CHAPTER III.
Overthrow of the Roman Empire by the Barbarians. The 'dark ages.' The Emperor Leo, and his 'tactica.' Ferrea Lunatica. the emperor constantine and 'selenaia.' archæology. ancient customs of europe. chifflet's description of king childeric's tomb. Douglas and the abbé cochet. discovery of antique horse-shoes. burial with horses. the ancient Germans and other races; their superstitions. The gauls and britons. rarity of horse-shoes in graves. The celts shod their horses; their history. the gauls as a nation: Warriors and agriculturists. the druids. gallic names. an equestrian nation. horses, waggons, and roads. Alesia and its tombs. Primitive farriery. the druid's workshop and alter. the pontiff blacksmith. the gaulish cavalry. defeat of vercingetorix. napolean III. and his 'Vie de cæsar.' besançon and its relics. small-sized horse-shoes. Gallo-roman shoes; their peculiarities. specimens found with roman remains. vaison and its testimony. crecy. suppression of druidism in gaul. invasion of the franks, and effeminacy of the gaulish nobles. the franks not an equestrian people. levies of cows instead of horses. absence of horse-shoes from merovingian graves. the carlovingian dynasty. advantages of cavalry. charlemagne and revival of equestrianism. traditions. shoeing in france in the ninth and subsequent centuries. the comte de l'etable, and ecuyer. origin of chivalry and its constitution. duties of the knights. the mareschal.
We have now reached a comparatively modern date in the history of the domestication of the horse, without
