Chapter VI: Pastoral Life (2)

“Not you!” said his mother,—“but went moping about. Let us, therefore,” continued she, “put him to no further trial.”

And throwing her arms about her sister, the maiden’s mother, she kissed her; whereupon the latter, addressing her husband, said,—

“Let us grant them their desire.”

To which he agreed; and it was resolved, that the marriage should be solemnized in three days, the stranger being invited to remain and witness it, which he did.

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Footnote 1842:

Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ii. 2. 10. ii. 7. 7—iii. 6. 5—vi. 3. 11.

Ὄα, ἀκροδρύων εἶδος μήλοις μικροῖς ἐμφερές

Tim. Lec. Platon. in voce with the note of Ruhnken.

Footnote 1843:

On the three kinds of medlars, Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 12. 5.

Footnote 1844:

Philost. Icon. i. 31, p. 809. ii. 26, p. 851.

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The above picture of an obscure herdsman’s life in its naked simplicity, void of all embellishment, will probably be thought more trustworthy than the elaborate descriptions of the poets, notwithstanding that, even in these, it is easy to separate the real from the fictitious.

In the estimation of the Greeks the herdsman[1845] commonly ranked before the shepherd, and the latter before the goatherd,—for the dream of rank pursues mankind even amid the quiet of the fields,—and their manners are supposed to have corresponded. Pollux,[1846] however, reckons the goatherd next after the herdsman, and again inverts the order. Varro, on the other hand, gives precedence to the shepherd as the most ancient, the sheep, in his opinion, having been the animal earliest tamed.

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Footnote 1845:

Robust persons, with loud voices, were ordinarily chosen for herdsmen,
while goatherds were selected for their lightness and agility. Geop.
ii. 1. Shepherds obtained among the Greeks the name of ποιμένες; while
the keepers of other flocks and herds were termed αἰπόλοι. Schol.
Theoc. i. 6.

Footnote 1846:

Onomast. i. 249.

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In point of utility the goat, in some parts of the ancient world, rivalled the sheep, producing fine hair which was shorn like wool.[1847] I may remark, too, in passing, that the large-tailed sheep still common in Asia Minor, as well as at the Cape, were anciently plentiful in Syria, where, according to the great naturalist,[1848] their tails attained a cubit in breadth. In some parts of Arabia another more curious breed was found, with tails three cubits in length, to carry which they were supplied by the ingenuity of the shepherds with wooden carriages.[1849]

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Footnote 1847:

Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. 27. 3. Things manufactured from the hair of
this animal were called κιλίκια. Etym. Mag. 513. 41.

Footnote 1848:

Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. 27. 3. Speaking of the neighbourhood of
Smyrna,—The “sheep,” observed Dr. Chandler, “have broad tails, hanging
down like an apron, some weighing eight, ten, or more pounds. These
are eaten as a dainty, and the fat, before they are full-grown,
accounted as delicious as marrow.” Travels, i. 77. Of the broad-tailed
sheep mentioned by the ancients the most remarkable were those of
India, where, according to Ctesios, of veracious memory, both they and
the goats were larger than asses:—τὰ πρόβατα τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ αἱ αἶγες
μείζους ὄνων εἰσί, καὶ τίκτουσιν ἀνὰ τεσσάρων καὶ ἓξ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ,
ἔχουσι δὲ οὐρὰς μεγάλας · διὸ τῶν τοκάδων ἀποτέμνουσιν ἵνα δύνωνται
ὀχεύεσθαι. Phot. Biblioth. Cod. 72. p. 46. b. Bekker. Ælian. de Nat.
Animal, iv. 32, relates, without any symptoms of incredulity,
precisely the same fact; and then adds a circumstance which may keep
in countenance the Abyssinian story of Bruce respecting the carving of
a rump-steak from a live cow,—for the Indians, observes Ælian, were in
the habit of cutting open the tails of the rams, extracting all the
fat, and then sowing them up again so dexterously that in a short time
no trace of the incision remained visible.

Footnote 1849:

Herod. iii. 113. Ælian. Hist. Anim. x. 4.

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In most parts of Greece, as well as in the East, it was customary to bring home the sheep from pasture towards evening, and shut them up for the night in warm and roomy cotes, which were surrounded by wattled fences,[1850] strong and high, both to prevent them from leaping over, and to exclude the wild beasts which, in remoter ages, abounded in the mountains. They were carefully roofed over, and every other precaution was taken to render them perfectly dry, the floor being usually pitched with stones, and slightly inclined. Their bedding[1851] consisted of calaminth and asphodel and pennyroyal and polion (a sort of herb whose leaves appear white in the morning, of a purple colour at noon, and blue when the sun sets[1852]) and fleabane and southernwood and origany,[1853] all which repel vermin. The more completely to effect the same purpose, they were, likewise, in the habit of fumigating the cotes from time to time, by burning in them several locks of some shepherdess’s hair,[1854] together with gum ammoniac, hartshorn, the hoofs or hair of goats, bitumen, cassia, fleabane, or calaminth, for the smell of which serpents were thought to have a peculiar aversion.[1855] Their ordinary food, while in the folds, consisted of green clover and cytisus, fenugreek, oaten and barley straw, and vegetable stalks,[1856] which were supposed to be improved if sprinkled on the threshing-floor with brine, figs blown down by the wind, and dry leaves.

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Footnote 1850:

Bound together, probably, by wild succory or cneoron, as in modern
times by the withe-wind. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 11. 3. vi. 2. 2.

Footnote 1851:

Geop. xviii. 2.

Footnote 1852:

Plin. xxi. 7.

Footnote 1853:

Dioscor. iii. 32.

Footnote 1854:

Geop. xviii. 2.

Footnote 1855:

Aristoph. Eccles. 644. Geop. xviii. 2.4.

Footnote 1856:

Geop. xviii. 2. Apropos of Cytisus, it is observed by Æschylides, in
Ælian. de Nat. Animal. xvi. 32, that the rustics of Cios, on account
of the aridity of the island, possessed few flocks. Those they had,
however, were fed entirely on the leaves of the cytisus, the fig-tree,
and the olive, mingled occasionally with the straw and halm of
vegetables. The lambs reared on this island were of singular beauty,
and sold at a higher price than those of most other parts. In Lydia
and Macedonia sheep were sometimes fattened upon fish, which must have
given the mutton of those countries a somewhat unsavoury odour. Ælian.
De Nat. Animal. xv. 5. Another favourite food of sheep was the leaves
of the white nymphæa, the tender shoots of which were eaten by swine,
while men themselves fed upon the fruit. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 10.
7. Children, too, it is said, regarded as a delicacy the stalks of the
phleos, the typha, and the butomos. The roots of this fruit were given
as food to cattle. Id. ibid.

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In the short and sharp days of winter,[1857] they were not led forth to pasture till both the dew and the hoar frost had disappeared; but in summer the shepherds were careful to be a-field with the dawn while the dew was still heavy on the grass. In Attica[1858] and the environs of Miletus, where was produced the finest and costliest wool in the ancient world, the sheep[1859] were protected from rain and dust and brambles and whatever else could damage their fleeces[1860] by housings of purple leather.[1861] The same practice prevailed also in the Megaris, where Diogenes beholding a flock of sheep[1862] thus clad, while the children, like those of the Egyptian peasants were suffered to run about naked, said, “It is better to be a Megarean’s ram than his son.” Ælian[1863] alludes to this saying for the purpose of noticing the ignorance and want of education prevalent among the Megareans. We find likewise in Plutarch[1864] another version of the anecdote taxing these Dorians with avarice and meanness. Augustus imitated the saying of Diogenes and applied it to Herod, hearing of whose cruelty to his family, he said, “It were better to be Herod’s hog than his son.”[1865] But if the Megareans lived poorly they built grandly: so that of them it was said, that they ate as if they were to die to-morrow, and built as if they were to live for ever.[1866]

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Footnote 1857:

Geop. xviii. 2.

Footnote 1858:

Cf. Athen, v. 60. Hom. Il. β. 305, sqq.

Footnote 1859:

Those of the neighbouring country of Bœotia are now, however, more
highly valued. “Flocks of sheep whose fleeces were of a remarkable
blackness were feeding on the plain; the breed was considerably
superior in beauty and size to that of Attica.” Sibth. in Walp. i. 65.
To dream of sheep of this colour was regarded by the ancients as
unlucky. Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 12. p. 96. The finest black sheep in
the ancient world were found in a district of Phrygia in the
neighbourhood of the cities of Colossè and Laodicea, the wool of which
not only exceeded that of Miletos in softness, but was of a glossy jet
colour like that of the raven’s wing. Φέρει δ᾽ ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν
τόπος προβάτων ἀρετὰς, οὐκ εἰς μαλακότητας μόνον τῶν ἐρίων, ᾗ καὶ τῶν
Μιλησίων διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὶς τὴν κοραξὴν χρόαν ὥστε καὶ
προσοδεύονται χρόαν ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν· ὥσπερ
καὶ οἱ Κολοσσηνοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος πλησίον οἰκοῦντες. Strab.
xii. 8. t. iii. p. 74. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 73. Cf. Chandler,
Travels in Greece and Asia Minor, i. 262. The country round Abydos
also was celebrated for its black flocks among which not a single
white sheep was to be discovered. Ælian de Nat. Animal. 3. 32.

Footnote 1860:

Varro. de Re Rust. ii. 2.

Footnote 1861:

Horace speaks of the “pellites oves Galesi.” Od. ii. 6. 10.

Footnote 1862:

Diog. Laert. vi. 41. The practice is noticed also by Pliny who
says,—“Ovium summa genera duo, tectum et colonicum; illiud mollius,
hoc in pascuo delicatius, quippe quum tectum rubis vescatur.
Operimenta ei ex Arabicis præcipua.” Nat. Hist. viii. 72. Columella
also mentions these coverings:—“Molle vero pecus, etiam velamen quo
protegitur, amittit atque id non parvo sumptu reparatur.” vii. 3, seq.

Footnote 1863:

Var. Hist. xii. 56.

Footnote 1864:

De Cupiditate. § 7.

Footnote 1865:

Macrob. Sat. ii. 4.

Footnote 1866:

Tertull. in Apolog. ap. Menag. ad Laert. vi. 41. t. ii. p. 141. b. c.

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Sheep, as most persons familiar with the country will probably have observed, are wont in hot summer days to retire during the prevalence of the sun’s greatest heat beneath the shade of spreading trees,[1867] at which time a green sweep of uplands dotted with antique oaks or beeches,[1868] each with its stem encircled by some portion of the flock reposing upon their own fleeces, presents a picture of singular beauty and tranquillity. The picturesque features of the scene were in old times enhanced by the addition of several accompaniments now nowhere to be found, consisting of statues, altars, or chapels, erected in honour of the rural gods or nymphs.[1869] Fountains, moreover, of limpid water[1870] in many places gushed forth from beneath the trees, where there were usually a number of seats for the accommodation of the shepherds and shepherdesses. In these retreats they generally passed the sultry hours of the day, playing on the pastoral flute or the syrinx, chanting their wild lays, or amusing each other by the relation of those strange legends which inhabited the woods and lonely mountains of Greece.[1871] There prevailed among them a superstition against disturbing by their music or otherwise that hushed stillness which most persons must have observed to characterise the summer noon. At this hour of the day the God Pan,[1872] in the opinion of Greek shepherds, took his rest after the toils of the chase, reclining under a tree in the solitary forest;[1873] and, as he was held to be of a hasty choleric disposition, they abstained at that time from piping through fear of provoking his anger. The other Gods likewise were believed to enjoy a short sleep at this time, as we find in the case of the nymph Aura, in the Dionysiacs.[1874]

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Footnote 1867:

Geop. xviii. 2.

Footnote 1868:

Nor in Asia Minor is the shade of trees always deemed sufficient. “We
came,” says Dr. Chandler, “to a shed formed with boughs round a tree,
to shelter the flocks and herds from the sun at noon.” Travels, i. 25.

Footnote 1869:

Schol. Theoc. i. 21. Cf. Plat. Phædr. t. i. p. 9.

Footnote 1870:

I cannot resist the temptation to introduce in this place the picture
in miniature of a Greek landscape from the picturesque and beautiful
journal of Dr. Sibthorpe: “We dined under a rock, from whose side
descended a purling spring among violets, primroses, and the starry
hyacinth, mixed with black Silyrium and different coloured orches. The
flowering ash hung from the sides of the mountain, under the shade of
which bloomed saxifrages, and the snowy Isopyrum, with the Campanula
Pyramidalis; this latter plant is now called χαρισονη; it yields
abundance of a sweet milky fluid, and was said to promote a secretion
of milk, a quality first attributed to it under the doctrine of
signatures. Our guide made nose-gays of the fragrant leaves of the
Fraxinella; the common nettle was not forgotten as a pot-herb, but the
Imperatoria seemed to be the favourite salad. Among the shrubs I
noticed our gooseberry-tree, and the Cellis Australis grew wild among
the rocks.” Walp. Mem. i. 63.

Footnote 1871:

See Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 582, sqq.

Footnote 1872:

To dream of this god was considered auspicious by shepherds. Artemid.
Oneirocrit. ii. 42. p. 133.

Footnote 1873:

Schol. Theoc. i. 15. Cal. Hymn. in. Lav. Poll. 72. ibique interp. Nem.
Eclog. iii. 3. Cf. Hom. Il. τ. 13. Od. ι. 9. The shepherd in the
Anthology (Jacob. t. ii. no. 227. p. 694) is not so religious as
Theocritus’ goatherd, for he boldly pipes in the morn and at noon χὡ
ποιμὴν ἐν ὄρεσσι μεσαμβρινὸν ἀγχόθι παγᾶς συρίσδων. Kiessling. ad
Theoc. i. 15.

Footnote 1874:

Nonn. xlviii. 258, sqq. Cf. Philost. Icon. ii. 11. et J. B. Carpzov.
Disp. Phil. De Quiete Dei, p. 16, sqq.

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From a passage in St. John’s gospel it would appear, that the practice prevailed among the Oriental shepherds of distinguishing the several members of their flocks by separate names: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” We likewise find traces of the same custom in Sicily, Crete, and various other parts of Greece, where goats, and heifers, and sheep, enjoyed the privilege of a name, as Cynœtha, Amalthea, and others. In later times it was judged preferable, that the flock should follow their shepherds by the eye, for which reason they were accustomed to stuff their ears with wool.[1875] To prevent rams from butting, they used to bore a hole[1876] through their horns near the roots. Sheep were generally shorn[1877] during the month of May, and after the wool had been clipped, they were commonly anointed with wine, oil, and the juice of bitter lupins.[1878] In remoter ages the practice prevailed of plucking off the wool instead of shearing it; and this barbarous method, at once so painful to the sheep and so laborious to the shepherd, had not been entirely abandoned in the age of Pliny.[1879] It was a rule among the pastoral tribes, that the number of their flocks should be uneven.[1880] The shepherds of Greece bestowed the name of Sekitai,[1881] (from σηκος an enclosure) upon lambs taken early from the ewes, and fed by hand. They were usually kept in a cote apart from the other sheep.

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Footnote 1875:

Geop. xviii. 4.

Footnote 1876:

Ferocia ejus cohibetur cornu juxta aurem terebrato. Plin. Nat. Hist.
vii. 72. Cf. Geopon. viii. 5. To the same purpose writes also
Columella:—Epicharmus Syracusanus qui pecudum medicinas diligentissime
conscripsit affirmat pugnacem arietem mitigari terebra secundum
auriculas foratis cornibus qua curvantur in flexu. Columell. vii. 3.

Footnote 1877:

It is observed by the ancients that long lank wool indicated strength
in the sheep, curly wool the contrary. Geop. xviii. 1, seq.

Footnote 1878:

Geop. xviii. 8.

Footnote 1879:

Duerat quibusdam in locis vellendi mos. Plin. Nat. Hist, vii. 73.
Veliæ unde essent plures accepi caussas inquies quod ibi pastores
palatim ex ovibus ante tonsuram inventam vellere lanam sint soliti, ex
quo vellera dicuntur. Varr. de Ling. Lat. iv. Cf. De Re Rust. ii. 11.
Isidor. xix. 27.

Footnote 1880:

Geop. xviii. 2.

Footnote 1881:

Schol. Theoc. i. 9.

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As flocks, in most parts of Greece, were exposed to the rapacity of the wolf,[1882] the shepherds had recourse to an extraordinary contrivance, to destroy this fierce animal; kindling large charcoal fires in open spaces in the woods, they cast thereon the powder of certain diminutive fish, caught in great numbers along the grassy shores of Greece, together with small slices of lamb and kid. Attracted by the savour which they could snuff from a distance, the wolves flocked in great numbers towards the fires, round which they prowled with loud howlings, in expectation of sharing the prey, the odour of which had drawn them thither. Stupified at length by the fumes of the charcoal, they would drop upon the earth in a lethargic sleep, when the shepherds coming up knocked them on the head.[1883]

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Footnote 1882:

From the relations of travellers it would appear that the method
observed by the ancient Greeks in ridding themselves of the wolf is no
longer known to their descendants, though the apprehension of their
destructiveness and ferocity be as great as ever. Solon, it is well
known set a price in his laws on the head of a wolf, which appears to
have varied in different ages; (cf. Plut. Solon. § 23. Schol.
Aristoph. Av. 369;) but could never have amounted to the sum of two
talents. Whatever the ancient price may have been, however, it was
paid by the magistrates; but “the peasant now produces the skins in
the bazaar or market, and is recompensed by voluntary contributions.”
Chandler, ii. p. 145. Close by a khan on mount Parnes, which is
covered with pine trees, Sir George Wheler saw a very curious
fountain, to which the wolves, bears, and wild boars commonly descend
to drink. Id. p. 197.

Footnote 1883:

Geop. xviii. 14. Nevertheless, when a wolf bit a sheep without killing
it, the flesh was supposed to be rendered more tender and delicate, an
effect which Plutarch attributes to the hot and fiery breath of the
beast. Sympos. ii. 9.

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END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

LONDON:
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Transcriber’s Note

The printer employed the cursive forms of beta (ϐ) and theta (ϑ), sometimes in the same passage with the standard β and θ. These have been replaced with the standard forms.

Hyphenated words sometimes also appear without hyphenation, e.g. ‘olive grounds’ and ‘olive-grounds’. Where there is a clear preponderance, the hyphen has either been retained or removed to following the preference. When there was none, they are left as printed.

Comments

91.10 The original quotation marks (“Wretch, would you make
me a “Phaselitan for a farthing?”) have been properly
nested.

355.n3.64 The asterisk seems to serve no purpose. It might have
referred to an internal footnote that was never
printed. It was retained, nonetheless.

Minor punctation errors and inconsistencies in the footnote apparatus have been corrected with no further mention here.

Those errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. Corrections within notes are denoted with ‘n’ and the original note number.

36.n1 καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ο[ἴκι]/ἰκίαν Replaced. 61.15 to have been a comb[.] Added. 63.31 The _Ægle[,]_ the _Pede_ and Added. 65.11 in Lycia[,/.] Replaced. 71.29 ran into the opposite extreme[,/.] Replaced. 86.7 signi[ni]fies eggs) Removed. 119.20 were most brilliantly reflected[,/.] Replaced. 133.8 recal[l]s to mind Inserted. 134.n3 Ἅλα[ ]λείχειν Space added. 135.n3.10 Profluit.[”] Added. 139.30 How much [my,/, my] friend, Transposed. 163.31 The walnuts a[u/n]d chestnuts Inverted. 164.20 [“]but we call it Added. 185.37 roll about the room like a hoop[,/.] Replaced. 201.31 to the frying[-]pan Inserted. 209.n5.1 Sc[ol/h\. Aristoph. Nub. 1337, seq. Replaced. 209.n6.1 Ilgen, De Sc[h]ol. Poes. p. 156. Removed. 242.1 the friendship of Demosthenes[.] Added. 242.34 the “Exile Hunter.[”] Added. 249.n7.2 [‘/“]chez les anciens Atheniens Replaced. 257.n5 Μ[ε/έ]σσοισιν Replaced. 274.18 whose Penelope, the[ the] _beau idéal_ Removed. 286.n8 and out [out ]of these they sometimes Repetition. drank. 290.n4 following in the foo[t]steps of Heyne Inserted. 328.16 found this answer of[ of] irrigation. Removed. 355.n3.38 le _samia_[,] gros raisin Added. 385.15 hey would not, if po[s]ssible, Removed. 423.38 shall judge to-morrow[.]” Added. 429.n6.14 non parvo sumptu reparatur.[”] Added.