326 
plint's KATUEAL HISTUEY. [Book VIII. 
says that they commonly bring forth in Cappadocia ; but that 
the animal of that country is of a peculiar species. The 
mule is prevented from kicking by frequently giving it wine 
to drink.' ^ It is said in the works of many of the Greek 
writers, that from the union of a mule with a mare, the dwarf 
mule is produced, which they call " ginnus." From the union 
of the mare and the wild ass, when it has been domesticated, a 
mule is produced which is remarkably swift in running, and has 
extremely hard feet, and a thin body, while it has a spirit that 
is quite indomitable. The very best stallion of all, however, 
for this purpose, is one produced from a union of the wild ass 
and the female domesticated ass. The best wild asses are 
those of Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa glories in the wild 
foals which she produces, as excelling all others in flavour ; 
these are called lalisiones.""^^ It appears from some Athenian 
records, that a mule once lived to the age of eighty years. The 
people were greatly delighted with this animal, because on 
one occasion, when, on the building of a temple in the cita- 
del, it had been left behind on account of its age, it persisted 
in promoting the work by accompanying and assisting them ; 
in consequence of which a decree was passed, that the dealers 
in corn were not to drive it away from their sieves.®^ 
CHAP. 70. (45.)— OXEN ; THEIE GENERATION. 
We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height 
extraordinary event, B. iii. c. 153, and B. vii. c. 57. Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 
1. 66, and Suetonius, Life of Galba, c. 4, speak of a pregnant mule as a 
most extraordinary circumstance ; it seems to have given rise to a proverbial 
expression among the Romans. — B. 
''^ Cuvier remarks, that there is, in the deserts of Asia, a peculiar animal, 
with undivided hoofs, the Equus hemionus of naturalists, and the Dgiggetai 
of the Tartars, which bears a resemblance to our mules, but is not the pro- 
duce of the horse and the ass ; he refers us to Professor Pallas's account of 
it in Acad. Petrop. Nov. Com. vol, xix. p. 394 ; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461 ; 
Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 505. — B. 
Pliny repeats this advice in B. xxx. c. 53 ; it is, of course, entirely 
without foundation. — B. 
The epigram of Martial previously referred to bears this title. — B. 
See N. 69, p. 324. 
80 This temple was the Parthenon. This anecdote is mentioned by 
Arist. Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24 ; ^Han, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 49. — B. 
SI In which they probably exposed their samples for sale, as our farmers 
do in small bags. The phrase is cltto ribv rrjXiwVf in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. 
B. vi. c. 24, from whom Pliny takes the story. 
