92 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

for a hundred chariots, after his victory over Hadadezer,
king of Syria (2 Sam. viii.) ; and Solomon multiplied horses,
till he had ‘one thousand and four hundred chariots and
twelve thousand horsemen,’ 1 Kings x.

“The ancient Persians, who were worshippers of the sun,
dedicated to their deity white horses and chariots, which were
used in the sacred processions, and other nations probably
borrowed the practice from that nation. Whether so or
not, we find the same idea of associating a chariot and horses
with the sun, to denote the rapidity of his apparent progress,
common in the poetry and sculpture of classical antiquity.
The sun was supposed to be drawn daily in a chariot by
four wondrous coursers, through the firmament; and we all
recollect the fate of the ambitious Phaéton, who aspired to
guide the swift chariot and control the strong coursers of
the sun. The names of these coursers are preserved,
Kous, Pyrois, Aithon, and Phiegon, which are supposed to
refer to the four divisions of the day*.” The consequences
of Phaéton’s ambition were, that he had no sooner taken the
reins, than the celestial horses turned out of the right path,
and set everything on fire. The Ethiopians were blackened,
it is said, by the near approach of the luminary, and the

* Pictorial Bible.