I] OXEN AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS 57 

 CHAPTER XX 



OF OXEN AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS 



I Of all the quadrupeds, then, we will consider first 

 the oxen you are buying for the plough, and say 

 what kind is suitable for the purpose. These should 

 be unbroken when you buy them, and not less than 

 three, or more than four years old; they must be 

 strong ^d well-matched, lest in their work the 

 stronger wear out the weaker; they should have 

 wide horns, be black for choice, with broad fore- 

 heads, flat noses, broad chests, and well-furnished 

 quarters. 



t Those which have grown up in plains should 

 not be bought for use in a mountainous and stiff 

 country, and the converse is equally to be avoided.' 

 When you have bought unbroken heifers, if you 



* Nee non, contra, si incidtt, ut sit vitandum. So Keil, 

 whose punctuation seems here to be wrong. Zahlfeldt ( * ' Quaes- 

 tiones Criticae" in Varr. R. R., Berlin, 1881) suggests, no 

 doubt rightly, that the comma should be placed at sit. He 

 was anticipated, however, by the Italian edition of 1846, 

 where this punctuation is adopted. Victorius, in his "most 

 lieuthful and ancient MS.," found nee non tra, and suggests 

 nee eontra, etc., the translation of which would be "and the 

 converse need not be avoided "; but Columella (vi, 2, 12) dis- 

 tinctly states that both changes— from mountains to plains and 

 1 plains to mountains— are bad. The order of words in the 

 phrase eontra si ineidil ut sit for si incidit ut sit contra is quite 

 Varronian. 



