II] OF PIGS 177 



thirty white little pigs. And in the result what was 

 portended did happen, as the men of Lavinium 

 founded the town of Alba thirty years later. Of this 

 sow and her young ones traces are even now to be 

 found, for their likeness in bronze still stands where 

 all may see, and the mother's body is shown by the 

 priests (as it was, according to them, preserved in 

 brine). 

 [9 A sow can feed eight' quite little pigs at first; 

 when they have grown bigger, a man who knows 

 his business generally takes away half the number 

 from her, as she cannot supply^ milk enough for 

 all, nor can the whole litter get enough food to 



alterum conditur Alba; id ah sue alba nominatum. Haec e 

 navi Aeneae quom fugisset Lavinium triginta parit porcos; ex 

 hoc prodigio post Lavinium conditum annis triginta haec urbs 

 facta, propter colorem suis et loci naturam Alba Longa dictum. 

 It will be noticed that Varro's story differs from Vergil's. In 

 the former's the sow had escaped from Aeneas's ship. Servius 

 {loc. cit.) mentions both stories. Livy (i, 3) states that the 

 Tiber was at this time called "Albula." 



* Octonos. Cf. Columella (vii, 9, 13): Qui tamen non debet 

 octo capitum numerum excedere. Non quia ignorem fecundi- 

 tatem scrofarum maioris esse nunieri; sed quia celerrime fatiscit 

 quae plures educat. 



Pliny (viii, 51): Numerus fecunditatis cui vicenos{!): sed 

 educare tarn multos nequeunt. 



' Sufferre\ in Varro (ii, 8, 5), in Columella, and In Vergil, 

 the word means always "to bear." For it, therefore, Gesner 

 proposed to substitute sujfficere, which is of common occurrence 

 in the sense of '* to supply " — especially in Vergil (cf. Georg., ii, 

 424, 436). Crescentius copying this passage has neque mater 

 sufficienter potest lac praebere. So that the emendation seems 

 plausible. 



N 



