II] OF DOGS 221 



soaked in milk, for when once accustomed to such 

 a diet they are slow to desert the flock. They are 

 not allowed to eat the flesh of a dead^ sheep for 

 fear that their power of self-restraint may be 

 weakened by its good flavour. They are given also 

 bone soup," or the bones themselves after they have 

 been broken, for this makes their teeth stronger, 

 and the mouth wider owing to the vigour with which 

 their jaws are distended as they eagerly enjoy the 

 marrow. Dogs are fed generally in the day time, 

 when they go out to the pasture, and in the evening 

 when they come back to the stalls. 



11 For breeding, they begin to put the dog to the 

 bitch at the opening of spring, for it is then that 

 they are in what is called ''heat." That is, they 

 show their desire for mating. Bitches which are 

 covered at this time litter about the summer sol- 

 stice, for gestation lasts usually three months. 

 During pregnancy you should give barley rather 

 than wheaten bread, for it nourishes them better, 



12 and they give a greater supply of milk. As to rear- 

 ing the puppies: if there are many of them you 



early English. Double negatives are quite common as late 

 as Elizabethan times. Cf. Roger Ascham (37): "No sonne, 

 were he never so old of yeares, might not marry." 



' Morticinae. Generally used of a natural death. Cf. iii, 2, 

 18. The Geoponica {loc. cit.) more fully: Twv U air oOvtiokovtuv 

 Opififtarutv ovK luaiv uTTTiaOai 'iva fxt^ (xvptOiaOujoi Kai rotf ^uiaiv 

 ixiTiBiaBai. tvapUTOKkriToi ydp lK(iaivovaiv orav urra^ itfiofpayrjaoimv. 



* lus ex ossibus. In the corresponding passage the Geo- 

 ponica (xix, i) have 6 U rtSv dartuv fiviXog. But this perhaps 

 refers to m^dullarum lower down. 



