222 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



should choose immediately after birth those you 

 mean to keep, and get rid of the rest.^ The fewer 

 you leave the better they grow, owing to the abund- 

 ance of milk they get. Put chaff or something of 

 the sort for them to lie on, for the more comfortable 

 their bed the more easily are they brought up." 

 Puppies begin to see at twenty days.^ For the first 

 two m.onths after birth they are not separated from 

 their mother, but learn little by little to do without 

 her. Sometimes several of them are taken to one 

 place and are egged on to fight, as it makes them 

 fiercer, but they are not allowed to tire themselves 

 3 out, because this breaks their spirit.* They are 

 trained to allow themselves to be tied up at first 

 with light leather thongs," and they are beaten if 



^ Reliquos ahicere. The Geoponica {loc. cit.) : ** Out of seven 

 keep three or four, of three keep two." 



2 Educantur. ' * For this animal also is very intolerant of 

 cold" (Geoponica, loc. cit). 



^ Diehus xx. The Geoponica have iv ri^kpaiQ k (20). Pliny, 

 vIII, 40: **The more milk they get the longer are they before 

 they can see; they are never blind, however, beyond the 

 twenty-first day and never see before the seventh." Aristotle 

 (H. A., vi, 20) makes this depend on the time of gestation In 

 the mothers. "The Laconlan bitch is pregnant a sixth part 

 of the year — about two months — and her pups are blind for 

 twelve days ; others for a fifth part of the year (about seventy- 

 two days), and the puppies of these are blind for fourteen 

 days ; others for a quarter of the year (three whole months), 

 and theirs are blind for seventeen days." 



* Seg-niores fiunt. Geoponica {loc. cit. ) : KaTa(3apeX(T9ai d' ovk 

 iuim, xajoij/ rov fii) deiXijiv, **do not let them be over-done lest 

 they grow cowardly." 



^ Levibus vinclis. In the Geoponica the words are Se<Tfiolg de 



