X.
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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
[10.1] As he glanced around to see if he had overlooked anything, I remarked: “Your silence gives the cue to another actor; for the remaining scene in this act concerns the number and kind of herdsmen to be kept.” Whereupon Cossinius: “For herds of larger cattle older men, for the smaller even boys; but in both cases those who range the trails should be sturdier than those on the farm who go back to the steading every day. Thus on the range you may see young men, usually armed, while on the farm not only boys but even girls tend the flocks. [2] The herdsmen should be required to stay on the range the entire day and have the herds feed together; but, on the other hand, to spend the night each with his own herd. They should all be under one herd-master; he should preferably be older than the rest and more experienced, as the other herdsmen will be more disposed to take orders from one who surpasses them in both age and knowledge. [3] Still, he should not be so much older that his age will prevent him from being as able to stand hard work; for neither old men nor boys can easily endure the hardships of the trail and the steepness and roughness of the mountains — all of which must be encountered by those who follow the herd, and especially herds of cattle and oats, which like cliffs and woods for pasturage. The men chosen for this work should be of a sturdy sort, swift, nimble, with supple limbs; men who can not only follow the herd but can also protect it from beasts and robbers, who can lift loads to the backs of pack animals, who can dash out, and who can hurl the javelin. [4] It is not every people that is fitted for herding; thus neither a Bastulan nor a Turdulan is suited, while Gauls are admirably adapted, especially for draught cattle. In the matter of purchase there are some six methods of acquiring a legitimate title: by legal inheritance; by receiving, in due form, through mancipation from one who had a legal right to transfer; by legal cession, from one who had the right to cede, and that at the proper time; by right of possession; by purchase at auction from war-booty; and lastly by official sale among other property or in confiscated property. [5] In the purchase of slaves, it is customary for the peculium to go with the slave, unless it is expressly excepted; and for a guarantee to be given that he is sound and has not committed thefts or damage; or, if the transfer is not by mancipation, double the amount is guaranteed, or merely the purchase price, if this be agreed on. They should eat during the day apart, each with his own herd, but in the evening all those who are under one head-herdsman should eat together. The head-herdsman is to see that all equipment needed for the animals and herdsmen, and especially for sustenance of the men and the treatment of the cattle, shall accompany them; for which purpose owners keep pack animals, in some cases mares, in others any animal instead, which can carry a load on its back.
[6] “As to the breeding of herdsmen; it is a simple matter in the case of those who stay all the time on the farm, as they have a female fellow-slave in the steading, and the Venus of herdsmen looks no farther than this. But in the case of those who tend the herds in mountain valleys and wooded lands, and keep off the rains not by the roof of the steading but by makeshift huts, many have thought that it was advisable to send along women to follow the herds, prepare food for the herdsmen, and make them more diligent. [7] Such women should, however, be strong and not ill-looking. In many places they are not inferior to the men at work, as may be seen here and there in Illyricum, being able either to tend the herd, or carry firewood and cook the food, or to keep things in order in their huts. [8] As to feeding their young, I merely remark that in most cases they suckle them as well as bear them.” At the same time, turning to me, he said: “As I have heard you say that you, when you were in Liburnia, saw mothers carrying logs and children at the breast at the same time, sometimes one, sometimes two; showing that our newly-delivered women, who lie for days under their mosquito-nets,[9] “It is quite true,” I replied; “and in Illyricum I have seen something even more remarkable: for it often happens there that a pregnant woman, when her time has come,
steps aside a little way from her work, bears her child there, and brings it back so soon that you would say she had not borne it but found it. They have also another remarkable practice: their custom does not refuse to allow women, often as much as twenty years old (and they call them maidens, too), before marriage to mate with any man they please, to wander around by themselves, and to bear children.” [10] (Cossinius resumes), “All directions for caring for the health of human beings and cattle, and all sicknesses which can be treated without the aid of a physician, the head-herdsman should keep in writing. For one who does not know his letters is not fit for the place, because he cannot possibly keep his master’s cattle accounts correctly. The number of herdsmen is determined differently, some having a smaller, some a larger number. [11] My own practice is to have a herdsman to every eighty wool-bearing sheep, while Atticus has one to every hundred. If flocks of sheep are very large (and some people have as many as 1000) you can decrease the number of shepherds more easily than you can in smaller flocks, such as those of Atticus and mine. My own flocks contain 700, and yours, I think, had 800; but still you had one tenth of them rams, as I do. Two men are needed for a herd of fifty mares, and each of these should certainly have for his use a mare which has been broken to the saddle, in those districts where it is customary for the mares to be rounded up and driven to stalls, as is frequently true in Apulia and Lucania.
XI.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. Qui etiam nunc vellunt, ante triduo habent ieiunas, quod languidae minus aegre radices lanae retinent.
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.
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. 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.
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.
[11.1] “As we have completed what we promised,” he said, “let us leave.” “Yes,” said I, “but not until you have added, as was promised, something about supplementary profit from the flock, including under it the milk and the shearing.” (Cossinius continues) “Of all the liquids which we take for sustenance, milk is the most nourishing — first sheep’s milk, and next goat’s milk. Mare’s milk, however, has the greatest purgative effect, secondly ass’s milk, then cow’s milk, and lastly goat’s milk. [2] But there are certain differences among these which arise from a difference of pasturage, a difference in the nature of the animal, and a difference in the milking. As affected by pasturage, milk is best for nourishment which comes from animals fed on barley and straw, and, in general, on solid dry food; while that from animals fed on green food is best for purging, and especially if the green food such as purges us when we eat it ourselves. As affected by the nature of the animal, milk from healthy animals and those not yet old is better than if it is the reverse. As affected by milking and birth, the best milk is that which has not been kept too long after milking and which has not been milked immediately after parturition. [3] Of the cheeses which are made from this milk, those made of cow’s milk have the most nutriment, but when eaten are discharged with most difficulty; next come those made of sheep’s milk, while those made of goat’s milk have the least nutriment and are most easily voided. There is also a difference depending on whether the cheeses are soft and fresh or dry and old, as the soft cheeses are more nutritious and less constipating, while the old, dry cheeses are just the opposite. [4] The period for making cheese extends from the rising of the Pleiades in spring until the Pleiades in summer. In spring the milk for cheese making is drawn in the morning, while at other seasons the milking takes place toward midday; but the practice is not entirely uniform because of differences in locality and food. To two congii of milk is added a bit of rennet the size of an olive, to make it coagulate; this is better when made from a hare or a kid than when made from a lamb. Others use, instead of rennet, the milk from the stem of a fig, and vinegar; they also curdle with various other substances — a thing which, in Greek, is sometimes called ὀπός, and sometimes δάκρυον.” [5] “I should not be surprised,” I remarked, “if that is the reason that a fig tree was planted by shepherds near the shrine of the goddess Rumina; you know at that place sacrifice is offered with milk instead of with wine and sucklings. For peopl
e used to call the udder rumis, and even to-day we have lambs called subrumi from this word, just as they are called lactantes (sucklings) from lac (milk). Those who sprinkle salt prefer mineral salt to sea salt.
[6] “As to the shearing of sheep, I first am careful to see, before beginning it, whether the sheep have the scab or sores, so that they may be treated if necessary before being sheared. The proper time for shearing is the period from the spring equinox to the solstice, after the sheep have begun to sweat; it is because of this sweat (sudor) that freshly shorn wool is called ‘juicy’ (sucida). [7] Freshly clipped sheep are rubbed down on the same day with wine and oil, to which some add a mixture of white chalk and hog lard; and if they have been accustomed to wear a jacket, the skin with which they were covered is greased on the inside with the same mixture and placed on them again. If a sheep has been cut during the shearing, the wound is smeared with soft pitch. Sheep with coarse fleece are shorn about the time of the barley harvest, or at other places before the cutting of the hay. [8] Some shear their sheep twice a year, as is done in Hither Spain, shearing every six months. They undergo the double work on the supposition that more wool is secured by this method — which is the same motive that leads some to mow their meadows twice a year. The more careful farmers spread out cloths and shear the sheep over them to prevent loss of the wool. [9] Calm days are chosen for this work, and on these the shearing is done from about the fourth to the ninth hour. The fleece from a sheep that is clipped when the sun is rather warm is rendered softer by the sweat, as well as heavier and of better colour. When the fleece has been removed and rolled up it is called by some vellus, by others vellimnum; and it may be seen from these words that in the case of wool, plucking was discovered earlier than shearing. Some people pluck the wool even to-day; and these keep the sheep without food for three days before, as the roots of the wool hold less tightly when the sheep are weak.”
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 108