II] OF DOGS 223 



they try to gnaw them away — until the habit is 

 lost. On rainy days beds should be made for them 

 with leaves or grass, for two reasons — that they 



14 may neither get dirty, nor catch a chill. Some 

 people castrate them, thinking them thus less likely 

 to leave the flock ; others do not, for they consider 

 that it takes away their spirit. Some people rub 

 their ears and between their toes with a mixture of 

 pounded almonds and water, because it is said, 

 unless this ointment be used, flies, ticks and fleas 



15 cause ulcers there. To prevent them from being 

 wounded by wild beasts collars are put on them — 

 the collar called meliuni,'^ which is a band made 



. . . TO fuv irpioTov ifidvri, elra rard fiipog cidriptp — "at first with 

 I leather strap, then by degrees with an iron chain." In all 

 ihe printed editions before Victorius instead of vinclts was 

 found numellis. Numella is defined in a fragment of Festus 

 .IS genus vinculi quo quadrupedes alligantur; solent autem ea 

 fieri nervo aut corio crudo bovis. This corresponds admirably 

 with ifidvTi above ; and it is strange that in Varro there is no 

 deinde («Ira) to balance primum. One would have expected 

 something like levihus vinc/ts (Siafioig), primum numellis {^i\kdvTi) 

 Jims . . . solent; deinde ferreis {aiirtptft). But the MSS. give no 

 support to such a reading. 



' Melium. This kind of collar was in the time of Festus — 

 md according to him in that of Scipio Africanus — called millus. 

 He defines it thus: "A hound's collar made of leather and 

 studded with iron nails which stick out — as a protection against 

 an attacking wolf." 



The Geoponica {he. cil.) say that iron spikes two fingers' 

 breadth from one another "should project from the collar." 

 The heads of the nails were, of course, on the under side of 

 the collar, hence the need of stitching on a piece of soft leather 

 to prevent the dog's neck from being chafed. 



