“The duration of their abode in these regions is regulated by the rapid or slow progression of the summer season; in the course of which they shift their quarters, as the heat increases, till they reach the highest spots, which are the last divested of the deep snows, in which they have been buried during three quarters of the year. Here large tracts of the finest pasture, rills of the coldest and purest water, and shady woods of considerable extension, are occupied by them during the remainder of the fine weather, and afford the _ne plus ultra_ of enjoyment allotted to an existence of such restricted variety.” _Excursions in the Abruzzi by the Honorable Keppel Craven._ _London_, 1838, _vol._ i. _p._ 259-264. The account, given in the second paragraph of this extract, of the shepherd marching at the head of his battalion of sheep illustrates in a striking manner the remark made respecting the comparison of kings to shepherds, and to their leading rams in Homer and in the Scriptures. The Greek word Κτίλος, originally an adjective, corresponds exactly to the Italian _manso_. It appears to have been applicable to all trained tame animals. Hence it was used specially to denote the large and powerful ram, which was instructed to assist the shepherd in disposing the sheep in proper order and in leading them to and from their daily pasture as well as during their long migrations. In the third book of the Iliad (_l._ 196-198), where Priam is described surveying the Greek troops from the Scæan gate, after the account of Agamemnon, who was considered as their shepherd, we find Ulysses, who was inferior to him both in rank and in stature, represented as his _manso_, that is, as the ram, which immediately follows the shepherd and aids him in conducting the flock. The same image is repeated in the thirteenth book (_l._ 492, 493), where Pope’s translation, though very paraphrastic, is an admirable representation of the real circumstances. In order follow all th’ embodied train, Like Ida’s flocks proceeding o’er the plain: Before his fleecy care, erect and bold, Stalks the proud ram, the father of the fold; With joy the swain surveys them, as he leads To the cool fountains, through the well-known meads. Propertius presents us with a similar picture in the following lines: Corniger Idæi vacuam pastoris in aulam Dux aries saturas ipse reduxit oves. _Lib._ iii. _El._ 13. The fold receives the sheep on Ida fed, By the great ram, their horned chieftain, led.