292 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



reddish, wing feathers black, toes of unequal 

 length, heads big, crest erect, and bodies of large 



5 size, for these are the best layers. The cocks should 

 be chosen for their amorous^ nature; you may 

 know them by their being fleshy and having a red 

 crest, a short, thick, sharp beak, gray or black eyes, 

 whitish-red wattles, a striped or gold-tinged neck, 

 well feathered thighs, short legs, long nails, long 

 tails and wings with abundant feathers — also by 

 their frequent stretching up and crowing, by their 

 stubbornness in fight, and by the courage with 

 which, so far from fearing animals which harm the 



6 hens, they even do battle on the hens' behalf. You 

 must not, however, in choosing a breed, try to get 

 Tanagrian, Median,^ or Chalcidic cocks, for though 



^ Gallos salaces qui. In the Editio Maior Keil brackets this 

 quiy suggesting, however, that it may be an adverb meaning 

 " somehow " ! There would seem to be three ways of dealing 

 with the passage: (i) to expunge qui, "the cocks which are 

 good sires are known by," etc. ; (2) to retain qui and insert 

 sint taking gallos as the common (in Varro) Greek accusative, 

 and (3) to read with Schneider: gallos salaces: qui animad- 

 vertuntur si . . .," supplying before gallos the eligat oportet of 

 line 2. This seems to me incomparably the best way of the 

 three, and so I have translated. 



^ Melicos. Popular for medicos (cf. iii, 9, 19); also Festus : 

 Medicae gallinae quod in Media id genus avium corporis am- 

 plissimi fiaty **/" littera pro "^" suhstitutay and Columella, 

 viii, 2, 4: et Medicum quod ah imperito vulgo littera mutata 

 Melicum appellatur. 



Columella (viii, 2, 13) recommends that these foreign breeds 

 be crossed with Italian hens: nam et paternam speciem gerunt, 

 et salacitatem fecunditatemque vernaculam retinent''' He has 



