WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 



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proverb, that '"to a wicked cow God gives short horns,'" is at 

 once Slavonic, German. Italian, and Scottish. In ancient Italv 

 we learn that Umbrian oxen, specially those on the Clitumnus, 

 were the largest and finest, those of Etruria, Latium, and Gaul 

 being smaller, yet strongly made, and well adapted for labour, 

 while those of Thrace were valued for sacrificial purposes in 

 consequence of being for the most part pure white ; but the cattle 

 of Eoirus, the most important pastoral district of the ancient 

 world, were superior to all others. Pliny writes, •• in our part of 

 the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus ; " so also 

 says Aristotle, Varro, and Columella. The sacrificial bull (Fig. 20) 

 was white generally, and to some of the gods only white oxen could 





Fig. 20. — The Apotheosis of Homer. 

 (Relief in the British Museum.) 



be sacrificed. Jupiter for example. But Greek and Roman 

 sacrificial cattle were by no means always white. For certain 

 special ceremonies black or dark cattle were prescribed, especially 

 if sacrificing to the nether world ; but, as a rule, for most of the 

 UDDer world cults (Fig. 21), light coloured or white cattle, if they 

 could be procured, were necessary. We have seen that the working 

 cattle were dark-coloured, and we learn from our classic authors that 

 it was unlawful to sacrifice the ploughing and labouring ox (Fig. 22), 

 How cattle were obtained for sacrificial purposes we can conjecture 

 from Yirgil's instructions to divide herds into three parts, for the 

 purposes of propagation, sacrifice, and labour. Dealing with 

 dark-coloured herds, probably any light-coloured calves or albinos 

 would find their wav into the sacrificial division, and the 



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