But their cares extended even to swine, which, if King Ptolemy may be credited, were sometimes distinguished in Greece for their great size and beauty. He, in fact, observes in his Memoirs, that in the city of Assos he saw a milk-white hog two cubits and a half in length, and of equal height; and adds, that King Eumenes had given four thousand drachmæ, or nearly two hundred pounds sterling, for a boar of this enormous size, to improve the breed of pigs in his country.[1166] So that we perceive those great generals, whom posterity usually contemplates only in the cabinet or in the battle-field, were, at the same time, in their domestic policy, the rivals of the Earls Spencer and Leicester. Superstition, among the Cretans, prevented the improvement of bacon; for as a sow was said to have suckled the infant Jupiter, and defended his helpless infancy, they, in gratitude,[1167] abstained from hog’s flesh. ----- Footnote 1166: Athen. ix. 17. Cf. Steph. De Urb. 184. e. Footnote 1167: Athen. ix. 18. ----- In all farms the care of cattle necessarily formed a principal employment. The oxen[1168] were used in ploughing, treading out the corn, drawing manure to the fields, and bringing home the produce of the harvest. To prevent their being overcome by fatigue while engaged in their labours, the husbandmen of Greece had recourse to certain expedients, one of which was, to smear their hoofs with a composition of oil and terebinth, or wax, or warm pitch:[1169] while, to protect them from flies, their coats were anointed with their own saliva, or with a decoction of bruised laurel berries and oil.[1170] Their milch cows, in the selection of which much judgment was displayed,[1171] were commonly fed on cytisus and clover; and, still further to increase their milk, bunches of the herb dittany were sometimes tied about their flanks. The usual milking-times[1172] were, in the morning immediately after the breaking-up of the dawn, and in the evening about the close of twilight; though, occasionally, both cows, sheep, and goats were milked several times during the day. In weaning calves they made use of a species of muzzle,[1173] as the Arabs do in the case of young camels. Their pails, like our own, were of wood,[1174] but somewhat differently shaped, being narrow above, and spreading towards the bottom. When conveyed into the dairy the milk was poured into pans,[1175] on the form of which I have hitherto found no information.[1176] That they skimmed their milk is evident (whatever they may have done with the cream), from the mention of that thin pellicle which is found on it only when skimmed, whether scalded or not. “Here, drink this!” said Glycera to Menander, when he had returned one day in exceeding ill-humour from the theatre. “I don’t like the wrinkled skin,” replied the poet to the lady, whose beauty, it must be remembered, was at this time on the wane. “Blow it off,” replied she, immediately comprehending his meaning, “and take what is