As sheep in flocks thick-pasturing on the plain Attend the footsteps of the shepherd-swain, His well-known call they hear, and fully fed, Pace slowly on, their leader at their head; Who pipes melodious, as he moves along, On sprightly reeds his modulated song: Thus charm’d with tuneful sounds the scaly train Pursued the flying vessel o’er the main. _Fawkes’s Translation._ [327] According to Montfaucon (Ant. Expliquée, Suppl. Tom. iii. p. 188.) the bagpipe was seen under the arm of a shepherd in the collection of Cardinal Albani at Rome. The testimony afforded by Varro relative to the management of the South Italian sheep, having been given and illustrated, it is to be deplored that Italy, once so renowned for its sheep, can now boast little of this production of her bounteous clime. The Romans, whose dress was woollen, cultivated in an especial degree the fineness of the fleece; and it was not until the days of the Empire that the silk and cotton of the East began to supersede the ancient raiment of the Roman people. The finest wools of ancient Italy were produced in Apulia and Calabria, being the eastern parts of the present kingdom of Naples[328]. [328] It appears from the following passage of Varro, that the Apulian was sold at a higher price than some other kinds of wool which were equally beautiful, because it wore better. By _lana Gallicana_ in this passage we must understand the wool of Gallia Cisalpina, of which we shall next treat. Sic enim lana Gallicana et Appula videtur imperito similis propter speciem, cum peritus Appulam emat pluris, quod in usu firmior sit. _De Lin. Lat._, lib. ix. 28. p. 484. ed. Spengel. We now proceed to the other writers on Rural Affairs, viz., Columella and Palladius.