322 Pliny's natueal history. [Book VITl. 



CHAP, 67. MAEES IMPEEGNATED BY THE WIND. 



It is well known that in Lusitania, in the vicinity of the town 

 of Olisipo^" and the river Tagus, the mares, by turning their faces 

 towards the west wind as it blows, become impregnated by its 

 breezes,^' and that the foals which are conceived in this way are re- 

 markable for their extreme fleetness; but they never live beyond 

 three years. Gallicia and Asturia are also countries of Spain ; 

 they produce a species of horse known to us as thieldones,^ 

 and when smaller, asturcones f^ they have a peculiar and not 

 common pace of their own, which is very easy, and arises from 

 the two legs of the same side being moved together ;^ it is by 

 studying the nature of this step that our horses have been taught 

 the movement which we call ambling. ^^ Horses have very 

 nearly the same diseases as men ;^ besides which, they are 

 subject to an irregular action of the bladder, as, indeed, is the 

 case with all beasts of burden.*^ 



CHAP. 68. (45.) THE ASS, ITS GENEEATION. 



M. Yarro informs us that Quintus Axius, the senator, paid 

 for an ass the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces ;*^ I am 



52 Now Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35. 



*3 The accounts given, by Phoenician navigators, of the fertility of Lusi- 

 tania, and the frequency of the mild western breezes, gave rise to the fable 

 here mentioned, which has been generally received by the ancients ; and 

 that not merely by the poets, as Virgil, Geor. B. iii. 1. 274, 275, but by 

 practical writers, as Varro, B. ii. c. I, and Columella, B. vi. c. 27. Justin, 

 however, B. xliv. c. 3, attributes the opinion to the great size of the horses, 

 and their remarkable fleetness, from which they were said to be the sons of 

 the wind, — B. 



^ The origin and meaning of this name is not known. — B. 



^ Martial describes the peculiar short, quick step of the "asturco," in 

 one of his Epigrams, B. xiv. Ep. 199, — B. 



56 " Alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio ;" it would not be possible to 

 give a literal translation, but we may judge of the meaning by the context. 

 — B. He clearly alludes to a movement like our canter. 



57 "Tolutim carpere incursus;" Hardouin explains this by a reference 

 to Plautus, Asinaria, A. iii, sc, 3, 1. 116. " Tolutim ni badizas " — " If you 

 do not amble, lifting up your feet." 



58 Aristotle, Hist. Anira. B. viii, c. 24, gives an account of the diseases 

 of horses, — B. 



^9 '• Genere veterino ;" so called, according to Hardouin, from " vec- 

 tura," "carriage," as applicable to horses, asses, and mules; Lemaire, vol. 

 iii. p. 497,— B. 



^ There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the exact amount of 



