i66 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



small feet and heads. They are better of one uni- 

 form colour rather than parti-coloured. See that 

 the boars have the same qualities, and in any case 



4 that they have big shoulders. Pigs of a good breed 

 are recognized by their shape, by the size of the 

 litters, and by the district whence they come. By 

 their shape, when boar and sow are handsome ; by 

 the litters, when these are big ; and by the district, 

 when they come from one where the breed is big, 



5 not small. They are generally bought with this 

 stipulation : '* Do you guarantee that these sows are 

 sound, that the possession of them is good in law, 

 that they are warranted ^ against claims for damages, 



"square" rather than long, but the sows as long of body as 

 possible. 



^ Noxis que praestari. One would have expected either a 

 noxis praestari as in Cicero (Ad Div., i, 4) a vi praestare nihil 

 possum^ or noxis solutas as in the Digests. 



If any one of the pigs had done damage when with one 

 owner, and then had been transferred to another, the action 

 would lie against the latter. As was the case with a slave : Cf. 

 Justinian (Inst., iv, tit. 8 — De noxalibus actionibus) : Nam si 

 servus tuus noxam commiserit: quamdiu in tua potestate sity 

 tecum est actio. Si autem in alterius potestatem pervenerit: cum 

 illo incipit actio esse. The phrase may also have reference to 

 bad habits contracted before purchase, which might lead to 

 the loss or damage of the animals. Cf. Alexander ab Alex- 

 andro, iii, 14 (about the middle) : Quod si periculosam rem 

 antea facere servus consuerat . . . tuque vendito a te servo id 

 imperasti quod sine periculo exsequi nequibat, censuit Paulus 

 teneri venditorem oh necem damnumve si quam in perniciem 

 servus incurrisset. I now incline to the latter view, and would 

 translate, " warranted free from dangerous habits." 



