WHITE CATTLE: AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 249 
proverb, that “to a wicked cow God gives short horns,’ is at 
once Slavonic, German, Italian, and Scottish. In ancient Italy 
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 Epirus, 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 

Fie. 20.—The Apotheosis of Homer. 
(Relief in the British Museum.) 
be sacrificed, Jupiter for example. But Greek and Roman 
sacrificial eattle 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 
upper 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 Virgil’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 way into the sacrificial division, and the 
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