2i6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



keeping in my treatment of the art to the nine-fold ' 

 division which was before explained. 



3 In the first place you must get dogs of the proper 

 age, for puppies and old dogs are no protection 

 either to themselves or to sheep, and sometimes fall 

 a prey to wild beasts. In shape ^ they should be 

 handsome; of great size, with eyes black or yellow- 

 ish, with nostrils to match ;^ the lips should be 

 blackish or red, the upper ones neither too much 

 turned up nor hanging down too low; the lower 

 jaw short, ^ and the two teeth springing from it on 

 the right and left side projecting a little, while the 

 upper teeth should be straight rather than pro- 



4Jecting;' the incisors should be covered by the 

 lip; the head and ears large and the latter broad 

 and hanging ; the neck and throat thick, the parts 

 between the joints long, the legs straight and turn- 



^ Novem partes. Cf. ii, i, 12: Harum una quaeque in se 

 j^eneralis partis habet 7ninimum novenas, quaruni in pecore 

 parando necessariae quattuor, alterae in pascendo totidem, prae- 

 terea communis una. The nine divisions are (i) age, (2) type, 

 (3) breed, (4) legal formalities in buying, (5) feeding, (6) breed- 

 ing, (7) rearing, (8) health, and (9) number. 



^ Facie. Most of what follows is translated almost word 

 for word by the Geoponica, xix, 2. Cf. also Columella, vii, 12 

 — a delightful chapter. 



^ Congruentihus. The Geoponica (loc. cit.) have fivKTfjpa 

 ofioxpoiav exovTfg. In ii, 7, 5, congruentes meant " symmetrical." 



* Mento suppresso. Most of the dogs represented on ancient 

 monuments resemble Varro's description in regard to the 

 short lower jaw, the straight back, and the pendent ears. 



' Brocchis. In a former passage (ii, 7, 4) Crescentius trans- 

 lated this word plicati. Here he translates it by torti. 



