[ [232] Plato explains the object of this regulation:
"Itaque sacra deinceps connubia quam maxime fieri poterit efficiemus: erunt autem sacra constituenda, quæ utilissima fuerint, utilissima verò erunt, si lege marium cum feminis conjunctiones præscribantur, et tale quid in his conjunctionibus observetur, quale in propagatione ceterorum animalium ab iis observatum videmus, quibus id est propositum, ut quam generosi partus edantur, etenim licet sæpe sæpius animadvertere eos qui vel canes venatorios alunt, vel generosas aves enutriunt, et si generosas omnes existiment, eximias tamen ac præstantissimas quasdam e reliquarum numero eligere, ex quibus præcipue progenies suscipiatur." De Rebuspubl., liber quintus.
"Oportet enim ut ex hactenus dictis constitit optimos viros cum optimis mulieribus sæpissime congredi, deteriores verò cum deterioribus per raro, et illorum quidem editos partus nutrire, horum verò nequaquam: si modo præstantissimum sit futurum ovile." De Rebuspubl., liber quintus.
"It follows from what has been already granted, that the best of both sexes ought to be brought together as often as possible, and the worst as seldom as possible, and that the issue of the former unions ought to be reared, and that of the latter abandoned, if the flock is to attain to first-rate excellence." Republic, bk. v, sect. 459. Davis and Vaughan's Translation, p. 187.
[ [233] As no explanation of Zevil is given, it is possible that it is a slip of the pen for e vil and vile. Ramusio, Tiberi; Lisbon edition calls them Tuias; in the Portuguese this caste is called tiar and civel or rustic by antiphrasis, which has been mistaken by the translators for an Indian word.
[ [234] Repeated thus in the manuscript.
[ [235] Or hats.
[ [236] Apretada or hard pressed.
[ [237] Ramusio, Paneru; Lisbon edition, Panceni.
[ [238] Ramusio, Revoler; Lisbon ed., Revoleens.
[ [239] Ramusio, Puler; Lisbon, Poleas.
[ [240] Ramusio, Pareas; Lisbon, Parcens.