CHAP, v.] VARRO 'S ACCOUNT. 151 



puted point, it is better to quote the passage in its 

 original words than to incur any suspicion of having 

 given a weak or warped rendering, after the example of 

 Chaunteclere's explanation to the faire Damoiselle Perte- 

 lote, as related by Chaucer: 



" For al so siker as In principle 

 Mulier est hominis cotoftuio. 

 (Madame, the sentence of this Latine is, 

 Woman is mannes joye and mannes blis.) " 



We therefore quote here a few sentences from Varro, 

 because two thousand years ago he recorded some pecu- 

 liarities in the races of Domestic Pigeons (and other 

 passages of similar import are to be found in other 

 ancient authors) which appear to us to be opposed to, 

 if not irreconcil cable with, the theories of some mo- 

 dern naturalists. 



" Si unquam (HfMrti^W^o<pf7 constituisses, has tuas 

 esse putares, quamvis ferae essent. Duo enirn genera 

 earum in KEptrTepoTgoQsiu esse solent : Unum agreste, ut 

 alii dicunt, saxatile, quod habetur in turribus, ac colu- 

 minibus villae, a quo appellatse columba, quae propter 

 timorem naturalem summa loca in tectis captant ; quo 

 fit ut agrestes maxime sequantur turres, in quas ex agro 

 evolant suapte sponte, ac remeant. Alterum genus illud 

 columbarum est clementius, quod cibo domestico con- 

 tentum intra limina januae solet pasci; hoc genus 

 maxime est colore albo ; illud alterum agreste sine albo, 

 vario. Ex his duabus stirpibus fit miscellum tertium 

 genus fructus causa."* 



This passage may be fairly translated thus : " If ever 

 you should establish a Dovery, you would consider the 

 birds your own, although they were wild. For two 

 * Varro, iii. 7. 



