4. The males, both of man and other animals, rarely produce milk;
nevertheless, it is found in some cases: for in Lemnos, a he-goat
has given from the two nipples, which are always found on the penis,
so much milk, that cakes of cheese were made from it. The same thing
happened to another he-goat, which was produced from this one; but such
things as these are considered ominous: for, on inquiry being made of
the god of Lemnos, he replied that there should be an additional supply
of cattle. A small quantity of milk has been forced from some men after
puberty; from others a great quantity has been produced by suction.
5. There is a fatness in milk which becomes oily when it is cooked.
In Sicily, and other countries, when there is an abundant supply of
goat's milk, they mix ewe's milk with it, and it coagulates readily,
not only because it contains abundance of curd, but also because it
is of a drier nature. Some animals have more milk than enough for the
support of their offspring, and this is useful for making cheese, and
for putting aside. The best is that of the sheep and goats, and next,
that of the cow. Mare's milk and ass's milk are combined with the
Phrygian cheese. There is more cheese in the milk of the cow than of
the goat: for the shepherds say, from an amphora of goat's milk they
can make nineteen cakes of cheese, each worth an obolus, and thirty
from cow's milk. Other creatures have only enough for their young, and
no superabundance useful for making cheese, as all those animals which
have more than two mammæ, for none of these have a superabundance of
milk, nor will their milk make cheese.
6. Milk is coagulated by the juice of figs, and by rennet; the juice
is placed upon wool, and the wool is washed in a little milk; this
coagulates upon mixture. The rennet is a kind of milk, which is found
in the body of sucking animals. This rennet is milk, containing cheese,
for the milk becomes cooked by the heat of the body. All ruminating
animals contain rennet, and the hare among those with cutting teeth in
both jaws. The older coagulum is the better, for such rennet is useful
in diarrhœa, and so is that of the hare. The rennet of the fawn is the
best.
7. The greater or less quantity of milk drawn from those animals which
have milk, differs in the size of the body, and the variety of the
food. In Phasis there are very small cows, each of which gives a great
deal of milk; and the large cows of Epirus give an amphora and half of
milk from each of their two mammæ; and the person who milks them stands
up, or only leans a little, because he cannot reach them sitting down.
The other animals of Epirus are large except the ass, but the largest
are the cows and the dogs. These large cattle require more pasture; but
the country has a great deal so excellent, that they can be changed to
fit places every hour. The oxen are the largest, and the sheep, called
Pyrrhic; they have received this name from king Pyrrhus.