ON BREEDING. 
489 
Causes of so surprising and rapid a decline? A superficial en¬ 
quirer, who attends only to the event, will find them in the bra¬ 
very of a barbarous multitude, from the banks of the Danube and 
the Elbe ; but he who carries his researches farther, will find 
that this revolution was the necessary consequence of a neglect 
of agriculture and the sciences. The Romans attained to exten¬ 
sive empire by bravery and temperance, and lost it when effemi¬ 
nacy and luxury got possession of their minds : by the relaxation 
of their national spirit they became an easy conquest to a hardy 
race of northern barbarians. The Italian horses, even a few cen¬ 
turies ago, were held in high esteem, especially those of the 
Neapolitans. A^irgil took them for the model of his war-horse, 
as he took Naples for the model of the Elysian fields, it being 
the finest and the most fertile country in all Italy ; but, like 
every thing else in those mismanaged countries, horses have sad lv 
degenerated. The same cause led to the degeneracy of the do¬ 
mestic animals of Greece as that of Rome. Most nations re¬ 
semble one another on the eve of their downfall. In vain does 
the traveller who visits the shores of modern Greece look for 
the proud coursers that once drew the Spartan youths at the 
Olympic games. The poet could not now say, as was formerly 
said of the Grecian horses, that 
“ The winds themselves with their swiftness vie, 
In vain their airy pinions tly; 
So far in matchless speed thy coursers pass 
The sethereal author* of their race/' 
But we need not look so far back for examples ; even two cen¬ 
turies ago will suffice, as seen in the state of Spain in the six¬ 
teenth century, during the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella. At 
that period her soil was rich, her population numerous and in¬ 
dustrious ; and her Andalusian chargers , who proudly carried her 
chivalrous sons to the wars, were the theme and praise of every poet. 
At present her arts are destroyed, her population reduced to less 
than half of their former numbers ; and the few horses she retains 
are miserable specimens of their species. The cause here, too, 
was principally owing to the neglect of agriculture. The Spa¬ 
niards finding that they could make large fortunes in America 
and in the Indies, in a short time regarded the labours of the 
field as contemptible : they shook oft" what they called a tedious 
and toilsome labour, and emigrated to America in quest of gold. 
Multiplied emigrations soon diminished the population. Still 
one resource remained: there were 800,000Saracens, descendants 
of the ancient Moors, who were mostly employed in agriculture, 
and were prevented by their laws from emigrating; but Philip III, 
at the commencement of his reign, drove them out of the king- 
VOL. III. 3 V 
