Thou hast deceived thyself: thou art no better than any brainless ass that plods through life.'

For he is, by heaven, the most self-satisfied, and the shallowest, and the most coxcombical and utterly brainless ass!

Do you think the lives of hundreds of his men-andperhaps the fate of thousands-canbe entrusted to any brainless ass?

"I regard him as a brainless ass," he exclaimed.