MulcKber (i. e. the Softener), a surname of VtLCAN, the Koman god of fire. This euphemistic name of Mulciber is frequently applied to him by the Latin poets.
Mulder, Isuael, a Jewish writer of note, and celc- bratcil also for his iiliilanthropic labors among his peo- ple, nourished in Holland in recent times. He died at Amsterdam Dec. 29, 1862. He contributed largely for the dissemination of culture among his co-religionists, and did everything in his power to elevate the Jewish people in their literary life. He also wrote much him- self, and among otlier works published a Hebrew-Ger- man dictionary and many essays on various subjects.
Mule O'm, pc'red, 2 Sam. xiii, 29, and often else- wliere; fem. fl'^'^iS, pirdah', 1 Kings i, 33, 38, 44; so called from their quick pace, or Irom carrying loads ; but lysn, re'kesh, Esth. viii, 10, 14, denotes a steed or nobler horse; "swift beast" in ]\Iic. i, 13; "dromedary" in 1 Kings iv, 28), a hybrid animal, the offspring of a horse and an ass (comp.Yarro, l)e re rustica, ii, 8; Pliny, viii, C9; Colum. vi, 30; yEsop, Fab. 140; /Elian, Anim. xii, 16; Strabo, v, 212). Of this animal there arc two kinds: one is the produce of a he-ass with a marc; the other the produce of a she-ass and a stallion. The for- mer is the mule, commonly so called. That in respect to swiftness the hybrid between the ass and the mare is much superior to the hybrid between the horse and the she- ass is abundantly attested (Aristot. Rhetor, iii, 2 ; Pliny,
MULE
Hist. Nat. viii, 44, etc.), which is in favor of Bochart's hypothesis that mules are meant by the CpRrns, A. V. "camels" of Esth. viii, 10, 14. See Camku A mule is smaller than a horse, and is a remarkably liardy, patient, obstinate, sure-footed animal, living ordinarily twice as long as a horse. These animals are mostly sterile ; as distinct species of animals do not freely in- termix their breed, and hybrid animals do not propa- gate their kind beyond at most a very few generations, and no real hybrid races are perpetuated. The claim of Anah, son of Zibeon, to the discovery of breeding mules, as asserted in the Talmuds, may be regarded as an ex- pression of national vanity (see Bochart, Ilieroz. i, 221 sq. ; Dougtaji A nal. i, 41 sq.). It rests on Gen. xxxvi, 24, where C^'^, yemim', is rendered mules; but it more probably means water — meaning the warm springs of Callirrhoe on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. See AxAii. There is no probability that the Hebrews bred mules, because it was expressly forbidden by the Mo- saic law to couple animals of different species (I^ev. xix, 19). But they were not forbidden to use them (Philo, 0pp. ii, 307); and we find under the monarchy that mules were common among the Hebrews (see also Jo- sephus, Life, 26), and they were probably known much earlier. Even the kings and most distinguished nobles were accustomed to ride upon mules (and apparently they only), although at first they used only male and female asses (2 Sam. xviii, 9; 1 Kings i, 33, 38, 44 ; xviii, 5 ; 2 Kings v, 17 ; 2 Chron. ix, 24 ; Psa. xxxii, 9). " It is an interesting fact that we do not read of mules till the time of David (as to the yemim, A. V. 'mules,' of Gen. xxxvi, 24, see above), just at the time when the Israelites were becoming well acquainted with horses. After this time horses and mules are in Scripture often mentioned together. After the first half of David's reign, as Michaelis {Comment, on Laws of Jfoses, ii, 477) observes, thej^ became all at once very common. In Ezra ii, 66, Neb. vii, 68, we read of two hundred and forty-five mules; in 2 Sam. xiii, 29, 'all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule.' Ab- salom rode on a mule in the battle of the wood of Ephra- im, at the time when the animal went away from un- der him, and so caused his death. ^lules were among the presents which were brought year by year to Sol- omon (1 Kings X, 25). From the above-cited Levitical law we must suppose that the mules were imported, un- less the Jews became subsequently less strict in their observance of the ceremonial injunctions, and bred their mules. We learn from Ezekiel (xxvii, 14) that the Tyrians, after the time of Solomon, were supplied with both horses and mules from Armenia (Togarmah), which country was celebrated for its good horses (see Strabo, xi, 13, 7, ed. Kramer; comp. also Xenoph. Anah. iv, 5, 36; Herod, vii, 40). Micliaelis conjectures that the Israelites first became accpiainted with mules in the war which David carried on with the king of Nisibis (Zo- bah) (2 Sam. viii, 3, 4). In Solomon's time it is pos- sible that mules from Egypt occasionally accompanied the horses which we know the king of Israel obtained from that country; for though the mule is not of fre- quent occurrence on the monuments of Egypt (Wilkin- son's Anc. Egypt, i, 386 [Lond. 1854]). yet it is not eas_v to believe that the Egyptians were not well acquainted with this animal. That a friendship existed between Solomon and Pharaoh is dear from I Kings ix, Ifi, as well as from the fact of Solomon having married the daughter of the King of ICgypt : but after Sbishak came to the throne a very different spirit ]irevailed between the two kingdoms; perhaps, therefore, from this date mules were ol)taincd from Armenia" ( .Smith). In later times (eventually, at all events') the Hebrews appear to have obtained the more valuable nudes from Assyria and Persia (Isa. Ixvi, 20; Esth. viii. 10, 14; comp. Ctes. Pers. 44; see Host, Marohk, p. 292). Wc do not read of mules at all in the X. T. ; perhaps, therefore, they had ceased to be imported. See House.