BOOK VII. III. 15-18 



and why the number should be made up with 

 young stock. Whoever is going to follow this 

 system will have to take care not to put a lamb 

 under a ewe which is less than four years or 

 more than eight years old, for a ewe of neither of these 

 ages is fit to bring up its young ; moreover, the off- 

 spring of aged stock generally reproduces the qualities 

 of old age inherited from its parents, being either 

 sterile or weakly. The delivery of a pregnant ewe 16 

 should be watched over with as much care as mid- 

 wives exercise ; for this animal produces its offspring 

 just in the same way as a woman, and its labour is 

 often even more painful since it is devoid of all 

 reasoning. Hence the owner of a flock ought to have 

 some knowledge of veterinary medicine, so that, if 

 circumstances require it, when the foetus becomes 

 stuck crosswise in the genital organs, he may either 

 extract it whole, or be able to remove it from the 

 womb, after dividing it with a knife without causing 

 the mother's death — an operation which the Greeks 

 call embryulkein.'^ The lamb, when it has been 17 

 brought forth, ought to be set upon its feet and put 

 near its mother's udder ; then its mouth should 

 be opened and moistened by pressing the mother's 

 teats, so that it may learn to derive its nourishment 

 from her. But, before this is done, a little milk should 

 be drawn off, which shepherds call " biestings," for, 

 if this is not to some extent extracted, it does harm 

 to the lamb, which for the first two days after its 

 birth should be shut up with its mother, so that she 

 may cherish her offspring, and that it may learn to 

 know her. Then, as long as it has not begun to frisk 18 

 about, it should be kept in a dark and warm en- 



» I.e. extracting the embryo. 



249 



