Hold Your Horses: Characterization through Animals in Plutarch’s Artaxerxes , Part II

This paper is the second part of three dealing with the subject of characterization through animals in Plutarch’s Lives . It argues that beasts have important narratological significance in the biographies, namely, to shed light on the character of the hero through their association with the realm of passions within the human soul. The text chosen to demonstrate this claim is Plutarch’s most neglected biography, the Life of the Persian king Artaxerxes. This part addresses the presence of horses in the biography and how they indirectly characterize the hero.

T he animal typically used by Plutarch to portray the hero Artaxerxes in his Life by way of an indirect characterization of the hero is the stallion 1 . This is no wonder, as the horse had numerous connotations in ancient and in particular Greek mindset. Domesticated in the Eurasian steppes at about the fourth millennium BCE, and spreading to the Ancient Near East in the second millennium, and to Greece by the middle Helladic period (2,100-1,700 BCE) 2 , the horse was associated with several acitivities and uses and with a certain stratum of society. It implied transportation and a necessary vehicle in hunting and war; it indicated the social status of the elite and hence had a political, social and military importance 3 . By way of metonymy, it came to represent the human emotions that formed the bases of these activities and pursuits (such as prowess and bravery) 4 and even other other emotions 5 , and was also to be a metaphor for voracity and ambition, bearing in mind its employment in games, races and shows of strength, ability and wealth 6 . Closely related to this image, the horse bore traces of a certain (vivid) memory of its predomesticated state, displaying fea tures of violence, capriciousness, ungo ver -nable primordial forces of nature, an unbridled spirit and freedom 7 . In view of its indispensable role within civilized society, it was also seen as a typical wild beast that can be tamed and broken; it was, indeed, a symbol of the civilizing process itself 8 , acting as a metaphor for the state of pre-civilized people, such as horsemen 9 . As riding a horse was an essential part of education (of the Aristocratic elite), the breaking of the stallion was connoted with the training of the youths 10 . Thus, the steed constantly rode along the border between physis and nomos and became a perfect symbol suitable both for passions and for their restraint through education and training 11 . Mutatis mutandis, this Ploutarchos, n.s., 11 (2014) 3-18 ISSN 0258-655X 12 See the description of Persia by Darius (DPd,8): "This country... which Ahuramazda bestowed upon me, good, possessed of good horses (uvaspâ), possessed of good men". Cf. DSf, 11; DSp, 3: "possessed of good charioteers, of good horses". Cf. also in royal inscription AmH 6-9 (Ariaramnes' inscription from Hamadan): "This country Persia which I hold, which is possessed of good horses, of good men". Cf. AsH 10 (Arsames, Hamadan). See the depiction of Ahuramazda by Darius (DSs, 5): "A great god is Ahuramazda, who makes excellence in this earth, who makes man in this earth, who makes happiness for man, who makes good horses and good chariots". Note the many names derived from the stem 'Asp-' (OP horses) traceable in the Avesta. Xenoph., Cyr. 1.3,3 reports that this knowledge came only by influence of the Medes. BriAnt (2002: 14, 19-20) is justified in finding these statements hard to accept. See the figure on the seal of "Kuraš of Anšan" (= Cyrus I) of a horseman jumping over two fallen warriors. Horsemen were an important factor in the Persian Empire. In the archives of the house of Murašû, the plots of land referred to bear the names 'horse estate' (bit sisi), 'chariot estate' (bit narkabti) which indicate their original function to supply soldiers for the king. Cf. BriAnt (2002: 598 "As a horseman I am a good horseman (asabâra uvâsabâra amiy). As a bowman I am a good bowman both afoot and on horseback." Cf. Xen., Anab. 1.7,9, 1.8,12. BriAnt (2002: 90, 227-228 image was common to both Greek and Persian worldviews, even though it had other meanings in the east.

A Kingdom for a Horse
The Persians were among the first civilizations to breed heavier, superior horses, and the art of mastering a horse was considered an important aspect of the social and political life of the aristocracy 12 . According to Plato (Alc. 1, 121e-122a), the military education among the Persians included horsemanship and hunt (for seven year old boys), and was also aimed to induce courage (age fourteen) 13 . Horsemanship was part of the royal ideology and, reflecting physical strength and bravery in war, it was regarded as a proper justification for holding the crown 14 . Herodotus relates how the seven conspirators' decision on electing a king was based on horsemanship: they agreed that he whose horse neighed first in the day should have the throne 15 .  BriAnt (2002BriAnt ( : 426, 457, 1023. See the Persepolis fortification tablets which refer to "royal horses" (PF 1668(PF -1669(PF ,1675(PF , 1765(PF , 1784(PF -1787(PF , 1793(PF , 1942; cf. PFa 24, 29. 18 The methodological implications of assuming a recurrent imagery in a biography are clear. It is not just an incidental single occurrence which may signify the mental backdrop and literary milieu of the author. This recurrence has an important role in promoting an understanding of the work, acting as a sort of a subtext which is introduced in parallel to the main storyline with its own meanings and rules of progression. It cannot help but push the reader back and forward in the work, subverting the course of the narrative, and forcing him or her to re-evaluate former interpretations. Sometimes the subtext may refer to another work (as in the Artaxerxes) and in this case involves intertextuality, or a moulding of its significance by other texts. 19 Cf. Xen., Hell. 3.1,1 and Diod., XIV 19.4. 20 ἐν μὲν τοῖς κυνηγεσίοις μηδ' ἐφ' ἵππου, ἐν δὲ τοῖς κινδύνοις μηδ' ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καθῆσθαι.
There were many risks involved in horse riding, especially during hunt. See Xen., Cyr. hunting mounted on horseback (Hdt., III 129, Arr., Anab. 4.13,1) 16 . In the royal personnel, there were special people in charge of the royal horses 17 . The stallion was, thus, an essential part of both the royal ideology and the imperial practice, and it is no surprise to find this animal in the Life of the Persian monarch.
Specifically, it is the image of the king's unstable position on his horse which recurs three times in the biography of Artaxerxes 18 . The first time this great fall from a horse is introduced in the Artaxerxes is in the letter Cyrus the Younger sends to the Spartans (6.4) with the aim of obtaining their support in his effort to overthrow his brother the king 19 . Cyrus glorifies himself while denigrating Artaxerxes, listing his own royal qualities as opposed to the shortcomings of his brother. In particular, Cyrus presents the king as someone who cannot keep his place on a horse 20 . As this disparaging portrayal closely follows the mention of Cyrus' courage and general restrained demeanour, one would assume that by contrast, the flaw attributed to Artaxerxes, namely, his inability to control a horse, would allude to the king's incapability of containing his passions, in particular his cowardice. This negative portrayal of Artaxerxes, which may come originally from one of the Persica works 21 , appears to be Ploutarchos, n.s., 11 (2014) 3-18 ISSN 0258-655X a mirror image of his younger brother and his well-known love of horses, as depicted by Xenophon in the Anabasis. First, Xenophon mentions (Anab. 1.2,7) that Cyrus partook in hunting 'whenever he wished to give himself and his horses exercise', and in the elaborate panegyric of chapter 9, he states: [Cyrus was] the most devoted to horses and the most skilful in managing horses... when he was of suitable age, he was the fondest of hunting and, more than that, the fondest of incurring danger in his pursuit of wild animals" (1.9,5-6) 22 .
This image is designed to present Cyrus as regal and majestic, through his handling and use of horses. Echoing, and perhaps corresponding to this portrait, the rest of Cyrus' letter to the Spartans has the following promises (Art. 6.2): he would give to those who came, if they were footmen, horses; if they were horsemen, chariots and pairs 23 .
Cyrus appears to seek kingdom by allocating horses. In reality, by this presentation Plutarch subtly displays Cyrus' self destructive tendency, for when the prince promises to give his horseman chariots, he in effect unhorses his own men -the very vice he attributes to his brother. He therefore appears to be just as unsuitable to the throne. Furthermore, no rational self restraint is shown by increasing the presence and number of horses, with all their connotations of emotions 24 .
Cyrus' por trayal of the king has to be judged against other descriptions in the Life. In fact, during the battle of Cunaxa, fought between the brothers and depicted by the historian Deinon (Art. 10.1-2), Artaxerxes is seen as actually thrown off from his horse twice before he mounts another one and charges against his brother 25 . As this dramatic scene is essential in presenting the change which takes place in the character of Artaxerxes and in marking the beginning of an intense honourseeking phase in his life, the mention of his falling from his steed may well be taken to represent the fact that he is thrown off balance, letting his passions take over, while incidentally proving Cyrus' description correct. 22 φιλιππότατος καὶ τοῖς ἵπποις ἄριστα χρῆσθαι...ἐπεὶ δὲ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἔπρεπε, καὶ φιλοθηρότατος ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὰ θηρίαμέντοι φιλοκινδυνότατος. Loeb Classical Library Translation. 23 οἷς ἔφη δώσειν, ἂν μὲν πεζοὶπαρῶσιν, ἵππους, ἂν δὲ ἱππεῖς, συνωρίδας. 24 Cf. MossMAn (2010: 151) on the way Plutarch undercuts Cyrus' claims to philosophy "by introducing this self-praise as μεγαληγορῶν ('talking big') -a contrast to Xenophon's 'most respectful'..." 25 εἰσελάσας βιαίως ὁ Κῦρος εἰς τοὺς προτεταγμένους τοῦ βασιλέως κατέτρωσεν αὐτοῦ τὸν ἵππον, ὁ δ' ἀπερρύη... πάλιν ὁ Κῦρος ἐνσείσας τῷ ἵππῳ κατέβαλε τὸν Ἀρτοξέρξην.

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One of the last scenes in the Life depicts Artaxerxes as willingly stepping down from his horse and proceeding on foot, walking as many as two hundred stadia daily over mountainous roads like his common soldiers (24.10) 26 . This behaviour is commended by Plutarch, and may suggest the monarch's ability to endure hardships and to demonstrate a measure of self-control. It might even indicate that the king is not dominated by passion and a life of comfort, as he is able to postpone or renounce an immediate satisfaction of his appetites 27 . At first glance, it would seem that Cyrus was wrong, and that Artaxerxes can curb his emotions. Alternatively, this conduct may imply a change in the king. The picture can be interpreted in another way, and may be viewed as entirely ironic. After all, the demeanour of Artaxerxes only confirms the claim made by the prince, to the effect that the king is indeed incapable of holding his seat upon the horse. The scene clearly insinuates that Artaxerxes willingly lets his passions, such as pride, take control. This impression arises from the mention of the twelve thousand talents' worth of jewellery enveloping the body of the monarch, which do not detain him from marching. One would imagine that this is the irony intimated in the incident: it is the way in which Artaxerxes restrains himself that lets his emotions take hold of him. By releasing his horse from a rider and by walking on foot like his beast of burden, Artaxerxes both frees his stallion from a rein and lets loose the animal within his own soul 28 . A plain interpretation of the king's behaviour proves evasive, as his conduct defies any clear-cut designation. Due to the way Plutarch presents his actions, they show at the time both a natural inclination or appetite and a propensity toward self-control.
the Platonic imagery of the soul in the Phaedrus as a chariot driven by a team of winged horses (246a) 29 . In the Platonic picture, human souls strive to follow gods in seeing the true being, but one of the steeds, the evil, unrestrained one, evidently representing the passio nate part of the soul, pulls down his driver (247b). In consequence, the soul sheds its wings and plummets down to earth, without a full vision of the truth (248bc). Plutarch seems to be fond of this image and employs it elsewhere in his works 30 . There are many verbal echoes between the Platonic dialogue and the biography. Cyrus promises the Spartans the two horses chariot Synoris, which evokes the Platonic image (246b: καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἡμῶν ὁ ἄρχων συνωρίδος ἡνιοχεῖ).
The allusion is then strengthened by the fact that Cyrus attributes to his brother the vices of cowardice and softness (δειλίας καὶ μαλακίας), which recalls the censure of the evil horse against the charioteer and his mate (254c) 31 . After the king's fall at the battle of Cunaxa, Tiribazus, one of his men, advises him to remember that day, "for it is unworthy of forgetfulness" (οὐ γὰρ ἀξία λήθης ἐστί), words which also seem to hint at the Phaedrus again, and to the mythic description of the soul's plummet. In that dialogue it is recounted that the human psyche not only moves away from the plain of Truth (τὸ ἀληθείας... πεδίον: 248b) -typically seen as the negation of forgetfulness (lethe/ alethe) -but also fails to recall what little it saw (250a)  The allusion to memory is echoed in Tiribazus' injunction ("remember this day"; μέμνησο τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης), again suggesting the Platonic description of the charioteer, whose memory is turned to the true nature of beauty (254bc) 33 . Tiribazus' further act of providing another horse for the king to mount strengthens this link between lack of memory and falling from a horse to the earth.
When describing the king's de meanour in stepping down from his horse after the Cadusian Campaign, the narrator uses a metaphor to depict the effect of this royal gesture. His metaphor is not straightforward. It is said that upon seeing the eagerness and energy of the Great King, the rest of the army had wings given them and the soldiers felt their burdens lightened 34 . Apparently, this scene might imply that the Phaedran image is referred to again, though in an inverted manner. In other words, it would seem that it is not a case of a soul shedding its wings because of an uninhibited horse, but that of a steed kept in check, which affects in turn the growing of wings 35 . The prospect of the soul restoring its wings as part of its spiritual ascent is described in the Phaedrus (249de, 251b-d; cf. 256de) as effected in the psyche of the lover after its contemplation of the form of beauty. Plato dwells on the dynamics occurring between the lover and the beloved, who answers with his "counter-love" (ἀντέρως) and the growing of wings (ἀναπτερῶσαν: 255cd). It is interesting to apply this model to the relations between the king and his soldiers at the focus of the next section (24.10-25.3). Plato speaks of ensuing licence and sursuit of pleasure in violation of nature (251a) 36 , triggered by the vision of an earthly beauty. Yet, if the wings are not only to be taken as a sign of an allusion to the heavenly entities in the Platonic allegory, but also of an animal simile, the metaphor here may also show that some animalistic passion is hinted, brought to the fore in the following chapter (25) with the behaviour of the king towards his soldiers and the simile there 37 .
Once the Platonic imagery and connotations are activated, it would seem that almost any reference to stallions in the Life could be taken to mean emotions and the passionate part of the soul. This assumption can be

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ISSN 0258-655X corroborated in two cases where animals not only portray the king through his interaction with them, but also involve minor figures in the biography. I consider this mode a Two-Step Indirect Characterization, in which animals as passions incarnated underline a feature of other characters, who, in turn, shed light on a specific trait of the hero. The act of the noble courtier Tiribazus in giving another steed for the king to mount after he has fallen off (10.1) 38 could closely correspond to his function in the biography as someone who provokes desires and passions. This behaviour is apparent when he encourages the king both before (7.3) and during (10.1) the battle to stand out against his brother, and later on, when he sets Darius the crown prince against his father (28.1-5). Another person is a young soldier named Mithridates, who delivers a blow to Cyrus during the battle (11.5) but is not credited for the deed, since the king appropriates the glory for it. In the aftermath of the war, Mithridates is given gifts for another feat, namely, that of presenting the monarch with the bloodstained saddle-cloth of Cyrus, which has fallen off the prince's horse (14.5) 39 . Strictly speaking, this cloth is one of the means of restraining the horse and is symbolically relevant to the behaviour of the king. The act of giving it to the monarch would imply that this young soldier curtails Artaxerxes' uncurbed love of fame, as is soon evident in his relating of the true account of the events in a banquet (15.6) 40 .
There is more than one manner, however, in which the ethos of the king is characterized through these two minor figures and the horse imagery. By the use of the device of Synkrisis, Tiribazus could be made to be seen as bringing into light the king's traits of ambition and pursuit of power, while Mithridates would, in opposition, under score the aspect of restraint. Yet, as Tiribazus consciously offers a horse to the king so that he would mount it, hold his place upon it and eradicate Cyrus' sedition, the comparison could equally establish that it is this courtier who emphasizes the facet of control. Similarly, as Mithridates is said to hand over the saddle of Cyrus' horse, it may 38 Τιριβάζου δ' ἀναβαλόντος αὐτὸν ἐπ' ἄλλον ἵππον ταχὺ... It was Tiribazus' privileged position to assist the king onto his horse (Xen., Anab. 4.4,4). The Persian practice, as Curtius Rufus (III 11.11) and Arrian (Anab. 2.11) relate, was to provide the king with a horse so that he would leave the battlefield safe. 39 οἰόμενος (scil. ὁ βασιλεύς) δὲ καὶ βουλόμενος δοκεῖνκαὶ λέγειν πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὡς αὐτὸς ἀπεκτόνοι Κῦρον, Μιθριδάτῃ τε τῷ βαλόντι πρώτῳ Κῦρον ἐξέπεμψε δῶρα καὶ λέγειν ἐκέλευσε τοὺς διδόντας ὡς "τούτοις σε τιμᾷ [ὁ] βασιλεύς, ὅτι τὸν ἐφίππειον Κύρου πῖλον εὑρὼν ἀνήνεγκας". Cf. 11.6: τὸν δ' ἐφίππειον πῖλον ἀπορρυέντα λαμβάνει τοῦ τὸν Κῦρον βαλόντος ἀκόλουθος αἵματος περίπλεω. be the case that he himself is to be judged as unbridled, as his feeling of discontent and his conduct during the symposium show him to be. This twoedged interpretation similarly applies in the case of the king. As he is obviously in need of another stallion during the battle, this fact would allegorically mean that his natural hesitancy requires some sort of a thrust to balance it, a conclusion that would portray him as naturally cautious. Conversely, the rein brought to him by Mithridates would implicitly suggest the existence of an unbound desire in the king's soul that needs to be restrained.
The portrayal of the minor figures in a similar manner to that of Artaxerxes becomes even more slippery in a distorted world. The horse handed to the king is intended to be employed in the war against Cyrus. Its use is calculated to hold back the passions displayed by the young prince. The steed thus turns from being an allegory of appetites, to a tool of restraint. By contrast, the saddle-cloth brought to Artaxerxes is an object which provides proof of Cyrus' death. Instead of curtailing the monarch's emotions, its presence only leads to the intensification of his ambitions and the growth of his love of glory. The remarkable outcome would be that a bridle incites passion. Through this horse imagery, Tiribazus and Mithridates seem to pull the king in different directions within an on-going allusion to Plato's Phaedrus. They both pull towards the truth and away from passion and towards forgetfulness away from reason and restraint, constantly switching roles.

Love, Marriage, Horses and Carria ge
As seen above, Artaxerxes' mode of submission to Hera in chapter 23 may not be suitable for a king. The same image can be interpreted in two manners: an act of self humiliation of the extreme kind on the part of the king can simultaneously be construed as an indication of his unconstrained appetites. It is the employment of horses in the image that brings out this elusiveness, in the same way it does in the Phaedrus 41 . Bearing in mind the fact that Artaxerxes' behaviour may be seen as unkingly, another allusion to the Phaedrus might be ironic, for the reference to "followers of Hera who seek a kingly nature" (253b: ὅσοι δ᾽ αὖ μεθ᾽ Ἥρας εἵποντο, βασιλικὸν ζητοῦσι) does not fit here. Moreover, the picture of the king falling down to the ground while horses are set free is another allusion to the Platonic image. Even though the steeds are to be given to the deity as a means of pacification, they are not portrayed as sacrificed to Hera, but are brought to the road. They are shown out in the open, very much like the incestuous passion of Artaxerxes for his own daughter Atossa, which is made public through their marriage. The association of passionate love and horses in this passage would be clear to any reader of the Phaedrus, as the chariot image is meant to depict the internal conflict and irrational frenzy of the lover's soul (253c-256e). One could say that horses are used here as intertextual markers, as if the narrator, emulating the king's candid behaviour, puts the hidden allusion now in the open. Indeed, the connection of horses and love is suggested by a comparison of the items set upon the road for Hera with a former description of Persia in the Life (20.1), this time depict ing the court as filled with gold and luxury and women (τὰ Περσῶν καὶ βα σιλέως πράγματα χρυσὸν ὄντα πολὺν καὶ τρυφὴν καὶ γυναῖκας). The list in chapter 23 has "gold and silver and pur ple and horses." 42 Thus, the second list exchanges silver for luxury, and hor ses for women (with the addition of 'purple').
This picture points at a well-known Greek imagery connecting women and un bridled horses in sexual and marital con texts. Aristophanes' Lysistrata (677-679) contains a commemt on the amazo nomachy scene depicted in the Painted Stoa, beginning with the state ment "woman is the most horsey thing" (ἱππι κώτατον γάρ ἐστι χρῆμα κἄποχον γυνή) 43 . Women falling in love or being unable to curb their emotions are portrayed sometimes as losing control of horses 44 . Marriage itself is depicted as an act of breaking the horse 45 , and in a subtle extension of this metaphor, the bride may be shown to arrive in a chariot 46 . In the biography, the character of Artaxerxes and a possible change in his conduct may be discernible through this allegory of women/horses and its extension. At the outset of the Life, the king gives free rein to the royal women (5.3) and even permits his wife to expose herself in her chariot (5.3: γυμνὴ). On the other hand, while there is a hunting scene, no horse is mentioned, though one would expect the monarch to hunt on a horseback and there was most probably a story involving the king's stallions 47 . The depiction of Cyrus is like a mirror image: the prince stresses the presence of horses (6.3),
In the latter part of the biography, the roles change. While horses are visible (23.7 , 24.10), now it is Artaxerxes who tends to curb (27.3-4) and hide his royal women in their chariots (27.1): it is death for a man, not only to come up and touch one of the royal concubines, but even in journeying to go along past the carriages on which they are conveyed 48 .
The analepsis involving Cyrus (26.5-9) displays his love affair with Aspasia, which became well-known and was done in the open; no horse is associated with Cyrus in these sections, though the reader may remember that the prince's steed rode freely at the battle of Cunaxa (11.6: καὶ ὁ μὲν ἵππος ὑπεκφυγὼν ἐπλάζετο) with no further mention of its eventual fate. The episode which may mark the juncture of this reversal is at chapter 14, which dwells on the case of Arbaces, one of the king's supporters, who changed sides during the battle. Artaxerxes orders him to walk about in the market-place, carrying a naked (γυμνὴ) prostitute astride his neck for a whole day (14.3) 49 .
This punishment is explicitly designed to rectify Arbaces' vices of cowardice and softness (δειλίαν καὶ μαλακίαν), the exact same features attributed to the king by Cyrus. It effectively turns Arbaces into a beast of burden.Accepting the work ing of the Greek association of women and (unbridled) horses in the imagery found in the biography, one has to acknowledge that this picture spells a reversal of human rider and his steed. Thus, Artaxerxes is characterized by Plutarch not only via the use of real animals, but also through his actions, which aim to turn a man into a beast. While a punitive measure usually intends to discipline and restrain the manifestations of inhibited appetites, here it produces passions, exposing the animal within the condemned, and highlighting, by the cruelty or evil of the deed, the animalistic nature of the king himself.

Equine, Human and Divine Beings
Another mode of characterizing the hero is done through personification of animals, namely, making beasts virtually dramatis personae of the biography 50 . It involves not a presentation of the-rio morphic men, alluding to the beast within the human, but rather of an thropomorphic animals, hinting at the man within the beast. It is seen in the biography through Cyrus' steed, a horse with a name, that is, Pasacas (9.1) 51 . In the chapter where the name of the animal appears, that of the Cyrus and its derivation from his great Persian namesake are also mentioned, creating another similarity between the prince and his horse (9.2) 52 . The personal name of the stallion evokes other notable named horses in Greek tradition, in particular Alexander's Bucephalus 53 and those of the Achaeans in the Trojan War 54 . This beast is closely linked to the prince. The unruly character of the stallion (ἄστομον δὲ καὶ ὑβριστὴν) reflects that of Cyrus (cf. 6.1), who pushes ahead to his unattainable goal with no restraint. Echoing Plato's image again, the steed is described as ὑβριστὴς, the exact same term characterizing the unrestrained horse of the Phaedrus (254c) 55 . The ambition and pursuit of honour of Cyrus and the unruliness of his horse accentuate in turn these very traits of his brother, Artaxerxes.
Moreover, it would appear that after Cyrus is hit, thrown off his horse and dies, his spirit lives on in the horse that runs wild into the area of the enemy 56 without its saddle cloth (11.6-8) 57 . The fact that no end is mentioned of this stallion turns this creature into a powerful symbol of the fallen prince's soul, which continues and permeates the rest of the biography. As Platonic concepts are still at the background of the scene, it may be suspected that the relation between Cyrus and his horse alludes to the idea of the trans mi gration of souls found at the end of the Phaedran picture. According to this view, presented in the myth, souls as immortal entities (cf. 245c) that transcend corporeal existence can move back and forth between animal and human embodiments (249b) 58  philosophical ideas of immortality, travel of soul and transformation are put into literary use, serving the author as a basis for maintaining the existence of Cyrus' character traits beyond the death of the prince, and introducing later manifestation of these features in other figures. One should also recall that most of the mythic named steeds are immortal, like Achilles' Xanthus and Balius (Il. 16.149, and , so that the reference to Pasacas' name may allude to these beasts and may also serve to strengthen the possibility that the horse is to assume the transmigrated soul of Cyrus 59 . Part of this doctrine includes the belief in the transmigration of souls into heavenly bodies 60 . There is a sense in which one such celestial entity interacts in particular with horses. Chapter 16 of the biography presents the punishment meted out to Mithridates for daring to disclose the truth about the death of Cyrus. It may be that this depiction is a clever allusion to the Persian rite of sacrificing horses to the sun. This sacrifice is attested in Greek literature 61 , as well as a similar ritual for the god Mithra 62 , which is probably to be identified with the sun (Strabo, XV 3.13) 63 . Like the Greeks 64 , the Persians too associated the sun with horses 65 . Mithridates is associated with the horse's saddle cloth of Cyrus. In his torture, the king forces him to gaze at the sun, not letting him avert his look from it (16.5).
With the Phaedran overtones of the entire Life (together with an allusion to Rep. VII 515c-516b) the reader comprehends that Mithridates does not only see the physical sun but also the true being Ploutarchos, n.s., 11 (2014) 3-18 ISSN 0258-655X this astral body represents. Ostensibly, this punishment constitutes a decisive moment in the Life, one that upsets the previous portrayal of Artaxerxes. If we trace, however, the implicit horse imagery throughout the biography, we find that this cruelty had some previous manifestation, namely, in the penalty of Arbaces, who is literally turned into a beast of burden. This understanding helps the reader see that the real brutal character of Artaxerxes is gradually disclosed. The Mithridates scene foreshadows the last one, in which Artaxerxes has his son Darius executed (29.11-12), before he goes out and prostra tes himself before the sun. The king appears unable to control his inner passions (both spirited and appetitive), which are alle gorized by horses, as we have seen. While Cyrus' real horse runs uncurbed, Artaxerxes executes two people (one of whom is his son) as surrogate horses in a substitute sacrifice to the sun. When he fi nally prostrates himself before the sun (= 'Cyrus' in Persian, as we are told, ch. 1.3), he proves his brother was right: Artaxerxes can hold his place neither on the horse nor on the throne.

Conclusion
Utilizing all the connotations associa ted with the horse, namely, cultural, cross-cultural, literary, poli ti cal, religious and philosophical, Plutarch is able to link diverse images and scenes within his description and add significant layers to his characterization of his protagonists. The method he uses is 'triggering off' certain allusions and notions that work in the readers' mind. The stallion is not an outlandish beast, nor is it overtly symbolic like the lion. It is for this reason that its presence and its importance for the understanding of the meaning of the narrative are ever more evasive. True to the symbol the animal has come to represent, that is, of a wild beast on the one hand and of a manageable creature, on the other, the horse imagery within Plutarch's text is hard to control and stabilize, yet once the layers are visible, reading can steadily progress along interpretive roads.