RIDE, To
RIDE, To
To Ride to what has been said concerning Riding, under the word HORSE, may be added the two following stories.
The first is out of Procopius,f1 who says, he heard a Roman senator say, that in the times of Athalaric, who reigned in Italy, a herd of oxen passing through the market, one of them rid a brazen bull, and that a Tuscan peasant said thereupon, that some time or other an eunuch should subdue the tyrant of Italy. This, he says, was fulfilled by Narses an eunuch, general under Justinian.
The next is a story out of the Turkish history. That nation still minds dreams, and some of them study very much the symbolical language. The story is of Othman the 2d in these words:- “One thing is worthy of note; a little before this tumult happened, Othman dreamed that he rid a camel, and being mounted he could not force him to go by fair means or stripes, and that then descending in a rage to revenge it with his sword, the body of the beast vanished, leaving in his hand only the head and bridle; at which dream being exceedingly troubled, he the next day sends for one of his wizards to interpret it; but he refused, persuading him to apply himself to the Mufti, which he did, and had this interpretation: viz. That the camel signified his empire; his riding, his abuse in government; his descension or alighting, his deposing; the vanishing of the body of the beast, the revolt of his subjects; the head and bridle remaining in his hand, only a bare title; and that he should shortly die and lose his empire; the empty name only of emperor accompanying him to his grave.”
F1 Procop.. Hist.Mixt. c. xxi.