COURIER, or CURRIER, (from the French courir,
"to run,") a messenger sent post, or express, to carry
dispatches.
The ancients too, had their couriers. We meet with
two kinds: 1. Those who ran on foot, called by the
Greeks hemerodromi, q. d. "couriers of a day." Pliny, Corn. Nepos, and Cæsar, mention some of
these who would run 20, 30, 36, and in the circus
even 40 leagues per day. 2. Riding couriers (cur-
sores equitantes), who changed horses as the modern
couriers do.
Xenophon attributes the first couriers to Cyrus.
Herodotus says they were very ordinary among the
Persians, and that there was nothing in the world more
swift than these kind of messengers. "That prince
(says Xenophon) examined how far a horse would go
in a day; and built stables, at such distances from each
other, where he lodged horses, and persons to take
care of them; and at each place kept a person always
ready to take the packet, mount a fresh horse, and for-
ward it to the next stage: and thus quite through his
empire."
But it does not appear that either the Greeks or
Romans had any regular fixed couriers till the time
of Augustus: under that prince they travelled in
cars; though it would appear that they afterwards
went on horseback. Under the western empire they
were called viatores; and under that of Constan-
tinople, cursores: whence the modern name. See
POST.