no word was directly spoken on the subject : but one felt them there as a huge , dim multitude of creatures pitifully childish and complacently arrogant ; timid , meticulous , unoriginating ; sluggish and ox-like , rooted to the earth almost in their indolence , prepared to try nothing , to risk nothing , to make no exertion , and capable of being raised into full life only by the unthanked and rebellious virtue of their females .