The Sumter banner. (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, August 22, 1849, Image 2
VOLUME Iig. SUDIZ ERVILLEi, S(jC. AlJGUST22W)I84J.
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-----urets.
Robert Stimson, Esq,
SHOWING HOW DOL CAUIIT A 11.:RMAID.
DY JUI.rCs.
Bob was a Gothanite, the third son
and the ninth child,-joint production
of a staunch old 'Knickerbocker' and
a West Indian Creole,-rather a sin
gular union, but decidedly a prolific
one. Stinson, senior, 'Jeingin what pa
ragraphists term 'easy circuistances,'
remarkable fecundity of Mrs. S. was the
not bemoaned as a misfortune.
Bob had six sisters, short and fat,
good natured and loquacious. 'Lan
guage' was large throughout the f:nnii
ly ; fully up to a phrenological '7,' tak
ing that figure as the maximum of the
ratio of comparisom. 'Mirth' and
'Tune,' especially, the latter, were also
very generally and powerfully devel: p
ed on the dark haired crauiumns of the
junior Stimsons. They were all sing
ers,-any of the neighbors would have
given you tiat piece of itnformiationi
without the slightest hesitation,-a reg
ular family choir ; any little imperfee
tions in whose performance were eer
tainly not attributable to iiusitation.
They were emphatically a musical finn
ily,-lineal descendants frou the snit
, tCaliop.'practically lfmnhiar with
le use of every known musical insten
ment from a 'jews.harp' to a 'bassoon'
or orchestral 'serpent,'-heginning. (as
Bob said,) early, and 'taking to it' na
turally. This was not rL/ surprising,
although the pertinacity ail utter dii
regard of time and place evinced in the
indulgence of the family propensity,
certainly was remarkable, -so much so
that there was ordinarily an imunense
amount of 'moving' going on in Stint
son's vicinity every May-day. It was
a chief misfortune of theirs aed a stanid
ing subject for remark with them, that
they were forever surrounded by cun
musical people, creatures who had 'io
taste for music,' who had even gone So
far as to remonstrate againat what one.
brute' had denominated as their 'inlernt
al huatballoo.'
They were familiarly known in thme
neighborhood as the 'noisy nine!' a sim
iltude doubtless intended to be appliied
to the unfortunate daughters oft 'Pier
os,' (who failed in their contest with
the Muses and were crully tiranisformu
ed into Magpies tberef'or,) rathler thant
the legitimate 'iNine' of' classical inotoi
riety. This, however, they bore with
exemplary equanimity. T1ruly, as Bob
said, 't was of no use gethting angry at
a man who was so musically obtuse ais
to call a scientific exe-cution of the
'Battle of Prague' on six dilferenit in
struments, 'a thundering nuisanee,' as
did one neighbor, upon a certain occa
sion, who had hallooed hitmself hoarse
from an opposite window in demantlding:
an immediate cessation of' what he wais
pleased to term the 'cursed uproar,'
supon pain of a comfplaint to the 'mayor'
,on the following morning.
But our business is with Bob, not
with his sisters or their' accomplisht
mcents. In addition to the mica~iil fat
culty of the inherent power of' which
ho would state,--in illustration,-that,
when but three years hld ho couhl, up
on a commnon comb, covered with thin
paper', produce sotund1s so closely resem
,bling those of' a violin and perlhorm ce
tain tunes with such powver and accur-a
cyas to induce an old blind genitleiani
in an opposite dwelling inconitiniently to
throw out pennlies from his chaber
window in thle belief that it was the
performance of some str'eet minstrel,
'with a view to alms, Tfhiis, Bob would
tell 'upon honor,'-whetlher true or not,
-there could be no doubt but that he
believed it to be so then, having told it
often enough to give to it the most im
uhicit credence by the time he arrived
at man's estate. In addition, as I be
fore stated, to this harmonious weak
ness, Rob's distinguishing characterism,
his principal ' wanity,' was 'fishing,'
To hun all other active amitsiments
were as naught, or ut mury rate, subor
dinate to this. llob was a fisherman
he had a genius for the thing, which de
veloped itself in all his actions in that
i rard. lie considered the somewhat
precarious dominion we exercise over
the 'monsters of the briny deep,' as the
gi eatest and most important of the gifts
of the Creator to his creature. Ie
loved fishing ! was of a Iiscivorous hab
it, and loved to eat 'em when caught:
preferriig 'fish' to either 'flesh or
owi.' Ile was predestined to an cx
ceeding close aflinity with the scaly
tribe, being clerk in a /ish store ; was
marked naturally with the figure of a
fish under the left arm-either a whale
or a miakerel, Bob didn't know which
--had a'fishy' look with him, a white
looking eye, a sharply defined, attenu
ated, and exceedingily straight and
poilted uose- closely resemnliing that of
a pike,--in strange contrast with the
usual organs of the Misses Stimso,,
all of which were decidedly and ambi
ti lI y 'si n,uh,.'--a pouting, oval
shaped Incmth, with little or no chin
thereunto attached,--in fiet, presented
inite a 'shad-y' appearance. From
very broad shoulders hung down two
armns-reachitg but a trifle lower than
the place where the h1; s ougtil to be
which in walking were 'rot syin
to and fro after the manner of ordinary
mortals, hit dashed out laterally; in a
sj asmodtlical sort of fashion, very much
like a man swimining. This, in addi
ton to a slightly wriggling style of
pedestumullsin, forming a 'tout ensem
ble' decidedly piscatorial. As before
stated. Bob was a fisherman. The
twelfth Zodiacal sign was his natal con
stellation. Ile was born under 'Piscis
\ajor' and hal entirelv ablandoned him
self to its influences. ~Bob religiously
devoted all holidays to his favorite pur
suit. lie was deeply learned in the
nam1es, nature, habits aniid haunts of the
entire finniy tribe,---hliad all the marks
:nl graomi s known to o(l1 sportsinen
Sl>r thirty miles rou nd, and conmsidlerel
it gl ritus sport to start at daylight uith
two dolhars wohrth of 'suft crab' ani
'shrimp' for bait, r.w eight or nine
uiles a;mut a stron tide, sit all dav
ml the hut stil :l row lack at night
winhl a buich ofi fish which inight justly
hbe c'onsileredl dear at a quarter of a
dollar! This was what oloh consider
ed real, substatitial ii'uen mit. -no,:e
of your 'wishy-washv, :iunl.mv-pambhmv
ismi' f(or himl). lie esehewe d all dane
iln:1, theat rica!s, piC ns, kissing p.rties
:it the like, as weak, mawkish, awl
beniath the dignlity of mal! consider
ing his favorite pastin.e the only real
sourmce of unalloyed amuseme nt of an
out door lif', with music fo tr domestic
recreat itn ; the two comibintied , h 1 ien
I.ossible--the very acme of h uman en
Rob had stored his utmid with a col
lectioni of -legends' ini relation to tihe
'gen tlec art,' connnmenini: with 'J onah's
W hale,' which lhe conisidlered as being
deciledly thle tiltst authentic of the on
rackes, though, as lie himself remarked.
t cert ainilyv was cuiriouis Ihow the whale,
harmng succeed in get tingr upon 'd ry
land1' fotr the purpcose (it voini itig uIp J5-*
niah, mainaged to get back to his native
elemen t, beinmg legless anid uinwiclv;'
but I oh's organs of 'imiarvellousiness'
was smuall , by no meian s corrcspon tmden t
with his musical developnmnt, not-with
stanitnmg the active exercise of his Ide
alitv, cauisetd himm to narrate conmt inmial
ly' 'l'ish Stories,' which strc ehed to
its uitmiost teniontm the largest ergan (of
'W~\oiuder' in potssesion o'f his hearers.
One of Ioh's lavorite stories was ini re
lation to the takinmg. in a seine, of a
huge sea lass if exactly the samte
length as hiimiself, to an in'ch, uponul that
portion of the shiores ofi Staten ishmitd
where now stamits the whiilomn 'Water
inig P lace,' New I rigtonm. lin this
adven t ure his life was periled repeuated
ly', being diraggedl by the scaly 'Icvia
thtan' several times t~eyond his deptthi,
aiid thigugh very fondl of 'ginig ini a
sw unung.' Boo coul not sw im.
This~ allaiir lob regarded as the 'ehief
d'ou vre' of his life; its result, as deci
deudly inmire irmortaint thani that (if the
I at tle of TIrcentoni, in w hiich his paterui
al granidfathier was said to hitve beeni a
particniant; the onily piece of historical
roewrl with which he wast an.,.,.. re.
familiar, With this and divers other
similar narratives of the capture of sui.
dry 'drums' or 'slelephead' of un1rjal
dimensions, would bob beguile the eas
ual companion of is sporting hours, as
seated in his skiff he would arrange his
tackel, of which article he had a large
mahogany box full, which he had doubt
less cost him from time to time, the
price of at least a grand piano. And
notwithstanding the doubtful looks of
an occasional sceptic, Bob was blessed
in the belief that his fish tales were
generally regarded as being, in the
mai, strictly true.
Having thus presented your readers
with a short preliminary account of
Bob's peculiarities, I shall proceed to
give them the details of that particular
occasion, (as Bob was wont to term it,)
on which he captured the 'Mermaid'
alluded to in our heading.
'T was in the latter portion of the
summer of '37, in the very height of
the 'real Estate' bubble, when every
rod of land, whether dry and arable,
or, as in many instances, entirely cov
ered with water, within fifty miles of
New York, was made the subject of
blind speculation; and single farms, or
dinaily va'ued at $5,000 or there
abouts, were sold to the speculative
gentry at prices varying from 30 to
$40,(J00, and immediately converted
into magnificent lithographic cities! (on
the mal,) with churches, theatres,
squares and larks, with an occasional
fountaim or two, located almost invari
bly in spots innocent of water from time
immemorial,--the whole expensively
and elaborately surveyed and laid out in
streets and avenues pompously desig
nated in imitation of the parent city, as
Broadway, Pearl street, Water street,
Bond street, Wall street, &c. &c., and
walled in by a lng line of heavy solid
stone wharves, sufficiently extensive for
the ample accommodation of the whole
United States' navy, giving (on paper,)
to the whole a singularly imposing ap
pearance, and frequendy inducing the
admiring beholder to forget the trifling
drawback, that within these magnificent
marine havens no vessel of more than a
hundred toues could ever, by any possi
bility, find entrance, from the simple,
overlooked fact, that the river channel
was too shallow to admit a larger.
When at every other steamboat
l:nding of the adjacent rivers and Kills
as they are termed, a gaudy, shinny
looking gilt sign, proclaiued to the pas
sLn-,er that the little ten foot square
huiluling to which it was attached was a
'Land Ollice,' of the tenant of which,
spie ndidl and eligible lots might be pur
ebased at prices varying, ins accordance
with their proximity to the apocryphal
squares, parks, and public buifdiigs
aforesaid, from one hundred to a thou
sand dlollars; and assurances were given
the puzzled inquirer, to whom it was
clearly and certainly demonstrated that
by such an investment of his surplus
tuind handsome profit must almost im
mediately accrue. A constant appeal
to the 'map,' and eloquent descriptions
of the intensity of the public anxiety
to obtain severally for themselves
a chance in this 'the most promising
opportunity for investment occurrini'
in modern times,' too often success
fully excited the cupidity of thre
unwary arnd caused themi to alfix
to certain documents their- signatures,
eventually depriving themselves of thre
rise and beinefit of hrundlreds and thou
sands of hard-earned dlollar-s.
'Twas during this exciting period
that Bobr, availing hiimself of Iris custo
mary snnrer ho~liday, wearied with thre
dust and dliin of city life and somewhrat
tiredl of thre (laly r-outinre of salt fish
tirnsactions, freigh ting his skiff with tire
inecessary- etjipuppge and impldements
fori thre exercise of hris destructiveness,
wenided Ihis way to that peaceful p'r
tion of thre shores of New Jersey which
is washed by the waters of tire 'Kill
Van Krull,' irrnrediately opposite to the
irnrern shore of Staten (01 as ire fa
ceriously termred it, Satan's) Island.
Thiis was a fhvornite spot with Bob, as in
addition to its being in tire vicirnityv of
certain celebrated 'drum' gronds, it
possessedl thre additional chrm of being
thre home of several rosy-checked Dateh
girls ini whose good graces Bob had,
dur-ig tire previous season, made con
sidor-aide advance. Hcre, then, Bob
Ipitched Iris tent, having issued, to one,
w hrom we shall cogniominate 'Ned,' air in
vrtatiomn to spendf in Iris amphibious socie
ty, a whole foirtnright, and to whom hre had
pirumpturously promiised any amorunt
of fun during that happy interval. Pais
sing over the sayings and doings wich
then and there generally transpiredl,
proceed we to narrate how Bob, n few
evenings ror to his return to city
duty, caught that 'Mermaid.' *
The two sportsmen having conclu
ded a rather poor day's fishing, deter
mmed, on returning, to diverge from
their direct course for the purpose o:
rounding a point in Newark Bay, some
what famous for an excellent bathing
beach, there to luxuriate, by the light
o' the mooni'-which was in its last
quarter, and nearly dowl to the horizon
-in a glorious swim, as Bob proposed,
'mnalgre' his ignorance of that useful
accomplishment. Accordingly, the bath
was indulged in, until the waning
Queen of Night was upon the point of
leaving her throne, when the coming
darkness admonished the couple of the
necessity of return. They according
ly regained theskifT, and having dres
sed, lifted the 'kedge' and pulled for
hcnc, Ned being oarrman and Bob in
charge of the tiller. They pulled
away in silence for some time, with a
careiul stroke, giving the reef a wide
berth, it being now quite dark, and
hugging the shore as close as possible
to keep, out of the swiftly running tide
which was ahead. The night dark
very dark-it was impossible to distin
guish objects two yards distant, and the
voyagers, though satisfied that they had
rowed long enough to be close home,
were in doubt as to their precise locali
ty. At Bob's suggestion, Ned ceased
pulling, and rested on his 'skulls,' with
a view to an 'observation.' After
looking vainly some time, he was about
to resume his labor when
'Wh-is-h-t-slh-sh!' says Bob, 'hold on
Ned, what the deuce is that?'
'What!'
'Sh-sh, hark,-here, on your left.'
'Where? I don't see anything.'
'Iush-sh-sh,-keep dark,-back
water!'
'Back it is,' says Ned.
'Hark, again'--and now Ned's ear
was regaled with sound like that of some
one suppressing or suflocating an incli
natimn to laugh, and peering into the
darkness he (liscovered what he at first
supposed to be a large stake. Closer
scrutiny invested it with something of a
human appearance.
'Wh-a-t t-h-e-d-c-v-i-l i a it?' gasped
out Ned, now as much excited as hia
mercurial con anion Again they fan
cied they heard the tittering sound.
'By thunder!' exclaimed Bob
whose very thoughts were of a p'iseiy
crous character,--'it 's a Mermaid!'
still, whatever it was, it remained
motionless. The boat had drifted from
the 'object of wonder some five or six
yards, when Bob,-whose hand seized
upon the body of a clam, intended for
bait, which lay on the skiff's bottom,
standing up in the skiff, vowed he'd
know, aid iefore his partner could pre
vent, hurled with all f:ree the said clam
at the said 'Mermaid.' The precision
of his aim was evinced by a 'spl-i-shy'
sort of sounrd, as of two fleshy substai
ces in collision; whereupon a faint shriek
went up fruir the 'critter,' and at the
same moment Ned was made sensible
of some invisible misfortune to Bob,
who was by some unseen agency, vio
lently pulled over backwards into the
water.
'Ned! Ned! pull--pull-for-s--as-hr
spl-a- sir ohr!-Mur--d-e-r, INed! spi-a-shr
souse, gurgl-g-g-gle, s-p-i-sh shr, s-p-a-sir.
mnur-dr d-mun- t-rn' shrrieked 1Bob,
wiho ha d nrever used such an exclama
tion in his~ life, before.--'Whro---e ye?
wha t-(oh--ohi----sp-i-s-hr s.)use-gue -gg.
*'le---gle---the De vil! Ned, ohr! N-e-d'
shouted lie withr all ihis strength, as a
momentary r-espite was affor-ded him, as
ire came up at intervals fr-om under the
water, ben-reathr the sur-face of wich
some tirree or four of the most Anrazo
ian ot tihe Mermnaids werec laughingly
erngaed ir thrurstinag hrim.r Whre- w-as
Ned, ini tire skilf? riot by ajug full, tire
skiff was bottom upwar-ds. Ned was in
deep wateri wherec tire water nymiphs
didni't like to v-enrture.
At tire first alarmi! Nedl had tied
iris oars, hbut tire skilf w-as fast: he'd pul11
with imighit arid main burt some invrsi
blec power hreld him, and at every pull
thre skiff would rebound towvards shore.
And now Ned could distinguish some
huorfive hunman looking creatures of
h Iolding on to the stern of tire bioat, hre
wsas in tire hrands of the Phlilisines! his
positrin was a blined! arid lie knew it;
hie'd seenr the 'elephrant'---had Ned!
he'd beenr there lr:Imbre.
' wase bu amonment's w~or-k to spring
over th oaas far as possible aird
str-ike out foi- dtep water-. ie knew
the nature of the brute, they did n't
like mnischoif in deep water ,4
gained it, then turned to listen. By
this time Bob's shrieks were terrific;
something must be done, they'd drown
him. And now again he shouts.'
'He-1-p Ned--N-e.d---for God's sake!'
The thing was getting serious, and
with a resolve to 'do or die,' Ned swam
back till he discovered one of the ene
my close to him. Noiselessly he dips
and reaching bottom, seizes a foot, fin,
tail, or---something, and down comes a
Mermaid, with.a piercing shriek, which
was immediately echoed from a dozen
throats, and then such a splashing and
scrampering, such a 'digging' for shore
you never saw. One after another.
Bob's persecutors amongst the rest
whilst he, poor wretch, sat upon the
beach, exhausted, up to his neck in the
water. The unfortunate animal that
Ned had seized was left behind, Bob
could n't imagine,---unless it had been
wounded in the encounter.
Ned had gone for the skilf. when the
lost (le passed Bob without noticing
him. A feeling of vengeance sprung
up in Bob's breast, and being suflicient
ly restored,----having vomited about six
quarts,---as he stated, of salt water, he
rose suddenly, and gave chase. The
critter 'locomoted' rapidly. Bub was
too swift for her, he overhauled her,
and we presume had a battle, or an ex
planation, if they talk,---or something
of the kind, for he did not return. Meal
time Ned having righted the skiff and
anchored her, walked up the beach to
find Bob, or home, or both, or either.
In so doing, stumbled over a frock and
hema---hem! no not exactly that; didn't
know what! It looked semething like
a. shirt, only that it was sleeveless and
longer. At any rate, Ned took it home
and made a very minute examination
thereof, but to no purpose, for though
he enquired diligently, there was no one
in that neighborhood who owned it le
was therefore forced into the conclu
sion that hereafter in the natural histo
ry of the Mermaid it should always be
mentioned that the creature evinces a
certain degree of womanly delicacy,
and unless in very hot nights, clothes
itself after the manner of females 'ter
ine.'
That this is tru' of the genus, uni
versally, he perhaps would hesitate to
aver, but of the species to be found in
the waters of New Jersy he is qualified
to speak positively,--as he yet retains
the evidence thereof in the garments
aforesaid,----which differ in no apprecia
ble degree ft um those worn by nymphs
who at e not terrafucous.
Some two years after this occurence
lie was placed in a position to speak
with more certamnty as to the close re
semblance borne by this animal to the
human race, by the receipt of an invi
tation to attend the wedding of his fishy
friend, Robert Stimson, Esq., who, af
ter the ceremony, took Ned aside and
whispered him, in strict confidence, so
don't you mention it, dear reader
to a 'living soul,'--that that the la
dv was the identical Mermaid that lie
(Bob) had chased and captured on that
memorable occasion.
Ned assured me on his 'honor,' that
she was in no wise distinguishable from
a v-ery pretty, hiealthly looking woman!
.Times.
ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF
HORSE-RACING.
H-avinig shown in our paper of last
week upon this subject that horse-racing,
originally d erivedi from the East, was a
por-tion of the ceremonies used in cele
brating the festivities of Mithrias, or the
sun, and that this worship finding its
way into Greece and Rome. it was sub
seqjuently trantsplanted by the Romnans
into England- that the English have
adopted many of the manners arnd cus
toims of the Romuans is very evident to
any obser-vinug r-eader of the social his
tory of that people-let us now inqcuire
how closely we have followed them in
respect of horse-r-acing.~
We have already said that the races
of Rome were run in the open country
till Tarquinius Priscus built the grand
circus in which tihe r-aces were afte
wards performned. 1-ow far the horses
ran befor-e they got to the last meta
from the stat-ting place is not expressed
biy histor-ians, but we are informed that
the above circus is said to be about two
thousand one hutndr-ed and sixty-seven
Roman feet in length, and nimne hundred
arid sixty broad, of a semui-cit-cular- form
at one end, the other extending in a
righit line, but rather circular; anad that
the r-aces commonly ended at the sev
enth turn round the nmetaxe, though now
anid then we meet with, upon cxtraor
dinary occasions, fewer heats. The
number and lonath of the hvatralso VS
ry here. The usual number of missus,
or matches, were generally about tiven
ty-four, though sometimes a far gt-eater
number were exhibited, for Suetoilus
tells us that the Emperor Domitian pre
sented a hundred matches in one dty
The time when the races were to be
gin was anciently given by sound of
trumpet. Both the custom of matches
and that of summoning the horses to a
starting place by a signal are still prac.
tised in England. The horses being
up at the time, ready for starting, the
signal was given by a mappa, or napkin,
hung out at the Proctor's tent, or the'
chief magistrate's seat; hence Juvenal
calls them Megalensian games--Mega
liacmn Spectacula Mapple. The origin
of this custom was that when Nero was
once at dinner, and the people making
a great noise desiring that the sport
might begin, the Emperor threw the
napkin he had in his hand out of the
window as a token that he had granted
their request.
At these races, also, the Romans
rode in ditlerent colors, particularly the
companies of charioteers,-to distinguish
themselves. These were generidly
four, viz; Prasitna (green.) russata
(red,) alba or albato [white) and the
vineta (sky or sea color;) but the green
was generally the favorite, especially
under Caligula, Nero; and the follow
ing Emperor A. D. 81, and died A.
D. 06, added two more colors, viz: the
golden or yellow, and the purple (aurea
et purperea) but these were soon laid
aside again by the following Emperors.
The victors in the sports were honored.
with garlands, coronets, and other orna
ments after the Greek manner, and
very often with considerable rewards.
Hence Juvenal says:
'llinae centum, putrimnoniu eausidiconiutn
Parte all.a soliuu rusnti pone lacertm."
The people of Rone were so partial
to the races at the festivities of Mithras,
and also afterwards in compliment to
the Emperors who encouraged these
sports, that there was an Ippodruna on
purpose for these races in most cities in
the empire, to which the people thi ong
ed in vast numbers. To show how
much the populace were interested in
these games. Juvenal sums up their
wants in two words, Panem et ireenses
(bread and the gamnes)-that is to say
the bread distributed by the Emperors
and the games in the circus. The same
poet also describes, in his seventh satire,
the extraordinary fondness of the Ro
mans for these races. Congreve has
thus translated the passage:
'This day all Rome (ir I'nmay be al'owed,
Without .-anre to such a numer.us crowd,.
To say all Rnone) will in the circus sweat,
Echoes already to their shouts repeat.
1ethinks I hear the cry, away, away!
The green laus won the honor of the day
0 ! lhould these spurts be but one day
forborne
Rome would. in tears, her loved diversion
mourn.
Such was the fondness too, for favo
rite horses, that Montfaucon tells us,
and gives an engraving of a drawing
from art urn which has two inscriptions
upon it, the uppermost regards the hor
ses, the lower the person interred there
in. Over the first horse was an in
scription, the meaning of which is-'that
this was in memory of the horse Aquilo,.
begat by Aquillo, who had conquered
127 tin~es, wor, the second prizes 88
times and the third prizes 37 times.'
The inscription over the second horse is
thus rendered into English. 'That
Ihirpinus, the grandson of Aquilo, con
qunered 140 thnies, won the second prizes
(i7 times, and the third 35 timnes.'
Ihence we see they kept aregular- pedi
gree of their horses as at the present
time. -It is also observable, that the in
scritl~ions for the horses aro placed
abov-e that of his owner or rider, it be
ing usual to pay mnore honour to their
race horses than to the men who rode
or- dr-ove them; for they ce-ected monu
ments to perpetuate their memory, as
may be seen in Elian, Pliny, and oth
ers; and in Spartian we find that Ha
dIrian was so fond of his horses and dogs
that lhe built sepulcs for them, and
there is yet remaining an epitaph which
Salmanasius hats given, which begins
thius-'Berysthenes, called Alanus,
from the countr-y lhe was of, the Emper
or's race-horse,' &c. Tfhe e pitaph under
the hor-se was made by or-der of
Claudia Hlelice for her husband Lucius
Avitus Dionisius. There ar-o abund
ance of pr-oofs of these races from Ro
man coinis; upon many of Aurelian's
coins we find, Soil Miret' and 'Oriens
Avg,' inscriptions often adopted by al
ter Emperors and gener-ally for the
same reasons as Aurolian on celebra
ting the races to Mithras.
Although it does not appear- when
horso-racQ ~par', it isr evident they
wereamled '& Vearscfr the birthe3