96 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

antidote of grief to every one that beholds him; and he is
a strong tower to every one that mounts him*.’”

The ancients did not shoe their horses by nailing iron
plates to the hoofs; they had shoes of leather, gold, or silver,
but enclosing the whole hoof, being tied or bound on, and
probably only used on particular occasions. “Hence the
hardness of the hoof was a very important consideration,
and Xenophon lays much stress on this point, observing,
that the good hoof is hard, hollow, and when struck on the
ground sounds like a cymbal. The necessity for such hard
hoofs in war-horses did not escape Homer, who continually
applies to them the epithet ‘brazen-hoofed t.’ ”

White horses were formerly used in celebrating a triumph
in token of victory. It was also considered a happy omen
to see one, either in reality or in a dream. This is alluded
to in the book of Revelation, ch. vi., “And I saw, and
behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth con-
quering and to conquer.”

In Zechariah, ch. xiv., is an allusion to horses’ bells: “In
that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Hox-
NESS UNTO THE Lozp.” The inscription is of course a figu-

* Pictorial Bible. + Ibid.