[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.
[1857]. Geop. xviii. 2.
[1858]. Cf. Athen, v. 60. Hom. Il. β. 305, sqq.
[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.
[1860]. Varro. de Re Rust. ii. 2.
[1861]. Horace speaks of the “pellites oves Galesi.” Od. ii. 6. 10.
[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.”[reparatur.”] vii. 3, seq.
[1863]. Var. Hist. xii. 56.
[1864]. De Cupiditate. § 7.
[1865]. Macrob. Sat. ii. 4.