What is remarkable is the fact that, of all animals known to have existed in the different countries and in the different regions of those countries to which reference has been made, the horse stands alone as man's direct assistant, one might say ally; and, in addition, the horse is the one animal with a history traceable through the early centuries, owing to the almost unbroken line of references made to it in the story of the human race and progress towards civilisation.
How far advanced the world would have been at the time of the Conqueror's landing, how far advanced it would be to-day, had the horse not played so prominent a part in its development, none can say. There can be no doubt, however, but that the human race would have advanced far more slowly had the employment of horses been withheld.
Of mythical horses that have “existed,” the name is legion. To deal at length with these strange creatures would need a volume half as large as this is. I have mentioned that few save scholars to-day take interest in mythology, so I shall refer only to some half-a-dozen of the many horses of fable and of mythology whose names are household words.
Pegasus, the winged horse of Apollo and the Muses, is perhaps the best known by repute. The name of course is Greek, and means, more or less, “one born near the ocean,” and according to the famous fable Perseus rode Pegasus when rescuing Andromeda.
Frequently in history we find a ship alluded to as “Perseus' flying horse.” Thus in the story of the destruction of Troy, “Perseus conquered the head of Medusa, and did make Pegase, the most swift ship, which he always calls Perseus' flying horse,” while Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida speaks of “The strong-ribbed bark through liquid mountains cut ... like Perseus' horse.”
How Perseus beheaded Medusa, chief of the Gorgons, and how everyone who afterwards looked at the head with its hair turned into snakes by the jealous goddess Minerva was then and there transformed into stone is too well known to need repetition at length here.
Selene, the moon goddess, usually represented in a chariot drawn by fiery white horses—to some extent this is inconsistent, seeing that from time almost immemorial white horses have notoriously been the least fiery of any—must be mentioned, for the famous cast or model of Selene's horse shown in the British Museum indicates clearly the stamp of animal that was most highly prized about that period. According to Greek mythology, Selene was in love with the setting sun, Endymion, and bore him fifty daughters in addition to those she bore the god Zeus.
Achilles' remarkable steed, Xanthos, was, we are told, “human to all intents.” When “severely spoken to” by its master because on the battlefield it had deserted Patroclos, the horse first “looked about him sadly,” and then, according to the “Iliad,” it told Achilles with a reproachful expression in its eyes that he too would soon be dead, for that this was “the inexorable decree of destiny”—a prophecy that came true.
Achilles owned also the wonderful horse, Balios, which first of all Neptune had given to Peleus. The sire of Balios, like the sire of Xanthos, was the West Wind, its dam the harpy, Swift Foot.
According to Virgil the famous horse of Greek mythology, Cyllaros, belonged to Pollux, and was named after Cylla, in Troas. Ovid, however affirms that it belonged to Castor, for in his “Metamorphose” he says, when speaking of Cyllaros, that “He, O Castor, was a courser worthy thee ... coal-black his colour, but like jet it shone: His legs and flowing tail were white alone.” Then, Adrastos was saved at the siege of Thebes by a horse famous for its speed and given to him by Hercules. Its name was Arion, and Neptune was said to have caused it to rise out of the earth, using his trident as a magic wand. The name is Greek for “martial,” hence the signification, “war horse,” given to it in this instance. We read that “its right feet were those of a human creature,” “it spoke with a human voice,” and “ran with incredible swiftness.”