CHAPTER II

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, &c.

Sheep-breeding in Sicily--Bucolic poetry--Sheep-breeding in South Italy--Annual migration of the flocks--The ram employed to aid the shepherd in conducting his flock--The ram an emblem of authority--Bells--Ancient inscription at Sepino--Use of music by ancient shepherds--Superior quality of Tarentine sheep--Testimony of Columella--Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds--Names given to sheep--Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool--Sheep-breeding in South Italy, Tarentum, and Apulia--Brown and red wool--Sheep-breeding in North Italy--Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua--Origin of sheep-breeding in Italy--Faunus the same with Pan--Ancient sculptures exhibiting Faunus--Bales of wool and the shepherd’s dress--Costume, appearance, and manner of life of the ancient Italian shepherds.

Still shall o’er all prevail the shepherd’s stores, For numerous uses known; none yield such warmth, Such beauteous hues receive, so long endure; So pliant to the loom, so various, none.--_Dyer._

We now pass over to _Sicily_. The pastoral life of the Sicilians was marked by peculiar characters as well as that of the Arcadians. The bucolic poems of Theocritus represent many of its circumstances in the most lively colors; and, while their dramatic spirit and vivacity are unrivalled, they seem to be most exact copies of nature, the dialogues which they contain being in the style, the language, and the precise dialect of the Sicilian shepherds, and indeed only differing from their real conversation by being composed in hexameters. It is to be observed, that the mountains and pastures of Sicily were browsed by goats and oxen as well as by sheep. These animals were, however, under distinct keepers, called respectively Shepherds, Goatherds, and Herdsmen. But the tastes, manner of life, and the superstitions of these three classes of rustics appear to have been undistinguishable. They were probably not always independent proprietors of the soil, but in many cases the servants of a landed aristocracy who lived in _Syracuse_ and other splendid cities. They appear, however, to have enjoyed far greater comforts and advantages than the corresponding class of hired laborers in the countries to the north of the Peloponnesus and of Attica. In composing pastoral verses and in playing on the pipe and the syrinx they probably equalled the Arcadians. Whilst they were watching their flocks and herds, it was a frequent amusement with them for two persons to contend for a stipulated prize, such as a goat, a carved wooden bowl, or a syrinx, which was to be awarded by an appointed judge to him who most excelled either in instrumental music, or in singing alternate and extemporaneous verses[313].

[313] According to the learned German traveller, Baron Riedesel, the custom was not extinct in his time; for in his Travels through Sicily, page 148 of Forster’s English translation, he says, “The shepherds still sing with emulation to gain the crook or the purse, which is the prize of the best performer.” Nevertheless, the modern can be only a very faint imitation of the ancient practice; for thus the same author speaks in other passages:

“Here I had an opportunity of pitying the wretched situation of modern Sicily in comparison with what it was in former ages. Many towns and different nations are destroyed; immense riches are dissipated; the whole island can at present scarce show 1,200,000 inhabitants, _the number which Syracuse alone formerly had_. Many beautiful spots, which used to produce corn and fruits, are now deserted for want of laborers; many spacious ports are without any ships for want of trade; and many people want bread, _whilst the nobility and the monks_ are in possession of all the lands.” p. 112, 113.

“To conclude, the climate, the soil, and the fruits of the country are as perfect as ever. But the precious Greek liberty, population, power, magnificence, and good taste, are now not to be met with as in former times, and the present inhabitants can only say, Fuimus Troes.” p. 151.

That this elegant recreation was of Sicilian origin we have clear and abundant evidence. Bion (_Idyll_ vii. 1.) calls pastoral poetry “a Sicilian strain;” which certainly implies, that of all places where the Greek language was used Sicily was the most noted for it, and that in fact it properly belonged to Sicily. So Moschus (_Idyll_ iii.) speaks of “the Sicilian muses;” and throughout this Idyll, which is the lament of Moschus on the death of Bion, he repeatedly speaks of the pastoral poetry, such as Bion cultivated, as proper to Sicily. In Virgil’s Bucolics we find frequent allusions to the same acknowledged fact. Thus he says,

“I will set my verses to the tune of a Sicilian shepherd.” _Buc._ x. 51.

The historian Diodorus, himself a Sicilian, who lived about the commencement of the Christian æra, supposes bucolic poetry and music to be the peculiar invention and exercise of his own country, and says, that it continued in use at his time and was held in the same estimation as formerly[314]. In less than 200 years from this period the art lost much of its original simplicity. Maximus Tyrius (Diss. xxi.) says, that “the Dorians of Sicily became, to use the mildest term, _more weak in understanding_,” (_more dissolute_) “when instead of the simple Alpine music, which they used to employ in the presence of their flocks and herds, they began to love the tunes of the Sybarites, and a style of dancing adapted to them, such as was required by the Ionic pipe.”

[314] L. iv. c. 84, p. 283.

But, although the rustic Dorians of Sicily had the full credit of this invention and were never surpassed in the practice of it by any other people, yet the imitation of it was attempted in various instances by the pastoral inhabitants of other countries. More especially, it appears to have been adopted in the neighboring district of Magna Græcia; for it is near _Sybaris_ that Theocritus has placed the scene of his Fifth Idyll, in which, a shepherd having staked a lamb and a goatherd a kid, they contend in alternate verses, whilst a wood-cutter, whom they have called from his labor, listens as judge, and awards the prize to the goatherd, who hereupon joyfully sacrifices his newly acquired lamb to the Nymphs.

In the Seventh Idyll (_v._ 12, 27, 40.) Theocritus mentions the goatherd, _Lycidas_ of Crete, who was his contemporary, and also his predecessors and supposed instructors, _Asclepiades of Samos_, and _Philetas of Cos_, as distinguished for skill in pastoral music.

The bucolic poems of Theocritus prove, that the Arcadian belief in the attributes of Pan had extended itself into Sicily and the South of Italy, so that the rustics of those countries not only invoked him by name, but even sometimes offered sacrifices to him. Thus, in Idyll v. 58, the Lucanian goatherd already referred to says, that he will set aside for Pan eight dishes of milk and six of honey.

But besides importing the belief in Pan from Arcadia the Sicilians recognized two demigods of native origin, who contributed, if not to excite feelings allied to religion, at least to amuse their imagination and to contribute greatly to the variety and liveliness of their poetry. These were the shepherd Polyphemus, who was horridly deformed, and the herdsman Daphnis, who was endowed with the most surpassing beauty.

Polyphemus was the son of Neptune. Notwithstanding his forbidden aspect he is represented as susceptible of some tender emotions, and it is his misfortune to be deeply enamored of the beautiful _Nereid_ or Mermaid Galatea, whom he sees sporting in the green waves, while he surveys the coast from the summit of a mountain and plays upon the syrinx for the amusement of himself and his flock[315].

[315] Theocritus, Idyll vi. and xi. Lucian, Dial. Doridis et Galateæ. Ovid, Met. L. xiii. 739-870.

The Sicilian Daphnis, like the Arcadian Pan, was the son of Mercury and of a mountain nymph, and excelled in playing on the syrinx; but his form was entirely human and the most beautiful that could be imagined.

The guardian of fair kine, himself more fair. _Virg. Buc._ v. 44.

He tended his cattle upon the picturesque Heræan mountains to the north of Ætna, and did not mix in the society of men. At the time when the beard was beginning to grow on his upper lip, the nymph Echenais became enamored of him, and enjoined him upon pain of losing his eye-sight not to approach any other female. He consented, and for some time persisted in obeying her; but at length a Sicilian princess, having intoxicated him with wine, accomplished her purpose. He shared the fate of Thamyras, the Thracian, and was thus punished for his folly[316]. He then pined away, and died of hopeless love for the nymph, whom he had offended[317]. According to Virgil (_Buc._ v. 56-71.) _he was raised to the stars_, and sacrifices were offered to him by the shepherds.

[316] Timæus, author of the Hist. of Sicily, as quoted by Parthenius, c. 29. Ælian, Var. Hist. L. x. c. 18. Diod. Sic. L. iv. c. 84. p. 283.

[317] Theocritus, Idyll i. 66-141. and vii. 72-77.

Daphnis was the frequent subject of pastoral poetry, being regarded as an ideal representation of the perfection of the shepherd’s culture and manner of life. Of this we have a proof in the epigram of Callimachus on the death of Astacides, and which concludes thus: “We (shepherds) will no longer sing of Daphnis, but of Astacides.” The poet’s design was to extol Astacides, by comparing him with Daphnis. According to Ælian (_l. c._) the first bucolic poems related to the blindness of Daphnis and its cause; and the first poet, who composed verses upon this subject, was Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily. In Theocritus the allusions to the beautiful story of Daphnis are very frequent[318], and his sad fate is described at length by contending shepherds or goatherds in the First and Seventh Idylls. We shall quote only his dying words, where he calls on Pan to leave the great Mænalus and the long ridges of Lycæus, and to come to Sicily in order to receive from his own hand the syrinx, on which he had been accustomed to play.

Ἔνθ’ ᾦναξ, καὶ τάνδε φέρ’ εὐπάκτοιο μελίπνουν Ἐκ κηρῶ σύριγγα καλὰν, περὶ χεῖλος ἑλικτάν· Ἠ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ἐς ἅδᾶν ἕλκομαι ἤδη.

Come, mighty king, come, Pan, and take my pipe, Well join’d with wax and fitted to my lip; For now ’tis useless grown, Love stops my breath, I cannot pipe, but must be mute in death. _Creech’s Translation._

[318] Idyll v. 20. See also v. 80. In Idyll vi. Daphnis is one of the performers, and gives a description of Galatea.

Pliny informs us, that in his time the wool of Apulia was in the highest repute; that throughout the South of Italy the best sheep were bred in the vicinity of Tarentum and Canusium; and that the wool of Tarentum was admired for its tinge of black, and that of Canusium for its fine brown or yellow color[319].

[319] See Appendix A.

The directions for the management of sheep, given by Varro, Columella, Virgil, and other writers on rural affairs, all tend to show the pains taken by the Romans to improve the breed of sheep, and especially to produce wool of the finest quality.

The first of these authors (_De Re Rustica_, L. ii. _Præf._) mentions his own flocks of sheep in Apulia. It appears from his account that every man was obliged to report the number of his sheep to the publican and to have them inscribed in a register, the earliest allusion, to a code of laws, which may probably have been in some respects similar to that now called “La Mesta” in Spain. Varro further speaks expressly of the summer and winter migrations of the flocks; and to show the great distances to which they were conducted on these occasions, he states that the sheep of Apulia were taken every year to pass the summer in the mountains of Samnium, and sometimes even in those of Reate[320].

[320] De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. 1. p. 161. ed. Bip. See also, c. 2. p. 167.

Of the nature and circumstances of these annual migrations we are enabled to form some judgment, not only from the animated description already quoted from Dr. Holland in relation to Albania, but still more distinctly from the following accounts by the Honorable Keppel Craven, one of which relates to the first group of mountains mentioned by Varro, the other to the second.

In the year 1818 Mr. Craven visited a large farm a few miles to the south of Foggia, and consequently not far from the site of the ancient Arpi in Apulia. He mentions the following particulars.

“Above 200 persons were employed, and resided on the spot. The stock of sheep consisted of 8000, divided into several flocks; to which those of cows, goats, and buffaloes, together with a set of brood mares and a suitable quantity of poultry, bore an equivalent proportion. All the cattle are guarded by large milk-white dogs of the Abruzzo breed. These animals are very handsome and resemble the Newfoundland species, but have sharper noses; they are very intelligent and equally fierce. The flocks are tended by natives of Abruzzo, who also undertake the care of milking them, as well as making the cheese, &c.; they are assisted by their wives and children, who accompany them in their yearly migrations to and from the mountains. These shepherds are clothed in the skins of the animals which they watch, and are reckoned a quiet, attentive, frugal, and trust-worthy race.” _Tour through the southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, by the Honorable Keppel Craven_, p. 80.

The scene of the following extract is the valley of the Aternus, descending from the region of the highest Apennines, the “montes Reatini” of Varro, not very remote from the ruins of his farm and villa, (These ruins are described at page 45 of the volume from which this passage is extracted.), and proceeding towards the sites of the modern Aquila and of the ancient Amiternum.

“One of the broad tratturos, or cattle-paths, runs in the same line with the high-road to Aquila; and I was so fortunate as to see it occupied by a very extended line of flocks, which slowly passed by the carriage for the space of a mile or more. The word ‘fortunate’ adapted to such a spectacle, may excite a smile in my readers; but I own that I never beheld one of these numerous animal congregations plodding across the flats of Capitanata, or the valleys of Abruzzo, as far as the eye could reach, without experiencing a sensation of a novel and exciting kind, nearly allied to that of enjoyment, but which I shall not attempt to account for.

“One shepherd heads each division of cattle, of which he has the peculiar care and direction. Armed with his crook, he walks some paces in advance of his flock, followed by an old ram termed _il manso_; which word, meaning tame or instructed, has undoubtedly a more apposite signification than that of our bell-wether, though he is, as well as ours, furnished with a large deep-toned bell.

“The sheep march in files of about twelve in each; and every battalion, if I may so call it, is attended by six or eight dogs, according to its number; these accompanying the herd, walking at the head, middle, and rear of each flank. The beauty and docility of these animals, which are usually white, has often been described, and their demeanor is gentle as long as the objects of their solicitude are unmolested, but at night they are so savage, that it would be dangerous to approach the fold they guard.

“The goats, which bear a very small proportion to the sheep, and are in general black, wind up the array, and evince their superior intelligence by lying down whenever a temporary halt takes place. The cows and mares travel in separate bodies. A certain number of these flocks, commonly those belonging to the same proprietor, are under the immediate management and inspection of an agent, entitled _fattore_, who accompanies them on horseback, armed with a musket, and better clad than the shepherds, who, both in summer and winter, wear the large _sheep-skin jacket_, and are in other respects provided with substantial though homely attire, including good strong shoes.

“These Fattores are all natives of Abruzzo, an Apulian never having been known to undertake the profession: the former, through particular habits and the repeated experience of years, are looked upon as so peculiarly fitted for the care required by cattle, and indeed animals of all kinds, that all the helpers in the stables of the capital are natives of these provinces, or of the adjoining county of Molise. In addition to these qualifications, they are esteemed an abstemious and honest race.

“When following the calling of shepherds, and occupied, as I saw them, in the duties of their charge in travelling, their countenances are almost invariably marked by the same expression, which combines mildness and sagacity with immovable gravity, and, it is painful to add, a look of deep-seated sadness; the whole caravan, animal as well as human, exhibiting, at least while engaged in one of those tedious peregrinations, a general appearance of suffering and depression, distinguishable in every individual that composes it. The shepherd that opens the march, the independent manso jingling his brazen bell, the flocks that follow, the dogs that watch over their security, and even the Fattore who directs the procession, all appear to be plodding through a wearisome existence of monotony and toil. The extreme slowness of their progress, the downcast expression of every head and eye, and, above all, the indications of exhaustion and fatigue which are but too perceptible after a journey of more than a month’s duration, may well account for this impression.

“The animals suffer greatly from heat until they reach their summer dwelling, and full as much from lameness, which, when it has reached a certain pitch, becomes the signal for destruction. I saw a mule bearing no other load than the skins of those that had perished in this manner.

“Several other beasts of burden follow the rear of the herds, laden with the various articles necessary for them and their guardians during their protracted march: these consist in the nets and poles requisite to pen the folds at night, the coarse cloth tents for the use of the shepherds, and a limited stock of utensils for milking, and boiling the produce of the flock. Among these are to be noticed some portable jointed seats of very ingenious though simple construction, composed of the stems of the giant fennel, a substance remarkable for its light and compact texture.

“The cattle which I thus met near Aquila were within two days’ journey of their resting-place, which is generally in some of the valleys placed on the lower flanks of the mountain ridges, but sufficiently elevated above the larger plains to afford fresh and abundant herbage and a cooler temperature.

“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.

Aristotle calls these rams “the leaders of the sheep,” and he states, that the shepherds provided for each flock such a leader, _which, when called by name by the shepherd, placed himself at the head of the flock_, and was trained to execute this office from an early age[321]. The employment of the _manso_ was probably the ground, on which many of the Orientals adopted the ram as the emblem of military authority[322]. According to this supposition it would rather denote secondary than supreme command; and if so, _the representation of the king of Persia by the symbol of a ram in the 8th chapter of Daniel is the more expressive, because it indicated that he was the agent of the supreme Deity_. Probably also the same sentiment was intended to be conveyed by the enthusiastic Sapor, or Shahpoor II., King of Persia in the _fourth century_, when he rode to battle in front of his army wearing instead of a diadem a ram’s head wrought in gold and studded with precious stones[323].

[321] Hist. Animal. viii. 19.

[322] E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Bibl. Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 83.

[323] Ammianus Marcell. xix. 1.

Any one, who has seen the collection of ancient bronze bells in the Museum at Naples, and compared them with those now worn in Italy about the necks of sheep and other cattle, will be struck with their similarity. We know also from various ancient laws and other evidence[324] that the shepherds fastened bells upon their sheep as they do at the present day.

[324] See note of Sweertius on the treatise of Hieron. Magius de Tintinnabulis, cap. viii.

There is a striking correspondence between the words of Varro, “crates, retia, cæteraque utensilia,” and Craven’s account of the provision of nets, &c. for making folds, and of the other necessary utensils.

At Sepino, the ancient Sæpinum, situated in the highest part of the mountains of Samnium near the source of the Tamarus, Mr. Craven saw over the Eastern gate the remains of a very remarkable inscription referring to the same practice[325]. This inscription has been accurately published by Muratori[326]. It clearly distinguishes between the “fattores” (_conductores gregum oviaricorum_) and the shepherds who were under them (_pastores quos conductores habent_). These were molested by the magistrates of Sæpinum and the neighboring town of Bovianum, and by the “stationarii” or soldiers, who, instead of being ready to protect them in case of need, charged them with being fugitives and with cattle-stealing, and under this pretence drove back even those sheep which belonged to the emperor (_oves quoque dominicas_) and thus greatly injured his revenue. These grievances were consequently represented to an officer at Rome who kept the emperor’s accounts (_Cosmus, Augusti Libertus a Rationibus_); and he writes in the terms of the inscription to Basseus Rufus and Macrinus Vindex, officers of rank in the army, in order that the evil might be remedied. This inscription must have been erected about the commencement of the Christian æra. As Mr. Craven remarks, “It not only corroborates what was already known, that the periodical migration of the herds from Apulia is of most ancient origin, but it proves, that they observed the same line of route which they follow to the present day; the road, that runs from the east to the western gate of this inclosure, falling into the line of the _tratturos_, or sheep-paths, exclusively allotted to the use of the flocks in their annual journeys.”

[325] See Excursions in the Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 135, 136.

[326] Novus Thesaurus Vet. Inscriptionum, p. DCVI.

Whilst we discover these numerous points of resemblance between the ancient and the modern practice, it is probable that in other respects there was a greater diversity. If the author whose observations have been cited had witnessed a similar procession in very ancient times, he would have seen less reason to deplore its toilsome and melancholy aspect. Music was then probably of no little service in animating both the shepherds and their flocks. The sonorous _bagpipe_ may have contributed to this effect[327]. At least Mr. Craven’s account of a modern pastoral march is strikingly contrasted with the following description by Apollonius Rhodius, in which he compares the ship Argo and the music of Orpheus, followed by multitudes of fishes, to a shepherd playing on the syrinx and followed by his sheep.

Ὡς δ’ ὁπότ’ ἀγραύλοιο κατ’ ἴχνια σημαντῆρος μυρία μῆλ’ ἐφέπονται ἄδην κεκορημένα ποίης εἰς αὖλιν, ὁ δέ τ’ εἶσι πάρος σύριγγι λιγείῃ καλὰ μελιζόμενος νόμιον μέλος· ὥς ἄρα τοί γε ὡμάρτευν· πὴν δ’ αἰὲν ἐπασσύτερος φέρεν οὖρος. _Argon_, _L._ i. 575-579.

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.

The first attests the high estimation in which the sheep of Calabria and Apulia were held by the Romans, especially before his own time, and he says that among them the Tarentine sheep were the best of all. In speaking of the practice so prevalent in this district of covering them with skins, he shows, that these “oves pellitæ” were also called “soft” (_molles_), and “covered” (_tectæ_). Indeed he makes the great distinction of sheep to be into the “_genus molle_,” i. e. the soft kind, and the “genus hirsutum,” or “hirtum,” i. e. the coarse kind. We further learn that the soft sheep were called by the Romans Greek sheep, because they were bred in Græcia Magna, and Tarentine, because the best of all were bred at Tarentum. According to Palladius they were also sometimes called Asiatic (_Asianæ_). It is to be observed that by _Asia_, Palladius and his contemporaries would understand the celebrated sheep-country of which Miletus was the centre[329]; and considering the frequent, long-established, and very friendly intercourse between Miletus and Tarentum[330], we may infer that the Milesians imported into Tarentum their fine breed of sheep, and at the same time introduced the art of _dyeing_ and _preparing_ the wool. The same sheep, which were called Greek by the Romans, were called _Italian_ by the Egyptians and others, to whom the word _Greek_ would not have been distinctive. Columella (vii. 4.) insists particularly on the great pains and care, which it was necessary to bestow upon this description of sheep, the “covered” or “soft,” in regard to food, warmth, and cleanliness, and he says that they were principally brought up in the house[331].

[329] Cellarii Ant. Orbis Notitia, iii. 1. 7, 8, 9.

[330] Herod. vi. 21. and Wesseling _ad locum_.

[331] According to Bochart (Hieroz. cap. 45. p. 486, ed. Leusden), the Talmud and another rabbinical book, lambs soon after their birth were invested with garments fastened upon them with thongs or buckles.

In the sheep-breeding countries of Europe the practice seems to have been very general. Besides South Italy, Attica, Megaris, and Epirus, in regard to which countries positive evidence has been produced, we find that soft sheep, or “oves pellitæ” were kept by an inhabitant of Cynethæ in Arcadia (Polybius, L. ix. c. 17.), by the Roman settlers in the North of Gaul and in Spain.

As there was in general a great affinity between the manners and ideas of Sicily and South Italy, we might infer that the pastoral habits of these two districts were in many respects similar. Theocritus accordingly lays the scene of some of his Idylls on the coast opposite to Sicily. The fifth Idyll describes a contest between a shepherd and a goatherd, who are supposed to have been employed as hired servants in the vicinity of Sybaris. The shepherd, observing some of his sheep to be feeding on an oak, which could not be very good for them, utters the following exclamation, showing that it was customary to give proper names to sheep, and thus confirming the fact, that in ancient times they were regarded as the objects of affection, and not of profitable speculation merely:

Οὐκ ἀπὸ τᾶς δρυὸς οὗτος ὁ Κώναρος, ἅ τε Κυναίθα· Τουτεὶ βοσκησεῖσθε ποτ’ ἀντολὰς, ὡς ὁ Φάλαρος.

Ho! Sharphorn, Browning, leave those hurtful weeds, And come and graze this way, where Colly feeds. _Creech’s Translation._

The passage has often been cited in illustration of the following verses from the Gospel of St. John. Our Savior, describing himself as a shepherd, here alludes to various indications of care and attachment, which distinguish the owner of a flock from the hireling, who, being engaged to tend the sheep only for a season, could not be so well known by them, nor so much interested in their security and welfare.

“He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth (from the fold) his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”--_John_, x. 3-5.

In reference to this passage of Scripture the following remarks of a late traveller are instructive:

“I asked my man if it was usual in Greece to give names to sheep. He informed me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd when he called them by their names. This morning (_March 5, 1828_), I had an opportunity of verifying the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same answer. I then bade him to call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly left its pasturage and its companions, and ran up to the hand of the shepherd, with signs of pleasure and with a prompt obedience which I had never before observed in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep in this country, _that a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of the strangers_. The shepherd told me that many of his sheep are still WILD; that they had not yet learned their names; but that by teaching they would all learn them. The others, which knew their names, he called TAME.”--_Researches in Greece and the Levant, by the Rev. John Hartley_, p. 321.

The city of Sybaris stood between two rivers, the Sybaris and the Crathis. The ancients asserted that the sheep which drank of the Crathis, were white, and those which drank of the Sybaris, black. They attributed similar virtues to other streams in various parts of the world[332].

[332] Ælian, Nat. Anim. xii. 36. Plinii Hist. Nat. xxxi. 9. Kruse’s Hellas, i. p. 369. (See Appendix A.)

According to Strabo (L. vi. _cap._ 3. § 9. _p._ 303. _ed. Siebenkees_) the hilly promontory of Garganus was particularly celebrated for its sheep. He says, that their wool was softer than the Tarentine, but less shining.

The Roman poets allude in various instances to the excellence of the Apulian wool, and especially to that of Tarentum. Horace in the following stanza expresses his predilection for this celebrated city, and mentions its “soft” or “covered” sheep. He had been asserting his wish to end his days at Tibur, the modern Tivoli.

But, should the partial Fates refuse That purer air to let me breathe, Galesus, thy sweet stream I’ll choose, Where flocks of richest fleeces bathe: Phalanthus there his rural sceptre sway’d, Uncertain offspring of a Spartan maid. _Od._ _l._ ii. 6.--_Francis’s Translation._

Martial alludes to the celebrity of the Tarentine wool in no less than five of his epigrams.

Spartan Galesus did your toga lave, Or from a flock select fair Parma gave. L. ii. _ep._ 43. _l._ 3, 4.

The poet intended here to describe a toga of the most expensive and fashionable kind.

You give, O Chloe, to Lupercus, Your tender favorite, lacernas Of Spanish, Tyrian, scarlet fleeces, And togas wash’d in warm Galesus. L. iv. _ep._ 28. _l._ 1-3.

Thou wast more sweet, O lovely child! Than song of aged dying swans: Thy voice, thy mien were soft and mild As Phalantine Galesus’ lambs. L. v. _ep._ 37. _l._ 1, 2.

The last lines were written by Martial on the death of Erotion in her sixth year. He describes her interesting qualities by comparing her to a lamb of the soft Tarentine breed, always clothed and usually kept in the house and hence remarkably tender and delicate.

The following epigram (L. viii. _ep._ 28.) was written on the receipt of a handsome toga from the wealthy and munificent Parthenius, chamberlain to the emperor Domitian. In expressing his admiration of it, the poet enumerates the places from which the Romans of his time obtained the best and most fashionable garments of this description. He next proceeds to extol its whiteness; and in conclusion observes how ridiculous he would appear wearing his old _lacerna_ over this new and snowy garment, and he thus conveys a hint to Parthenius how acceptable and suitable would be the present of a lacerna in addition to the toga.

De Partheniana toga.

Dic, toga, facundi gratum mihi munus amici, Esse velis cujus fama, decusque gregis? Appula Ledæi tibi floruit herba Phalanthi, Quà saturat Calabris culta Galesus aquis? An Tartessiacus stabuli nutritor Iberi Bætis in Hesperia te quoque lavit aqua? An tua multifidum numeravit lana Timavum, Quem prius astrifero Cyllarus ore bibit? Te nec Amyclæo decuit livere veneno; Nec Miletus erat vellere digna tuo. Lilia tu vincis, nec adhuc dilapsa ligustra, Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur.

Spartanus tibi cedet olor, Phaphiæque columbæ: Cedet Erythræis eruta gemma vadis. Sed licet hæc primis nivibus sint æmula dona, Non sunt Parthenio candidiora suo. Non ego prætulerim Babylonica picta superbè Texta, Semiramia quæ variantur acu. Non Athamantæo potius me mirer in auro, Æolium dones si mihi, Phryxe, decus. O quantos risus pariter spectata movebit Trita Palatina nostra lacerna toga!

Say, grateful gift of mine ingenious friend, What happy flock shall to thy fleece pretend? For thee did herb of famed Phalantus blow, Where clear Galesus bids his waters flow? Did thy wool count the streamlets, more than seven, Of him, who slaked the warrior horse of heaven? Or did Tartessian Guadalquiver lave Thy matchless woof in his Hesperian wave? Thou didst not need to taste Amyclæ’s bane, And wouldst have tried Milesian art in vain. With thee the lily and the privet pale Compared, and Tibur’s whitest ivory fail. The Spartan swan, the Paphian doves deplore Their hue, and pearls on Erythrean shore. But, though the boon leave new-fall’n snows behind, It is not purer than the donor’s mind. I would prefer no _Babylonian vest_, _Superbly broider’d_ at a queen’s behest; Nor better pleased should I my limbs behold, Phryxus, in _webs_ of thine Æolian gold. But O! what laughter will the contrast crown, My worn lacerna on th’ imperial gown!

It may be observed, that in this ingenious epigram, as well as in two of the preceding, which relate to togas, Martial supposes the Tarentine wool to be white: for the Roman toga was of that color except in mourning, and one object of the last-cited epigram is to praise the whiteness of the particular toga, which it describes. The Tarentines therefore must have produced both dark-colored and white fleeces.

The fifth passage of Martial (xii. 64.), which mentions the sheep of the Galesus, more directly refers to those of Spain, and will therefore be quoted under that head.

Besides the epigrams, now cited, in which Martial commends the wool of Tarentum in particular, we find others, in which he celebrates that of Apulia in general. In Book xiv. Ep. 155. he gives an account of the principal countries, which yielded white wools, and informs us that those of the first quality were from Apulia.

White Wools.

The first Apulia’s; next is Parma’s boast; And the third fleece Altinum has engrost. _Elphinston’s Translation._

Also in the following lines Martial alludes to the large and numerous flocks of Apulia, and to the whiteness of their wool.

Of white thou hast to clothe a tribe sufficient stock, The produce fair of more than one Apulian flock. L. ii. _Ep._ 46. _l._ 5, 6.

On the other hand the wool from the vicinity of Canusium was no less esteemed for its dark colors, whether inclining to brown or to red. These saved the expense of dyeing. The testimony of Pliny to their value has been already produced. In the two following Epigrams (_l._ xiv. 127 _and_ 129.) Martial alludes to the peculiar recommendations and uses, first of the brown, and secondly of the reddish variety.

This Canusine lacerna, it is true, Looks muddy: but it will not change its hue[333]. Rome in the brown delights, gay Gaul in red: This pleases boys, and whose is blood to shed.

[333] It appears from this epigram that, when shaken, it had the color of the brown wool of Canusium, a kind of drab. The lacerna was a mantle, which the Romans wore out of doors over their white toga, with which it was well contrasted, whether it was purple, scarlet, or brown; but the last color, though less showy at first, must have had the advantage of durability. See Appendix A.

On referring to the passages produced from Pliny, Columella, and Martial, it will be seen that the Romans ascribed a very high value to the white wool of Gallia Cisalpina, i. e. of North Italy, or the region about the Po. Parma was considered second only to Apulia for the whiteness of its wool. Besides the two epigrams of Martial already cited, he refers to Parma as a great place for sheep-breeding in the following passage, addressed to the wealthy Callistratus:

And Gallic Parma shears thy num’rous flocks. L. v. _ep._ 13.

Columella speaks moreover (_l. c._) of the superiority of the wool of Mutina, now Modena; and Martial (_l._ v. _ep._ 105.) mentions the circumstance of a _fuller_, or _clothier_, in that city having exhibited a show to the public, which is a presumptive evidence that he had a great business in manufacturing the produce of the surrounding country.

Strabo in his account of the productions of Cisalpine Gaul divides the wool into three kinds; First, the soft kind, of which the finest varieties were grown about Mutina and the river Scutana, which is the modern Scultenna, a tributary of the Po, rising in the Apennines; Secondly, the coarse kind, grown in Liguria and the country of the Insubres, which was very much used for the common wearing apparel of the Italians; and Thirdly, the middle kind, grown about Patavium (now Padua) and employed for making valuable _carpets_ and various descriptions of _blankets_[334]. By comparing the statements of this author with those of Columella and Martial it will appear, that the whole region watered by the parallel rivers Parma, Gabellus, and Scultenna, and known by the name of _Macri Campi_, or the Barren Plains, was esteemed for the production of the fine white wool.

[334] Strabo, L. v. c. 1. § 12. p. 119. ed. Siebenkees.

That the tending of both sheep and goats was a principal occupation of the people of Mantua we learn from Virgil, a native of that city, who places the scene of most of his pastorals in its vicinity. His First and Ninth Eclogues more particularly relate to the calamities, which the Mantuans were compelled to sustain, when Augustus seized on their lands to reward his veteran soldiers after the battle of Philippi. These eclogues mention flocks both of sheep and goats, and show that those who had the care of them cultivated music and poetry after the manner of the Sicilians. The commencement of the Seventh Eclogue is especially instructive, because it gives us reason to believe, that while many of the Arcadians left their country in consequence of that excess of population, to which mountainous regions are subject, in order to become foreign mercenaries, others, on the contrary, entered into foreign service as shepherds and goatherds, and in this condition not only made themselves useful by their experience, skill, and fidelity, but also introduced at the same time their native music together with that refinement of manners and feelings which it promoted. The poet thus describes two such individuals, who had been employed in tending flocks upon the banks of the Mincius (_l._ 12, 13), and who were either born in Arcadia, or were at least of Arcadian origin.

Two blooming swains had join’d their flocks in one, Thyrsis his sheep, and tuneful Corydon His goats, which bore their treasur’d milk along; Arcadians both, both skill’d in amœbean song.

At a considerable distance to the North-East of Mantua lay Altinum, which is mentioned by Columella[335], Tertullian, and Martial, as one of the principal places for the produce of _white_ wool. Martial says, that it ranked in this respect next to Parma[336], and we must understand him as referring to the same region in Book viii. Epig. 28, where he asks, “Did thy wool count the many streams of the Timavus, which Cyllarus previously drank with his starry mouth?” The Timavus was indeed a considerable way still further towards the North-East, and must have been very insignificant in connection with the sheep-breeding of the Altinates. The poet introduces it here only on account of its picturesque and mythological interest, just as we have seen that the Galesus, a small, though clear and very beautiful stream, is repeatedly named in order to designate the pastoral region about Tarentum. It may also be observed, that in this epigram, where Martial alludes to three of the principal places for the growth of white wool, he indicates each of them by its river, the three rivers being the Galesus, the Bætis, and the Timavus; and he probably did so on account of the supposed effect of the waters of these rivers in improving the wool.

[335] L. vii. cap. 2.

[336] L. xiv. Ep. 155.

We can make no question, after what we have seen of the universal practice of both ancient and modern times, that the sheep, which in the winter were pastured in the plains and lower grounds about Altinum, were taken to pass the summer in the vallies of the Carinthian Alps about the sources of the Brenta, the Piave, and the Tagliamento. We may also trace the wool, after it was manufactured, in its progress towards Rome, where was the chief demand for garments of this description. For Strabo says, that Patavium (_Padua_), which was situated at no great distance from Altinum on the way to Rome, was a great and flourishing mart for all kinds of merchandize intended to be sent thither, and especially for every kind of cloth[337]. It appears, therefore, that the wool-growers and clothiers of the country to the North-East of Padua, the modern Trevisano, employed that city as an entrepôt where they disposed of their goods to the Roman dealers. At the same time we learn, that this place served as a market for _carpets_ and _blankets_ made of a stronger and more substantial material, which, according to the same authority[338], was produced in its more immediate vicinity.

[337] L. v. cap. 1. § 6, 7. Strabo alludes to the pastoral occupations of the territory about Altinum and the Timavus.

[338] Strabo.

In the North-Western portion of Cisalpine Gaul the wool was generally coarse, and according to Strabo (_l. c._) the garments made of it were used by the Italians for the ordinary clothing of their domestic establishments. Nevertheless, black wool of superior value was grown at Polentia, now Polenza, on the Stura, which is a tributary of the Po[339]. The following two Epigrams of Martial (_l._ xiv. 157 and 158.) allude to the use of the dark wool of Polentia for mourning and for the dress of inferior domestic servants.

Polentine Wools.

1. Not wools alone, that wear the face of woe; Her goblets once did proud Polentia show.

2. Our sable hue to croplings may belong, That tend the table, not of primal throng. _Elphinston’s Translation._

[339] Pliny, L. viii. Columella, vii. 2. To these testimonies may be added Silius Italicus de Bello Punico, l. viii. 597.

The country people about Modena and in other parts of the Northern Apennines still wear _undyed_ woollen cloth of a gray color. Muratori quotes from the statutes of the city of Modena, A. D. 1327, a law to _prevent the makers of such cloth from mixing with their gray wool the hair of oxen, asses, or other animals_[340].

[340] Dissertazioni sopra le Antichità Italiane, Diss. 30. tomo ii. 48, 49, 4to edition. This author in his 21st Dissertation endeavors to assign reasons for the decline of the modern Italians in the growth and manufacture of wool.

Before quitting Italy we may properly inquire, whence and how came the practice of sheep-breeding into Great Britain. It has already been observed that the very improved state of the art at Tarentum may be in part ascribed to the intercourse of its inhabitants with the Milesians. The reader will have noticed the fact that the worship of Pan was introduced into Italy from Arcadia by Evander, from which circumstance it may be reasonably inferred, that improvements in the management of sheep were also introduced at the same time. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Evander with his companions was said by the Romans to have migrated to Latium _about sixty years before the Trojan war_[341]. The same historian alleges that this colony taught in Italy the use of letters, of instrumental music and other arts, established laws, and brought some degree of refinement instead of the former savage mode of life. The story of the birth of Romulus and Remus supposes sheep-breeding to have been practiced at the period of that event, and in a state of society similar to that which we have found prevailing further eastward; for it is stated, that Faustulus, who discovered them, kept the king’s flocks. He was “magister regii pecoris[342].”

[341] Hist. Rom. l. i. p. 20, 21. ed. R. Stephani, Par. 1546. folio.

As it has been a frequent error with nations to push back their annals into a higher antiquity than was consistent with fact, this may have been the case in the present instance. For it is to be observed, that according to Herodotus the worship of Pan did not arise in Arcadia until after the time when according to this latter statement it was introduced from Arcadia into Latium.

[342] Livii l. i. c. 4.

According to Pausanias (_l._ viii. _c._ 3. § 2.) the first Greek colony, which went into Italy, was from Arcadia, being conducted thither by Œnotrus, an Arcadian prince[343]. This was several centuries before the expedition under Evander, and the part of Italy thus colonized was the southern extremity, afterwards occupied by the Bruttii[344]. If with Niebuhr we regard this tradition only in the light of a genealogical table, designed to indicate the affinities of tribes and nations, still the simple fact of the colonization of South Italy by Arcadians certainly authorizes the conjecture, that Arcadia was one of the stepping-stones, by which the art of sheep-breeding was transported from Asia into Europe.

[343] As further evidence for this tradition see Pherecydis Fragmenta, a Sturtz, p. 190. Virg. Æn. i. 532, and iii. 165. Compare Heyne, Excursus vi. ad Æn. l. iii.

[344] Heyne, Excursus xxi. ad Æn. l. i. Niebuhr, Röm. Geschichte, i. p. 57.

The reader will have perceived from the observations already made on the worship of Faunus in Italy, that the Roman Faunus was the same with the Arcadian Pan. It seems no sufficient objection to this hypothesis, that a few Roman authors have supposed Faunus to be either the son of Mars[345], or of Picus and the grandson of Saturn, thus connecting him with their native mythology, or that his oracle was held by them in high repute[346]. It is here sufficient to remark, that we find him extensively recognized in Italy as a pastoral divinity.

Stretch’d on the springing grass, the shepherd swain His reedy pipe with rural music fills; The god, who guards his flock, approves the strain, The god, who loves Arcadia’s gloomy hills. _Horat. Carm._ iv. 12. 9-12.--_Francis’s Translation._

The above stanza occurs in a description of the beauties of spring, and the poet no doubt alludes to the pastoral habits of his Sabine neighbors.

[345] Appian apud Photium.

[346] Virgil, Æn. vii. 48, 81-105, and Heyne, Excursus v. ad loc.

From ancient monuments as well as from the language of the poets we find, that the worship of other divinities was associated with that of Faunus in reference to the success of all agricultural pursuits including that of sheep-breeding. Boissard, in the Fourth Part of his Antiquitates Romanæ, has published somewhat rude engravings of the bas-reliefs upon two altars, one of them (No. 130) dedicated to _Hope_, the other (No. 134) to _Silvanus_. The altar to Hope was erected, as the inscription expresses, in a garden at Rome by M. Aur. Pacorus, keeper of the temple of Venus. He says, that he had been admonished to this deed of piety by _a dream_; and, if the representation in the bas-relief was the image thus presented to his mind, his dream was certainly a very pleasant one. Hope, wearing on her head a wreath of flowers, places her right hand upon a pillar and holds in her left poppy-heads and ears of corn. Beside her is a bee-hive on the ground, and on it there is also fixed a bunch of poppy-heads and ears of corn. Above these emblems of the fruitfulness of the field and of the garden is the figure of a bale of wool.

The altar to Silvanus exhibits that divinity crowned with the cones and foliage of the pine. A pine grows moreover beside his terminal statue, bearing the large cones, which were used for food at entertainments and carried in bacchanalian processions. Faunus, or Pan, sits at the foot of the pine, the syrinx and the double pipe being placed at his feet. In his right hand he holds an olive branch, while a young winged genius advances towards him as if to receive it, and another genius of the same kind appears to be caressing him and whispering into his ear. On the other side of the terminal statue of Silvanus we see the caduceus of Mercury and the bale of wool, manifest indications of success in the wool trade. In this sculpture the bale is surrounded with cords, which are twisted round one another where they cross. In the former instance the compression of the wool appears to be effected by the use of thongs instead of cords[347]. There is also introduced the figure of a shepherd of the same country. This statue was found in the vicinity of Rome and is now preserved in the Vatican[348]. The extremities are in part restorations. A cameo in the Florentine Museum[349] represents the shepherd Faustulus sitting upon a rock, and contemplating the she-wolf, which is suckling Romulus and Remus. It is of the Augustan age, and no doubt exhibits the costume and general appearance of a Roman shepherd of that period. He wears a _tunica cucullata_, i. e. a tunic of coarse woollen cloth with a cowl, which was designed to be drawn occasionally over the head and to protect it from the injuries of the weather. This garment has also sleeves, which Columella mentions (_tunica manicata_) as an additional comfort. On his feet the shepherd wears high shoes, or boots, which, as we may suppose, were made of leather.

[347] The bas-relief on the first altar is copied from Boissard by Montfaucon, Ant. Expliquée, tome i. p. 332. and that on the second, tome ii. p. 275. The latter is also represented by the Rev. Henry Moses, Collection of Antique Vases, &c. Plate 52.

[348] Museo Pio-Clementino, tomo iii. tav. 34 and p. 44.

[349] Museum Florentinum. Gemmæ Antiquæ a Gorio illustratæ, tav. ii. No. 10.

The appearance of the shepherds, who are represented in these ancient works of art, is, doubtless, adapted to produce the impression, that their condition, even if it were that of slaves, was nevertheless one of comfort and respectability. Neither their garb, nor their attitude, suggests the idea of anything base or miserable. On the contrary, the countenance of each indicates trust-worthiness, steadiness, and care. That many of the agricultural laborers of ancient Italy had this character may be inferred also from written testimonies.

In reference to this subject, and with a view to illustrate at the same time the habits and employments of the ancient farmer among the _Sabine_ or _Apulian_ mountains, we will here quote some parts of Horace’s Second Epode, in which he describes the pleasures of a country life.

Like the first mortals blest is he, From debts, and usury, and bus’ness free, With his own team who ploughs the soil, Which grateful once confess’d his father’s toil.

The sounds of war nor break his sleep, Nor the rough storm, that harrows up the deep; He shuns the courtier’s haughty doors, And the loud science of the bar abjures.

Either to poplars tall he joins The marriageable offspring of his vines; Or lops the useless boughs away, Inserting happier as the old decay:

Or in a lonely vale surveys His lowing herds, safe-wand’ring as they graze; Or stores in jars his liquid gold Prest from the hive, or shears his tender fold.

* * * * *

And, if a chaste and prudent wife Perform her part in the sweet cares of life, Of sun-burnt charms, but honest fame, Such as the Sabine or Apulian dame;

If, when fatigued he homeward turns, The sacred fire, built up with faggots, burns; Or if in hurdles she inclose The joyful flock, whence ample produce flows;

Though unbought dainties she prepare, And this year’s wines attend the homely fare; No fish would I from foreign shore Desire, nor relish Lucrine oysters more.

Olives, fresh gather’d from the tree; _Mallows, the frame from heaviness to free_[350]; A kid snatch’d from the wolf, a lamb To Terminus with due devotion slain;

Such is the meal, his labor o’er; No bird from distant climes I’d relish more. Meanwhile how pleasant to behold His sheep well fed, and hasting to their fold;

To see his wearied oxen bow Their languid necks, and drag th’ _inverted_ plough; And then his num’rous slaves to view Round his domestic gods their mirth pursue.

[350] See chap. xii. p. 191.