152 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



two or three days, until the lambs learn to recognize 

 their mothers and get their fill of food. Next, when 

 the mothers go out with the flock to graze, the 

 lambs are kept at home, and when the mothers are 

 brought back to them towards evening, they are 

 suckled by them, and then again separated, lest the 

 mothers should trample' on them in the night. This 

 procedure is repeated in the morning, before the 

 mothers go out to graze, that the little lambs may 

 i6 get a good meal ' of milk. When about ten days 

 have elapsed, stakes are driven into the ground, and 

 to these the lambs are fastened at some distance 

 from one another, by strings made of rind or some 

 other smooth material, lest by running about all 

 day and colliding with one another the frail little 

 things knock the skin off a limb. If a lamb will not 

 come to its mother's udder, you must put it there, 

 and smear its lips with butter ^ or hog's lard, and 

 give its lips the savour^ of milk. A few days after 



^ Conculcentur. Cf. Geoponica {loc. ciL). 



* Satulli, a diminutive from satur. The fondness for dimin- 

 utives, a characteristic of rustic Latin, is strong in modern 

 Italian. This word satulliis= Italian satollo, and Varro's word, 

 quoted by Nonius, satullare ^ItsXiSin satollare. 



^ Buturo. Pliny (N. H. xxviii, 9) describes butter-making, 

 and tells one a good deal about butter. "Amongst barbarous 

 nations it is highly esteemed as a food." " Hog's lard comes 

 next to it in merit." *' It may be used instead of oil " (xxviii, 

 10), and is a " capital remedy if you happen to have swallowed 

 a leech." *' It is astringent, fattening, emollient, and purga- 

 tive." But it is difficult to understand why the lambs' lips are 

 to be smeared with it ! 



* Olfacere labra. The text must be corrupt here. Olfacere 



