II] OF COWS AND OXEN 189 



breed and their shape must be carefully looked to, 

 as the progeny reproduce the qualities of the 

 parents, and (2) the place also where they were 

 bom is a matter of moment. In Italy, for example, 

 those of the Gallic ^ breed are mostly good workers, 

 o while those of Liguria are of small account, and 

 those of Epirus " across the sea surpass not only the 

 cattle of all Greece, but those of Italy as well. Some 

 people, however, use Italian cattle for sacrifice, and 

 reserve them for solemn supplications of the gods, 

 for — so they say — these are more suitable than 

 others, owing to their great bulk. For religious 

 functions they certainly are to be preferred, be- 

 cause of their majestic" size and striking colour. 

 There is also another reason for keeping them for 

 sacrifice, white cattle being rarer in Italy than they 

 are in Thrace — near the Melanic ' gulf — where few 

 of any other colour are to be found. 



When we are buying oxen which have been 

 broken in, the warrant required is as follows: ** Do 

 V ou guarantee that these oxen are sound and that 



' Gallici. X.^t.y Piceni et Circumpadani. 



' Epirotici. Cf. Pliny (viii, 45) : In nostra orbe Epiroticis laus 

 maxima. Aristotle (Hist. A., viii, 7) speaks of /3oi)ff rrvppixa^ iv 

 rp 'H7r((V>^. The excellence, he says, of the breed was due to 

 ilie fact that they were kept from the bull for nine years. 

 ' Dij{nitatem amplitudinis. Varro refers no doubt to the 

 liite Umbrians; cf. Columella, vi, i, 2: Umbria {profrenerat) 

 istos et albos. White bullocks were sacrificed on the occasion 

 a triumph; ci. inter alios, Claudian, speaking of Clitumnus, 

 Candida quae Latiis praebent armenla triumph is. 

 • MiAavu KoXirov. Now tile Gulf of Samos. 



