198 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



breeding purposes, as when wild he may readily be 

 tamed, and once tamed never becomes wild again. 

 As the offspring resemble their parents, both sire 

 and dam must be chosen carefully, both must be 

 fine animals. In trading, change of ownership is 

 effected — just as in the case of other domestic 

 animals — by purchase and delivery; and a guar- 

 antee that their health is good and that they have 

 done no damage for which the purchaser may be 

 4 held responsible is usually required. Their proper 

 food is spelt and barley bran. The male is put to 

 the female before the solstice, that the latter may 

 foal the next year at the same time; for she-asses 

 reproduce their kind twelve months after conception. 

 During pregnancy they are relieved from work; for 

 toil makes the womb produce inferior offspring,' 

 whereas the male is not kept from work, as he de- 

 teriorates through lack of it. As regards breeding, 

 the practice is much the same as with horses. After 

 birth, the foals are not taken from the mothers for a 

 year ; the next year they are allowed to be with them 



the third generation the wild nature of the onager would be 

 mitigated {per gradus infracta feritate). 



For their swiftness cf. Xenophon, Anab., I, 5. The Greeks 

 found it difficult to catch them, for they ran much faster than 

 horses. Some, however, they did catch, using relays of horses. 

 The flesh was found to resemble that of the stag, but it was 

 more tender. 



^ Natio. Festus {ad verbum): In pecoribus quoque bonus 

 proventus feturae bona natio dicitur. Cicero frequently uses 

 the word contemptuously, as Mur., 33, tota natio candidatorum. 

 Pro Sext., 44, natio optimaiium. 



