[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