II] OF GOATS i6i 



autumn (about loth November) the males are 

 driven from the flock which is on the plain to goat- 

 houses, as has been mentioned in the case of 

 rams.' Those goats which have conceived are de- 

 livered after the fourth month ' in the springtime. 



As to rearing: As soon as the kids are three 

 months old, they are put into the flock and begin to 

 form a part of it. 



What am I to say of their health, when they are 

 never healthy? I will just mention the one fact 

 that the guardians of a flock have certain written 

 directions as to what remedies to use against 

 some of their diseases and against wounds, which 

 are of frequent occurrence in their case, as they 

 fight with one another with their horns and feed 

 in thorny places. 



There remains for discussion the question of num- 

 ber. This is smaller in the case of a flock of goats 

 than of sheep, as she-goats are full of mischief,^ 

 and prone to scatter, whilst sheep are gregarious 

 in nature and huddle together into one place. 

 Hence in the Ager Gallicus^ men keep many in 

 preference to large flocks, for in those which are 

 large disease often breaks out suddenly, and brings 



' Ut in arietibus dictum. Cf. ii, 2, 13. 



* Post quartum mensem. Aristotle, H. A., vi. 9: kvh U Tzivry 

 fSgva^ KOLi irpo^oTOv xai a'lX. 



I Pliny, N. H., viii, 50: Concipiunt Norvembri mense ut Martio 

 I pariant. 



* Lascivae. Cf. Columella, vii, 6, 7. 



* Ager Gnllicus. Cf. note, i, 14, 4. 



M 



