A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume I (of 2)

1387

Catullus, viii. 23. By which passage it appears that the shoe was of iron, iron wire, or plate-iron.

1388

Sueton. Vita. Vespasian seems to have suspected that his driver had been bribed to stop by the way, and that he had done so on pretence of shoeing his horses. Had the mules been shod, and had the driver only had to rectify something that related to the shoe, as our coachmen have when a nail is lost, or any other little accident has happened, Suetonius would not have said mulas, but mulam. The driver therefore stopped for the first time on the journey to put on the shoes of his cattle, as has been remarked by Gesner.

1389

Artemidori Oneirocritica. Lutetiæ, 1603, 4to, lib. iv. cap. 32.

1390

Déscription des Pierres Gravées du Baron de Stosch, 1760, p. 169.

1391

Appian. De Bello Mithridat. edit. Tollii, p. 371.

1392

Diodor. Sicul. lib. xvii. 94, edit. Wesselingii, p. 233. Vegetius, i. 56, 28, mentions a salve, “quo ungulæ nutriantur, et medicaminis beneficio subcrescat quod itineris attriverat injuria.”

1393

Joh. Cinnamus De Rebus Gestis Imperat. edit. Tollii, 1652, 4to, lib. iv. p. 194. Vegetius, ii. 58, recommends rest for horses after a long journey, on account of their hoofs.

1394

No traces of them are to be found in the figures given by Chardin, and by Niebuhr in the second volume of his Travels. The latter mentions this circumstance in particular, and says, p. 157, “It appears that the ancient Persians had no stirrups and no proper saddle.”

1395

De Columna Trajani, c. 7.

1396

Pierres Gravées de Stosch, p. 169.

1397

Navigium seu Vota. “Nunquam equum ullum ascendi ante hunc diem. Proinde metuo, tubicine classicum intonante, decidens ego in tumultu a tot ungulis conculcer, aut etiam equus ferocior existens, arrepto freno in medios hostes efferat me, aut denique oporteat me alligari ephippio, si manere super illud debeam, frenumque tenere.” – Had stirrups been then in use, he would have been exposed also to the danger of being dragged along by the heels. When I extracted the above passage, I had no edition of Lucian at hand, but that of Basle, 1563, 12mo. It may be found there, vol. ii. p. 840.

1398

The prophet Isaiah, chap. v. ver. 28, to make the enemy appear more terrible, says, “The hoofs of their horses shall be counted like flint;” and Jeremiah, chap. xlvii. v. 3, speaks of the noise made by the horses stamping with their hoofs. See Bochart. Hierozoic. i. p. 160.

1399

De Re Equestri, cap. iv. p. m. 599.

1400

Lib. i. cap. 56, 28, 30; also lib. ii. cap. 57, 58.

1401

J. Ludolphi Hist. Æthiop. i. cap. 10, and his Commentarium, p. 146. – Thevenot, vol. ii. p. 113. – Voyage de Le Blanc, part ii. p. 75, 81. – Lettres Edifiantes, vol. iv. p. 143. – Tavernier, vol. i. c. 5. – Hist. Gen. des Voyages, vol. iii. p. 182. – Kæmpfer, Histoire du Japan, Amst. 1732, 3 vols. 12mo, ii. p. 297. The passage of the last author, where he mentions the articles necessary for a journey in Japan, is worthy of notice: “Shoes for the servants and for the horses. Those of the latter are made of straw, and are fastened with ropes of the same to the feet of the horses, instead of iron shoes, such as ours in Europe, which are not used in this country. As the roads are slippery and full of stones, these shoes are soon worn out, so that it is often necessary to change them. For this purpose those who have the care of the horses always carry with them a sufficient quantity, which they affix to the portmanteaus. They may however be found in all the villages, and poor children who beg on the road even offer them for sale, so that it may be said there are more farriers in this country than in any other; though, to speak properly, there are none at all.”

Almost the same account is given by Dr. Thunberg, a later traveller in Japan. “Small shoes or socks of straw,” says he, “are used for horses instead of iron shoes. They are fastened round the ankle with straw ropes, hinder stones from injuring the feet, and prevent the animal from stumbling. These shoes are not strong; but they cost little, and can be found every where throughout the country.” Shoes of the same kind, the author informs us, are worn by the inhabitants. – Trans.

1402

De Re Equestri, p. 599.

1403

Hipparch, p. m. 611.

1404

Virg. Æneid. lib. iv. 135. lib. xi. 600, 638.

1405

Virg. Æneid. lib. vi. 803. Ovid. Heroid. ep. xii. 93, and Metamorph. lib. vii. 105. Apollonius, lib. iii. 228.

1406

Iliad. lib. v. 785. Stentor is there called χαλκεόφωνος. Iliad. lib. xviii. 222, Achilles is said to have had a brazen voice. Virg. Georg. lib. ii. 44: ferrea vox.

1407

Tryphiod. by Merrick, Ox. 1739, v. 86, p. 14.

1408

The first figure may be found in Anastasis Childerici, Francorum regis, sive Thesaurus sepulchralis Tornaci Nerviorum effossus; auctore J. J. Chifletio. Antverpiæ, 1655, 4to, p. 224. Montfaucon, in Monarchie Françoise, i. p. 16, has given also an engraving of it. Childeric died in the year 481. In 1653 his grave was discovered at Tournay, and a gold ring with the royal image and name found in it afforded the strongest proof that it was really the burying-place of that monarch. In the year 1665, these antiquities were removed to the king’s library at Paris.

1409

The whole account may be found at the end of the Annals, in the Paris edition by Fabrotti, 1647, fol. p. 414.

1410

The words ὑποδήματα and soleæ.

1411