Montfaucon[1334] has given a figure of the pillar of Theodosius the Great, on which he thinks he can distinguish a saddle; and indeed, if the engraving be correct, it must be allowed that the covering of the horse on which the rider sits seems, in the fore part, to resemble the pommel, and behind the extremity of the saddle-tree of our common saddles.
The clearest proof of the antiquity of saddles is the order of the emperor Theodosius in the year 385, by which those who wished to ride post-horses were forbidden to use saddles that weighed more than sixty pounds. If a saddle was heavier, it was to be cut to pieces[1335]. This passage appears certainly to allude to a proper saddle, which at that period, soon after its invention, must have been extremely heavy; and we may conclude from it also, that every traveller had one of his own. As the saddle is here called sella, and as that word occurs oftener at this than at any other period, for the seat of the rider, it is probable that it is to be understood afterwards as signifying a real saddle. Besides, it cannot be denied that where it is used, many other little circumstances are found which may with great propriety be applied to our saddles.
Nazarius, in his panegyric on Constantine the Great, describing the manner in which the enemy’s cavalry were destroyed, says that, when almost lifeless, they hung sedilibus. Lipsius is of opinion that they could have hung in this manner only by saddles; but there is reason to think that they might lay hold of the coverings of the horses, if it be certain that these were girded to the animals like our saddles. Of this, however, there is no proof; for though some have asserted that postilena signified a girth, that meaning has not been supported by sufficient authorities; and it is more probable that the words postilena, antilena, and also postella and antella, as well as the girth itself, which they are supposed to express, were not introduced till after the invention of saddles. The first word occurs in Plautus[1336]; but it perhaps alludes to some part of the harness of draught-horses or cattle. Vegetius[1337] distinguishes saddle-horses from others; and the saddle-tree seems to be mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris[1338]. In the fifth century saddles were made so extravagantly magnificent, that a prohibition was issued by the emperor Leo I. in which it was ordered that no one should ornament them with pearls or precious stones[1339]. In the sixth century, the emperor Mauritius required that the saddles of the cavalry should have large coverings of fur[1340]. Further information respecting saddles in later times may be seen in Du Cange, who has collected also various terms of art to which the invention of saddles gave rise, such as sellatores, saddlers, of which the French have made selliers; sellare, the saddle-tree; sellare and insellare, to saddle. The ignominious punishment of bearing the saddle, of which a good account may be found in Du Cange[1341], had its origin in the middle ages. The conjecture of Goropius Becanus[1342], that the saddle was invented by the Salii, and named after them, is not worth refutation; as it is perfectly clear that the denomination of sella arose from the likeness of a saddle to a chair; and by way of distinction Sidonius and the emperor Leo say sella equestris; and Jornandes says sella equitatoria. Others, perhaps, will pass no better judgement on a conjecture which I shall here venture to give. I consider it as probable that the invention of saddles belongs to the Persians; because, according to the testimony of Xenophon, they first began to render the seat of the rider more convenient and easy, by placing more covering on the backs of their horses than was usual in other countries. Besides, the horses of Persia were first made choice of in preference for saddle-horses, on account, perhaps, of their being early trained to bear a saddle, though Vegetius[1343] assigns a different reason.
FOOTNOTES
[1321] J. Lipsii Poliorcet. seu de Militia Romana, lib. iii. dial. 7.
[1322] Lib. vii. cap. 56. Hyginns, fab. 274.
[1323] Coverings for horses made of the costly skins of animals are mentioned by Silius Italicus, lib. iv. 270, and lib. v. 148. Also by Statius. See Thebaid. lib. iv. 272. Costly coverings of another kind occur in Virgil, Æneid. lib. vii. 279; viii. 552; and Ovid. Metam. lib. vii. 33. Livy, lib. xxxi. cap. 7, comparing the luxury of the men and the women, says, “Equus tuus speciosius instructus erit, quam uxor vestita.”
[1324] Antiquité Expliquée, tom. ii. lib. 3. tab. 27, 28, 29, 30.
[1325] Seneca, Epist. 80: “Equum empturus, solvi jubes stratum.” Macrob. Saturnal. i. 11: “Stultus est, qui, empturus equum, non ipsum inspicit, sed stratum ejus et frenum.” Apuleius calls these coverings for horses fucata ephippia. They were called also στράματα.
[1326] Pæd. lib. viii.