BOOK VII. IV. 3-6 



their dams, deprived of their own lambs, are given 

 the oiFspring of others to suckle ; for each single 

 lamb is put under two nurses and it is inexpedient 

 that it should be deprived of any of their milk, that so, 

 receiving a more satisfying quantity of milk, it may 

 quickly grow strong, and that the ewe which has 

 borne a lamb, having a nurse to share her duties, may 

 have less difficulty in bringing her offspring up. There- 

 fore you must be very careful to see that the lambs are 

 daily put to the udders of their own mothers and also of 

 strange ewes who have no maternal affection for them. 4 

 But in flocks of this kind more males must be brought 

 up than in those of coarse-wooUed sheep ; for the males 

 are castrated before they can be mated, when they 

 have completed two years, and are killed, and their 

 skins sold to dealers at a much higher price than 

 other fleeces because of the beauty of their wool. 

 We shall remember to feed a Greek sheep on open 

 fields free from all shoots and brambles, lest, as I have 

 already said, its wool and its covering be torn away. 

 Nor, because it does not go out to pasture every day, 5 

 does it require less but more diligent care at home 

 than out of doors ; for it must frequently be un- 

 covered and allowed to cool and its wool pulled apart 

 and soaked with wine and oil. Sometimes too the 

 whole animal must be washed, if sunny weather 

 allows it, but it is enough to do this three times a 

 year. The fold must be frequently swept and 

 cleansed and all moisture due to urine must be 

 brushed away, the best method of keeping it dry 

 being the use of boards with holes in them with 

 which the sheep-folds are paved, so that the flock 

 may lie down on them. The shelters must be free 6 



* maiorem ed. pr. : maioris SAac. 



259 



