314 . THE MOUNTAIN. 



in the battle-field an object of terror. United as one with 

 man, he "descends to the harvest of death;" terrible is his 

 might, his "neck clothed with thunder." Imparting to his 

 rider a demoniac force and aspect of grandeur, he too revels 

 in the carnage, as if he had a taste for blood, and fed upon 

 flesh, instead of being an innocent eater of herbs, building his 

 tower of strength from the grass of the field. From the roar 

 of the battle he quietly bows his proud neck and becomes a 

 worker in the sod, and with the plow reproduces the blood 



"great and memorable action" or "labor" of Hercules was, "He 

 overcame Diomedes, the most cruel tyrant, of Thrace, who fed his 

 horses with the flesh of his guests. Hercules bound him, and threw 

 him to be eaten by those horses to which the tyrant had exposed 

 others." A lesson of wisdom this to profane and reckless handlers 

 of the horse. 



"Is not each fast young man, 



With his costly span, 



A veriest tyrant Diomedan? 



Feeding his mares on human ham 



Spilling dollars as fast he can, 



And going to at 2.20, slam ! 



By the wrath of Hercules or the whisky ram, (dram?") 



Beware! if thou art born "seized" of a violent and wicked rage 

 for horses, or mere lust of pleasure or gain in the horse, or fraudu- 

 lent conquests through the horse, (glory of the turf!) thou art a 

 King Diomedes, a "cruel tyrant of Thrace," and the revenge of the 

 strong Hercules of justice and compensation shall surely be, that 

 thou shalt be eaten up by thine own horses. (It is not distinctly 

 stated that Diomedes ever swapped horses, or maintained at any one 

 time a large number of stallions for the benefit of the farmers of 

 Thrace, but certainly both issues are included in the gist of this 

 Fable.)* 



* For the fate of horse-breeders in Pennsylvania, and the carelessness and in- 

 gratitude of farmers toward agricultural benefactors, see Robert Smith's work, 

 (" Earth Culture and its Consequences," chap, x., " The Draught Horse," p. 311,) for the 

 history of the cost, profit, and loss, of his four stallions, " Governor," " Common 

 Sense," " Boanerges," and " Hellgrimite." It appears from this disastrous experience, 

 that if the husbandmen of Thrace allowed their horse-loving king to be devoured by 

 his own stud, the fanners of a certain part of Pennsylvania were equally cruel, un- 

 grateful, and wicked toward Smith, in his benevolent efforts to improve their stock. 



