i8o VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



A small herd entails less expense than a large 

 one, as the swineherd needs fewer assistants. So 

 the stock-farmer arranges the aggregate number in 

 a herd to suit his convenience, but not so the propor- 

 tion of boars, as this is dictated by nature. 



CHAPTER V 



OF COWS AND OXEN 



I Such was Scrofa's contribution. At this point the 

 senator Lucienus,^ a gentleman of extreme refine- 

 ment and great humour with whom we were all 

 well acquainted, came in and said, ''How do you 

 do, my fellow Epirots,"" for Scrofa, and our friend 

 Varro, TroifXEva ;^a5v,^ I saw and greeted early this 

 morning. Some of us said. How do you do? to 

 him, whilst others scolded him for not keeping his 

 appointment more punctually. I will see you, he 



^ Q. Lucienus Senator. Varro (L. L., v, i) has Sic declinantes 

 Graeci nostra noniina dicunt Lucienuni Aovk'uvov et Quintium 

 KoivTiov. I can find no allusion to him elsewhere. 



'^ Synepirotae. I.e., ^vvr^TrtipuiTai, the semi-Graeci, Atticus 

 and Cossinius (cf. note on ii, 4, i). 



^ TToifisva \aiov. "Shepherd of the people," a phrase com- 

 monly applied by Homer to kings and generals, frequently to 

 Agamemnon, who led the fleet against Troy. Varro at the 

 time of this conversation was in command of the fleet between 

 Delos and Sicily. Cf. Varro's introduction to this book, § 6. 



