488 
ON BREEDING. 
storing fertility to an exhausted soil, the people were obliged to 
be frequently changing their situation, in order to obtain a suf¬ 
ficiency for themselves and their numerous flocks and herds. 
But as it became known, they gradually forsook their acorns and 
the wild roots of the field, and applied themselves assiduously to 
the cultivation of the earth ; then, and not till then, did flourishing 
cities rise; and we find that those who were the most remarkable 
for their skill in husbandry were the most powerful among the 
nations of the world. 
The first conquests were made by people in the pastoral state: 
roaming shepherds, having the sword always in their hands, set 
out on expeditions which terminated in conquests over their more 
weak and indolent neighbours. The first armies were composed 
of infantry ; but as man extended his dominion over the inferior 
animals, the horse was soon employed with advantage in battle, 
and he soon became what he now is —the most noble associate of 
man. As the arts became invented, and the sciences made their 
appearance, the domestic animals soon became considerably im¬ 
proved ; for, like mankind, they appear to have attained to the 
highest perfection in those countries where the inhabitants are 
polished but not corrupt, and pressing forward in the career of 
military fame, policy, and arts. Examples of the degeneracy 
of domestic animals in proportion to the neglect of agriculture and 
the arts are numerous in the fallen empires of the world. What 
a difference do we perceive between the horses of modem Egypt 
and Egypt the mother of science, and abounding in wealth and 
fertility. One thousand six hundred and fifty years before the 
Christian sera, she possessed an army of 600,000 infantry, 24,000 
cavalry, and 27,000 armed chariots; at present she is indebted 
to her neighbours for both her men and horses. 
Contrast the proud and stately Roman charger, so inimitably 
described by Virgil, with the present miserable Italian breed. 
“ I Hi ardua cervix, 
Argutumque caput, brevis alvus, abesaque terga: 
Luxuriat que toris animosum pectus : ( * * 
* * ) turn, siqua sonum procul anna dedere, 
Stare loco nescit, micat auribus, et tremit artus; 
Collecturn que premens voluit sub naribus ignem. 
Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in armo.” 
Few countries held, at one time, their husbandmen in such 
high esteem as the Romans. Lucius Cincinnatus was found at 
the plough when he was called to the dictatorship; and Fabri - 
ciuSy Curius, and Camillas , were no less skilled in the science of 
husbandry than they were in the art of war. No nation ever rose 
to so high a pitch of grandeur as the Romans. What were the 
