HISTORY. 441 



by our abuse of him, and a slave because Nature has formed 

 him with the instinct to resign his physical powers to our 

 service 1 His figure, his voice, his very patience and sub- 

 mission, have been the subject of ridicule in every age. He 

 has been regarded as the very emblem of stupidity, per- 

 verseness, and obstinacy, " tardus, piger, stupidus, stolidus." 

 With respect to his form, we say that this, like that of all 

 the Equine family, is indicative of activity. His ears indeed 

 are somewhat long for our taste ; but his ears, we should 

 remember, are the organs which in the desert enable him to 

 collect the distant sounds, and avoid the danger of his ene- 

 mies ; and his voice, which appears to us so inharmonious 

 and rude, is designed to resound through the wilderness he 

 inhabits, to warn his comrades of danger, and collect the 

 distant members of the troop. His submission and patience 

 do not surely demand excuse, yet even these are not the cha- 

 racteristics of his free-born state, but of that condition in 

 which Nature forms him to be useful to us. His stupidity 

 is merely inferred from his external aspect ; for his actions 

 do not exhibit a want of sagacity ; and with respect to his 

 obstinacy and perverseness, it may be said that these are 

 the result of our ungenerous use of his services, for, when 

 treated with kindness, he manifests neither indocility nor 

 want of attachment to his protector. 



This animal, though capable of enduring great cold, is the 

 creature of the temperate and warmer countries. It is to 

 them that his temperament is adapted, and his spirit seems 

 to droop when he is reared in the higher latitudes. The 

 Asses of the north of Europe cannot be compared with those 

 of Syria, Persia, and the countries of the Levant, nor with 

 those of Spain and the north of Africa. The Persians, though 

 a nation of horsemen, pay great attention to the rearing of 

 an animal so suited to a rocky and arid country. They have 

 their different breeds, some of which are very large, and 

 suited to draught and the bearing of burdens, and others 

 are light and fitted for" the saddle. Also, in Syria and Asia 



