BOOK VI. XXXVI. 4-XXXVTI. 4 



putting the ass « in his way, they have lured on the 

 stallion which has thrown himself upon her, while he 

 is as it were inflamed and Winded by desire, they 

 take away the ass, which he had wanted, and put 

 him to the mare which he had scorned. 



XXXVII. There is another type of stallion which The breed- 

 is mad to gratify his lust and brings ruin on the stud (conUnued)! 

 unless cunning is used to restrain him, for he often 

 breaks his bonds and disturbs the pregnant mares 

 and, when he covers them, inflicts bites on their 

 necks and backs. To prevent this he is harnessed for 

 a time to a mill and tempers the fierceness of his 

 passion with hard work and is only put to the mare 

 when he has moderated his desires. Nor indeed 2 

 should a stallion of milder passions be allowed to 

 cover a mare under any other conditions, since it is 

 very important that the naturally slumbering 

 temperament of the animal should be stirred up and 

 excited by moderate exercise and that the male 

 should be put to the female when he has become 

 more animated, in order that the seed itself, in 

 virtue of some secret force, may be fashioned by 

 more active elements. 



A mule can be bred not only from a mare and a 3 

 donkey, but also from an ass and a horse, and further 

 from a wild ass and a mare. Indeed some authors, 

 who ought not to be passed over in silence, such 

 as Marcus Varro * and, before him, Dionysius <^ and 

 Mago, have related that in some regions of Africa 

 the production of offspring by mules is so far from 

 being considered a prodigy that their offspring is as 

 familiar to the inhabitants as those born from mares 

 are to us. There is, however, nothing in the way of 4 

 a mule superior either in disposition or in form to 



217 



