BOOK VI. II. 11-15 



affect it more deeply than blows. So, if an ox has 12 

 lain down, the best plan is for its feet to be fastened 

 together with straps in such a way that it can neither 

 stand up nor walk nor feed. As a result, under the 

 compulsion of starvation and thirst, it lays aside its 

 sloth, which, however, is very rarely found amongst 

 our home-grown cattle. Indeed a native ox is far 

 superior to one which comes from elsewhere ; for 

 it is not disturbed by change of water or food or 

 climate and is not troubled by the local conditions, 

 as an ox would be which has been brought from flat 

 plain-lands to a rough mountainous countiy or vice 

 versa. When, therefore, we are obliged to bring oxen 13 

 from a distance, care must be taken that they are 

 transferred to country which resembles that in which 

 they were born. You must also be on your guard 

 when pairing oxen together not to yoke one which 

 is inferior in height or strength with one which is 

 more powerful ; for either of these circumstances 

 quickly proves fatal to the weaker of the two. 



Characteristics which are esteemed in oxen are 14 

 possessed by those which are placid rather than 

 excitable and at the same time not lazy, and which 

 are afraid of blows or shouts, but, being confident in 

 their own strength, are not alarmed by anything 

 which they hear or see, and which are not nervous at 

 having to cross rivers or bridges, and which can eat 

 plenty of food but are slow in finishing it ; for leisurely 

 chewers digest better and therefore preserve their 

 bodily strength without becoming thin better than 

 those which eat their food hurriedly. But it is quite 15 

 as much a fault in an oxherd to make his oxen fat as 

 to make them thin ; for the bodily form of a working 

 ox ought to be active and moderate in bulk, with 



135 



