[1315] Herodot. lib. i. cap. 193.
[1316] Beschreibung der Reyss Leonhardi Rauwolfen. Frankf. 1582, 4to, ii. p. 68. The author observes that this kind of millet is mentioned also by Rhases and Serapion.
[1317] Philostrat. Vita Apollon. lib. iii. cap. 2.
[1318] Melica cioe saggina e conosciuta, et e di due manere, una rossa et una bianca, e trovasene una terza manera che a più bianca che l’miglio. Crescentio D’Agricoltura. In Venetia, 1542, 8vo, lib. iii. cap. 17. It appears therefore that in our dictionaries saggina ought not to be explained by Turkish wheat alone.
[1319] Andrea, Briefe aus der Schweitz. Zurich, 1776, 4to, p. 182.
[1320] Adanson, Voyage au Senegal.
SADDLES.
In early ages the rider sat on the bare back of his horse without anything under him[1321]; but, in the course of time, some kind of covering, which consisted often of cloth, a mattress, a piece of leather or hide, was placed over the back of the animal. We are informed by Pliny[1322], that one Pelethronius first introduced this practice; but who that person was is not certainly known. Such coverings became afterwards more costly[1323]; they were made frequently in such a manner as to hang down on both sides of the horse, as may be seen by the beautiful engravings in Montfaucon[1324], and were distinguished among the Greeks and Romans by various names[1325]; but even after they were common, it was reckoned more manly to ride without them. Varro boasts of having rode, when a young man, without a covering to his horse; and Xenophon[1326] reproaches the Persians because they placed more clothes on the backs of their horses than on their beds, and gave themselves more trouble to sit easily than to ride skilfully. On this account such coverings were for a long time not used in war; and the old Germans, who considered them as disgraceful, despised the Roman cavalry who employed them[1327]. The information, therefore, of Dion Cassius[1328], according to whom such coverings were first allowed to the Roman cavalry by Nero, is very doubtful. This author, perhaps, alludes only to reviews, at which, it is probable, the cavalry were before obliged always to appear without them. In the time of Alexander Severus, the horses of the whole Roman cavalry had beautiful coverings[1329]. Saddles, however, at that period were certainly unknown, though they afterwards obtained the old name ephippium, which originally signified nothing more than a covering for a horse. Xenophon says, a rider, whether placed on the bare back of the animal or on a covering, must not assume a position as if he sat upon one of those seats which people use in carriages[1330].
Our saddles at present consist of a wooden frame called the saddle-tree, which has on the fore part the pommel; behind it the crupper; and at the sides the stirrups. In the inside they are stuffed like a cushion, and on the outside are covered with leather or cloth. They are made fast to the horse by means of a girth which goes round the animal’s belly; and the breast-leather and crupper prevent them from being moved either forwards or backwards. It is extremely probable that they were invented in the middle of the fourth century: but it is hardly possible to find any certain proof; for we have reason to believe that the ancient covering was gradually transformed into a saddle. Pancirollus[1331] thinks that the first mention of a saddle is to be found in Zonaras; and many have adopted his opinion. This historian relates that Constantine the younger was killed in the year 340 when he fell from his saddle. But in this proof alone I place very little confidence; and Pancirollus seems to have founded his assertion on the Latin translation, in which the word sella is used. Both the Greek and Latin terms[1332], it is true, were employed at later periods to signify a proper saddle; but the Greek word was used long before for the back of the horse, or the place where the rider sat; and the words of Zonaras may be so understood as if Constantine was killed after he had fallen from his horse[1333].