154 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



In general a similar treatment should be followed | 

 with '* jacketed" ^ sheep, such as those of Tarentum ^ , 

 and Attica, which are protected by skin jackets, so i 

 that their wool may not be soiled, as dirt prevents 

 it from being properly dyed, washed, and bleached. ^ 

 19 Greater care is taken that the pens and stables of, 

 these sheep may be clean than in the case of those 

 with coarse wool, the stable being paved to prevent 

 urine from collecting anywhere in it. They are 

 given whatever they like to eat, such as fig-leaves, 

 straw, grape-skins, bran, in moderate quantities, so 

 that they may eat neither too much nor too little, 

 as either extreme prevents them from putting on 

 flesh. For this purpose the best food is lucerne ' 



goats produce twins, If they are well fed, or if the ram or he-' 

 goat is accustomed to get twins or the mother to bear them." 



^ In ovibus pellitis. Cf. Pliny (N. H. viii, 47): Ovium 

 summa genera duOy tectum et colonicum, illud molUus^ hoc in 

 pascuo delicatius quippe cum tectum ruhis vescatur^'*^ where 

 tectum=pelUtum. The delicate sheep with fine wool, such as 

 those of Megara, Attica, and Tarentum, were protected' 

 against the cold and dirt by jackets made of skin. Diogenes' 

 the Cynic (Cf. Diogenes Laertius in vita Diogenis) when he 

 was in Megara noticed that the children went about naked,' 

 while the rams were clothed, and remarked that it was evid- 

 ently better to be a Megarian's ram than his child ! 



^ Tarentum. Festus, in a much mutilated text, appears tc 

 say that a Tarentine sheep was worth about a pound sterling 



^ Medica. Columella (ii, 11, 2) praises it extravagantly 

 "One sowing lasts ten years; it gives generally four, some 

 times six cuttings in the year, enriches the land, fattens al 

 kinds of lean cattle, and cures such as are sick. Two-thirds o 

 an acre of it will feed, and feed well, three horses for a whol 



