על עבודת האדמה ט״וOn Husbandry 15
א׳
1[67] I have taken some pains to shew in what way a husbandman differs from a worker on the soil, and a shepherd from a feeder of cattle. There is a third head akin to those that have been dealt with, and of it we will now speak. For the lawgiver holds that a horseman differs greatly from a rider, not only when each is a man seated on a neighing animal but when each is a process of reasoning. Well then, he who being without skill in horsemanship is on a horse’s back is naturally called a rider.
ב׳
2[68] He has given himself over to an irrational and capricious beast, the consequence being that, wherever the creature goes, thither he must of absolute necessity be carried, and that the animal, not having caught sight in time of an opening in the ground or of some deep trench, is hurled headlong owing to the violence of his pace, and his rider is borne to destruction with him.
ג׳
3[69] The horseman, on the other hand, when he is about to mount, puts the bit in the horse’s mouth and then as he leaps on its back, seizes hold of its mane, and, though seeming to be borne along, himself in actual fact leads, as a pilot does, the creature that is carrying him. For the pilot also, while seeming to be led by the ship which he is steering, in reality leads it, and convoys it to the ports which he is anxious to reach.
ד׳
4[70] When the horse goes ahead in obedience to the rein, the horseman strokes him as though he were praising him, but when he gets too impetuous and exceeds the suitable pace, he uses force and pulls back his head strongly, so as to lessen his speed. If he goes on being refractory, he grips the bit and pulls his whole neck round the other way, so that he is forced to stop.
ה׳
5[71] To counter rearings and constant unruliness there are whips and spurs ready at hand and all the other contrivances with which breakers-in of colts are provided for punishing them. There is nothing to wonder at in all this, for when the horseman gets on the horse’s back, skill in horsemanship gets up with him, so that there are really two, a seated man on the horse and an expert, and they will naturally get the better of a single animal who is not only underneath them but is incapable of acquiring skill.