BOOK VII. II. 2-4 



ciple which ought always to be observed not only with 

 regard to sheep but in every department of agricul- 

 ture, as Vergil warns us, when he says : 



Nor can all kinds of land all things produce.*' 



A rich, flat country supports tall sheep, a lean and 3 

 hilly region those of square build, while a wooded, 

 mountainous land produces small sheep. " Coated " ^ 

 sheep are best pastured in meadows and flat fallow 

 ground. Not only the question of the kinds of 

 sheep but also that of their colour are matters of 

 great importance. Our farmers used to regard the 

 Calabrian, Apulian and Milesian as breeds of out- 

 standing excellence, and the Tarentine as the best of 

 all ; now Gaulish sheep are considered more valuable, 

 especially that of Altinum," also those which have 

 their folds in the lean plains round Parma and 

 Mutina.** While white is the best colour, it is also 4 

 the most useful, because very many colours can be 

 made from it ; but it cannot be produced from any 

 other colour. By their very nature black and dark 

 brown sheep also, which Pollentia « in Italy and 

 Corduba/ in Baetica produce, are esteemed for the 

 price which they command ; Asia likewise provides 

 the red colour which they call " erythraean." Ex- 

 perience has also taught the way to produce other 

 variations of colour in this kind of animal. For when 

 fierce wild rams of a marvellous colour were brought 

 across amongst other wild beasts from a neighbouring 

 district of Africa to the municipal town of Gades for 

 those who were giving public shows, my uncle Marcus 

 Columella, a man of keen intelligence and a dis- 



• A city of Liguria (the Italian Riviera), 

 / Cordova in Spain. 



235 



