176 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



name of *^ sucking-pigs " they are called nefrendes^ 

 (not-crunchers), from the fact that they are yet 

 unable to crunch, that is, crush beans. The word 

 porcus is an ancient Greek ^ word, now obsolete, for 

 its place has been taken by the word %oipoj. 



On the birth of young ones care is taken that the 

 sows drink twice a day, for the sake of their milk. 

 A sow ought, they say, to give birth to as many 

 pigs as she has teats ; ^ if there are fewer she is not 

 likely to be profitable, if more, it portends some- 

 i8 thing. The most ancient recorded example of such 

 a portent is Aeneas's sow,^ which bore at Lavinium 



^ Nefrendes. Varro's etymology is possibly right. For the 

 form of the word compare negoHum, nefastuSy etc. Martial 

 (iii, 47) speaks of a sucking-pig as * ' not yet having vanquished 

 beans." 



Illic coronam pinguihus gravem turdis 

 Leporemque laesum Gallici canis dente 

 Nondumque victa lacteumfaha porcum, 



where instead of victa^ fresa (from frendere) is sometimes 

 read. 



* Porcus Graecum nomen. TropKOQ, cf. Plut., Popl., 11, and 

 Varro, L. L., v, 19 (middle): Porcus nisi si a Graecis quod 

 Athenis in lihris sacrormn scriptum est porcae, porco (jropKy, 



TTopKifi). 



^ Quot mammas habeat. According to Pliny (N. H., xi, 41) 

 the number varies : haec plures habent, toto ventre duplici 

 ordine, ut sues, generosae duodenas^ vulgares binas minus. 



* Sus Aeneae. Cf. Aeneid, iii, 390-393. Servius {ad he.) says 

 with regard to the thirty little pigs that they signified the 

 thirty years during which Ascanius should reign. Prodigiale 

 est hoc, quo signijicatur triginta annis regnaturus esse Ascanius. 

 Varro, L. L. , v, cap. 40 : Hinc post triginta annos oppidum 



