Varro: RERVM RVSTICARVM DE AGRI CVLTURA

Viri magni nostri maiores non sine causa praeponebant rusticos Romanos urbanis. Ut ruri enim qui in villa vivunt ignaviores, quam qui in agro uersantur in aliquo opere faciendo, sic qui in oppido sederent, quam qui rura colerent, desidiosiores putabant. Itaque annum ita diviserunt, ut nonis modo diebus urbanas res usurparent, reliquis septem ut rura colerent.

Not without cause did our great men, our ancestors, prefer rustic Romans to urban ones. For just as, in the countryside, those who live in a villa are more slothful than those who are engaged in the field in doing some work, so they thought those who sat in the town more idle than those who cultivated the country. And so they divided the year in such a way that only on the market-days (the nundinal days) they would take up urban affairs, and on the remaining seven they would till the fields.

Quod dum servaverunt institutum, utrumque sunt consecuti, ut et cultura agros fecundissimos haberent et ipsi valetudine firmiores essent, ac ne Graecorum urbana desiderarent gymnasia. Quae nunc vix satis singula sunt, nec putant se habere villam, si non multis vocabulis retinniat Graecis, quom vocent particulatim loca, procoetona, palaestram, apodyterion, peristylon, ornithona, peripteron, oporothecen. Igitur quod nunc intra murum fere patres familiae correpserunt relictis falce et aratro et manus movere maluerunt in theatro ac circo, quam in segetibus ac vinetis, frumentum locamus qui nobis advehat, qui saturi fiamus ex Africa et Sardinia, et navibus vindemiam condimus ex insula Coa et Chia.

While they kept that institution, they achieved both: that by cultivation they had the most fecund fields, and that they themselves were stronger in health, and did not hanker after the urban gymnasia of the Greeks. These things now scarcely suffice even singly, nor do they think they have a villa if it does not ring with many Greek vocables, when they call the places in detail: procoetona, palaestra, apodyterion, peristylon, ornithona, peripteron, oporotheca. Therefore, because now for the most part the heads of households have crept within the wall, leaving the sickle and the plough, and have preferred to move their hands in the theater and the circus rather than in the grainfields and the vineyards, we farm out the grain so that someone may carry it in to us, that we may be sated from Africa and Sardinia, and in ships we store the vintage from the island of Cos and of Chios.

Itaque in qua terra culturam agri docuerunt pastores progeniem suam, qui condiderunt urbem, ibi contra progenies eorum propter avaritiam contra leges ex segetibus fecit prata, ignorantes non idem esse agri culturam et pastionem. Alius enim opilio et arator, nec, si possunt in agro pasci armenta, armentarius non aliud ac bubulcus. Armentum enim id quod in agro natum non creat, sed tollit dentibus; contra bos domitus causa fit ut commodius nascatur frumentum in segete et pabulum in novali.

Therefore, in the land where the shepherds who founded the city taught their progeny the cultivation of the field, there, on the contrary, their progeny, on account of avarice, against the laws, made meadows out of the cornfields, not knowing that agriculture and pasturage are not the same. For the shepherd and the ploughman are different; nor, even if herds can graze in the field, is the herdsman thereby anything other than an oxherd. For a herd does not create what is born in the field, but takes it away with its teeth; conversely, the tamed ox is the cause that grain is born more conveniently in the cornfield and fodder in the fallow.

Alia, inquam, ratio ac scientia coloni, alia pastoris: coloni ea quae agri cultura factum ut nascerentur e terra, contra pastoris ea quae nata e pecore. Quarum quoniam societas inter se magna, propterea quod pabulum in fundo compascere quam vendere plerumque magis expedit domino fundi et stercoratio ad fructus terrestres aptissima et maxume ad id pecus appositum, qui habet praedium, habere utramque debet disciplinam, et agri culturae et pecoris pascendi, et etiam villaticae pastionis. Ex ea enim quoque fructus tolli possunt non mediocres ex ornithonibus et leporariis et piscinis.

Another, I say, is the method and science of the farmer, another of the shepherd: the farmer’s is of those things which agriculture has caused to be born from the earth, whereas the shepherd’s is of those things born from the herd. And since the partnership between these is great—because it is more expedient, for the most part, for the owner of the estate to have the fodder grazed down on the property than to sell it, and because manuring is most apt for the fruits of the soil, and the herd is especially fitted to that—he who has a holding ought to possess both disciplines, both of agriculture and of the pasturing of cattle, and even of villatic pasturing. For from that too no mean returns can be taken, from poultry-yards and hare-warrens and fishponds.

E quis quoniam de agri cultura librum Fundaniae uxori propter eius fundum feci, tibi, Niger Turrani noster, qui vehementer delectaris pecore, propterea quod te empturientem in campos Macros ad mercatum adducunt crebro pedes, quo facilius sumptibus multa poscentibus ministres, quod eo facilius faciam, quod et ipse pecuarias habui grandes, in Apulia oviarias et in Reatino equarias, de re pecuaria breviter ac summatim percurram ex sermonibus nostris collatis cum iis qui pecuarias habuerunt in Epiro magnas, tum cum piratico bello inter Delum et Siciliam Graeciae classibus praeessem. Incipiam hinc ***

And since from these causes I made a book on agriculture for my wife Fundania on account of her fundus, for you, Niger, our Turranius, who are vehemently delighted with livestock, for this reason that, hungry-to-buy, your feet often bring you to the Macros fields to market, so that you may the more easily minister to expenditures that demand much, which I shall the more easily do because I myself have had large pecuary enterprises—sheep-runs in Apulia and horse-breeding in the Reatine country—I will run through the matter of stock-raising briefly and summarily, from our conversations compared with those who had great pecuary operations in Epirus, then when, in the piratical war between Delos and Sicily, I was in command of the fleets of Greece. I shall begin from here ***

Cum Menates discessisset, Cossinius mihi, Nos te non dimittemus, inquit, antequam illa tria explicaris, quae coeperas nuper dicere, cum sumus interpellati. Quae tria? inquit Murrius, an ea quae mihi here dixisti de pastoricia re? Ista, inquit ille, quae coeperat hic disserere, quae esset origo, quae dignitas, quae ars *** Ego vero, inquam, dicam dumtaxat quod est historicon, de duabus rebus primis quae accepi, de origine et dignitate, de tertia parte, ubi est de arte, Scrofa suscipiet, ut semigraecis pastoribus dicam graece, hos per mou pollon ameinon.

When Menaetes had departed, Cossinius said to me, “We will not let you go before you explain those three things which you had lately begun to say, when we were interrupted.” “Which three?” said Murrius; “are they those which you told me yesterday about the pastoral matter?” “Those,” said he, “which he had begun to discuss—what the origin was, what the dignity, what the art ***” “For my part,” I said, “I will say only what is historical, about the first two things which I have received—about origin and dignity; as for the third part, where it is about the art, Scrofa will take it up, so that—to speak Greek to the semi-Greek shepherds—I may say, ‘these are far better than I.’”

Nam is magister C. Lucili Hirri, generi tui, cuius nobiles pecuariae in Bruttiis habentur. Sed haec ita a nobis accipietis, inquit Scrofa, ut vos, qui estis Epirotici pecuariae athletae, remuneremini nos ac quae scitis proferatis in medium; nemo enim omnia potest scire. Cum accepissem condicionem et meae partes essent primae, non quo non ego pecuarias in Italia habeam, sed non omnes qui habent citharam sunt citharoedi: Igitur, inquam, et homines et pecudes cum semper fuisse sit necesse natura — sive enim aliquod fuit principium generandi animalium, ut putavit Thales Milesius et Zeno Citieus, sive contra principium horum exstitit nullum, ut credidit Pythagoras Samius et Aristoteles Stagerites — necesse est humanae vitae ab summa memoria gradatim descendisse ad hanc aetatem, ut scribit Dicaearchus, et summum gradum fuisse naturalem, cum viverent homines ex his rebus, quae inviolata ultro ferret terra, ex hac vita in secundam descendisse pastoriciam, e feris atque agrestibus ut arboribus ac virgultis decerpendo glandem, arbutum, mora, poma colligerent ad usum, sic ex animalibus cum propter eandem utilitatem, quae possent, silvestria deprenderent ac concluderent et mansuescerent.

For he is the teacher of Gaius Lucilius Hirrus, your son-in-law, whose noble livestock-estates are held in the Bruttii. “But you will receive these matters from us,” said Scrofa, “on this condition: that you, who are Epirote athletes of stock-raising, recompense us and bring forth into the midst what you know; for no one can know everything.” When I had accepted the condition and my part was first—not that I do not have livestock-farms in Italy, but not all who have a cithara are citharodes—“Therefore,” I said, “since it is by nature necessary that both men and beasts have always existed—whether there was some beginning of the generating of animals, as Thales of Miletus and Zeno of Citium thought, or, on the contrary, no beginning of these existed, as Pythagoras the Samian and Aristotle the Stagirite believed—it is necessary that human life, from the highest memory, has gradually descended to this age, as Dicaearchus writes, and that the highest stage was natural, when men lived off those things which the earth, inviolate, would of its own accord bear; from this life they descended to the second, the pastoral, and from wild and rustic things, as from trees and shrubs, by plucking acorns, arbutus-berries, mulberries, apples, they gathered for use; so too from animals, because of the same utility, such as they could, they would catch the wild ones and pen them up, and they would become tame.”

In quis primum non sine causa putant oves assumptas et propter utilitatem et propter placiditatem; maxime enim hae natura quietae et aptissimae ad vitam hominum. Ad cibum enim lacte et caseum adhibitum, ad corpus vestitum et pelles adtulerunt. Tertio denique gradu a vita pastorali ad agri culturam descenderunt, in qua ex duobus gradibus superioribus retinuerunt multa, et quo descenderant, ibi processerunt longe, dum ad nos perveniret.

Among which, first they think sheep were assumed not without cause, both on account of utility and on account of placidity; for by nature these are quiet and most apt for the life of men. For for food, milk and cheese were employed; and for clothing the body, they supplied skins. In the third step, finally, they descended from pastoral life to agriculture, in which they retained many things from the two superior steps; and in that to which they had descended, there they advanced far, until it reached us.

Etiam nunc in locis multis genere pecudum ferarum sunt aliquot, ab ovibus, ut in Phrygia, ubi greges videntur complures, in Samothrace caprarum, quas Latine rotas appellant. Sunt enim in Italia circum Fiscellum et Tetricam montes multae. De subus nemini ignotum, nisi qui apros non putat sues vocari.

Even now in many places there are some wild breeds of herd-animals, beginning with sheep, as in Phrygia, where several flocks are seen; on Samothrace, of goats, which in Latin they call “rotas.” For in Italy, around the mountains Fiscellus and Tetricus, there are many. As to swine, it is unknown to no one, unless it be someone who does not think that boars are to be called pigs.

Boves perferi etiam nunc sunt multi in Dardania et Maedica et Thracia, asini feri in Phrygia et Lycaonia, equi feri in Hispania citeriore regionibus aliquot.

Very wild cattle are still numerous in Dardania and Maedica and Thrace, wild asses in Phrygia and Lycaonia, wild horses in Hither Spain in several regions.

Origo, quam dixi; dignitas, quam dicam. De antiquis illustrissimus quisque pastor erat, ut ostendit et Graeca et Latina lingua et veteres poetae, qui alios vocant polyarnas, alios polymelos, alios polybutas; qui ipsas pecudes propter caritatem aureas habuisse pelles tradiderunt, ut Argis, Atreus quam sibi Thyesten subduxe queritur; ut in Colchide ad Aeetam, ad cuius arietis pellem profecti regio genere dicuntur Argonautae; ut in Libya ad Hesperidas, unde aurea mala, id est secundum antiquam consuetudinem capras et oves, Hercules ex Africa in Graeciam exportavit. Ea enim a sua voce Graeci appellarunt mela.

Origin, as I have said; dignity, which I shall speak of. Among the ancients, each most illustrious man was a shepherd, as both the Greek and the Latin tongue and the old poets show, who call some polyarnas, others polymelos, others polybutas; who have handed down that the very flocks themselves, on account of their dearness (i.e., high value), had golden fleeces, as at Argos, the one which Atreus complains that Thyestes stole for himself; as in Colchis with Aeetes, to whose ram’s fleece the Argonauts are said to have set out in regal fashion; as in Libya to the Hesperides, whence the golden apples—that is, according to ancient custom, goats and sheep—Hercules carried from Africa into Greece. For the Greeks called these mela by their own word.

Nec multo secus nostri ab eadem voce, sed ab alia littera (vox earum non me, sed be sonare uidetur), oves belare vocem efferentes, e quo post balare dicunt extrita littera, ut in multis. Quod si apud antiquos non magnae dignitatis pecus esset, in caelo describendo astrologi non appellassent eorum vocabulis signa, quae non modo non dubitarunt ponere, sed etiam ab iis principibus duodecim signa multi numerant, ab ariete et tauro, cum ea praeponerent Apollini et Herculi. Ii enim dei ea secuntur, sed appellantur Gemini.

Nor much otherwise do our people, from the same voice but from another letter (their voice seems to sound not ‘me’ but ‘be’), sheep uttering the sound belare, whence afterward they say balare with a letter worn away, as in many cases. And if among the ancients the herd had not been of great dignity, in describing the heaven the astrologers would not have called the constellations by their vocables; which they not only did not hesitate to set, but also many number the 12 signs as beginning from these chiefs, from the ram and the bull, since they placed them before Apollo and Hercules. For those gods follow them, but are called the Twins.

Nec satis putarunt de duodecim signis sextam partem obtinere pecudum nomina, nisi adiecissent, ut quartam tenerent, capricornum. Praeterea a pecuariis addiderunt capram, haedos, canes. An non etiam item in mari terraque ab his regionibus notae, in mari, quod nominaverunt a capris Aegaeum pelagus, ad Syriam montem Taurum, in Sabinis Cantherium montem, Bosporum unum Thracium, alterum Cimmerium?

Nor did they think it enough that, out of the twelve signs, the names of herd-animals should obtain a sixth part, unless they added, so that they might hold a fourth, Capricorn. Moreover, by the herdsmen they added the she-goat, the kids, the dogs. Or do we not also likewise on sea and land have marks from these regions—at sea, in that they named from goats the Aegean sea; toward Syria, Mount Taurus; in the Sabine country, Mount Cantherius; the Bosporus, one Thracian, the other Cimmerian?

Nonne in terris multa, ut oppidum in Graecia Hippion Argos? Denique non Italia a vitulis, ut scribit Piso? Romanorum vero populum a pastoribus esse ortum quis non dicit?

Are there not many on earth, as, for example, the town in Greece Hippion Argos? And finally, is not Italy derived from calves, as Piso writes? But who does not say that the people of the Romans had their origin from shepherds?

Quis Faustulum nescit pastorem fuisse nutricium, qui Romulum et Remum educavit? Non ipsos quoque fuisse pastores obtinebit, quod Parilibus potissimum condidere urbem? Non idem, quod multa etiam nunc ex vetere instituto bubus et ovibus dicitur, et quod aes antiquissimum quod est flatum pecore est notatum, et quod, urbs cum condita est, tauro et vacca qua essent muri et portae definitum, et quod, populus Romanus cum lustratur suovitaurilibus, circumaguntur verres aries taurus, et quod nomina multa hebemus ab utroque pecore, a maiore et a minore — a minore Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius; sic a maiore Equitius, Taurius, Asinius — et idem cognomina adsignificare quod dicuntur, ut Anni Caprae, Statili Tauri, Pomponi Vituli, sic a pecudibus alia multa?

Who does not know that Faustulus was a nurturing shepherd, who brought up Romulus and Remus? Will it not likewise hold that they themselves were shepherds, since on the Parilia, most especially, they founded the city? Is it not the same, that many things even now, by ancient institution, are said and done with reference to oxen and sheep; and that the most ancient bronze that is coined is marked with cattle; and that, when the city was founded, by a bull and a cow it was defined where the walls and gates would be; and that, when the Roman people is lustrated with the suovetaurilia, a boar, a ram, a bull are driven around; and that we have many names from both kinds of herd-beast, the greater and the lesser — from the lesser, Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius; so from the greater, Equitius, Taurius, Asinius — and likewise that cognomina signify the very thing they are said to, as the Annii Caprae, the Statilii Tauri, the Pomponii Vituli, and thus many others from herd-animals?

Relicum est de scientia pastorali, de qua est dicendum, quod Scrofa noster, cui haec aetas defert rerum rusticarum omnium palmam, quo melius potest, dicet. Cum convertissent in eum ora omnes, Scrofa, Igitur, inquit, est scientia pecoris parandi ac pascendi, ut fructus quam possint maximi capiantur ex eo, a quibus ipsa pecunia nominata est; nam omnis pecuniae pecus fundamentum. Ea partes habet novem, discretas ter ternas, ut sit una de minoribus pecudibus, cuius genera tria, oves capra sus, altera de pecore maiore, in quo sunt item ad tres species natura discreti, boves asini equi.

It remains to speak about the pastoral science, about which it must be said that our Scrofa—whom this age awards the palm of all rustic affairs—will, as well as he can, speak. When all had turned their faces toward him, Scrofa said: Therefore, there is a science of preparing and pasturing herd/stock, so that the greatest fruits (returns) may be taken from it, from which money itself is named; for all money has cattle as its foundation. It has nine parts, divided three times into threes: one concerning the smaller stock, whose kinds are three—sheep, goat, swine; another concerning the greater stock, in which likewise they are by nature separated into three species—cattle, asses, horses.

Tertia pars est in pecuaria quae non parantur, ut ex iis capiatur fructus, sed propter eam aut ex ea sunt, muli canes pastores. Harum una quaeque in se generalis partis habet minimum novenas, quarum in pecore parando necessariae quattuor, alterae in pascendo totidem; praeterea communis una. Ita fiunt omnium partes minimum octoginta et una, et quidem necessariae nec parvae.

The third part in stock-raising is of those which are not procured so that profit may be taken from them, but are for its sake or arise from it: mules, dogs, shepherds. Each one of these, as a general part, contains within itself at least sets of nine, of which in procuring the herd four are necessary, and in pasturing likewise as many; besides, one is common. Thus the parts of all amount to at least 81, and indeed they are necessary and not small.

Primum ut bonum pares pecus, unum scire oportet, qua aetate quamque pecudem parare habereque expediat. Itaque in bubulo pecore minoris emitur annicula et supra decem annorum, quod a bima aut trima fructum ferre incipit neque longius post decimum annum procedit. Nam prima aetas omnis pecoris et extrema sterilis.

First, in order that you may get good stock, one thing must be known: at what age it is expedient to procure and to keep each head of livestock. And so in bovine stock a yearling and one over ten years old are bought at a lower price, because it begins to bear fruit from two or three years of age, and it does not go further beyond the tenth year. For the first age of all stock and the extreme are sterile.

E quattuor primis altera pars est cognitio formae unius cuiusque pecudis, qualis sit. Magni enim interest, cuius modi quaeque sit ad fructum. Ita potius bovem emunt cornibus nigrantibus quam albis, capram amplam quam parvam, sues procero corpore, capitibus ut sint parvis.

Of the first four, the second part is the cognition of the form of each single beast, what it is like. For it is of great interest of what mode each is for fruit. Thus they buy rather an ox with blackish horns than with white, a she-goat ample rather than small, swine with a tall body, with their heads being small.

Tertia pars est, quo sit seminio quaerendum. Hoc nomine enim asini Arcadici in Graecia nobilitati, in Italia Reatini, usque eo ut mea memoria asinus venierit sestertiis milibus sexaginta et unae quadrigae Romae constiterint quadringentis milibus. Quarta pars est de iure in parando, quem ad modum quamque pecudem emi oporteat civili iure.

Tertia pars is, where the breeding-stock is to be sought. Under this heading, indeed, the Arcadian asses in Greece have been made renowned, in Italy the Reatine, to such a degree that in my memory a donkey has sold for sixty thousand sesterces, and one quadriga at Rome has cost four hundred thousand. The fourth part is about the law in procuring, in what manner each head of cattle ought to be bought by civil law.

Quod enim alterius fuit, id ut fiat meum, necesse est aliquid intercedere, neque in omnibus satis est stipulatio aut solutio nummorum ad mutationem domini. In emptione alias stipulandum sanum esse, alias e sano pecore, alias neutrum.

For that which belonged to another, in order that it may become mine, it is necessary that something intervene; nor in all cases is a stipulation or the payment of money sufficient for a change of ownership. In a purchase, at times one must stipulate that it is sound, at times that it is from sound stock, at times neither.

Alterae partes quattuor sunt, cum iam emeris, observandae, de pastione, de fetura, de nutricatu, de sanitate. Pascendi primus locus qui est, eius ratio triplex, in qua regione quamque potissimum pascas et quando et qui, ut capras in montuosis potius locis fruticibus quam in herbidis campis, equas contra. Neque eadem loca aestiva et hiberna idonea omnibus ad pascendum.

The other four parts, once you have already bought, are to be observed: on pasturing, on breeding, on nurturing, on health. For pasturing, the first topic, its rationale is threefold: in which region you should most of all pasture each, and when, and by whom—so that you pasture goats in mountainous places with shrubs rather than in grassy fields, but mares the contrary. Nor are the same summer and winter places suitable for everyone for pasturing.

Itaque greges ovium longe abiguntur ex Apulia in Samnium aestiuatum atque ad publicanum profitentur, ne, si inscriptum pecus paverint, lege censoria committant. Muli e Rosea campestri aestate exiguntur in Burbures altos montes. Qui potissimum quaeque pecudum pascatur, habenda ratio, nec solum quod faeno fit satura equa aut bos, cum sues hoc vitent et quaerant glandem, sed quod hordeum et faba interdum sit quibusdam obiciendum et dandum bubus lupinum et lactariis medica et cytisum; praeterea quod ante admissuram diebus triginta arietibus ac tauris datur plus cibi, ut vires habeant, feminis bubus demitur, quod macescentes melius concipere dicuntur.

Therefore flocks of sheep are driven far from Apulia into Samnium to summer-pasture, and they make declaration to the publican, lest, if they feed inscribed livestock, they incur under the censorial law. The mules from the Rosian plain in summer are driven into the high Burbures mountains. Regard must be had as to what each kind of herd-beast is best pastured on, and not only that a mare or an ox is filled by hay, while swine avoid this and seek acorn, but that barley and bean are sometimes to be set before certain animals, and lupine to be given to oxen, and to the milkers medick and cytisus; moreover, that before mating, for thirty days, more food is given to rams and bulls, so that they may have strength, but is taken away from the female cattle, because they are said to conceive better when becoming lean.

Secunda pars est de fetura. Nunc appello feturam a conceptu ad partum; hi enim praegnationis primi et extremi fines. Quare primum videndum de admissione, quo quaeque tempore ut ineant facere oporteat.

The second part concerns breeding. Now I call breeding the span from conception to parturition; for these are the first and last limits of pregnancy. Therefore, first there must be consideration of admission, at what time each kind ought to be brought to mate.

Nam ut suillo pecori a favonio ad aequinoctium vernum putant aptum, sic ovillo ab arcturi occasu usque ad aquilae occasum. Praeterea habenda ratio, quanto antequam incipiat admissura fieri mares a feminis secretos habeant, quod fere in omnibus binis mensibus ante faciunt et armentarii et opiliones. Altera pars est, in fetura quae sint observanda, quod alia alio tempore parere solet.

For just as they think it apt for the swine-stock from Favonius to the vernal equinox, so for the sheep-stock from the setting of Arcturus up to the setting of the Eagle (Aquila). Moreover, a reckoning must be had of how long before the mating (admission) begins they should keep the males separate from the females, which both the herdsmen (armentarii) and the shepherds (opiliones) generally do in all cases two months beforehand. The second part is, what things are to be observed in breeding (feturā), because one kind is wont to give birth at one time, another at another.

Equa enim ventrem fert duodecim menses, vacca decem, ovis et capra quinos, sus quattuor. In fetura res incredibilis est in Hispania, sed est vera, quod in Lusitania ad oceanum in ea regione, ubi est oppidum Olisipo, monte Tagro quaedam e vento concipiunt certo tempore equae, ut his gallinae quoque solent, quarum ova hypenemia appellant. Sed ex his equis qui nati pulli, non plus triennium vivunt.

For the mare carries the womb for 12 months, the cow for 10, the sheep and the goat for 5 apiece, the sow for 4. In breeding there is an incredible thing in Hispania, yet it is true: that in Lusitania by the Ocean, in the region where the town Olisipo is, on Mount Tagrus certain mares conceive from the wind at a fixed time, as hens too are wont, whose eggs they call hypenemia. But the colts born from these mares live no more than 3 years.

Quae nata sunt matura et corda, ut pure et molliter stent videndum et ne obterantur. Dicuntur agni cordi, qui post tempus nascuntur ac remanserunt in volvis intimis *** vocant chorion, a quo cordi appellati. Tertia res est, in nutricatu quae observari oporteat, in quo quot diebus matris sugant mammam et id quo tempore et ubi; et si parum habet lactis mater, ut subiciat sub alterius mammam, qui appellantur subrumi, id est sub mamma.

Those which have been born full-term and cordi, one must see that they stand cleanly and softly, and that they not be trampled. Lambs are called cordi who are born after the due time and have remained in the innermost wombs, which they *** call the chorion, from which they are called cordi. The third matter is what ought to be observed in the nurturance: in it, for how many days they suck the mother’s teat, and at what time and where; and if the mother has too little milk, that one place them under another’s teat, who are called subrumi, that is, under the mamma (udder).

Antiquo enim vocabulo mamma rumis, ut opinor. Fere ad quattuor menses a mamma non diiunguntur agni, haedi tres, porci duo. E quis qui iam puri sunt ad sacrificium, ut immolentur, olim appellati sacres, quos appellat Plautus cum ait "quanti sunt porci sacres?" Sic boves altiles ad sacrificia publica saginati dicuntur opimi.

For by an ancient term the mamma is rumis, as I suppose. Generally lambs are not separated from the mamma for four months, kids for three, piglets for two. Of these, those who are already pure for sacrifice, to be immolated, were formerly called sacres—whom Plautus so names when he says, "how much are the sacred pigs?" Likewise, stall-fed oxen fattened for public sacrifices are called opimi.

Quarta pars est de sanitate, res multiplex ac necessaria, quod morbosum pecus est vitiosum, et quoniam non valet, saepe magna adficiuntur calamitate. Cuius scientiae genera duo, ut in homine, unum ad quae adhibendi medici, alterum quae ipse etiam pastor diligens mederi possit. Eius partes sunt tres.

The fourth part is about health, a manifold and necessary matter, because morbid livestock are defective, and since they are not well, they are often afflicted with great calamity. Of this science there are two kinds, as in man: one for which physicians are to be employed, the other those which even the diligent shepherd himself can remedy. Its parts are three.

Nam animadvertendum, quae cuiusque morbi sit causa, quaeque signa earum causarum sint, et quae quemque morbum ratio curandi sequi debeat. Fere morborum causae erunt, quod laborant propter aestus aut propter frigora, nec non etiam propter nimium laborem aut contra nullam exercitationem, aut si, cum exercueris, statim sine intervallo cibum aut potionem dederis. Signa autem sunt, ut eorum qui e labore febrem habent adapertum os umido spiritu crebro et corpore calido.

For it must be noted what the cause of each disease is, what the signs of those causes are, and what method of curing ought to follow each disease. Generally the causes of diseases will be that they suffer on account of heats or on account of colds, and indeed also on account of excessive labor or, conversely, no exercise, or if, when you have exercised, you at once, without interval, have given food or drink. The signs, moreover, are, for example, in those who have a fever from exertion: an open mouth, frequent moist breath, and a warm body.

Curatio autem, cum hic est morbus, haec: perfunditur aqua et perunguitur oleo et vino tepefacto, et item cibo sustinetur, et inicitur aliquid, ne frigus laedat; sitienti aqua tepida datur. Si hoc genus rebus non proficitur, demittitur sanguis, maxime e capite. Item ad alios morbos aliae causae et alia signa, in omni pecore quae scripta habere oportet magistrum pecoris.

As for the cure, when this disease is present, it is this: the animal is drenched with water and anointed with oil and wine made tepid, and likewise is sustained with food, and something is put on so that the cold may not injure; to the thirsty, tepid water is given. If by this sort of remedies no benefit is achieved, blood is let, especially from the head. Likewise, for other diseases there are other causes and other signs, which the master of the herd ought to have written down for all livestock.

Relinquitur nonum quod dixi, de numero, utriusque partis commune. Nam et qui parat pecus necesse est constituat numerum, quot greges et quantos sit pasturus, ne aut saltus desint aut supersint et ideo fructus dispereant. Praeterea scire oportet, in grege quot feminas habeat, quae parere possint, quot arietes, quot utriusque generis suboles, quot reiculae sint alienandae.

It remains, the ninth point which I said, about number, common to both parties. For he who prepares livestock must establish the number—how many flocks and how large he is going to pasture—lest either the pastures be lacking or be in excess and therefore the fruits perish. Moreover, one ought to know, in the flock how many females he has that can bear, how many rams, how many progeny of each kind, how many culls are to be alienated.

In alimoniis, si sunt plures nati, uti quidam faciunt, sequendum ut quosdam subducas, quae res facere solet ut reliqui melius crescant.

In the matter of alimentation, if several young are born, as some do, one should proceed to remove some, a practice which is wont to make the remainder grow better.

Vide, inquit Atticus, ne te fallat et novenae istae partes non exeant extra pecoris minoris ac maioris nomen. Quo pacto enim erunt in mulis et pastoribus novenae partes, ubi nec admissurae nec feturae observantur? In canibus enim video posse dici.

See to it, said Atticus, that it does not deceive you, and that those nine parts do not go beyond the name of small and large livestock. For how, indeed, will there be nine parts in mules and in shepherds, where neither matings nor breedings are observed? For in dogs I see it can be said.

Sed do etiam in hominibus posse novenarium retineri numerum, quod in hibernis habent in villis mulieres, quidam etiam in aestivis, et id pertinere putant, quo facilius ad greges pastores retineant, et puerperio familiam faciunt maiorem et rem pecuariam fructuosiorem. Sic, inquam, numerus non est ut sit ad amussim, ut non est, cum dicimus mille naves isse ad Troiam, centumirale esse iudicium Romae. Quare deme, si vis, duas res de mulis, admissuram et parturam.

But I grant also that among human beings the ninefold number can be retained, because in the winter-quarters they have women in the villas, certain men even in the summer-quarters; and they think that this pertains to keeping the shepherds more easily to the flocks, and by childbearing they make the family larger and the cattle-raising business more fruitful. Thus, I say, the number is not such as to be to the rule, just as it is not when we say that a thousand ships went to Troy, that the centumviral judicium at Rome exists. Wherefore subtract, if you wish, two things from mules: the covering and the bearing.

Vaccius, parturam? inquit, proinde ut non aliquotiens dicatur Romae peperisse mulam. Cui ego ut succinerem, subicio Magonem et Dionysium scribere, mula et equa cum conceperint, duodecimo mense parere.

Vaccius, “to give birth?” he says, as though it were not said at Rome not infrequently that a mule has given birth. To which, that I might chime in, I subjoin that Mago and Dionysius write that, when a she‑mule and a mare have conceived, they give birth in the twelfth month.

Quare non, si hic in Italia cum peperit mula sit portentum, adsentiri omnes terras. Neque enim hirundines et ciconiae, quae in Italia pariunt, in omnibus terris pariunt. Non scitis palmulas careotas Syrias parere in Iudaea, in Italia non posse?

Why then, if here in Italy when a mule has given birth it is a portent, should not all lands assent? For swallows and storks, which give birth in Italy, do not give birth in all lands. Do you not know that the little palms, the Syrian caryotas, bring forth in Judaea, but cannot in Italy?

Sed Scrofa, Si exigere mavis sine mulorum fetura et nutricatu numerum octoginta et unum, est qui expleas duplicem istam lacunam, quod extraordinariae fructum species duae accedunt magnae, quarum una est tonsura, quod oves ac capras detondent aut uellunt; altera, quae latius patet, de lacte et caseo, quam scriptores Graeci separatim tyropoiian appellaverunt ac scripserunt de ea re permulta.

But Scrofa, If you prefer to complete the reckoning to eighty-one without the breeding and the nurturing of mules, there is that by which you may fill that double gap, because two great species of extraordinary fruit (profit) accrue, of which one is the tonsure, in that they shear or pluck sheep and goats; the other, which lies more broadly, has to do with milk and cheese, which Greek writers have separately called tyropoïa, and they have written very many things about that matter.

II.

Sed quoniam nos nostrum pensum absolvimus ac limitata est pecuaria quaestio, nunc rursus vos reddite nobis, o Epirotae, de una quaque re, ut videamus, quid pastores a Pergamide Maledove potis sint. Atticus, qui tunc Titus Pomponius, nunc Quintus Caecilius cognomine eodem, Ego opinor, inquit, incipiam primus, quoniam in me videre coniecisse oculos, et dicam de primigenia pecuaria. E feris enim pecudibus primum dicis oves comprehensas ab hominibus ac mansuefactas.

But since we have discharged our task and the pastoral question has been delimited, now in turn do you render to us, O Epirotes, about each several matter, so that we may see what the shepherds from Pergamis or Malea are capable of. Atticus, who then [was] Titus Pomponius, now Quintus Caecilius with the same cognomen, “I, I suppose,” said he, “shall begin first, since I saw that you had cast your eyes upon me, and I shall speak about the primeval stock-raising. For from wild herd-animals, you say, first the sheep were apprehended by men and tamed.”

Has primum oportet bonas emere, quae ita ab aetate, si neque vetulae sunt neque merae agnae, quod alterae nondum, alterae iam non possunt dare fructum. Sed ea melior aetas, quam sequitur spes, quam ea quam mors. De forma ovem esse oportet corpore amplo, quae lana multa sit et molli, villis altis et densis toto corpore, maxime circum cervicem et collum, ventrem quoque ut habeat pilosum.

First one ought to buy them good: as to age, they should be neither aged nor mere lambs, since the one sort not yet, the other no longer can bear fruit (offspring). But that age is better which hope follows than that which death follows. As to form, a sheep ought to be ample-bodied, with much and soft wool, with high and dense locks over the whole body, especially around the neck and throat, and it should have the belly hairy as well.

Itaque quae id non habent, maiores nostri apicas appellabant ac reiciebant. Esse oportet cruribus humilibus; caudis observate ut sint in Italia prolixis, in Syria brevibus. In primis videndum ut boni seminis pecus habeas.

And so those which do not have this our ancestors called apicas and rejected. It ought to be low-legged; observe the tails to be long in Italy, short in Syria. Before all, you must see to it that you have a flock of good seed.

Id fere ex duabus rebus potest animadverti, ex forma et progenie: ex forma, si arietes sint fronte lana vestiti bene, tortis cornibus pronis ad rostrum, ravis oculis, lana opertis auribus, ampli, pectore et scapulis et clunibus latis, cauda lata et longa. Animadvertendum quoque lingua ne nigra aut varia sit, quod fere qui eam habent nigros aut varios procreant agnos. Ex progenie autem animadvertitur, si agnos procreant formosos.

This can generally be noticed from two things, from form and from progeny: from form, if the rams are well clothed with wool on the forehead, with twisted horns bent toward the snout, with gray eyes, with ears covered with wool, ample, with chest and shoulders and haunches broad, with the tail broad and long. It must also be observed that the tongue not be black or variegated, because those who have it beget black or variegated lambs. From progeny, moreover, it is observed, if they procreate handsome lambs.

In emptionibus iure utimur eo, quo lex praescripsit. In ea enim alii plura, alii pauciora excipiunt; quidam enim pretio facto in singulas oves, ut agni cordi duo pro una ove adnumerentur, et si quoi vetustate dentes absunt, item binae pro singulis ut procedant. De reliquo antiqua fere formula utuntur.

In purchases we use the law which the statute has prescribed. In it, indeed, some except more, others fewer; for certain persons, when a price has been set for individual sheep, stipulate that two late-born lambs be counted for one sheep, and that if any have teeth lacking through old age, likewise two of them go for each single one. For the rest, they use for the most part the ancient formula.

Cum emptor dixit "tanti sunt mi emptae?" Et ille respondit "sunt" et expromisit nummos, emptor stipulatur prisca formula sic,"illasce oves, qua de re agitur, sanas recte esse, uti pecus ovillum, quod recte sanum est extra luscam surdam minam, id est ventre glabro, neque de pecore morboso esse habereque recte licere, haec sic recte fieri spondesne?" Cum id factum est, tamen grex dominum non mutavit, nisi si est adnumeratum; nec non emptor pote ex empto vendito illum damnare, si non tradet, quamvis non solverit nummos, ut ille emptorem simili iudicio, si non reddit pretium.

When the buyer has said, "are they bought for me for that amount?" and the other answered "they are" and produced the coins, the buyer stipulates by the ancient formula thus: "these sheep here, which are the matter in question, are to be sound and right, as ovine cattle which is rightly sound, except for the defect called the ‘mina,’ that is, a hairless belly, and that they are not from a diseased flock, and that it is permitted to hold them rightly; do you promise that these things thus be rightly done?" When that has been done, nevertheless the flock did not change owner, unless there has been a counting out; and also the buyer can, by the action from purchase-and-sale, condemn him if he does not deliver, although he has not paid the coins, just as that man can [proceed against] the buyer by a similar judgment, if he does not return the price.

De alteris quattuor rebus deinceps dicam, de pastione, fetura, nutricatu, sanitate. Primum providendum ut totum annum recte pascantur intus et foris; stabula idoneo loco ut sint, ne ventosa, quae spectent magis ad orientem quam ad meridianum tempus. Ubi stent, solum oportet esse eruderatum et proclivum, ut everri facile possit ac fieri purum.

Of the other four matters I will speak in sequence: of pasturage, breeding, nursing, health. First, provision must be made that through the whole year they be properly pastured indoors and outdoors; that the stalls be in a suitable place, not windy, facing more toward the East than toward the meridian quarter. Where they stand, the ground ought to be hollowed out and sloping, so that it can be easily swept out and made clean.

Non enim solum ea uligo lanam corrumpit ovium, sed etiam ungulas, ac scabras fieri cogit. Cum aliquot dies steterunt, subicere oportet virgulta alia, quo mollius requiescant purioresque sint; libentius enim ita pascuntur. Faciendum quoque saepta secreta ab aliis, quo incientes secludere possis, item quo corpore aegro.

For not only does that dampness corrupt the wool of the sheep, but it also harms the hooves and compels them to become scabby. When they have stood for several days, it is proper to place other brushwood beneath, in order that they may rest more softly and be cleaner; for they graze more willingly thus. Pens also must be made, separate from the others, where you can seclude those in heat, likewise those with a sick body.

Haec magis ad villaticos greges animaduertenda. Contra illae in saltibus quae pascuntur et a tectis absunt longe, portant secum crates aut retia, quibus cohortes in solitudine faciant, ceteraque utensilia. Longe enim et late in diversis locis pasci solent, ut multa milia absint saepe hibernae pastiones ab aestivis.

These things are to be noticed more with regard to villatic flocks. Conversely, those which are pastured in the forest-pastures and are far from roofs, carry with them hurdles or nets, with which they make enclosures in solitude, and the other utensils. For they are wont to graze far and wide in diverse places, so that the winter pastures are often many miles distant from the summer ones.

Ego vero scio, inquam; nam mihi greges in Apulia hibernabant, qui in Reatinis montibus aestivabant, cum inter haec bina loca, ut iugum continet sirpiculos, sic calles publicae distantes pastiones. Eaeque ibi, ubi pascuntur in eadem regione, tamen temporibus distinguntur, aestate quod cum prima luce exeunt pastum, propterea quod tunc herba roscida meridianam, quae est aridior, iucunditate praestat. Sole exorto potum propellunt, ut redintegrantes rursus ad pastum alacriores faciant.

But indeed I know, I said; for my flocks used to hibernate in Apulia, which used to aestivate in the Reatine mountains, while between these two places, just as a yoke holds little twigs together, so the public drove-roads hold together far-separated pasturages. And those there, where they graze in the same region, nevertheless are distinguished by seasons: in summer they go out to pasture at first light, because then the dewy herbage surpasses the meridian, which is drier, in pleasantness. With the sun risen they drive them to drink, so that, redintegrating, they may make them more eager for pasture again.

Circiter meridianos aestus, dum defervescant, sub umbriferas rupes et arbores patulas subigunt, quoad refrigeratur. Aere vespertino rursus pascunt ad solis occasum. Ita pascere pecus oportet, ut averso sole agat; caput enim maxime ovis molle est.

About the meridian heats, while they cool down, they drive them under shade-bearing crags and spreading trees, until it is refrigerated. In the vespertine air they pasture again until sunset. Thus one ought to pasture the flock, so that it goes with the sun turned away; for the head of the sheep is especially soft.

Ab occasu parvo intervallo interposito ad bibendum appellunt et rursus pascunt, quoad contenebravit; iterum enim tum iucunditas in herba redintegrabit. Haec a uergiliarum exortu ad aequinoctium autumnale maxime observant. Quibus in locis messes sunt factae, inigere est utile duplici de causa: quod et caduca spica saturantur et obtritis stramentis et stercoratione faciunt in annum segetes meliores.

From sunset, with a small interval interposed, they drive them to drink, and they graze again until it has grown dark; for then again the pleasantness in the grass will be renewed. These things they especially observe from the rising of the Vergiliae to the autumnal equinox. In the places where the harvests have been made, it is useful for a twofold reason to drive them in: both because they are filled with the fallen ear, and because, with the straw crushed and by their manuring, they make the crops better for the next year.

Reliquae pastiones hiberno ac verno tempore hoc mutant, quod pruina iam exhalata propellunt in pabulum et pascunt diem totum ac meridiano tempore semel agere potum satis habent.

The remaining pasturings in the hibernal and vernal time change in this respect, that, with the frost now exhaled, they drive out to pabulum and graze the whole day, and at meridian time they consider it sufficient to bring them to drink once.

Quod ad pastiones attinet, haec fere sunt; quod ad feturam, quae dicam. Arietes, quibus sis usurus ad feturam, bimestri tempore ante secernendum et largius pabulo explendum. Cum redierunt ad stabula e pastu, hordeum si est datum, firmiores fiunt ad laborem sustinendum.

As regards pasturings, these are roughly it; as to breeding, here is what I shall say. The rams which you are going to use for breeding must be separated two months beforehand and filled up more liberally with fodder. When they have returned to the stables from pasture, if barley has been given, they become stronger for sustaining the exertion.

Tempus optimum ad admittendum ab arcturi occasu ad aquilae occasum, quod quae postea concipiuntur, fiunt vegrandes atque imbecillae. Ovis praegnas est diebus CL. Itaque fit partus exitu autumnali, cum aer est modice temperatus et primitus oritur herba imbribus primoribus evocata. Quam diu admissura fit, eadem aqua uti oportet, quod commutatio et lanam facit variam et corrumpit uterum.

The best time for admitting is from the setting of Arcturus to the setting of Aquila, because those conceived afterward turn out undersized and feeble. A ewe is pregnant for 150 days. And so the parturition happens at the autumnal close, when the air is moderately tempered and the grass first arises, called forth by the earliest rains. For as long as the admission for mating is done, one ought to use the same water, because a change both makes the wool variegated and corrupts the uterus.

Cum omnes conceperunt, rursus arietes secernendi, iam factis praegnatibus quod sunt molesti, obsunt. Neque pati oportet minores quam bimas saliri, quod neque natum ex his idoneum est, neque non ipsae fiunt deteriores; et non meliores quam trimae admissae. Deterrent ab saliendo, et fiscellas e iunco aliave qua re quod alligant ad naturam; commodius servantur, si secretas pascunt.

When all have conceived, the rams must again be separated, because, with them now made pregnant, they are troublesome and do harm. Nor ought one to allow ewes less than two years old to be mounted, since the offspring born from these is not suitable, and they themselves become worse; and it is no better to admit them than when they are three-year-olds. They are deterred from mounting also by little baskets of rush or of some other material which they tie to the genitals; they are kept more conveniently if they pasture them apart.

In nutricatu, cum parere coeperunt, inigunt in stabula, eaque habent ad eam rem seclusa, ibique nata recentia ad ignem prope ponunt, quoad convaluerunt. Biduum aut triduum retinent, dum adcognoscant matrem agni et pabulo se saturent. Deinde matres cum grege pastum prodeunt, retinent agnos, ad quos cum reductae ad vesperum, aluntur lacte et rursus discernuntur, ne noctu a matribus conculcentur.

In the nursing, when they have begun to give birth, they put them into the stalls, and they keep these secluded for that purpose, and there they set the newborn, just-born, near the fire until they have recovered strength. They keep them for two or three days, until the lambs acknowledge their mother and are sated with fodder. Then the mothers go forth with the flock to pasture, they hold back the lambs, and when the mothers are brought back toward evening to them, they are nourished with milk and again are separated, lest at night they be trampled by their mothers.

Hoc item faciunt mane, antequam matres in pabulum exeant, ut agni satulli fiant lacte. Circiter decem dies cum praeterierunt, palos offigunt et ad eos alligant libro aut qua alia re levi distantes, ne toto die cursantes inter se teneri delibent aliquid membrorum. Si ad matris mammam non accedet, admovere oportet et labra agni unguere buturo aut adipe suilla et olfacere labra lacte.

They do this likewise in the morning, before the mothers go out to pasture, so that the lambs may be well sated with milk. When about ten days have passed, they drive in stakes and tie them to these with liber (inner bark) or some other light material, set apart, lest, by running about all day among themselves, the tender ones rub off some part of their limbs. If it will not go to the mother’s teat, one ought to bring it up to it and smear the lamb’s lips with butter or swine-fat, and make the lips smell of milk.

Diebus post paucis obicere iis viciam molitam aut herbam teneram, antequam exeunt pastum et cum reverterunt. Et sic nutricantur, quoad facti sunt quadrimestres. Interea matres eorum iis temporibus non mulgent quidam; qui id melius, omnino perpetuo, quod et lanae plus ferunt et agnos plures.

After a few days, offer to them milled vetch or tender herb, before they go out to pasture and when they have returned. And thus they are nourished until they have become four months old. Meanwhile, at those times some do not milk their mothers; and they do better, altogether continually, because they yield both more wool and more lambs.

Cum depulsi sunt agni a matribus, diligentia adhibenda est, ne desiderio senescant. Itaque deliniendum in nutricatu pabuli bonitate et a frigore et aestu ne quid laboret curandum. Cum oblivione iam lactis non desiderat matrem, tum denique compellendum in gregem ovium.

When the lambs have been weaned from their mothers, diligence must be applied, lest from longing they waste away. Therefore they must be soothed in their nurture by the goodness of fodder, and care must be taken that they suffer nothing from cold and from heat. When, by oblivion of the milk, it no longer desires the mother, then at last it must be compelled into the flock of sheep.

Castrare oportet agnum non minorem quinque mensum, neque antequam calores aut frigora se fregerunt. Quos arietes summittere volunt, potissimum eligunt ex matribus, quae geminos parere solent. Pleraque similiter faciendum in ovibus pellitis, quae propter lanae bonitatem, ut sunt Tarentinae et Atticae, pellibus integuntur, ne lana inquinetur, quo minus vel infici recte possit vel lavari ac putari.

It is proper to castrate a lamb not less than five months old, nor before the heats or the colds have broken. The rams which they wish to put to the ewes they choose chiefly from mothers who are wont to bear twins. Most things must likewise be done in sheep clad in pelts, which, on account of the goodness of their wool—such as the Tarentine and the Attic—are covered with skins, lest the wool be soiled, whereby it might be less able either to be rightly dyed or to be washed and shorn.

Harum praesepia ac stabula ut sint pura maiorem adhibent diligentiam, quam hirtis. Itaque faciunt lapide strata, urina necubi in stabulo consistat. His quaecumque lubenter vescuntur, ut folia ficulnea et palea, vinacea, furfures, obiciuntur modice, ne parum aut nimium saturentur.

Of these, they apply greater diligence that the mangers and stalls be pure than for the shaggy ones. Therefore they make them paved with stone, so that urine may not settle anywhere in the stall. Whatever things they gladly feed on—such as fig-leaves and chaff, grape-pomace, bran—are set before them moderately, so that they be not under- or over-satiated.

Utrumque enim ad corpus alendum inimicum, ut maxime amicum cytisum et medica. Nam et pingues facit facillime et genit lacte.

For each extreme is inimical to nourishing the body, whereas cytisus and medick are most friendly. For they very easily make fat and engender milk.

De sanitate sunt multa; sed ea, ut dixi, in libro scripta magister pecoris habet, et quae opus ad medendum, portat secum. Relinquitur de numero, quem faciunt alii maiorem, alii minorem. Nulli enim huius moduli naturales.

About health there are many things; but these, as I said, the master of the flock has written in a book, and whatever is needed for medicining, he carries with him. There remains the matter of the number, which some make greater, others smaller. For none are naturally of this modulus.

Illud fere omnes in Epiro facimus, ne minus habeamus in centena soves hirtas singulos homines, in pellitas binos.

That practice almost all of us in Epirus follow, so that we may have not less than, in each hundred, for shaggy(-wool) sheep single men, for pelt-sheep pairs.

III.

Cui Cossinius, Quoniam satis balasti, inquit, o Faustule noster, accipe a me cum Homerico Melanthio cordo de capellis, et quem ad modum breviter oporteat dicere, disce. Qui caprinum gregem constituere vult, in eligendo animadvertat oportet primum aetatem, ut eam paret, quae iam ferre possit fructum, et de iis eam potius, quae diutius; novella enim quam vetus utilior. De forma uidendum ut sint firmae, magnae, corpus leve ut habeant, crebro pilo, nisi si glabrae sunt (duo enim genera earum); sub rostro duas ut mammulas pensiles habeant, quod eae fecundiores; ubere sint grandiore, ut et lac multum et pingue habeant pro portione.

To which Cossinius: Since you have bleated enough, said he, O our Faustulus, receive from me, with Homeric Melanthius at heart, about she-goats, and learn how it ought to be said briefly. He who wishes to establish a caprine flock must, in choosing, observe first the age, so that he procure one which can already bear fruit, and among those rather one which can do so for a longer time; for a young one is more useful than an old. As to the form, it must be seen that they be firm, large, that they have a light body, with hair thickly set, unless they are glabrous (for there are two kinds of them); that under the muzzle they have two pendulous mammules, because such are more fecund; that they have a larger udder, so that they may have much and fat milk in proportion.

Hircus molliori et potissimum pilo albo ac cervice et collo brevi, gurgulione longiore. Melior fit grex, si non est ex collectis comparatus, sed ex consuetis una. De seminio dico eadem, quae Atticus in ovibus; hoc aliter, ovium semen tardius esse, quo eae sint placidiores; contra caprile mobilius esse, de quarum uelocitate in Originum libro Cato scribit haec: "in Sauracti et Fiscello caprae ferae sunt, quae saliunt e saxo pedes plus sexagenos". Oves enim, quas pascimus, ortae sunt ab ovibus feris, sic quas alimus caprae a capris feris ortae, a quis propter Italiam Caprasia insula est nominata.

The he-goat should have a softer coat and preferably white, and a short nape and neck, with a longer throat-wattle. The flock turns out better if it is not put together from animals collected here and there by purchase, but from those accustomed together as one. About the breeding-stock I say the same things that Atticus says about sheep; this otherwise, that the seed of sheep is slower, whereby they are more placid; on the contrary, the caprine is more mobile—about whose swiftness Cato in the book Origins writes these things: “On Soracte and Fiscellus there are wild she-goats which leap from the rock more than sixty feet.” For the sheep we pasture are sprung from wild sheep, thus the she-goats we rear are sprung from wild he-goats, from which the island Caprasia by Italy is named.

De capris quod meliore semine eae quae bis pariant, ex his potissimum mares solent summitti ad admissuras. Quidam etiam dant operam ut ex insula Melia capras habeant, quod ibi maximi ac pulcherrimi existimantur fieri haedi.

Concerning goats: because those which bear twice have the better seed, from these especially the males are wont to be sent in to the matings. Some also take pains to have goats from the island Melia, because there the kids are esteemed to be produced very large and most beautiful.

De emptione aliter dico atque fit, quod capras sanas sanus nemo promittit; numquam enim sine febri sunt. Itaque stipulantur paucis exceptis verbis, ac Manilius scriptum reliquit sic: "illasce capras hodie recte esse et bibere posse habereque recte licere, haec spondesne?" De quibus admirandum illud, quod etiam Archelaus scribit: non ut reliqua animalia naribus, sed auribus spiritum ducere solere pastores curiosiores aliquot dicunt.

On purchase I speak otherwise than is the practice, because no sane man promises goats to be sound; for they are never without fever. Therefore they stipulate with a few excepted words, and Manilius left it written thus: “that these goats today are sound and able to drink, and that it is permitted to have them sound—do you promise these things?” Concerning which, this is a marvel, which Archelaus also writes: that, not like the other animals by the nostrils, but by the ears they are accustomed to draw breath, say several more-curious shepherds.

De alteris quattuor quod est de pastu, hoc dico: Stabulatur pecus melius, ad hibernos exortos si spectat, quod est alsiosum. Id, ut pleraque, lapide aut testa substerni oportet, caprile quo minus sit uliginosum ac lutulentum. Foris cum est pernoctandum, item in eandem partem caeli quae spectent saepta oportet substerni virgultis, ne oblinantur.

Concerning the other four, as regards pasture, this I say: the herd is better stabled, if it has regard to the hibernal onset, which is frosty. That place, as with most, ought to be underlaid with stone or tile, so that the goat-pen may be less swampy and muddy. When it is necessary to pass the night outside, likewise the enclosures that look toward the same quarter of the sky ought to be underlaid with brushwood, lest they be besmeared.

Non multo aliter tuendum hoc pecus in pastu atque ovillum, tamen habent sua propria quaedam, quod potius silvestribus saltibus delectantur quam pratis; studiose enim de agrestibus fruticibus pascuntur atque in locis cultis virgulta carpunt. Itaque a carpendo caprae nominatae. Ab hoc in lege locationis fundi excipi solet, ne colonus capra natum in fundo pascat.

Not much differently must this livestock be tended in pasture than the ovine, yet they have certain proper things of their own: they are rather delighted by woodland glades than by meadows; for they zealously feed on rustic shrubs and in cultivated places they pluck the brushwood. And so, from carpendō “to pluck,” the goats (caprae) are named. From this, in the law of leasing a farm (locatio fundi), it is regularly excepted, lest the tenant pasture goat-stock on the estate.

Harum enim dentes inimici sationi, quas etiam astrologi ita receperunt in caelum, ut extra lembum duodecim signorum excluserint; sunt duo haedi at capra non longe a tauro. Quod ad feturam pertinet, desistente autumno exigunt a grege in campo hircos in caprilia, item ut in arietibus dictum. Quae concepit, post quartum mensem reddit tempore verno.

For the teeth of these are enemies to sowing; and the astrologers have even so received them into the sky that they have excluded them outside the skiff of the twelve signs: there are two Kids and the she-goat not far from Taurus. As concerns breeding, with autumn ceasing they drive the he-goats from the herd in the field into the goat-pens, likewise as was said about the rams. She that has conceived, after the fourth month delivers in the springtime.

In nutricatu haedi, trimestres cum sunt facti, tum submittitur et in grege incipiunt esse. Quid dicam de earum sanitate, quae numquam sunt sanae? Nisi tamen illud unum: quaedam scripta habere magistros pecoris, quibus remediis utantur ad morbos quosdam earum ac vulneratum corpus, quod usu venit iis saepe, quod inter se cornibus pugnant atque in spinosis locis pascuntur.

In the nurture of kids, when they have become three months old, then they are put out and begin to be in the herd. What shall I say about their soundness, who are never sound? Unless, however, this one thing: certain writings record from masters of livestock what remedies they use for some of their diseases and for a wounded body—something that befalls them often in practice, because they fight among themselves with their horns and graze in thorny places.

Relinquitur de numero, qui in gregibus est minor caprino quam in ovillo, quod caprae lascivae et quae dispergant se; contra oves quae se congregent ac condensent in locum unum. Itaque in agro Gallico greges plures potius faciunt quam magnos, quod in magnis cito existat pestilentia, quae ad perniciem eum perducat. Satis magnum gregem putant esse circiter quinquagenas.

It remains to speak of the number, which in herds is smaller in caprine stock than in ovine, because goats are lascivious and tend to scatter themselves; by contrast, sheep congregate and condense into one place. Therefore in the Gallic countryside they make flocks more numerous rather than large, because in large ones pestilence quickly arises, which leads it to destruction. They think a sufficiently large flock is about fifty.

Quibus adsentiri putant id quod usu venit Gaberio, equiti Romano. Is enim cum in suburbano mille iugerum haberet et a caprario quodam, qui adduxit capellas ad urbem decem, sibi in dies singulos denarios singulos dare audisset, coegit mille caprarum, sperans se capturum de praedio in dies singulos denarium mille. Tantum enim fefellit, ut brevi omnes amiserit morbo.

To this they think one should assent, on account of what in practice befell Gaberius, a Roman eques. For when he had on his suburban estate a thousand iugera, and had heard from a certain goatherd, who had brought ten she-goats to the city, that he earned for himself single denarii on single days, he gathered a thousand goats, hoping that he would seize from the estate day by day a thousand denarii. So greatly, however, did he miscalculate, that in a short time he lost them all to disease.

Contra in Sallentinis et in Casinati ad centenas pascunt. De maribus et feminis idem fere discrimen, ut alii ad denas capras singulos parent hircos, ut ego; alii etiam ad quindecim, ut Menas; non nulli etiam, ut Murrius, ad viginti.

By contrast, in the Sallentine country and in the Casinate they pasture in hundreds. Concerning males and females the distinction is almost the same, that some assign single he-goats apiece to ten she-goats, as I; others even to fifteen, as Menas; and some, as Murrius, even to twenty.

IV.

Sed quis e portu potius Italico prodit ac de suillo pecore expedit? Tametsi Scrofam potissimum de ea re dicere oportere cognomen eius significat.Cui Tremelius, Ignorare, inquit, videre, cur appeller Scrofa. Itaque ut etiam hi propter te sciant, cognosce meam gentem suillum cognomen non habere, nec me esse ab Eumaeo ortum.

But who rather comes forth from the Italic port and expounds about the suine stock? Although his cognomen signifies that Scrofa ought most especially to speak about that matter. To this Tremelius said, “You seem to be ignorant why I am called Scrofa. And so that these men also, on your account, may know, learn that my gens does not have a suine cognomen, nor am I sprung from Eumaeus.”

Avus meus primum appellatus est Scrofa, qui quaestor cum esset Licinio Nervae praetori in Macedonia provincia relictus, qui praeesset exercitui, dum praetor rediret, hostes, arbitrati occasionem se habere victoriae, impressionem facere coeperunt in castra. Avos, cum cohortaretur milites ut caperent arma atque exirent contra, dixit celeriter se illos, ut scrofa porcos, disiecturum id quod fecit. Nam eo proelio hostes ita fudit ac fugavit, ut eo Nerva, praetor imperator sit appellatus, avus cognomen invenerit ut diceretur Scrofa.

My grandfather was first called “Scrofa” (“Sow”), who, when he was quaestor, with Licinius Nerva the praetor in the province of Macedonia, was left behind to be in command of the army while the praetor returned; the enemies, thinking they had an occasion for victory, began to make an assault upon the camp. My grandfather, while he was exhorting the soldiers to take up arms and go out against them, said that he would quickly scatter them, as a sow scatters pigs—which he did. For in that battle he so routed and put the enemies to flight that there Nerva, the praetor, was hailed imperator, and my grandfather acquired the cognomen so that he was called Scrofa.

Itaque proavos ac superiores de Tremeliis nemo appellatus Scrofa, nec minus septimus sum deinceps praetorius in gente nostra. Nec tamen defugio quin dicam quae scio de suillo pecore. Agri enim culturae ab initio fui studiosus, nec de pecore suillo mihi et vobis, magnis pecuariis, ea res non est communis.

Accordingly, none of my great‑grandfathers and earlier ancestors among the Tremelii was called Scrofa, nor am I any less than the seventh in succession to the praetorship in our gens. Nor, however, do I shrink from saying what I know about swine stock. For I have from the beginning been a devotee of agriculture, and, as to swine stock, that matter is common to me and to you, great stockmen.

Quis enim fundum colit nostrum, quin sues habeat, et qui non audierit patres nostros dicere ignavum et sumptuosum esse, qui succidiam in carnario suspenderit potius ab laniario quam e domestico fundo?

For who among us cultivates a farm without having swine, and who has not heard our fathers say that it is lazy and costly to have hung in the larder a side of pork from a butcher rather than from one’s own domestic estate?

Ergo qui suum gregem vult habere idoneum, eligere oportet primum bona aetate, secundo bona forma (ea est cum amplitudine membrorum, praeterquam pedibus capite), unicoloris potius quam varias. Cum haec eadem ut habeant verres videndum, tum utique sint cervicibus amplis. Boni seminis sues animadvertuntur a facie et progenie et regione caeli: a facie, si formosi sunt verris et scrofa; a progenie, si porcos multos pariunt; a regione, si potius ex his locis, ubi nascuntur amplae quam exiles, pararis.

Therefore, whoever wishes to have his herd idoneous must choose, first, for good age; second, for good form (this is when there is amplitude of the members, except in the feet and head); of one color rather than variegated. While it must be seen to that the boars have these same qualities, then assuredly that they be with ample necks. Swine of good seed are observed from the face, the progeny, and the region of the sky: from the face, if the boar and the sow are handsome; from the progeny, if they bear many piglets; from the region, if you procure them rather from those places where they are born ample rather than slender.

Emi solent sic: "illasce sues sanas esse habereque recte licere noxisque praestari neque de pecore morboso esse spondesne?" Quidam adiciunt perfunctas esse a febri et a foria.

They are wont to be bought thus: "Do you pledge that those swine are sound, and that it be lawful to have and hold them properly, and that they are warranted against harms, and that they are not from a diseased herd?" Some add that they have been freed from fever and from the flux.

In pastu locus huic pecori aptus uliginosus, quod delectatur non solum aqua sed etiam luto. Itaque ob eam rem aiunt lupos, cum sint nancti sues, trahere usque ad aquam, quod dentes fervorem carnis ferre nequeant. Hoc pecus alitur maxime glande, deinde faba et hordeo et cetero frumento, quae res non modo pinguitudinem efficiunt, se etiam carnis iucundum saporem.

In pasture the place apt for this herd is marshy, because it delights not only in water but also in mud. And so for that reason they say that wolves, when they have gotten hold of pigs, drag them all the way to the water, because their teeth cannot endure the fervor of the flesh. This herd is nourished mostly on acorns, then on beans and barley and other grain, which not only produce fatness, but also a pleasant savor of the meat.

Pastum exigunt aestate mane et, antequam aestus incipiat, subigunt in umbrosum locum, maxime ubi aqua sit; post meridiem rursus lenito fervore pascunt. Hiberno tempore non prius exigunt pastum, quam pruina evanuit ac colliquefacta est glacies. Ad feturam verres duobus mensibus ante secernendi.

In summer they drive them out to feed in the morning, and, before the heat begins, they bring them into a shady place, especially where water is; after midday, again, with the fervor abated, they pasture them. In the wintertime they do not drive them out to pasture before the hoarfrost has vanished and the ice has been liquefied. For breeding, the boars are to be separated two months beforehand.

Optimum ad admissuram tempus a favonio ad aequinoctium vernum; ita enim contingit ut aestate pariat. Quattuor enim menses est praegnans et tunc parit, cum pabulo abundat terra. Neque minores admittendae quam anniculae; melius viginti menses exspectare, ut bimae pariant.

The best time for mating is from the West-wind (Favonius) to the vernal equinox; for thus it happens that she brings forth in summer. For she is pregnant four months, and then gives birth when the earth abounds with fodder. Nor should any be admitted younger than yearlings; better to wait twenty months, so that they may bear as two-year-olds.

Cum coeperunt, id facere dicuntur usque ad septimum annum recte. Admissuras cum faciunt, prodigunt in lutosos limites ac lustra, ut uolutentur in luto, quae enim illorum requies, ut lavatio hominis. Cum omnes conceperunt, rursus segregant verres.

When they have begun, they are said to do that properly up to the 7th year. When they carry out the matings, they drive them out into muddy paths and lairs, so that they may wallow in the mud—for that is their rest, as a human’s lavation. When all have conceived, they again segregate the boars.

Verris octo mensum incipit salire, permanet ut id recte facere possit ad trimum, deinde it retro, quoad pervenit ad lanium. Hic enim conciliator suillae carnis datus populo.

The boar at eight months begins to leap, he continues so that he can do that rightly up to his third year; then it goes backward, until he arrives at the butcher. For this one is the purveyor of swine-flesh given to the people.

Sus graece dicitur hys, olim thys dictus ab illo verbo quod dicunt thyein, quod est immolare. Ab suillo enim pecore immolandi initium primum sumptum videtur, cuius vestigia, quod initiis Cereris porci immolantur, et quod initiis pacis, foedus cum feritur, porcus occiditur, et quod nuptiarum initio antiqui reges ac sublimes viri in Etruria in coniunctione nuptiali nova nupta et nouus maritus primum procum immolant. Prisci quoque Latini, etiam Graeci in Italia idem factitasse videntur.

A pig is called hys in Greek, formerly thys, from that verb which they call thyein, which is to immolate. For from swine-kind the very first inception of immolating seems to have been taken, whose vestiges are: that at the initiations of Ceres pigs are immolated; and that at the initiations of peace, when a pact is struck, a pig is killed; and that at the beginning of marriage, the ancient kings and lofty men in Etruria, in the nuptial conjunction, the new bride and the new husband immolate a pig first. The ancient Latins, and even the Greeks in Italy, seem likewise to have practiced the same.

Nam et nostrae mulieres, maxime nutrices, naturam qua feminae sunt in virginibus appellant porcum, et Graecae choeron, significantes esse dignum insigne nuptiarum. Suillum pecus donatum ab natura dicunt ad epulandum; itaque iis animam datam esse proinde ac salem, quae servaret carnem. E quis succidias Galli optimas et maximas facere consuerunt.

For even our women, especially nurses, call the nature by which they are female in maidens “a pig,” and Greek women “choeron,” signifying it to be a worthy emblem of nuptials. They say the swine-herd was bestowed by nature for feasting; and thus to them a soul was given, just like salt, to preserve the flesh. From these the Gauls have been accustomed to make the finest and largest sides of bacon.

Optimarum signum, quod etiam nunc quotannis e Gallia adportantur Romam pernae Comacinae et Cavarae et petasiones. De magnitudine Gallicarum succidiarum Cato scribit his verbis: "in Italia Insubres terna atque quaterna milia aulia succidia vere sus usque adeo pinguitudine crescere solet, ut se ipsa stans sustinere non possit neque progredi usquam. Itaque eas siquis quo traicere volt, in plaustrum imponit". In Hispania ulteriore in Lusitania sus cum esset occisus, Atilius Hispaniensis, minime mendax et multarum rerum peritus in doctrina, dicebat L. Volumnio senatori missam esse offulam cum duabus costis, quae penderet tres et viginti pondo, eiusque suis a cute ad os pedem et tres digitos fuisse.

A sign of their excellence is that even now each year Comacine and Cavarine hams and petasions are brought to Rome from Gaul. On the magnitude of Gallic bacon-sides Cato writes in these words: "Among the Insubres in Italy, three and even four thousand pounds of succidia, truly; the sow is wont to grow to such a degree of fatness that, standing, she cannot support herself, nor make progress anywhere. And so, if anyone wishes to carry them across to any place, he loads them into a wagon." In Further Spain, in Lusitania, when a hog had been slaughtered, Atilius the Spaniard, least mendacious and skilled in many matters in learning, said that a morsel had been sent to the senator L. Volumnius with two ribs, which weighed 23 pounds, and that its thickness from the skin to the bone was a foot and three fingers.

Cui ego, Non minus res admiranda cum mi esset dicta in Arcadia, scio me isse spectatum suem, quae prae pinguitudine carnis non modo surgere non posset, sed etiam ut in eius corpore sorex exesa carne nidum fecisset et peperisset mures. Hoc etiam in Venetia factum accepi.

To this I [said], No less a thing to be admired having been told to me in Arcadia, I know that I went to see a sow, which, by reason of the fatness of its flesh, not only was unable to rise, but even that, in its body, a shrew, the flesh having been eaten away, had made a nest and had borne mice. I have also received that this was done in Venetia.

Sus ad feturam quae sit fecunda, animadvertunt fere ex primo partu, quod non multum in reliquis mutat. In nutricatu, quam porculationem appellant, binis mensibus porcos sinunt cum matribus; secundo, cum iam pasci possunt, secernunt. Porci, qui nati hieme, fiunt propter frigora et quod matres aspernantur propter exiguitatem lactis, quod dentibus sauciantur propterea mammae.

They generally take note, from the first parturition, which sow is fecund for breeding, since it does not change much in the remaining ones. In the nursing, which they call porculation, for two months they allow the piglets to be with their mothers; afterwards, when they can already pasture, they separate them. Piglets that are born in winter turn out ill on account of the cold and because the mothers spurn them on account of the exiguity of milk—since the teats are wounded by the teeth.

Scrofa in sua quaeque hara suos alat oportet porcos, quod alienos non aspernatur et ideo, si conturbati sunt, in fetura fit deterior. Natura divisus earum annus bifariam, quod bis parit in anno: quaternis mensibus fert ventrem, binis nutricat. Haram facere oportet circiter trium pedum altam et latam amplius paulo, ea altitudine abs terra, ne, dum exilire velit praegnas, abortet.

A sow ought to rear her own pigs each in its own sty, because she does not spurn alien ones, and therefore, if they are mixed up, she becomes worse in breeding. Their year is by nature divided in two, since she bears twice in a year: she carries the womb for four months, and nurses for two. One ought to make the sty about three feet high and a little broader, at that elevation above the ground, lest, while a pregnant one wishes to leap out, she miscarry.

Altitudinis modus sit, ut subulcus facile circumspicere possit nequi porcellus a matre opprimatur, et ut facile purigare possit cubile. In haris ostium esse oportet et limen inferius altum palmipedale, ne porci, ex hara cum mater prodit, transilire possint. Quotienscumque haras subulcus purgat, totiens harenam inicere oportet, aut quid item quod exsugat umorem in singulas haras inicere debet; et cum peperit, largiore cibatu sustentare, quo facilius lac suppeditare possit.

Let the measure of height be such that the swineherd can easily look around so that no piglet be crushed by the mother, and so that he can easily purge the bedding. In the pens there ought to be a door, and the lower threshold a foot-and-handbreadth high, so that the pigs, when the mother goes out from the pen, cannot leap over. Whenever the swineherd cleans the pens, just so often he ought to cast in sand, or likewise something that sucks up moisture he ought to throw into each pen; and when she has given birth, he should sustain her with more generous feeding, whereby she may more easily supply milk.

Quibus hordei circiter binas libras aqua madefactas dare solent, quod quidam duplicant, ut sit mane et vesperi, si alia quae obiciant non habuerint. Cum porci depulsi sunt a mamma, a quibusdam delici appellantur neque iam lactantes dicuntur, qui a partu decimo die habentur puri, et ab eo appellantur ab antiquis sacres, quod tum ad sacrificium idonei dicuntur primum. Itaque aput Plautum in Menaechmis, cum insanum quem putat, ut pietur, in oppido Epidamno interrogat "quanti hic porci sunt sacres?" Si fundus ministrat, dari solent vinacea ac scopi ex uvis.

To these they are accustomed to give about two pounds of barley, soaked with water; some double this, so that there is a ration in the morning and in the evening, if they have not had other things to offer. When the piglets are driven off from the teat, by some they are called “delici,” and they are no longer called sucklings; and from the tenth day after birth they are held pure, and from that time they are called by the ancients “sacres,” because then for the first time they are said to be suitable for sacrifice. And so in Plautus’s Menaechmi, when he thinks a man mad, so that he may be expiated, in the town of Epidamnus he asks, “for how much are these pigs ‘sacres’?” If the farm provides it, they are wont to be given grape-marc and the broom-like stalks from the grapes.

Amisso nomine lactantes dicuntur nefrendes ab eo, quod nondum fabam frendere possunt, id est frangere. Porcus Graecum est nomen antiquum, sed obscuratum, quod nunc eum uocant choeron. In eorum partu scrofae bis die ut bibant curant lactis causa.

With the name having been dropped, the sucklings are called nefrendes from this, that they are not yet able to frendere a bean, that is, to break it. Porcus is an ancient Greek name, but obscured, since now they call it choeron. At their parturition, the sows take care to drink twice a day, for the sake of milk.

Parere dicunt oportere porcos, quot mammas habeat; si minus pariat, fructuariam idoneam non esse; si plures pariat, esse portentum. In quo illud antiquissimum fuisse scribitur, quod sus Aeneae Lavini triginta porcos peperit albos. Itaque quod portenderit factum, post tricesimum annum ut Lavinienses condiderint oppidum Albam.

They say that sows ought to bear as many piglets as they have teats; if she bears fewer, she is not suitable for a breeding female; if she bears more, it is a portent. In which matter it is written that the most ancient example was this: the sow of Aeneas at Lavinium bore thirty white piglets. And so, because of what it portended, it came to pass that after the thirtieth year the Lavinians founded the town Alba.

Huius suis ac porcorum etiam nunc vestigia apparent, quod et simulacra eorum ahenea etiam nunc in publico posita, et corpus matris ab sacerdotibus, quod in salsura fuerit, demonstratur. Nutricare octonos porcos parvulos primo possunt; incremento facto a peritis dimidia pars removeri solet, quod neque mater potest sufferre lac, neque congenerati alescendo roborari. A partu decem diebus proximis non producunt ex haris matrem, praeterquam potum.

The vestiges of this sow and of the pigs even now appear, since both their bronze effigies are even now set up in public, and the body of the mother, which has been in brine, is shown by the priests. They can nurse eight little piglets at first; once growth has advanced, it is customary for the skilled to remove half, because the mother cannot sustain them with milk, nor can the congenerates (littermates) be strengthened in their growth. From the birth, for the next ten days they do not lead the mother out of the sties, except for drinking.

Praeteritis decem diebus sinunt exire pastum in propincum locum villae, ut crebro reditu lacte alere possint porcos. Cum creverunt, patiuntur sequi matrem pastum domique secernunt a matribus ac seorsum pascunt, ut desiderium ferre possint parentis nutricis, quod decem diebus assecuntur. Subulcus debet consuefacere, omnia ut faciant ad bucinam.

After the ten days have passed, they allow the mother to go out to feed in a proximate place of the villa, so that by frequent return she may be able to nourish the piglets with milk. When they have grown, they allow them to follow the mother to pasture, and at home they separate them from the mothers and pasture them apart, so that they can bear the longing for the nursing parent, which they achieve in ten days. The swineherd ought to habituate them to do everything at the buccina (trumpet).

Primo cum incluserunt, cum bucinatum est, aperiunt, ut exire possint in eum locum, ubi hordeum fusum in longitudine. Sic enim minus disperit, quam si in acervo positum, et plures facilius accedunt. Ideo ad bucinam convenire dicuntur, ut silvestri loco dispersi ne dispereant.

First, when they have shut them in, when the buccina has been sounded, they open, so that they may be able to go out into that place where barley has been strewn in a long line. For thus less is lost than if it were set in a heap, and more of them can approach more easily. Therefore they are said to convene at the buccina, so that, scattered in the sylvan place, they may not perish.

Castrantur verres commodissime anniculi, utique ne minores quam semestres; quo facto nomen mutant atque e verribus dicuntur maiales. De sanitate suum unum modo exempli causa dicam: porcis lactentibus si scrofa lac non potest suppeditare, triticum frictum dari oportet (crudum enim solvit alvom) vel hordeum obici ex aqua, quoad fiant trimestres. De numero in centum sues decem verres satis esse putant; quidam etiam hinc demunt.

Boars are most commodiously castrated as yearlings—certainly not younger than half‑year‑olds; this done, they change name and from being boars are called maiales. About the health of swine I will say only one thing by way of example: for suckling piglets, if the sow cannot supply milk, parched wheat ought to be given (for raw loosens the belly), or barley should be thrown in out of water (i.e., soaked), until they become three‑month‑olds. As to the number, for 100 sows they think 10 boars are enough; some even subtract from this.

Greges inaequabiles habent; sed ego modicum puto centenarium; aliquot maiores faciunt, ita ut ter quinquagenos habeant. Porcorum gregem alii duplicant, alii etiam maiorem faciunt. Minor grex quam maior minus sumptuosus, quod comites subulcus pauciores quaerit.

They have herds unequal in size; but I consider a hundred-head one moderate; some make larger ones, such that they have 150. The herd of swine some double, others make even larger. A smaller herd than a larger is less expensive, because the swineherd requires fewer companions.

Itaque gregis numerum pastor ab sua utilitate constituit, non ut quot verres habeat; id enim ab natura sumendum.

Therefore the herdsman sets the number of the herd from his own utility, not by how many boars he has; for that must be taken from nature.

Haec hic. At Quintus Lucienus senator, homo quamvis humanus ac iocosus, introiens, familiaris omnium nostrum, Synepirotae, inquit, chairete; Scrofam enim et Varronem nostrum, poimena laon, mane salutavi. Cum alius eum salutasset, alius conviciatus esset, qui tam sero venisset ad constitutum, Videbo iam vos, inquit, balatrones, et hoc adferam meum corium et flagra.

So much here. But Quintus Lucienus, a senator, a man although humane and jocose, coming in, a friend of us all, said, “Fellow table‑companions, greetings; for Scrofa and our Varro, shepherds of the people, I greeted this morning.” When one had saluted him, another had reviled him for having come so late to the appointment, he said, “I will look to you now, you buffoons, and for this I will bring my own hide and scourges.”

Tu vero, Murri, veni mi advocatus, dum asses solvo Laribus, si postea a me repetant, ut testimonium perhibere possis. Atticus Murrio, Narra isti, inquit, eadem, qui sermones sint habiti et quid reliqui sit, ut ad partes paratus veniat; nos interea secundum actum de maioribus adtexamus. In quo quidem, inquit Vaccius, meae partes, quoniam boves ibi.

You then, Murri, come as my advocate, while I pay asses to the Lares, if afterward they should reclaim it from me, so that you may be able to bear testimony. Atticus to Murrio: “Tell that fellow the same things—what conversations have been held and what remains—so that he may come prepared for his part; meanwhile let us weave in the second act about the ancestors.” “In which indeed,” said Vaccius, “my parts, since the oxen are there.”

Quare dicam, de bubulo pecore quam acceperim scientiam, ut, siquis quid ignorat, discat; siquis scit, nuncubi labar observet. Vide quid agas, inquam, Vacci. Nam bos in pecuaria maxima debet esse auctoritate, praesertim in Italia, quae a bubus nomen habere sit existimata.

Wherefore I will speak of the bovine herd, what knowledge I have received, so that, if anyone is ignorant, he may learn; if anyone knows, let him observe if I should slip anywhere. “See what you are about,” I say, Vaccius. For the ox, in animal husbandry, ought to be of the greatest authority—especially in Italy, which has been thought to have its very name from oxen.

Graecia enim antiqua, ut scribit Timaeus, tauros vocabat italos, a quorum multitudine et pulchritudine et fetu uitulorum Italiam dixerunt. Alii scripserunt, quod ex Sicilia Hercules persecutus sit eo nobilem taurum, qui diceretur italus. Hic socius hominum in rustico opere et Cereris minister, ab hoc antiqui manus ita abstineri voluerunt, ut capite sanxerint, siquis occidisset.

For ancient Greece, as Timaeus writes, used to call bulls “italos,” and from their multitude, pulchritude, and the progeny of calves they called the land Italy. Others have written that from Sicily Hercules pursued thither a noble bull, which was said to be called Italus. This associate of men in rustic work and minister of Ceres—so much did the ancients wish hands to be kept off from him that they sanctioned it with a capital penalty, if anyone had killed one.

Qua in re testis Attice, testis Peloponnesos. Nam ab hoc pecore Athenis Buzyges nobilitatus, Argis Bomagiros. Novi, inquit ille, maiestatem boum et ab his dici pleraque magna, ut busycon bupaeda bulimon boopin, uvam quoque bumammam.

In this matter Attica is witness, the Peloponnesus is witness. For by this cattle at Athens Buzyges was made notable, at Argos Bomagiros. “I know,” said he, “the majesty of oxen, and that from them very many great things are said, such as busycon, bupaeda, bulimon, boopin, and the grape too, bumamma.”

Praeterea scio hunc esse, in quem potissimum Iuppiter se convertit, cum exportavit per mare e Phoenice amans Europam; hunc esse, qui filios Neptuni a Menalippa servarit, ne in stabulo infantes grex boum obtereret; denique ex hoc putrefacto nasci dulcissimas apes, mellis matres, a quo eas Graeci bugenes appellant; et hunc Plautium locutum esse Latine quam Hirrium praetorem renuntiatum Romam in senatum scriptum habemus. Sed bono animo es, non minus satisfaciam tibi, quam qui Bugoniam scripsit.

Moreover I know this to be he, into whom Jupiter most especially converted himself, when he carried over across the sea from Phoenicia, loving Europa; this to be he who saved the sons of Neptune from Menalippa, lest in the stable the herd of oxen should crush the infants; finally that from this one, when putrefied, are born the sweetest bees, mothers of honey, from which the Greeks call them bugenes; and that this Plautius spoke Latin earlier than Hirrius, who was proclaimed praetor—we have it recorded in the Senate at Rome. But be of good courage, I shall satisfy you no less than he who wrote the Bugonia.

Primum in bubulo genere aetatis gradus dicuntur quattuor, prima vitulorum, secunda iuvencorum, tertia bovum novellorum, quarta vetulorum. Discernuntur in prima vitulus et vitula, in secunda iuvencus et iuvenca, in tertia et quarta taurus et vacca. Quae sterilis est vacca, taura appellata; quae praegnas, horda.

First, in the bovine kind the stages of age are said to be four: the first of calves, the second of young cattle, the third of newly-grown oxen, the fourth of old ones. They are distinguished thus: in the first, a bull-calf and a heifer-calf; in the second, a young bull and a heifer; in the third and fourth, a bull and a cow. A cow that is sterile is called a “taura”; one that is pregnant, a “horda.”

Ab eo in fastis dies hordicidia nominatur, quod tum hordae boves immolantur. Qui gregem armentorum emere vult, observare debet primum, ut sint eae pecudes aetate potius ad fructus ferendos integrae quam iam expartae; ut sint bene compositae, ut integris membris, oblongae, amplae, nigrantibus cornibus, latis frontibus, oculis magnis et nigris, pilosis auribus, compressis malis subsimae, ne gibberae, spina leviter remissa, apertis naribus, labris subnigris, cervicibus crassis ac longis, a collo palea demissa, corpore bene costato, latis umeris, bonis clunibus, codam profusam usque ad calces ut habeant, inferiorem partem frequentibus pilis subcrispam, cruribus potius minoribus rectis, genibus eminulis distantibus inter se, pedibus non latis, neque ingredientibus qui displudantur, nec cuius ungulae divaricent, et cuius ungues sint leves et pares, corium tactu non asperum ac durum, colore potissimum nigro, deinde robeo, tertio helvo, quarto albo; mollissimus enim hic, ut durissimus primus. De mediis duobus prior quam posterior in eo prior, utrique plures quam nigri et albi.

From this the day is named Hordicidia in the Fasti, because then pregnant cows are immolated. He who wishes to buy a herd of cattle ought to observe first, that those beasts be in age rather intact for bearing produce than already delivered; that they be well composed, with sound limbs, oblong, ample, with blackish horns, broad foreheads, large and black eyes, hairy ears, with compressed cheeks and somewhat snub-nosed; not hunchbacked, the spine gently relaxed, nostrils open, lips somewhat blackish, necks thick and long, with the dewlap let down from the neck, the body well-ribbed, shoulders broad, haunches good, that they have the tail extended down to the heels, the lower part thickly haired and somewhat crisped, legs rather shorter and straight, the knees slightly prominent and set apart from each other, feet not broad, and in walking not splaying out, nor having hooves that spread apart, and whose hoof-nails are smooth and equal; the hide to the touch not rough and hard; in color preferably black, then red, third dun, fourth white; for this last is the softest, as the first is the hardest. Of the two middle ones, the former rather than the latter has the priority in this respect, and both are more numerous than the black and the white.

Neque non praeterea ut mares seminis boni sint, quorum et forma est spectanda, et qui ex his orti sunt respondent ad parentum speciem. Et praeterea quibus regionibus nati sint refert; boni enim generis in Italia plerique Gallici ad opus, contra nugatorii Ligusci. Transmarini Epirotici non solum meliores totius Graeciae, de etiam quam Italiae.

Nor indeed, furthermore, that the males be of good seed; their form too is to be inspected, and that those sprung from them correspond to the appearance of the parents. And moreover, the regions in which they were born matter; for in Italy most of the Gallic stock are for work, whereas the Ligurians are nugatory. The transmarine Epirots are not only better than all Greece, but even than Italy.

Tametsi quidam de Italicis, quos propter amplitudinem praestare dicunt, victimas faciunt atque ad deorum servant supplicia, qui sine dubio ad res divinas propter dignitatem amplitudinis et coloris praeponendi. Quod eo magis fit, quod albi in Italia non tam frequentes quam in Thracia ad melana kolpon, ubi alio colore pauci. Eos cum emimus domitos, stipulamur sic: "illosce boves sanos esse noxisque praestari"; cum emimus indomitos, sic: "illosce iuvencos sanos recte deque pecore sano esse noxisque praestari spondesne?" Paulo verbosius haec, qui Manili actiones secuntur lanii, qui ad cultrum bovem emunt; qui ad altaria, hostiae sanitatem non solent stipulari.

Although some of the Italian ones, whom they say excel on account of amplitude, they make into victims and keep for supplications of the gods—who without doubt are to be preferred for divine matters because of the dignity of their amplitude and color. Which happens all the more because white ones in Italy are not so frequent as in Thrace at the Black Gulf, where there are few of another color. When we buy them tamed, we stipulate thus: "those oxen to be sound and to be warranted against harms"; when we buy them untamed, thus: "those young bulls to be sound, properly and from a sound herd, and to be warranted against harms—do you promise?" A little more verbose are these [forms] of the butchers who follow the Manilian actions, who buy an ox for the knife; those who [buy] for the altars are not accustomed to stipulate the soundness of the victim.

Pascuntur armenta commodissime in nemoribus, ubi virgulta et frons multa; hieme cum hibernant secundum mare, aestu abiguntur in montes frondosos. Propter feturam haec servare soleo. Ante admissuram mensem unum ne cibo et potione se impleant, quod existimantur facilius macrae concipere.

Herds are pastured most conveniently in groves, where there are many thickets and much foliage; in winter, when they winter along the sea‑coast, in the heat they are driven into leafy mountains. On account of breeding I am accustomed to observe these things. For one month before the admission (to the male), let them not fill themselves with food and drink, because they are thought to conceive more easily when lean.

Contra tauros duobus mensibus ante admissuram herba et palea ac faeno facio pleniores et a feminis secerno. Habeo tauros totidem, quot Atticus, ad matrices LXX duo, unum anniculum, alterum bimum. Haec secundum astri exortum facio, quod Graeci vocant lyran, fidem nostri.

As for the bulls, two months before the admission (mating) I make them fuller with herbage and chaff and hay, and I separate them from the females. I have as many bulls as Atticus: for the breeding females 72, one a yearling, the other two-year-old. I do these things according to the rising of the star, which the Greeks call lyra, our people fides.

Tum denique tauros in gregem redigo. Mas an femina sit concepta, significat descensu taurus, cum init, quod, si mas est, in dexteriorem partem abit; si femina, in sinisteriorem. Cur hoc fiat, vos videritis, inquit mihi, qui Aristotelem legitis.

Then at last I bring the bulls back into the herd. Whether a male or a female has been conceived, the bull signifies by his descent, when he mounts, because, if it is a male, he goes off into the right-hand part; if a female, into the left-hand. Why this happens, you may see to, he says to me, you who read Aristotle.

Non minores oportet inire bimas, ut trimae pariant, eo melius, si quadrimae. Pleraeque pariunt in decem annos, quaedam etiam plures. Maxime idoneum tempus ad concipiendum a delphini exortu usque ad dies quadraginta aut paulo plus.

It is not fitting that less than two‑year‑olds enter for mating, so that they may give birth at three years; all the better if at four. Most give birth for ten years, some even more. The most suitable time for conceiving is from the Dolphin’s rising up to forty days, or a little more.

Quae enim ita conceperunt, temperatissimo anni tempore pariunt; vaccae enim mensibus decem sunt praegnates. De quibus admirandum scriptum inveni, exemptis testiculis si statim admiseris taurum, concipere. Eas pasci oportet locis viridibus et aquosis.

For those that have conceived thus give birth at the most temperate time of the year; for cows are pregnant for ten months. About these I found it written as a thing to be wondered at: that, the testicles having been removed, if you immediately admit the bull, they conceive. They ought to be pastured in verdant and watery places.

Cavere oportet ne aut angustius stent aut feriantur aut concurrant. Itaque quod eas aestate tabani concitare solent et bestiolae quaedam minutae sub cauda ali, ne concitentur, aliqui solent includere saeptis. Iis substerni oportet frondem aliudve quid in cubilia, quo mollius conquiescant.

One must beware lest they either stand too narrowly or be struck or run together. And so, because in summer horseflies are wont to incite them, and certain minute little beasties under the tail, lest they be incited, some are accustomed to enclose them in pens. For them it is proper that fronds or something else be laid beneath in the bedding, whereby they may repose more softly.

Aestate ad aquam appellendum bis, hieme semel. Cum parere coeperunt, secundum stabula pabulum servari oportet integrum, quod egredientes degustare possint; fastidiosae enim fiunt. Et providendum, quo recipiunt se, ne frigidus locus sit; algor enim eas et famis macescere cogit.

In summer they ought to be brought to water twice, in winter once. When they have begun to calve, fodder ought to be kept intact beside the stalls, which they can taste as they go out; for they become fastidious. And provision must be made that the place to which they withdraw not be cold; for cold and hunger compel them to become emaciated.

In alimoniis armenticium pecus sic contuendum. Lactantes cum matribus ne cubent; obteruntur enim. Ad eas mane adigi oportet, et cum redierunt e pastu.

In feedings, the herd-stock is to be tended thus. The sucklings should not lie down with their mothers; for they are crushed. It is proper that they be driven to them in the morning, and when they have returned from pasture.

Cum creverunt vituli, levandae matres pabulo viridi obiciendo in praesepiis. Item his, ut fere in omnibus stabulis, lapides substernendi aut quid item, ne ungulae putrescant. Ab aequinoctio autumnali una pascuntur cum matribus.

When the calves have grown, the mothers are to be relieved by throwing green fodder into the mangers. Likewise for them, as in almost all stables, stones are to be laid beneath, or something of the kind, lest the hooves putrefy. From the autumnal equinox they are pastured together with their mothers.

Castrare non oportet ante bimatum, quod difficulter, si aliter feceris, se recipiunt; qui autem postea castrantur, duri et inutiles fiunt. Item ut in reliquis gregibus pecuariis dilectus quotannis habendus et reiculae reiciundae, quod locum occupant earum quae ferre possunt fructus. Siquae amisit vitulum, ei supponere oportet eos, quibus non satis praebent matres.

One ought not to castrate before two years of age, because, if you do otherwise, they recover themselves only with difficulty; but those who are castrated later become hard and unserviceable. Likewise, as in the remaining herds of livestock, a selection is to be held annually and the culls are to be rejected, because they occupy the place of those that can bear fruit. If any cow has lost her calf, it is proper to put to her those to whom their mothers do not furnish enough (milk).

Semestribus vitulis obiciunt furfures triticios et farinam hordeaceam et teneram herbam et ut bibant mane et vesperi curant. De sanitate sunt complura, quae exscripta de Magonis libris armentarium meum crebro ut aliquid legat curo. Numerus de tauris et vaccis sic habendus, ut in sexaginta unus sit anniculus, alter bimus.

To six-month-old calves they set before them wheat bran and barley flour and tender herbage, and they see to it that they drink in the morning and in the evening. Concerning health there are several points, which, transcribed from the books of Mago, I take care that my herdsman frequently reads. The number of bulls and cows is to be kept thus: for sixty, let one be a yearling, another a two-year-old.

Quidam habent aut minorem aut maiorem numerum; nam apud Atticum duo tauri in septuaginta matribus sunt. Numerum gregum alius facit alium, quidam centenarium modicum putant esse, ut ego. Atticus centum viginti habet, ut Lucienus.

Some have either a smaller or a larger number; for at Atticus’s there are two bulls among seventy mothers. One man makes one number of herds, another another; some think a hundred is moderate, as I do. Atticus has one hundred twenty, as does Lucienus.

VI.

Haec ille. At Murrius, qui, dum loquitur Vaccius, cum Lucieno redisset, Ego, inquit, de asinis potissimum dicam, quod sum Reatinus, ubi optimi et maximi fiunt, e quo seminio ego hic procreavi pullos et ipsis Arcadibus vendidi aliquotiens. Igitur asinorum gregem qui facere vult bonum, primum videndum ut mares feminasque bona aetate sumat, utrique ut quam diutissime fructum ferre possint; firmos, omnibus partibus honestos, corpore amplo, seminio bono, ex his locis, unde optumi exeunt, quod faciunt Peloponnesi cum potissimum eos ex Arcadia emant, in Italia ex agro Reatino.

These things he. But Murrius—who, while Vaccius was speaking, had returned with Lucienus—said, “I will speak chiefly about asses, because I am a Reatine, where the best and largest are produced; from which breeding-stock I here have begotten foals and have several times sold them to the Arcadians themselves. Therefore, whoever wishes to make a good herd of asses must first see that he takes males and females at a good age, so that both may be able to bear fruit as long as possible; strong, well-formed in all parts, with a large body, of good breeding, from those locales whence the best come forth—as the Peloponnesians do, since they buy them chiefly from Arcadia, and in Italy from the territory of Reate.”

Non enim, si murenae optimae flutae sunt in Sicilia et helops ad Rhodon, continuo hi pisces in omni mari similes nascuntur. Horum genera duo: unum ferum, quos vocant onagros, ut in Phrygia et Lycaonia sunt greges multi; alterum mansuetum, ut sunt in Italia omnes. Ad seminationem onagrus idoneus, quod et e fero fit mansuetus facile et e mansueto ferus numquam.

For not, if the best moray eels are produced in Sicily and the helops at Rhodes, are these fishes forthwith born similar in every sea. Of these there are two kinds: one feral, which they call onagers, as in Phrygia and Lycaonia there are many herds; the other tame, as in Italy all are. For propagation the onager is apt, because from wild he easily becomes tame, and from tame he never becomes wild.

Quod similes parentum genuntur, eligendi et mas et femina cum dignitate ut sit. In mercando item ut ceterae pecudes emptionibus et traditionibus dominum mutant, et de sanitate ac noxa solet caveri. Commode pascuntur farre et furfuribus hordeaceis.

Since offspring are born like their parents, both the male and the female must be selected so that each be with dignity (of good quality). In marketing likewise, as other cattle, they change owner by purchases and deliveries, and it is customary to take precautions concerning health and noxa (liability for damage). They are conveniently fed on far (spelt) and barley bran.

Admittuntur ante solstitium, ut eodem tempore alterius anni pariant; duodecimo enim mense conceptum semen reddunt. Praegnates opere levant; venter enim labore nationem reddit deteriorem. Marem non deiungunt ab opere, quod remissione laboris fit deterior.

They are put to the male before the solstice, so that at the same time of the following year they may give birth; for in the twelfth month they deliver what was conceived. The pregnant females are relieved from work; for the womb, by labor, renders the stock worse. They do not separate the male from work, because by a remission of labor he becomes worse.

In partu eadem fere observant, quae in equis. Secundum partum pullos anno non removent a matre. Proximo anno noctibus patiuntur esse cum his et leniter capistris aliave qua re habent vinctos.

In parturition they observe nearly the same things as with horses. After the birth they do not remove the colts from the mother for a year. In the next year they allow them to be with them at nights, and they keep them gently bound with halters or with some other device.

Tertio anno domare incipiunt ad eas res, ad quas quisque eos vult habere in usu. Relinquitur de numero, quorum greges non sane fiunt, nisi ex eis qui onera portant, ideo quod plerique diducuntur ad molas aut ad agri culturam, ubi quid vehendum est, aut etiam ad arandum, ubi levis est terra, ut in Campania. Greges fiunt fere mercatorum, ut eorum qui e Brundisino aut Apulia asellis dossuariis comportant ad mare oleum aut vinum itemque frumentum aut quid aliud.

In the third year they begin to break them in for those tasks for which each person wishes to have them in use. As to their number, it remains to say that herds are hardly formed except from those that carry loads, for the reason that the majority are drawn off to mills or to agriculture, where something needs to be conveyed, or even to plowing where the soil is light, as in Campania. Herds belong for the most part to merchants, for example to those who from the Brundisian region or from Apulia, with pack-asses, transport to the sea oil or wine and likewise grain or anything else.

VII.

Lucienus: Ego quoque adveniens aperiam carceres, inquit, et equos emittere incipiam, nec solum mares, quos admissarios habeo, ut Atticus, singulos in feminas denas. E quis feminas Q. Modius Equiculus, vir fortissimus, etiam patre militari, iuxta ac mares habere solebat. Horum equorum et equarum greges qui habere voluerunt, ut habeant aliqui in Peloponneso et in Apulia, primum spectare oportet aetatem, quam praecipiunt sic.

Lucienus: I too, on arriving, will open the stalls, he says, and begin to let out the horses, and not only the males, which I have as studs (admissaries), like Atticus, one apiece to ten females. Of these females Q. Modius Equiculus, a most brave man, with a military father as well, was accustomed to have them just as the males. Those who have wished to have herds of these horses and mares, as some have in the Peloponnese and in Apulia, must first look to the age, which they prescribe thus.

Videmus ne sint minores trimae, maiores decem annorum. Aetas cognoscitur et equorum et fere omnium qui ungulas indivisas habent et etiam cornutarum, quod equus triginta mensibus primum dentes medios dicitur amittere, duo superiores, totidem inferiores. Incipientes quartum agere annum itidem eiciunt et totidem eiciunt proxumos eorum quos amiserunt, et incipiunt nasci, quos vocant columellares.

We see to it that they be not less than three years old, nor more than ten years. The age is recognized both in horses and in almost all that have undivided hoofs, and even in the horned animals, because the horse at thirty months is said first to lose the middle teeth, two upper and just as many lower. As they begin to enter upon the fourth year, they likewise shed, and they shed just as many next to those which they have lost, and there begin to erupt those which they call columellary (teeth).

Quinto anno incipiente item eodem modo amittere binos, cum cavos habeat tum renascentes, ei sexto anno impleri, septumo omnes habere solet renatos et completos. Hoc maiores qui sunt, intellegi negant posse, praeterquam cum dentes sint facti brocchi et supercilia cana et sub ea lacunae, ex observatu dicunt eum equom habere annos sedecim. De forma esse oportet magnitudine modica, quod nec vastos nec minutos decet esse, equas clunibus ac ventribus latis.

With the fifth year beginning, likewise in the same way he is wont to lose two, having both the cavities and the renascent ones; in the sixth year these are filled in, and by the seventh he usually has them all renewed and complete. The elders deny that this can be understood, except when the teeth have become buck‑toothed, and the supercilia are gray, and beneath them are lacunae; from observation they say that such a horse has sixteen years. As to form, it ought to be of moderate magnitude, since it is not seemly that they be either vast or minute; the mares should have broad rumps and bellies.

Equos, ad admissuram quos velis habere, legere oportet amplo corpore, formosos, nulla parte corporis inter se non congruenti. Qualis futurus sit equus, e pullo coniectari potest: si caput habet non magnum nec membris confusis si est, oculis nigris, naribus non angustis, auribus applicatis, iuba crebra, fusca, subcrispa subtenuibus saetis, inplicata in dexteriorem partem cervicis, pectus latum at plenum, umeris latis, ventre modico, lumbis deorsum versus pressis, scapulis latis, spina maxime duplici, si minus, non exstanti, coda ampla subcrispa, cruribus rectis aequalibus intro versus potius figuratis, genibus rutundis ne magnis, ungulis duris; toto corpore ut habeat venas, quae animadverti possint, quod qui huiusce modi sit, cum est aeger, ad medendum appositus. De stirpe magni interest qua sint, quod genera sunt multa.

The horses that you wish to keep for covering should be selected with an ample body, well-formed, with no part of the body incongruent with the rest. What sort of horse he will be can be conjectured from the foal: if he has a head not large, if his limbs are not confused; with black eyes, nostrils not narrow, ears lying close; a mane thick, dusky, somewhat crisped with fine hairs, entwined to the right-hand side of the neck; a chest broad yet full, shoulders broad, a moderate belly, loins pressed downward, shoulder-blades broad; a spine very much double—if not, at least not protruding; a tail ample, somewhat crisped; legs straight and equal, shaped rather turned inward; knees rotund, not large; hooves hard; and over the whole body veins that can be observed, because one of this sort, when he is sick, is apt for being treated. As to stock, it greatly matters of what kind they are, since there are many breeds.

Itaque ab hoc nobiles a regionibus dicuntur, in Graecia Thessalici equi a Thessalia, in Italia ab Apulia Apuli, ab Rosea Roseani. Equi boni futuri signa, si cum gregalibus in pabulo contendit in currendo aliave qua re, quo potior sit; si, cum flumen travehundum est gregi, in primis progreditur ac non respectat alios. Emptio equina similis fere ac boum et asinorum, quod eisdem rebus in emptione dominum mutant, ut in Manili actionibus sunt perscripta.

Therefore from this, the noble ones are named from regions: in Greece Thessalic horses from Thessaly, in Italy from Apulia the Apulians, from Rosea the Roseans. Signs that horses will be good are these: if, with their herd-mates on pasture, they vie in running or in some other matter, so as to show themselves the stronger; if, when a river must be crossed by the herd, he goes forward first and does not look back at the others. The purchase of a horse is almost the same as that of oxen and asses, because by the same considerations in purchase they change owner, as has been written down in the Manilian Actions.

Equinum pecus pascendum in pratis potissimum herba, in stabulis ac praesepibus arido faeno; cum pepererunt, hordeo adiecto, bis die data aqua. Horum feturae initium admissionis facere oportet ab aequinoctio verno ad solstitium, ut partus idoneo tempore fiat; duodecimo enim mense die decimo aiunt nasci. Quae post tempus nascuntur, fere vitiosa atque inutilia existunt.

The equine herd should be pastured in meadows, chiefly on grass, and in stables and at mangers on dry hay; when they have foaled, with barley added, water is given twice a day. For their breeding, one ought to make the beginning of the covering from the vernal equinox to the solstice, so that the birth may happen at a suitable time; for they say it is born in the twelfth month, on the tenth day. Those which are born after the time generally turn out defective and useless.

Admittere oportet, cum tempus anni venerit, bis die, mane et vespere, per origam; sic appellatur qui admittit. Eo enim adiutante, equa alligata, celerius admittuntur, neque equi frustra cupiditate impulsi semen eiciunt. Quoad satis sit admitti, ipsae significant, quod se defendunt.

It is proper to admit, when the season of the year has come, twice a day, morning and evening, by means of the origa; thus is called the one who admits. For with him assisting, the mare tied, they are admitted more quickly, nor do the horses, driven by desire, cast forth seed in vain. How long it is enough to be admitted, they themselves indicate, in that they defend themselves.

Si fastidium saliendi est, scillae medium conterunt cum aqua ad mellis crassitudinem; tum ea re naturam equae, cum menses ferunt, tangunt; contra ab locis equae nares equi tangunt. Tametsi incredibile, quod usu venit, memoriae mandandum. Equus matrem salire cum adduci non posset, cum eum capite obvoluto auriga adduxisset et coegisset matrem inire, cum descendenti dempsisset ab oculis, ille impetum fecit in eum ac mordicus interfecit.

If there is a distaste for mounting, they grind the middle of a squill with water to the thickness of honey; then with that matter they touch the mare’s nature, when the months allow; conversely, they touch the horse’s nostrils with the parts of the mare. Although unbelievable, what came about in practice should be committed to memory. A horse, when he could not be brought to mount his mother, after the auriga had led him with his head veiled and had forced him to cover his mother, when, as he was dismounting, he had taken the covering from his eyes, he made an attack on him and slew him by biting.

Cum conceperunt equae, videndum ne aut laborent plusculum aut ne frigidis locis sint, quod algor maxime praegnatibus obest. Itaque in stabulis et umore prohibere oportet humum, clausa habere ostia ac fenestras, et inter singulas a praesepibus intericere longurios, qui eas discernant, ne inter se pugnare possint. Praegnatem neque implere cibo neque esurire oportet.

When mares have conceived, one must see that they neither labor somewhat too much nor be in frigid places, since chill is most harmful to those pregnant. Therefore in the stables one ought to keep the ground from moisture, to have the doors and windows closed, and to interpose long poles between individuals at the mangers, to separate them, lest they be able to fight among themselves. A pregnant mare ought neither to be filled up with food nor to go hungry.

Alternis qui admittant, diuturniores equas, meliores pullos fieri dicunt, itaque ut restibiles segetes esse exsuctiores, sic quotannis quae praegnantes fiant.

They say that those who admit (the stallion) in alternate years make the mares longer‑lived and the foals better; and thus, just as restible crops are more exhausted, so too are those that become pregnant every year.

In decem diebus secundum partum cum matribus in pabulum prodigendum, ne ungulas comburat stercus tenellas. Quinquemestribus pullis factis, cum
redacti sunt in stabulum, obiciendum farinam hordeaceam molitam cum furfuribus, et siquid aliud terra natum libenter edent. Anniculis iam factis dandum hordeum et furfures, usque quoad erunt lactantes.

Within ten days after the birth they must be driven out to pasturage with their mothers, lest dung scorch their tender hoofs. When the foals have become five-month-olds, when they have been brought back into the stable, there should be offered ground barley farina with bran, and whatever other earth-born produce they will gladly eat. When they have become yearlings, barley and bran are to be given, until such time as they are still suckling.

Neque prius biennio confecto a lacte removendum; eosque, cum stent cum matribus, interdum tractandum, ne, cum sint diiuncti, exterreantur; eademque causa ibi frenos suspendendum, et eculi consuescant et videre eorum faciem et e motu audire crepitus. Cum iam ad manus accedere consuerint, interdum imponere iis puerum bis aut ter pronum in ventrem, postea iam sedentem. Haec facere, cum sit trimus; tum enim maxime crescere ac lacertosum fieri.

Nor should it be removed from milk before two years are completed; and while they stand with their mothers, they should at times be handled, lest, when they are separated, they be terrified; and for the same reason the bridles should be hung there, and the foals become accustomed both to see their appearance and to hear, from their movement, the clatter. When they have now become accustomed to come up to the hands, sometimes place upon them a boy twice or thrice prone on the belly, afterward seated. Do these things when the foal is three years old; for then it grows most and becomes muscular.

Sunt qui dicant post annum et sex menses eculum domari posse, sed melius post trimum, a quo tempore farrago dari solet. Haec enim purgatio maxime necessaria equino pecori. Quod diebus decem facere oportet, nec pati alium ullum cibum gustare.

There are those who say that after one year and six months a foal can be tamed, but it is better after the third year, from which time a farrago is usually given. For this purgation is most necessary for the equine herd. This one ought to do over ten days, and not allow it to taste any other food.

Ab undecimo die usque ad quartum decimum dandum hordeum, cottidie adicientem minutatim; quod quarto die feceris, in eo decem diebus proximis manendum. Ab eo tempore mediocriter exercendum et, cum consudarit, perunguendum oleo. Si frigus erit, in equili faciendus ignis.

From the eleventh day up to the fourteenth, barley is to be given, adding daily in small increments; what you will have done on the fourth day, at that it must be kept for the next ten days. From that time it is to be exercised moderately and, when it has sweated, to be thoroughly anointed with oil. If there is cold, a fire must be made in the stable.

Equi quod alii sunt ad rem militarem idonei, alii ad vecturam, alii ad admissuram, alii ad cursuram, non item sunt spectandi atque habendi. Itaque peritus belli alios eligit atque alit ac docet; aliter quadrigarius ac desultor; neque idem qui vectorios facere vult ad ephippium aut ad raedam, quod qui ad rem militarem, quod ut ibi ad castra habere volunt acres, sic contra in viis habere malunt placidos. Propter quod discrimen maxime institutum ut castrentur equi.

Horses, since some are suitable for the military business, others for transport, others for breeding (covering), others for running, are not to be inspected and kept in the same way. Therefore a man skilled in war chooses certain ones and rears and trains them; a quadrigarius and a desultor do so differently; nor does he who wishes to make transport-horses for the saddle (ephippium) or for the rheda (carriage) do the same as he who [makes them] for the military service—for just as there at the camp they wish to have them keen, so on the roads, by contrast, they prefer to have them placid. On account of this distinction chiefly the practice has been instituted that horses be castrated.

Demptis enim testiculis fiunt quietiores, ideo quod semine carent. Ii cantherii appellati, ut in subus maiales, gallis gallinaceis capi. De medicina vel plurima sunt in equis et signa morborum et genera curationum, quae pastorem scripta habere oportet.

With the testicles removed they become quieter, for this reason, that they lack semen. These are called cantherii (geldings), as among swine the maiales (barrows), among barnyard cocks the capons. On medicine there are very many matters in horses, both the signs of diseases and the genera of cures, which the herdsman ought to have written down.

Itaque ab hoc in Graecia potissimum medici pecorum hippiatroi appellati.

Therefore, from this, in Greece most especially, the doctors of cattle are appellated hippiatroi.

VIII.

Cum haec loqueremur, venit a Menate libertus, qui dicat liba absoluta esse et rem divinam paratam; si vellent, venirent illuc et ipsi pro se sacrificarentur. Ego vero, inquam, vos ante ire non patiar, antequam mihi reddideritis tertium actum de mulis, de canibus, de pastoribus. Brevis oratio de istis, inquit Murrius.

While we were saying these things, a freedman came from Menates, to say that the liba were finished and the sacred rite was ready; if they wished, they should come there and have sacrifice offered on their own behalf. But I, said I, will not allow you to go before you have rendered to me the third act about mules, about dogs, about shepherds. A brief oration about those, said Murrius.

Nam muli et item hinni bigeneri atque insiticii, non suopte genere ab radicibus. Ex equa enim et asino fit mulus, contra ex equo et asina hinnus. Uterque eorum ad usum utilis, partu fructus neuter.

For mules and likewise hinnies are bigeneric and insititious, not from their own kind from the roots. For from a mare and a donkey a mule comes to be, conversely from a horse and a she-ass a hinny. Each of them is useful for use, but in birth neither is fruitful.

Pullum asininum a partu recentem subiciunt equae, cuius lacte ampliore fiunt, quod id lacte quam asininum ad alimonia dicunt esse melius. Praeterea educant eum paleis, faeno, hordeo. Matri suppositiciae quoque inserviunt, quo equa ministerium lactis cibum pullo praebere possit.

They put a newborn donkey foal, fresh from parturition, under a mare, by whose more ample milk it grows, since they say that that milk is better than asinine milk for aliment. Moreover, they rear it on chaff, hay, and barley. They also attend to the supposititious mother (the foster-mare), so that the mare may be able to provide the ministry of milk as food to the foal.

Hic ita eductus a trimo potest admitti; neque enim aspernatur propter consuetudinem equinam. Hunc minorem si admiseris, et ipse citius senescit, et quae ex eo concipiuntur fiunt deteriora. Qui non habent eum asinum, quem supposuerunt equae, et asinum admissarium habere volunt, de asinis quem amplissimum formosissimumque possunt eligunt, quique seminio natus sit bono, Arcadico, ut antiqui dicebant, ut nos experti sumus, Reatino, ubi tricenis ac quadragenis milibus admissarii aliquot venierunt.

Thus reared, this one can be admitted at three years old; for he does not spurn it on account of his equine habituation. If you admit him younger, both he himself grows old more quickly, and those conceived from him turn out worse. Those who do not have that donkey which they put under the mare, and wish to have a breeding jack, choose from among the donkeys the most ample and most handsome they can, and one who is born of good seed—Arcadian, as the ancients used to say; as we have found, Reatine—where several breeding jacks were sold for 30,000 and 40,000 thousands.

Quos emimus item ut equos stipulamurque in emendo ac facimus in accipiendo idem, quod dictum est in equis. Hos pascimus praecipue faeno atque hordeo, et id ante admissuram et largius facimus, ut cibo suffundamus vires ad feturam, eodem tempore quo equos adducentes, itemque ut ineat equas per origas curamus. Cum peperit equa mulum aut mulam, nutricantes educamus.

Those we purchase just as we do horses, and we stipulate in the buying and do in the receiving the same as was said in the case of horses. We feed these chiefly on hay and barley, and we do this before the covering and more liberally, so that with food we suffuse strength for breeding, at the same time at which we bring up the horses; likewise we take care, through the grooms, that he go in to the mares. When the mare has borne a mule or a she‑mule, we rear them by nursing.

Hi si in palustribus locis atque uliginosis nati, habent ungulas molles; idem si exacti sunt aestivo tempore in montes, quod fit in agro Reatino, durissimis ungulis fiunt. In grege mulorum parando spectanda aetas et forma, alterum, ut in vecturis sufferre labores possint; alterum, ut oculos aspectu delectare queant. Hisce enim binis coniunctis omnia vehicula in viis ducuntur.

If these are born in marshy and uliginous places, they have soft hooves; likewise, if they are driven in the summer season into the mountains, as happens in the Reatine countryside, they acquire very hard hooves. In preparing a herd of mules, age and form are to be looked to: the one, so that in conveyance they can bear labors; the other, so that they may be able to delight the eyes by their aspect. For with these two conjoined, all vehicles on the roads are drawn.

Haec me Reatino auctore probares, mihi inquit, nisi tu ipse domi equarum greges haberes ac mulorum greges vendidisses. Hinnus qui appellatur, est ex equo et asina, minor quam mulus corpore, plerumque rubicundior, auribus ut equinis, iubam et caudam habet similem asini. Item in ventre est, ut equus, menses duodecim.

“You would approve these things, with the Reatine as authority,” he says to me, “unless you yourself kept at home herds of mares and had sold herds of mules. The hinny, so called, is from a horse and a she‑ass, smaller than a mule in body, for the most part more rubicund, with equine ears; it has a mane and a tail like an ass. Likewise its time in the womb, as with the horse, is 12 months.”

Hosce item ut eculos et educant et alunt et aetatem eorum ex dentibus cognoscunt.

These likewise they both rear and nourish like foals, and they recognize their age from their teeth.

IX.

Relinquitur, inquit Atticus, de quadripedibus quod ad canes attinet, quod pertinet maxime ad nos, qui pecus pascimus lanare. Canes enim ita custos pecoris eius quod eo comite indiget ad se defendendum. In quo genere sunt maxime oves, deinde caprae.

It remains, says Atticus, concerning quadrupeds as it pertains to dogs, which pertains most to us, who pasture wool-bearing livestock. For dogs are thus the guardian of the herd, of that sort which needs such a companion for defending itself. In which class are chiefly sheep, then goats.

Has enim lupus captare solet, cui opponimus canes defensores. In suillo pecore tamen sunt quae se vindicent, verres, maiales, scrofae. Prope enim haec apris, qui in silvis saepe dentibus canes occiderunt.

For these the wolf is accustomed to seize, against which we set defender-dogs. In porcine livestock, however, there are those who vindicate themselves—boar-pigs, hogs, and sows. For these are near to wild boars, who in the woods have often killed dogs with their tusks.

Quid dicam de pecore maiore? Cum sciam mulorum gregem, cum pasceretur et eo venisset lupus, ultro mulos circumfluxisse et ungulis caedendo eum occidisse, et tauros solere diversos adsistere clunibus continuatos et cornibus facile propulsare lupos. Quare de canibus quoniam genera duo, unum venaticum et pertinet ad feras bestias silvestres, alterum quod custodiae causa paratur et pertinet ad pastorem, dicam de eo ad formam artis expositam in novem partes.

What shall I say of the larger livestock? Since I know that a herd of mules, when it was grazing and a wolf had come there, of their own accord the mules surrounded him and, by striking with their hooves, killed him; and that bulls are accustomed to stand apart, with their buttocks joined together, and with their horns easily to repulse wolves. Wherefore, concerning dogs, since there are two kinds—one venatic and pertaining to wild sylvan beasts, the other prepared for the sake of guardianship and pertaining to the shepherd—I will speak of that according to the form of the art set forth in nine parts.

Primum aetate idonea parandi, quod catuli et vetuli neque sibi neque ovibus sunt praesidio et feris bestiis non numquam praedae. Facie debent esse formosi, magnitudine ampla, oculis nigrantibus aut ravis, naribus congruentibus, labris subnigris aut rubicundis neque resimis superioribus nec pendulis subtus, mento suppresso et ex eo enatis duobus dentibus dextra et sinistra paulo eminulis, superioribus directis potius quam brocchis, acutos quos habeant labro tectos, capitibus et auriculis magnis ac flaccis, crassis cervicibus ac collo, internodiis articulorum longis, cruribus rectis et potius varis quam vatiis, pedibus magnis et latis, qui ingredienti ei displodantur, digitis discretis, unguibus duris ac curvis, solo ne ut corneo ne nimium duro, sed ut fermentato ac molli; a feminibus summis corpore suppresso, spina neque eminula neque curva, cauda crassa; latrato gravi, hiatu magno, colore potissimum albo, quod in tenebris facilius agnoscuntur, specie leonina. Praeterea feminas volunt esse mammosas aequalibus papillis.

First, to be procured at a suitable age, since puppies and very old ones are a protection neither to themselves nor to the sheep and are sometimes a prey to wild beasts. In face they ought to be handsome, of ample magnitude, with eyes blackish or grayish-brown, nostrils congruent, lips somewhat blackish or ruddy, the upper not snubbed nor pendulous beneath, the chin set back, and from it two teeth grown on the right and left, slightly projecting; the upper teeth straight rather than buck-toothed, and the sharp ones they have covered by the lip; with heads and ears large and flaccid, thick napes and neck, long inter-nodes of the joints, legs straight and rather bow-legged than knock-kneed, feet large and broad, which splay out as they move, toes discrete, claws hard and curved, the sole not as horn nor overly hard, but as if leavened and soft; with the body set low from the tops of the thighs, the spine neither jutting nor curved, a thick tail; a grave bark, a wide gape, a color preferably white, because in the dark they are more easily recognized, a leonine aspect. Moreover, they want the females to be full-breasted with teats equal in size.

Item videndum ut boni seminii sint; itaque et a regionibus appellantur Lacones, Epirotici, Sallentini. Videndum ne a venatoribus aut laniis canes emas; alteri quod ad pecus sequendum inertes, alteri, si viderint leporem aut cervum, quod eum potius quam oves sequentur. Quare a pastoribus empta melior, quae oves sequi consuevit, aut sine ulla consuetudine quae fuerit.

Likewise it must be seen to that they be of good stock; and thus they are also appellated from their regions: Laconians, Epirotic, Salentine. Take care not to buy dogs from hunters or butchers: the one sort are inert for following the flock, the other, if they see a hare or a stag, will follow that rather than the sheep. Wherefore better is one bought from shepherds, which has been accustomed to follow the sheep, or one that has been without any consuetude (custom) at all.

Canis enim facilius quid adsuescit, eaque consuetudo firmior, quae fit ad pastores, quam quae ad pecudes. Publius Aufidius Pontianus Amiterninus cum greges ovium emisset in Umbria ultima, quibus gregibus sine pastoribus canes accessissent, pastores ut deducerent in Metapontinos saltus et Heracleae emporium, inde cum domum redissent qui ad locum deduxerant, e desiderio hominum diebus paucis postea canes sua sponte, cum dierum multorum via interesset, sibi ex agris cibaria praebuerunt atque in Umbriam ad pastores redierunt. Neque eorum quisquam fecerat, quod in agri cultura Saserna praecepit: qui vellet se a cane sectari, ut ranam obiciat coctam.

For a dog more easily becomes accustomed to something, and that custom is firmer which is formed toward shepherds than that which is toward flocks. Publius Aufidius Pontianus the Amiternine, when he had bought flocks of sheep in farthest Umbria, to which flocks dogs had attached themselves without shepherds, arranged for shepherds to lead them into the Metapontine pastures and to the emporium of Heraclea; from there, when those who had led them to the place had returned home, out of longing for the men a few days afterward the dogs of their own accord—though a journey of many days intervened—provided themselves rations from the fields and returned into Umbria to the shepherds. Nor had any of them done what Saserna prescribed in his Agriculture: that whoever wished to be followed by a dog should throw a cooked frog.

Magni interest ex semine esse canes eodem, quod cognati maxime inter se sunt praesidio. Sequitur quartum de emptione: fit alterius, cum a priore domino secundo traditus est. De sanitate et noxa stipulationes fiunt eaedem, quae in pecore, nisi quod hic utiliter exceptum est: alii pretium faciunt in singula capita canum, alii ut catuli sequantur matrem, alii ut bini catuli unius canis numerum obtineant, ut solent bini agni ovis, plerique ut accedant canes, qui consuerunt esse una.

It is of great importance that the dogs be from the same seed, since cognates are most a protection to one another. The fourth, concerning purchase, follows: he becomes another’s when, from the prior owner, he has been delivered to the second. For soundness and for damage the stipulations are the same as in livestock, except that here a useful exception has been made: some set the price by the single heads of dogs, others that the whelps follow the mother, others that two whelps hold the number of one dog, as two lambs are wont for a ewe, and most that the dogs who have been accustomed to be together are to be included.

Cibatus canis propior hominis quam ovis. Pascitur enim eduliis et ossibus, non herbis aut fronde. Diligenter ut habeat cibaria providendum.

The dog’s diet is nearer to a man’s than to a sheep’s. For he is fed on edibles and bones, not on herbs or leafage. One must diligently see to it that he has provisions.

Fames enim hos ad quaerendum cibum ducet, si non praebebitur, et a pecore abducet; nisi si, ut quidam putant, etiam illuc pervenerint, proverbium ut tollant anticum vel etiam ut mython aperiant de Actaeone atque in dominum adferant dentes. Nec non ita panem hordeaceum dandum, ut non potius eum in lacte des intritum, quod eo consueti cibo uti a pecore non cito desciscunt. Morticinae ovis non patiuntur vesci carne, ne ducti sapore minus se abstineant.

For hunger will lead these to seek food, if it is not provided, and will lead them away from the herd; unless, as some think, they even come to this point: that they take up the ancient proverb, or even open up the myth about Actaeon, and bring their teeth against their master. And likewise barley bread should be given in such a way that you do not rather give it mashed in milk, because, being accustomed to use that food, they do not quickly withdraw from the herd. One must not allow them to feed on the flesh of a dead sheep, lest, drawn by the savor, they restrain themselves the less.

Dant etiam ius ex ossibus et ea ipsa ossa contusa. Dentes enim facit firmiores et os magis patulum, propterea quod vehementius diducuntur malae, acrioresque fiunt propter medullarum saporem. Cibum capere consuescunt interdiu, ubi pascuntur, vesperi, ubi stabulantur.

They also give broth from bones and those very bones crushed. For it makes the teeth more firm and the mouth more open, because the jaws are drawn apart more vehemently, and they become more keen because of the flavor of the marrows. They are accustomed to take food by day, where they pasture, and in the evening, where they are stabled.

Feturae principium admittendi faciunt veris principio; tum enim dicuntur catulire, id est ostendere velle se maritari. Quae tum admissae, pariunt circiter solstitium; praegnantes enim solent esse ternos menses. In fetura dandum potius hordeaceos quam triticeos panes; magis enim eo aluntur et lactis praebent maiorem facultatem.

They make the beginning of admitting for breeding at the beginning of spring; for then they are said “to be whelping,” that is, to show that they wish to be married (i.e., mated). Those admitted at that time give birth around the solstice; for they are usually pregnant for three months. In breeding, barley loaves should be given rather than wheaten loaves; for by that they are better nourished and provide a greater supply of milk.

In nutricatu secundum partum, si plures sunt, statim eligere oportet quos habere velis, reliquos abicere. Quam paucissimos reliqueris, tam optimi in alendo fiunt propter copiam lactis. Substernitur eis acus aut quid item aliud, quod molliore cubili facilius educentur.

In the nurturing after parturition, if there are more, you must immediately choose those whom you wish to keep, cast away the rest. The fewer you leave, the better they become in feeding, on account of the abundance of milk. Chaff is spread beneath them, or something else of the same sort, so that with a softer couch they may be more easily reared.

Catuli diebus XX videre incipiunt. Duobus mensibus primis a partu non diiunguntur a matre, sed minutatim desuefiunt. Educunt eos plures in unum locum et inritant ad pugnandum, quo fiunt acriores, neque defatigari patiuntur, quo fiunt segniores.

Puppies begin to see at 20 days. For the first 2 months after birth they are not separated from the mother, but little by little they are weaned. Several people lead them out into one place and provoke them to fight, whereby they become keener, and they do not allow them to be wearied out, whereby they become more sluggish.

Consue quoque faciunt ut alligari possint primum levibus vinclis; quae si abrodere conantur, ne id consuescant facere, verberibus eos deterrere solent. Pluviis diebus cubilia substernenda fronde aut pabulo duabus de causis: ut ne oblinantur aut perfrigescant. Quidam eos castrant, quod eo minus putant relinquere gregem; quidam non faciunt, quod eos credunt minus acres fieri.

They also make them become accustomed so that they can be bound at first with light bonds; if they try to gnaw these, they are wont to deter them with beatings, lest they grow used to doing that. On rainy days the beds must be underlaid with frond or with fodder for two reasons: so that they are not besmeared or chilled through. Some castrate them, because they think that thus they are less likely to leave the herd; some do not do it, because they believe they become less keen.

Quidam nucibus Graecis in aqua tritis perungunt aures et inter digitos, quod muscae et ricini et pulices soleant, si hoc unguine non sis usus, ea exulcerare. Ne vulnerentur a bestiis, imponuntur his collaria, quae vocantur melium, id est cingulum circum collum ex corio firmo cum clavulis capitatis, quae intra capita insuitur pellis mollis, ne noceat collo duritia ferri; quod, si lupus aliusve quis his vulneratus est, reliquas quoque canes facit, quae id non habent, ut sint in tuto. Numerus canum pro pecoris multitudine solet parari; fere modicum esse putant, ut singuli sequantur singulos opiliones.

Some anoint the ears and the spaces between the toes with Greek nuts ground in water, because flies and ticks and fleas are wont, if you have not used this unguent, to ulcerate those parts. Lest they be wounded by wild beasts, collars are put on them, which are called melium, that is, a girdle around the neck of firm leather with headed little-clavos; within the heads a soft hide is sewn, lest the hardness of the iron harm the neck. For if a wolf or someone else is wounded by these, it also makes the remaining dogs, which do not have it, to be in safety. The number of dogs is wont to be prepared according to the multitude of the herd; they generally think it moderate that individuals follow individual shepherds.

De quo numero alius alium modum constituit, quod, si sunt regiones, ubi bestiae sint multae, debent esse plures, quod accidit his qui per calles silvestres longinquos solent comitari in aestiva et hiberna. Villatico vero gregi in fundum satis esse duo, et id marem et feminam. Ita enim sunt adsiduiores, quod cum altero item alter fit acrior, et si alteruter aeger est, ne sine cane grex sit.

Regarding which number, one person sets one measure and another a different one, because, if there are regions where beasts are many, they ought to be more numerous—this happens for those who are accustomed to accompany along long woodland paths to the estival and hibernal quarters. For a farmyard flock on the estate, however, two are enough, namely a male and a female. For thus they are more assiduous, because with the one the other likewise becomes keener; and if either one is ill, the flock may not be without a dog.

10.

Cum circumspiceret, nequid praeterisset, Hoc silentium, inquam, vocat alium ad partes. Relicum enim in hoc actu, quot et quod genus sint habendi pastores. Cossinius: Ad maiores pecudes aetate superiores, ad minores etiam pueros, utrosque horum firmiores qui in callibus versentur, quam eos qui in fundo cotidie ad villam redeant (itaque in saltibus licet videre iuventutem, et eam fere armatam, cum in fundis non modo pueri sed etiam puellae pascant). Qui pascunt, eos cogere oportet in pastione diem totum esse, pascere communiter, contra pernoctare ad suum quemque gregem, esse omnes sub uno magistro pecoris; eum esse maiorem natu potius quam alios et peritiorem quam reliquos, quod ei qui aetate et scientia praestat animo aequiore reliqui parent.

While he was looking around, lest anything had been passed over, “This silence,” I say, “calls another to his part.” For the remainder in this act is, how many and what kind of shepherds ought to be had. Cossinius: For the larger stock, those superior in age; for the smaller, even boys—of both sorts, those are sturdier who are occupied on the bypaths than those who on the estate return every day to the villa (and thus in the forest-pastures one may see youth, and that almost armed, whereas on the farms not only boys but even girls do the pasturing). Those who pasture, one ought to compel to be in pasturage the whole day, to graze in common, but contrariwise to pass the night each at his own flock, and that all be under one master of the herd; let him be older by birth rather than the others and more experienced than the rest, because to him who surpasses in age and knowledge the others obey with a more even mind.

Ita tamen oportet aetate praestare, ut ne propter senectutem minus sustinere possit labores. Neque enim senes neque pueri callium difficultatem ac montium arduitatem atque asperitatem facile ferunt, quod patiendum illis, qui greges secuntur, praesertim armenticios ac caprinos, quibus rupes ac silvae ad pabulandum cordi. Formae hominum legendae ut sint firmae ac veloces, mobiles, expeditis membris, qui non solum pecus sequi possint, sed etiam a bestiis ac praedonibus defendere, qui onera extollere in iumenta possint, qui excurrere, qui iaculari.

Yet he ought to excel in age in such a way that he not, on account of old age, be less able to sustain labors. For neither old men nor boys easily bear the difficulty of the paths and the steepness and asperity of the mountains, which must be endured by those who follow the flocks, especially the cattle and goat flocks, for whom cliffs and woods are dear for grazing. The forms of men are to be chosen so that they be firm and fleet, agile, with unencumbered limbs, who can not only follow the herd, but also defend it from beasts and brigands, who can lift loads onto the beasts of burden, who can run out, who can hurl the javelin.

Non omnis apta natio ad pecuariam, quod neque Bastulus neque Turdulus idonei, Galli appositissimi, maxime ad iumenta. In emptionibus dominum legitimum sex fere res perficiunt: si hereditatem iustam adiit; si, ut debuit, mancipio ab eo accepit, a quo iure civili potuit; aut si in iure cessit, qui potuit cedere, et id ubi oportuit; aut si usu cepit; aut si e praeda sub corona emit; tumve cum in bonis sectioneve cuius publice veniit. In horum emptione solet accedere peculium aut excipi et stipulatio intercedere, sanum esse, furtis noxisque solutum; aut, si mancipio non datur, dupla promitti, aut, si ita pacti, simpla.

Not every nation is apt for animal husbandry, since neither the Bastulus nor the Turdulus are suitable, while the Gauls are most apposite—especially for beasts of burden. In purchases, roughly six things make one a lawful owner: if he has entered upon a just inheritance; if, as he ought, he has received it by mancipation from one who could do so by civil law; or if there was an in iure cessio by one who could cede, and in the proper forum; or if he took it by usucapion; or if he bought it from booty “under the crown” (at auction); or when the goods or the estate of someone came for sale publicly in a bonorum sectio. In the purchase of these, a peculium is wont either to be added or to be excepted, and a stipulation to intervene—that it is sound, and released from thefts and wrongs; or, if it is not conveyed by mancipation, that the double be promised, or, if thus agreed, the single.

Cibus eorum debet esse interdius separatim unius cuiusque gregis, vespertinus in cena, qui sunt sub uno magistro, communis. Magistrum providere oportet ut omnia sequantur instrumenta, quae pecori et pastoribus opus sunt, maxime ad victum hominum et ad medicinam pecudum. Ad quam rem habent iumenta dossuaria domini, alii equas, alii pro iis quid aliud, quod onus dorso ferre possit.

Their food ought to be in the daytime separately for each flock; the evening meal at supper, for those who are under one master, in common. The master should provide to ensure that all the instruments follow, which are needful for the herd and for the shepherds, especially for the victual of the men and for the medicine of the cattle. For which matter they have the master’s pack-animals, some mares, others instead of these something else which can bear a load on the back.

Quod ad feturam humanam pertinet pastorum, qui in fundo perpetuo manent, facile est, quod habent conservam in villa, nec hac venus pastoralis longius quid quaerit. Qui autem in saltibus et silvestribus locis pascunt et non villa, sed casis repentinis imbres vitant, iis mulieres adiungere, quae sequantur greges ac cibaria pastoribus expediant eosque assiduiores faciant, utile arbitrati multi. Sed eas mulieres esse oportet firmas, non turpes, quae in opere multis regionibus non cedunt viris, ut in Illyrico passim videre licet, quod vel pascere pecus vel ad focum afferre ligna ac cibum coquere vel ad casas instrumentum servare possunt.

As regards the human breeding of shepherds, for those who remain perpetually on the estate, it is easy, because they have a fellow-slave woman in the villa, nor does pastoral Venus seek anything further than this. But those who pasture in glades and sylvan places and avoid the rains not in a villa but in sudden huts, many have judged it useful to join to them women who follow the flocks, make ready provisions for the shepherds, and make them more assiduous. But those women ought to be sturdy, not disreputable, who in work in many regions do not yield to men, as in Illyricum one may see everywhere, because they can either pasture the herd, or bring wood to the hearth and cook food, or keep the instrument at the huts.

De nutricatu hoc dico, easdem fere et nutrices et matres. Simul aspicit ad me et, ut te audii dicere, inquit, cum in Liburniam venisses, te vidisse matres familias eorum afferre ligna et simul pueros, quos alerent, alias singulos, alias binos, quae ostenderunt fetas nostras, quae in conopiis iacent dies aliquot, esse eiuncidas ac contemnendas. Cui ego, Certe, inquam; nam in Illyrico hoc amplius, praegnatem saepe, cum venit pariendi tempus, non longe ab opere discedere ibique enixam puerum referre, quem non peperisse, sed invenisse putes; nec non etiam hoc, quas virgines ibi appellant, non numquam annorum viginti, quibus mos eorum non denegavit, ante nuptias ut succumberent quibus vellent et incomitatis ut vagari liceret et filios habere.

As to suckling I say this: almost the same women are both nurses and mothers. At once he looks toward me and says, “as I heard you say, when you had come into Liburnia, you saw their matrons of families bringing wood and at the same time the boys whom they were nourishing, some each one, others two apiece,” which showed that our lying‑in women, who lie under canopies for several days, are squeamish and to be despised. To which I, “Certainly,” I say; “for in Illyricum this further: a pregnant woman often, when the time of giving birth comes, does not go far from her work, and there, having been delivered, carries back the boy, whom you would think she had not borne but found; and indeed also this: those whom they there call ‘virgins,’ sometimes twenty years old, to whom their custom has not denied, before nuptials to lie down with whom they wished and, with unrestrained license, to roam at large and to have sons.”

Quae ad valitudinem pertinent hominum ac pecoris et sine medico curari possunt, magistrum scripta habere oportet. Is enim sine litteris idoneus non est, quod rationes dominicas pecuarias conficere nequiquam recte potest. De numero pastorum alii angustius, alii laxius constituere solent.

Those matters that pertain to the health of humans and of livestock, and can be cared for without a physician, the overseer ought to have in writings. For he is not suitable without letters, since he cannot rightly compile the master’s pastoral accounts. As to the number of shepherds, some are accustomed to fix it more narrowly, others more broadly.

Ego in octogenas hirtas oves singulos pastores constitui, Atticus in centenas. Greges ovium si magni sunt, quos miliarios faciunt quidam, facilius de summa hominum detrahere possis, quam de minoribus, ut sunt et Attici et mei. Septingenarii enim mei; tu, opinor, octingenarios habuisti, nec tamen non, ut nos, arietum decumam partem.

I set single shepherds over each 80 rough-fleeced sheep, Atticus over each 100. Flocks of sheep, if they are large, which some make millenary (1,000‑head), you can more easily deduct from the total number of men than from smaller flocks, such as both Atticus’s and mine. For mine are 700‑head; you, I suppose, have had 800‑head, and yet nonetheless, as we do, a tenth part of rams.

Ad equarum gregem quinquagenarium bini homines, utique uterque horum ut secum habeat equas domitas singulas in his regionibus, in quibus in stabula solent equas abigere, ut in Apulia et in Lucanis accidit saepe.

For a herd of fifty mares, two men; and in any case, let each of these have with him a single tamed mare, in those regions where they are accustomed to drive the mares into the stables, as often happens in Apulia and among the Lucanians.

XI.

11.

Quoniam promissa absolvimus, inquit, eamus. Si quidem, inquam, adieceritis de extraordinario pecudum fructu, ut praedictum est, de lacte in eo et tonsura. Lacte est omnium rerum, quas cibi causa capimus, liquentium maxime alibile, et id ovillum, dein caprinum.

“Since we have completed what was promised,” he said, “let us go.” “Provided,” I said, “that you add about the extraordinary yield of the flock-animals, as was aforesaid—about the milk therein and the shearing. Milk, of all the things which we take for the sake of food, is among liquids the most alible; and that is sheep’s, then goat’s.”

Quod autem maxime perpurget, est equinum, tum asininum, dein bubulum, tum caprinum. Sed horum sunt discrimina quaedam et a pastionibus et a pecudum natura et a mulgendo: a pastionibus, quod ad alendum utile quod fit ab hordeo et stipula et omnino arido et firmo cibo pecude pasta; ad perpurgandum ab ea, quae a viridi pasta, eo magis, si fuerit ex herbis, quae ipsae sumptae perpurgare solent corpora nostra; a pecudum natura, quod lac melius est a valentibus et ab his quae nondum veteres sunt, quam si est contra. A mulgendo atque ortu optimum est id quod neque nimium longe abest a mulso neque a partu continuo est sumptum.

But that which most thoroughly purges is equine, then ass’s, next bovine, then caprine. Yet there are certain distinctions among these, both from pasturings, and from the nature of the beasts, and from the milking: from pasturings, for nourishing it is useful when it is produced from a beast pastured on barley and stubble and, in general, dry and firm food; for thorough purging, from that which comes from a green-fed beast—especially if it has been on herbs which, when taken themselves, are wont to purge our bodies; from the nature of the beasts, because milk is better from those that are strong and from those that are not yet old, than if it be the contrary. With respect to the milking and the birth, the best is that which is neither too far removed from mulsum nor taken immediately after parturition.

Ex hoc lacte casei qui fiunt, maximi cibi sunt bubuli et qui difficillime transeant sumpti, secundo ovilli, minimi cibi et qui facillime deiciantur caprini. Et etiam est discrimen, utrum casei molles ac recentes sint, an aridi et veteres, cum molles sint magis alibiles, in corpore non resides, veteres et aridi contra. Caseum facere incipiunt a vergiliis vernis exortis ad aestivas vergilias.

From this milk, the cheeses that are made: of the greatest aliment are the bovine, and when taken they pass through with the greatest difficulty; in second place the ovine; of the least aliment and most easily voided, the caprine. And there is also a distinction, whether the cheeses are soft and recent, or dry and old, since the soft are more alible, not lingering in the body, the old and dry the contrary. They begin to make cheese from the spring Vergiliae (Pleiades) having risen to the summer Vergiliae.

Mulgent vere ad caseum faciundum mane, aliis temporibus meridianis horis, tametsi propter loca et pabulum disparile non usque quaque idem fit. In lactis duos congios addunt coagulum magnitudine oleae, ut coeat, quod melius leporinum et haedinum quam agninum. Alii pro coagulo addunt de fici ramo lac et acetum, aspergunt item aliis aliquot rebus, quod Graeci appellant alii opon alii dakryon.

They milk in spring in the morning for the making of cheese, at other times at the midday hours, although on account of the places and disparate fodder it is not everywhere the same. Into two congii of milk they add coagulum (rennet) of the size of an olive, so that it may cohere, which is better when hare’s and kid’s than lamb’s. Others, in place of coagulum, add the milk (sap) from a fig branch and vinegar; likewise they sprinkle with several other things, which the Greeks call some opon, others dakryon.

Non negarim, inquam, ideo aput divae Ruminae sacellum a pastoribus satam ficum, ibi enim solent sacrificari lacte pro vino et lactentibus. Mamma enim rumis, ut ante dicebant; a rumi etiam nunc dicuntur subrumi agni, lactantes a lacte. Quin aspergi solent sales, melior fossilis quam marinus.

I would not deny, I say, that for this reason at the shrine of the goddess Rumina a fig tree is planted by shepherds, for there they are accustomed to sacrifice with milk instead of wine and for sucklings. For the mamma is ruma, as they used to say; from ruma even now lambs are called subrumi, suckling from milk. Indeed, salts are wont to be sprinkled, rock-mined (fossil) salt being better than sea-salt.

De tonsura ovium primum animadverto, antequam incipiam facere, num scabiem aut ulcera habeant, ut, si opus est, ante curentur, quam tondeantur. Tonsurae tempus inter aequinoctium vernum et solstitium, cum sudare inceperunt oves, a quo sudore recens lana tonsa sucida appellata est. Tonsas recentes eodem die perungunt vino et oleo, non nemo admixta cera alba et adipe suilla; et si ea tecta solet esse, quam habuit pellem intectam, eam intrinsecus eadem re perinungunt et tegunt rursus.

On the shearing of sheep I first observe, before I begin to do it, whether they have scab or ulcers, so that, if there is need, they may be treated beforehand, before they are shorn. The time for shearing is between the vernal equinox and the solstice, when the sheep have begun to sweat, from which sweat the freshly shorn wool is called “sucida,” greasy. They anoint the newly shorn ones the same day with wine and oil—some mix in white wax and pork fat; and if it is the practice for it to be covered with that covering which it had when its skin was bare, they smear that on the inside with the same matter and cover it again.

Siqua in tonsura plagam accepit, eum locum oblinunt pice liquida. Oves hirtas tondent circiter hordeaceam messem, in aliis locis ante faenisecia. Quidam has bis in anno tondent, ut in Hispania citeriore, ac semenstres faciunt tonsuras; duplicem impendunt operam, quod sic plus putant fieri lanae, quo nomine quidam bis secant prata.

If in the shearing any has received a wound, they smear that place with liquid pitch. They shear the shaggy sheep about the barley harvest, in other places before the hay-harvests. Some shear them twice in the year, as in Nearer Spain, and make semiannual shearings; they expend a double labor, because thus they think more wool is produced, for which reason some cut the meadows twice.

Diligentiores tegeticulis subiectis oves tondere solent, nequi flocci intereant. Dies ad eam rem sumuntur sereni, et iis id faciunt fere a quarta ad decimam; cum sole calidiore tonsa, ex sudore eius lana fit mollior et ponderosior et colore meliore. Quam demptam ac conglobatam alii vellera, alii vellimna appellant; ex quo vocabulo animadverti licet prius in lana vulsuram quam tonsuram inventam.

The more diligent are accustomed to shear the sheep with little mats laid beneath, lest any tufts be lost. Clear days are chosen for that task, and on such days they generally do it from the fourth to the tenth hour; when shorn with the sun hotter, from its sweat the wool becomes softer and weightier and of better color. That which, removed and rolled together, some call fleeces, others “vellimna”; from which term it may be observed that plucking in wool was discovered earlier than shearing.

Qui etiam nunc vellunt, ante triduo habent ieiunas, quod languidae minus aegre radices lanae retinent.

Those who even now pluck keep the sheep fasting three days beforehand, because, being languid, they hold the roots of the wool less tenaciously.

Omnino tonsores in Italiam primum venisse ex Sicilia dicuntur p. R. c. a. CCCCLIII, ut scriptum in publico Ardeae in litteris exstat, eosque adduxisse Publium Titinium Menam. Olim tonsores non fuisse adsignificant antiquorum statuae, quod pleraeque habent capillum et barbam magnam.

Altogether, barbers are said to have first come into Italy from Sicily in the year 453 p. R. c. a., as it stands written in the public records at Ardea, and that Publius Titinius Mena brought them. Formerly barbers did not exist, as the statues of the ancients indicate, since most have hair and a large beard.

Suscipit Cossinius: Fructum ut ovis e lana ad vestimentum, sic capra e pilis ministrat ad usum nauticum et ad bellica tormenta et fabrilia vasa. Neque non quaedam nationes harum pellibus sunt vestitae, ut in Gaetulia et in Sardinia. Cuius usum aput anticos quoque Graecos fuisse apparet, quod in tragoediis senes ab hac pelle vocantur diphtheriae et in comoediis qui in rustico opere morantur, ut aput Caecilium in Hypobolimaeo habet adulescens, aput Terentium in Heautontimorumeno senex.

Cossinius takes it up: Produce—just as the sheep, from its wool, for clothing; so the goat, from its hairs, supplies for nautical use and for warlike engines (ballistic tormenta) and for workshop vessels. Nor indeed are there not certain nations clothed with the hides of these, as in Gaetulia and in Sardinia. The use of which appears also among the ancient Greeks, because in tragedies old men are called diphtheriae from this hide, and in comedies those who linger in rustic work, as with Caecilius in Hypobolimaeo the young man has it, with Terence in Heautontimorumeno the old man.

Tondentur, quod magnis villis sunt, in magna parte Phrygiae; unde cilicia et cetera eius generis solent fieri. Sed quod primum ea tonsura in Cilicia sit instituta, nomen id Cilicas adiecisse dicunt.

They are shorn—because they have great shag—in a large part of Phrygia; whence cilicia (hair-cloths) and other things of that kind are wont to be made. But because that shearing was first instituted in Cilicia, they say the Cilicians added that name.

Illi hoc, neque ab hoc quod mutaret Cossinius. Et simul Vituli libertus in urbem ueniens ex hortis devertitur ad nos et, Ego ad te missus, inquit, ibam domum rogatum ne diem festum faceres breviorem et mature venires. Itaque discedimus ego et Scrofa in hortos ad Vitulum, Niger Turrani noster, illi partim domum, partim ad Menatem.

They stuck to this; nor would Cossinius change from this. And at the same time the freedman of Vitulus, coming into the city from the gardens, turns aside to us and says, “I, sent to you, was going to your house to ask that you not make the feast-day shorter and that you come promptly.” And so we depart, I and Scrofa, into the gardens to Vitulus; Niger, our man of Turranius; the others, some home, some to Menas.