II] OF HORSES AND MARES 205 



the vernal equinox and the solstice, so that birth 

 may occur at a suitable ' season — for they say it 

 takes place on the tenth day of the twelfth month. 

 Foals born after term * have generally some defect, 



8 and prove useless. When the time of year has 

 come the horse should be put to the mare twice a 

 day, morning and evening, by a groom — so the 

 man who has this duty is called — for when he helps, 

 the mare having been tied up, the operation is more 

 quickly performed, and the horse does not, through 

 too great excitement, emit his seed to no purpose. 



The point of sufficient intercourse is indicated by 

 the mares themselves, as when it is reached they 

 repulse the male. If a distaste is shown for his 

 work, the heart of a squill is pounded in water until 

 it has the consistency of honey, then with this the 

 natural parts of the mare are touched at the time 

 of the menstrual flow, while on the other hand the 

 stallion's nostrils are touched with what comes 



9 from the parts of the mare. Though incredible, the 

 following fact' deserves to be recorded : A stallion 



' Idoneo tempore. I.e.^ in spring or early summer, when 

 there is abundant pasture, and the mares can supply their 

 young with plenty of milk. 



' Post tempus. Cf. ii, i, 19: Dicuntur agni cordi qui post 

 temptis nascuntur. 



In the Geoponica (xvi, i) this seems to have been misunder- 



;cxxi: Tck ci furd rpowdg Otpivdf; KvioKdfuva Svaytvij yivtrat xai 



xptia. "What are conceived after the summer solstice are 



useless." Unless, indeed, post id tempus should be read in 



Varro's text 



' Quod usu venit. The same story is told by Aristotle (H. A. 



