BOOK VI. XXVII. 8-II 



from doing so, harm themselves through excitement 

 due to their desires. It is better, therefore, either 

 to banish a stallion in some distant pasture or else 

 keep it shut up in the stables ; then at the time 

 when it is summoned by the mare, it should be 

 fortified by a generous diet, and with the approach 

 of spring should be fattened on barley and bitter- 

 vetch, so that it may be equal to the fatigues of 

 intercourse, and that, the stronger it is when it covers 

 the mare, the greater may be the sexual vigour 

 which it communicates to its future descendants. 

 Some authorities also prescribe that one should 9 

 fatten up a stallion by the method used for mules, 

 so that, exhilarated by this condition, it may suffice 

 for a number of mares. However, one stallion ought 

 to be able to impregnate not less than fifteen and 

 on the other hand not more than twenty mares, and 

 is generally suitable to breeding purposes from three 

 years of age to twenty. But if a stallion is dis- 10 

 inclined for intercourse, he can be roused by the 

 odour of a sponge, with which the parts of the mare 

 have been wiped, applied to his nostrils. On the 

 other hand, if the mare refuses to submit to the 

 stallion, her parts are anointed with crushed squill, 

 and this kindles her desire. Sometimes, too, a badly- 

 bred ordinary horse is used to arouse in the mare a 

 longing for copulation ; for, when he has approached 

 her and, so to speak, invited her compliance, he is 

 led away and the better-bred horse is mated with the 

 now more complaisant mare. 



From the time when mares become pregnant they 

 need special care and must be fortified by generous 

 fodder. If the grass has failed owing to the cold of 

 winter, they should be kept under cover and not be 11 



195 



