[1428] This has been supposed to have been the real origin of the Trojan horse, on which Virgil has built one of his most interesting episodes; the horse, as described by Virgil, was, however, in every respect, different from the battering ram.—B.
[1429] In consequence of some false charges brought against him, Bellerophon was sent to combat with a monster called the Chimæra, in the expectation that he would perish in the attempt; but Minerva, pitying his situation, provided him with a winged horse, named Pegasus, by means of which he accomplished his perilous task in safety.—B.
[1430] Pelethronius is said to have been a king of the Lapithæ, a people of Thessaly, who were celebrated for their skill in the management of the horse.—B.
[1431] According to Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. iii. c. 23, Minerva was the first who used a chariot with four horses. Hardouin supposes that the Erichthonius here mentioned was not the king of Athens, but the son of Dardanus, the king of Troas; he does not state the ground of his opinion, and Ælian, Hist. Var. B. iii. c. 38, expressly speaks of him as an Athenian. Virgil, Geor. B. iii. ll. 113, 114, speaks of Erichthonius as the inventor of the chariot with four horses; he is supposed to have lived about 1450 B.C. As Hardouin justly remarks, we have an account, in the writings of Moses, of chariots being used by the Egyptians long before this period. It is not, however, stated what was the number of horses used for these chariots.—B.
[1432] “Tesseræ,” in the original, which is also the name of the dice used in various games. But the connection in which the word is here placed makes it more probable that it refers to some military operation; Virgil employs it in this sense, Æneid, B. vii. l. 637, as also Livy, B. vii. c. 35. There is, however, a tradition that Palamedes invented the games in which dice are used, during the siege of Troy.—B.
[1433] The words are “auguria ex avibus,” while the art which is said to have been taught by Tiresias, is termed “extispicio avium.” The first of these consists in foretelling future events, by observing the flight, the chirping, or the feeding of birds, the latter by the inspection of their entrails. But it appears that this distinction is not always observed; see Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 47. The observation of the auguries was committed to a body or college of priests, regarded as of the highest authority in the Roman state. The “Haruspices,” whose office it was to inspect the entrails of sacrificed animals, and from their appearance to foretell future events, were considered as an inferior order.—B.
[1434] Amphiaraüs was reputed to be the son of Apollo, and was famous for his knowledge of futurity; he was one of the Argonauts, and joined in the expedition of the Epigoni against Thebes, in which he perished. Divine honours were paid to him after his death, and a temple erected to his memory, which was resorted to as an oracle.—B.
[1435] Amphictyon established the celebrated council named after him, and which consisted of delegates from the principal cities of Greece, who assembled at stated periods to decide upon all public questions. He is supposed to have lived about 1500 B.C.—B.
[1436] It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to separate the actual history of Atlas from the mythological and fabulous tales mixed up with it. We may, however, conclude that he was a king of Libya, or of some part of the north of Africa; that he was an observer of the heavenly bodies, and one of the first who gave any connected account of them. Under the term “astrology,” Pliny probably intended to comprehend both the supposed science, now designated by that name, and likewise astronomy, or the physical laws of the heavenly bodies.—B.
[1437] Pliny has previously stated, B. ii. c. 6, that the sphere was invented by Atlas, and that Anaximander discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic, by which he is said “to have opened the doors of knowledge.”—B.