BOOK VII. IV. 6-8 



not only from mud and ordure but also from deadly 

 snakes ; with this end in view, 



Learn too to burn the fragrant cedar-wood 

 And from the stalls to drive dread water-snakes 

 With fumes of Syrian gum ; " a viper oft, 

 Dangerous to the touch, 'neath unmoved pens 

 Has lurked and, frightened, shunned the light of 



heaven, 

 Or else a grass-snake wont to haunt the shed.** 



Therefore, at the bidding of the same poet, 



Seize, shepherd, 

 A club of oak, and when it rears its head 

 In threatening wise and swells its hissing neck, 

 Then strike it down." 



Or, to avoid the necessity of this dangerous expedi- 

 ent, burn a woman's hair continually or a stag's horn, 

 the odour of which is the best thing to prevent this 

 pestilential creature from settling in the sheep-folds. 



It is impossible to observe in all regions the same 7 

 fixed time of year for shearing, because summer does 

 not everywhere advance with the same speed or 

 slowness. The best plan is to watch carefully for 

 weather when the sheep will not feel the cold if you 

 deprive them of their wool, nor the heat if you put 

 off shearing them. But, whenever a sheep has been 

 sheared, it must be anointed with the following 

 preparation : the juice of boiled lupines, the dregs of 

 old wine and the lees of olives are mixed in equal 

 portions and the sheep is soaked with this liquid 

 after it has been sheared, and when, after its skin 8 

 has been anointed during three days and it has 



* Vergil, Georg. III. 414 ff. « Ih., 419-421. 



261 



