Note 254 — Chapter XII · THE HEFT-KHĀN, OR SEVEN LABORS OF RUSTEM.

It was evidently the custom, even among the Greeks also, to harangue their horses, for Homer repeatedly puts these speeches into the mouths of his heroes. Hector addresses his horses in the Eighth Book:

“Be fleet, be fearless, this important day.

And all your master’s well-spent care repay.

Now swift pursue, now thunder uncontroll’d,

Give me to seize rich Nestor’s shield of gold.”

And in the Nineteenth Book, Achilles reproaches his horses with the death of Patrocles, when

“The generous Xanthus as the words he said

Seemed sensible of woe and drooped his head;

Trembling he stood before the golden wain,

And bowed to dust the honors of his mane,”

before he makes a spirited reply foretelling his master’s death.