[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.