232 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



the latter consist of plants' which, when taken 

 directly, generally act with us as purgatives; on 

 the nature of the animal, for milk is better which 

 comes from those that are in robust health and still 

 young than if the reverse is the case; on milking 

 and the birth of the young one, as that milk is the 

 best which is taken not too long after, nor imme- 

 diately' after, birth. 



3 Of cheeses,' those which are made from cows' 

 milk are the most nourishing, but pass through the 

 body with the greatest difficulty; in the second 

 place come those made from sheep's milk, while 

 the least nutritious and most laxative are those 

 made from goat's milk. We must also distinguish 

 between soft and new cheese, and that which is old 

 and dry; soft* cheese being the more nutritious 

 and less constipating, while the opposite is the case 



4 with old and dry cheese. Cheese-making begins 



^ Ex herbis. Such as scammony, hellebore, or periwinkle. 

 Cf. Dioscorides, ii, 75. 



' A pariu coniinuo. Varro refers, of course, to the colostra 

 of which Aristotle (Joe. cit.) says, dxpv<^Tov St t6 Trpwrov kuI 

 vffTtpov. The 7nu/so of the text is difficult. Keil makes it syn- 

 onymous with the colostra, quoting Pliny's words about fote 

 gras\ Fartilihus in magnam amplitudinem crescit: exemptum 

 quoque lacte muJso augetur (Pliny, x, 22), and says that the first 

 milk after parturition was called mulsum because of its sweet- 

 ness, I can find, however, no authority for the statement save 

 the doubtful one given above, 



^ Casei. For an interesting account of cheese-making cf 

 Columella, vii, 8, 



* Molles. Pausanias (vi, 7) says that the ancient athletes 

 used to train on soft cheese, in preference to flesh meat. 



