i86 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



6 Firstly, in the matter of horned cattle there are 

 four terms to denote differences of age — first, calves, 

 secondly, bullocks; thirdly, young bulls; fourthly, 

 old bulls. Differences in sex are indicated in the 

 first case by the names calf, she-calf; in the second, 

 bullock, and heifer; and in the third and fourth by 

 the words bull and cow. A barren cow is called 

 taura^^ one in calf, hordaJ^ Hence in the calendar 

 one day is termed hordicidia ^ because cows in calf 

 are then sacrificed. 



7 He who means to buy * a herd of cattle must first 



agas, inquam, Vacci, when Varro hopes that Vaccius may be 

 able to perform what he promises with so light a heart. To 

 this Vaccius here answers : '* Don't be uneasy," etc. 



^ Taura. Schneider thinks that this means hermaphrodite, 

 comparing Aristotle (De Gen. Anim.), where the word rpd- 

 yaivai (rpdyog) signifies hermaphrodite goats. But Festus and 

 Servius (Aen., ii, 140) both translate it sterilis vacca. 



^ Horda. Varro in the Lingua Latina spells these words 

 {horda, hordicidia, etc.) with an initial F not H. Cf. L. L., 

 vi, cap. 3 : Fordicidia a fordis huhus. Bos forda quae fert in 

 ventre. Quod eo die puhlice immolantur boves praegnates in 

 curiis compluresy a fordis caedendis Fordicidia dicta. This use 

 of f where Latin has h is dialectal (Sabine ?). Cf. fasena, 

 fircus, faeduSy fordeuvt for harena, hircus, etc. 



^ Hordicidia, A festival in honour of Tellus held at Rome 

 15th April, when pregnant cows were sacrificed. The ashes of 

 the exsected calves (burned, on the day when the hordicidia 

 was celebrated, by the Senior Vestal) were used later at the 

 Parilia — 21st April — in the lustration of the city and people. 



^ Om^ gregem, etc. This description, which corresponds 

 with that given by Columella (vi, 1,3, and vi, 21) is taken from 

 the work of Mago the Carthaginian. Varro's words seem to 

 be almost literally translated by the Geoponica, xvii, 2. 



