The high estimation in which horses[1133] were held in remote antiquity, may be gathered from the numerous fables invented respecting them,—as that of the centaurs in Thessaly, of the winged courser of Bellerophontes, and the Muses, and of the marvellous steeds presented by Poseidon to Peleus on his marriage with Thetis. They were reckoned, likewise, among the most precious victims offered in sacrifice to the gods. Thus we find the Trojans plunging live horses into the whirlpool of the Scamander[1134] to deprecate the anger of that divinity. The Romans, likewise, in later times, sacrificed horses to the ocean;[1135] and, in many parts of Asia, it appears to have been customary in nearly all ages, to offer up, as anciently in Laconia,[1136] this magnificent animal on the altars of the sun.[1137] Thus, among the Armenians, whose breed, though smaller than that of the Persians, was far more spirited, this practice prevailed as it still does in Northern India, and Xenophon,[1138] a religious man, observes in the Anabasis, that he gave his steed, worn down with the fatigues of the march, to be fed and offered up by the Komarch, with whom he had been for some days a guest. From Homer’s account of Pandarus we may infer, that the possessors of fine horses often submitted to great personal inconvenience rather than hazard the well-being of their favourites. For this wealthy prince,[1139] who possessed eleven carriages and twenty-two steeds, came on foot to the assistance of Priam, lest they should not find a plentiful supply of provender at Troy. ----- Footnote 1133: See also Iliad, ε. 358. Wolf. Proleg. 80, seq. Footnote 1134: Iliad φ. 132. Footnote 1135: Fest. v. October, t. ii. p. 521, seq. v. Panibus, p. 555. Lomeier, de Lustrat. cap. 23. p. 292, seq. Propert. iv. i. 20, with the note of Frid. Jacob, in whose edition it is, v. i. 20. Footnote 1136: Pausan. iii. 20. 4. Fest. v. October, t. ii. p. 520, tells us that this horse was sacrificed to the winds. Footnote 1137: Herod. i. 216. Brisson. de Regn. Pers. ii. 5. The reason why the horse was selected as a victim to the sun, was that its swiftness appeared to resemble that of the god:—ὡς τακύτατον τῷ τακύτατω. Bochart. Hierozoic. pt. i. l. ii. c. 10. Olear. in Philost. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. i. 31. p. 29. Justin. i. 10. Suid. v. μίθρου. t. ii. p. 162, f. This practice is likewise mentioned by Ovid, (Fast. i. 385, seq.) Placat equo Persis radiis Hyperiona cinctum, Ne detur celeri victima tarda deo. Cf. Vigenere, Images des Philostrates, p. 773. Par. 1627. Footnote 1138: Anab. iv. 5. 35. Footnote 1139: Iliad. ε. 192, seq. -----