BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 83 



Labour: but the black or white in this kind are condemned 

 for Work. Bulls have less and slenderer Horns than Cows 

 or Oxen. The Time to bring the Ox or Bull to the Yoke is 

 at three Years of Age ; after this it is too late, and before it 

 is too soon. A young Steer is soonest trained to draw, if he 

 be coupled with another that hath been taught already ; for 

 this Animal is our Companion in Labour and the Cultivation 

 of the Ground : and so highly regarded was the Ox by our 

 Forefathers, that we find it on Record that a Man was judi- 

 cially condemned on a given Day by the People of Rome, 

 because, to gratify a wanton Concubine of his, who said he 

 had not eaten any Tripe all the while he was in the Country, 

 he had killed an Ox, 1 although it was his own ; and for this 

 Fact he was banished, as if he had slain his own Manager of 

 Husbandry. There is a Majesty in the Aspect of a Bull ; 

 their Countenance stern, their Ears covered with stiff Hairs, 

 and their Horns standing as if they were ever demanding to 

 fight. But all his threatening appears in his Fore-feet ; be- 

 stirring himself now with one Foot, and then with another, 

 as his Anger bursts forth, flinging the Sand aloft into the Air: 

 and of all other Beasts he alone with such an Incitement 

 stirs up his Anger. We have seen them fight one another 

 for the Mastery ; and thus viewed to be swung round, in 

 their Fall to be caught up by the Horns, and to rise again : 

 when only lying along, to be raised from the Ground ; 

 and when they have run with a rapid Pace, in two-wheeled 

 Chariots, they have stood still suddenly, as if the Cha- 

 rioteers had caused them to stop. It was an Invention of 

 the Thessalians, with a Horse to gallop close to the Bull's 

 Horns, and kill it by twisting its Neck. The first that exhi- 

 bited this Show to the People of Rome, was Cce.sar the 

 Dictator. The Bull forms the most worthy and sumptuous 

 Offering of Reconciliation to the Gods. This Animal alone, 

 of all those that are long-tailed, when newly-born, hath not 

 the Tail of the full Measure, as others ; but it continueth to 



1 According to ^Elian, B. xii. c. 34, among the Phrygians death was 

 the regular punishment of any one who killed his plough ox. Wern. 

 Club. 



