Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and VarroCato, Marcus Porcius
History
Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro
Cato, Marcus Porcius
Agriculture -- Early works to 1800; Farm management -- Early works to 1800
"It is better either to buy, from a shepherd, dogs which are accustomed
to follow sheep or dogs which are without any training at all. While a
dog does readily whatever he has been trained to do, his affection is
apt to be stronger for the shepherds than for the flock.[144]
"Once P. Aufidius Pontianus of Amiternum bought certain flocks of sheep
in further Umbria, the dogs which herded them being included in
the bargain, but not the shepherds, who were, however, to make the
delivery at the Saltus of Metapontum and the market of Heraclea: when
these shepherds had returned home, their dogs, longing for their
masters, a few days later of their own will came back to the shepherds
in Umbria, having made several days journey without other food than
what the fields afforded. Nor had any one of those shepherds done what
Saserna advises in his books on agriculture,
'Whoever wishes to be followed by a dog should throw him a cooked
frog.'[145]
"It is of importance that all your dogs should be of the same breed,
for when they are related they are of the greatest aid to one another.
"Now as to Scrofa's fourth consideration, that concerning the manner of
buying: this is accomplished by delivery by the former owner to the
purchaser.
"The same stipulations as to health and against liability for tort are
made as in the case of cattle, leaving out whatever is inapplicable to
dogs. Some make a price on dogs at so much per head, others stipulate
that the puppies shall go with the mother, others that two puppies
shall count as one dog--as two lambs usually count as a sheep. Usually
it is provided that all the dogs which have been accustomed to be
together should be included in the bargain.
"The food appropriate for dogs is more like that of man than of sheep,
for they are fed on scraps and bones rather than on grass and leaves.
Care must be taken that they are fed regularly, for, if food is not
provided, hunger will lead them in search of it away from the
flock, unless, indeed, they shall find it in one another, thereby
contradicting the old proverb,[146] or perchance they may realize the
fable of Actaeon and turn their teeth against their master himself.
You would do well to feed them on barley bread soaked in milk, because
when they have become accustomed to that diet they will not readily
desert the flock. They should never be suffered to taste the flesh of
a carrion sheep lest the relish should tempt them to indulge in such
food again. They may be fed also broth made out of bones, or bones
themselves when broken up, for that makes their teeth stronger and the
mouth wider: and thereby the jaws are stretched, while the zest of the
marrow makes the dog fiercer. They should be accustomed to take their
food in the day time where the flock is feeding and at night where the
flock is folded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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