INTRODUCTION, 
««6 
XIII 
In this manner* all animals are fitted by nature 
to fill up some peculiar station. The greatest 
animals are made for an inoffensive life* to range 
the plains and the forest without injuring others ; 
to live upon the productions of the earth* the grass 
of the fields* or the tender branches of trees. 
These* secure in their own strength* neither fly 
from any other quadrupeds* nor yet attack them : 
nature* to the greatest strength* has added the 
most gentle and harmless dispositions ; without 
this, those enormous creatures would be more than 
a match for all the rest of the creation ; for what 
devastation might not ensue* were the elephant* or 
the rhinoceros* or the buffalo* as fierce and as mis- 
chievous as the tiger or the rat ? In order to 
oppose these large animals* and in some measure 
to prevent their exuberance* there is a species of 
the carnivorous kind* of inferior strength indeed, 
but of greater activity and cunning. The lion and 
the tiger generally watch for the larger kinds of 
prey* attack them at some disadvantage* and com- 
monly jump upon them by surprise. * None of the 
carnivorous kinds* except the dog alone* will make 
a voluntary attack* but with the odds on their side. 
They are all cowards by nature* and usually catch 
their prey by a bound from some lurking place* 
seldom attempting to invade them openly ; for the 
larger beasts are too powerful for them* and the 
smaller too swift. 
A lion does not willingly attack a horse ; and 
then only when compelled by the keenest hunger 
