“Lux eadem, Fortuna, tuaque est, auctorque, locusque.
“Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis?
“Servius est....”
“The same day is thine, O Fortune; the same the builder, the same the site. But who is this that lies hid beneath the garments covering him? It is Servius.”
[2035] Perhaps “changed their colour” may be a better translation of “defluxisse.”
[2036] “Sesquipedalibus libris.” It seems impossible to translate this literally. Hardouin explains it by supposing that the fleeces were dyed in strips of three colours, each strip being half a foot in breadth, and that three of these required a pound of the dyeing materials.—B.
[2037] Pliny probably took this from Varro, B. ii. c. 2. This term is derived from πείκω, “to shear,” with the negative prefix.—B.
[2038] The word “cubitales” alone is used, which might be supposed to refer only to the length of the tail; but Hardouin conceives that it must also apply to the breadth, and refers to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, and others, in proof of the great size which the tails of the Syrian sheep attain, and which would not be indicated by merely saying that they are a cubit long; this being little more than the ordinary length in other countries.—B.
[2039] According to Hardouin, this term, or some word nearly resembling it, was applied to mules or mongrels, as well as to individual animals of diminutive size or less perfect form.—B. Called “moufflon” by the French.
[2040] The term “umbri” appears to have been applied to a mongrel or less perfect animal; like “musmon,” it is of uncertain derivation.—B.