-then triturating the ammoniacum, mixed with the ceruss, pour upon them the myrtle, and use it.'

1 Ruellii (Hippiatr. lib. ii. p. 100) renders this passage from the Greek as follows: APSYRTUS IIS QUI COMPEDIBUS AUT VINCULIS COLLISI VITIANTUR. Usu venit ut suffragines, quas mesocynia vocant, tricis, pedicis, vinculisque quibusdam loro vel fune districtis plerunque lacessantur, quibus corium procidit, sic ut nervuli hujusce partis aperiantur, ac nudi pateant: id quod vitæ discrimen adfert, præsertim si in utroque flexu articulorum evenerit,' etc.

ROMAN HIPPOPODES.

75

This passage, and the term 'hippopodes,' here used for the first and only time in the ancient veterinary writers, obviously refers to the sandal or solea worn by horses or mules on rare occasions, and to the way in which it was maintained on the extremities by the corrigia, or rather the fasciola, mentioned by Vegetius. That this was really the case, a very fine terra-cotta or baked clay (the kind named 'typi' by Pliny), now in the British Museum (2nd vase Room, and marked T 337), has been brought forward by Bracy Clark as a proof (fig. 3). The example is cer

tainly, so far as I can ascertain, unique; but taken in connection with what the ancient authors have said in regard to this matter, it would appear to afford conclusive evidence. The age of the tablet is, unfortunately, unknown; but it belongs to a number which were found about the year 1765, in a dry well, near the Porta Latina,

at Rome; and which were sometime afterwards added to Mr Townley's collection. The bas-relief exhibits a chariot-race, having something of the Greek character in design. The charioteer, wearing a helmet and what Suetonius calls the 'quadrigarian' dress,' stands in a twowheeled curriculus or car, drawn by four horses, which are galloping towards the meta or pillars, round which the competitors were obliged to turn in these contests of the circus. The upper part of his body appears to be swathed in his robe, and the reins, four in number, two in the left and two in the right hand, according to the fashion of the times, encircle his waist."

The bits are the simple snaffle, and not the curb, which we know the Romans introduced; and Combe,3 who has made these terra-cottas his particular study, says the instructions of Nestor, that in turning round the goal, the right-hand horse should be urged on with a loose rein, are exactly followed in this instance. The reverse, however, appears to be the case. At the base of the meta, there may have happened an accident; but this part is rather disfigured; while turning the goal the back of a horseman is seen, with what seems to be reins round his body, and who may only be keeping the course clear. On

I

1 Suetonius, Vita Calig. cap. 19. 'Per hunc pontem ultro citroque commeavit, biduo continenti. Primo dei phalerato equo-Postridie quadrigario habitu, curriculoque bijugi famosorum equorum, præ se ferens Darium puerum ex Parthorum obsidibus; comitante prætorianorum agmine, et in essedis cohorte amicorum.'

Lampridius (Vit. Commodi, cap. 2) has also ‘Auriga habitu currus

rexit.'

2

Statius, Theb., lib. vi. 104.

3 Description of the Ancient Terra-cottas in the British Museum. Iliad, 335-341.

ANCIENT TERRA-COTTAS.

77

the upper part of the tablet, which is in size one foot four inches by one foot, is an inscription, ANNIAE ARESCUSA, who may have been the winner of the race, or the artist of the terra-cotta. Most important of all, however, for our present purpose, is the representation of what look like bandages on the fore limbs of all the horses a little rubbed on the nearest, but certainly most distinct on the middle and left-hand horses. There is nothing of the kind on the hind limbs, and this may easily be accounted for. Admitting that these are the bands of the hippopodes, it is well known to all horsemen that the fore feet are more liable to suffer from attrition, when unshod, than the hind ones, simply because they have to support more weight and strain. In India, for instance, cavalry and other horses are frequently only shod on the fore feet, as they require this defence; while the hinder ones can be submitted to a great deal of wear without suffering at all to the same degree.

The fasciola cover the limb apparently from the knee downwards, and though nothing of the sandal itself can be distinguished, yet it is to be observed that the hoofs of the fore extremities are much larger, and altogether look clumsier than those behind, which have no bandages above them; a circumstance that leads to the inference that the hippopodes enveloped the hoofs as closely as they could be made to do.

In the same collection of terra-cottas are some very fine bas-reliefs in which horses are admirably represented, but none have their limbs swathed liked these, which had probably been subjected to an extra amount of racing, being noted horses, and had consequently become foot-sore.

It is very probable that an ancient seal, reported by Bracy Clark and others to be in the British Museum, but which I have been unable to trace, is also intended to convey the idea of the hippopodes being used for cavalry. From the attitude of a warrior, who kneels down in front of a horse, and with his right hand seizes its right leg, while another soldier is aiding him by holding up the left one as high as the elbow, it has been conjectured that this boot is being attached to the animal's foot.

The Abbé Winckelmann has described this paste, and also made some interesting remarks on shoeing; so, in consequence of my inability to discover its whereabouts in the Museum, if it ever was there, I reproduce what he says: Pâte Antiq. Un homme avec un bonnet, qui tient levé avec force le pied droit d'un cheval, tandis qu'un soldat armé qui est à genoux devant le cheval, paroit lui lier des bandages au dessus du sabot. Il seroit, sans doute, hardi d'avancer, que ce soldat soit là pour mettre des fers à son cheval. Il ne veux pas repeter ici, que les mulets des Anciens étoient ferrés, et je sais bien qu'on ne trouve des chevaux ferrés sur aucune ancien monument. Je soutiens de plus que le pied ferré d'un cheval qui est sur un basrelief du Palais Mattei à Rome, représentant une chasse de l'Empereur Galien, où Fabretti a cru trouver l'époque des chevaux ferrés, je soutiens, dis-je, que cette jambe est une restauration moderne. Je ne disconviens pas pourtant qu'on ne sache que les Anciens, et en particulier les peuples de l'Asie, firent des fers à leurs chevaux, comme on voit dans ce qui dit Appian dans l'Histoire de la guerre de Mithridate. Scaliger se fondant sur la parole solea, le fer de mulets dans Catulle, et sur celle imionov, le fer des