But when once I am a horseman I shall be able to overhaul my man as far as I can see him, or come up with the beasts I chase and knock them over myself or else spear them as though they stood stock still, for when hunter and hunted are both of them racing, if they are only side by side, it is as good as though neither of them moved.

[17] And the creature I have always envied," he continued, "the centaur--if only he had the intelligence and forethought of a man, the adroit skill and the cunning hand, with the swiftness and strength of a horse, so as to overtake all that fled before him, and overthrow all that resisted--why, all these powers I shall collect and gather in my own person when once I am a rider.

[18] Forethought I intend to keep with my human wits, my hands can wield my weapons, and my horse's legs will follow up the foe, and my horse's rush overthrow him.
Only I shall not be tied and fettered to my steed, flesh of his flesh, and blood of his blood, like the old centaur.

[19] And that I count a great improvement on the breed, far better than being united to the animal, body and soul.

The old centaur, I imagine, must have been for ever in difficulties; as a horse, he could not use the wonderful inventions of man, and as a man, he could not enjoy the proper pleasures of a horse.