Fig. 99. Highland cattle, Perthshire. These cattle are mixed descendants of the Celtic shorthorn (Bos longifrons), they have a shaggy coat, and the horns, which are set widely apart, have a tuft of hair between their bases. The animals shown in the illustration are of a tawny-brown colour.
position on the arrival of the Romans. Its remains have been found in vast quantities among the ruined lake-dwellings of Croyland[1323], and also in turbaries in various parts of England[1324]. In short, if Professor Wilson be correct, this ox represents our original native breed. The ox described by Nilsson under the name of B. frontosus is believed to be the same, or a closely allied species[1325]. From the black Celtic shorthorn our black cattle of Wales and the Highlands ([Fig. 99]) are probably derived, though inter-breeding has doubtless much diminished the purity of the strain. It is curious to find that B. longifrons is, by some, supposed to have been originally a stunted variety of B. primigenius. Actual crossing of the breeds is unproved. The larger animal, it is believed, became locally dwarfed by unfavourable environment, and was hence more easily subjugated by Neolithic man[1326].
Once having tamed the ox, early man soon used it for purposes of haulage and carrying burdens. The paintings on ancient Egyptian sepulchres, which go back nearly to the days of polished stone implements, exhibit several breeds of the ox tribe, both bearing the yoke and drawing the plough[1327]. Again, Dr T. Rice Holmes cites authorities to show that an ox drawing a plough is depicted on rock-carvings in Scandinavia[1328]. And that the animal was used as food there is abundant testimony afforded by the nature and condition of the bones unearthed from barrows and primitive settlements.
With the position of the ox in prehistoric times is intimately connected its status in folk-lore and history. At once, however, we notice that the ox has not here played such a prominent part as the horse. With regard to sacrifice, Jacob Grimm sums up the case by the axiom that agricultural nations have leaned more towards bovine, and warlike peoples towards equine sacrifices[1329]. We may accept this as a general tendency, but perhaps not more. Among the Greeks and Romans, indeed, bullocks were the favourite victims[1330]. It will be remembered, too, that the Philistines, when about to send back the Ark of Jehovah to the Israelites, selected for the purpose two milch kine which had never been subjected to the yoke. These kine were offered as a burnt-offering by the jubilant Israelites when the end of the journey was reached[1331]. In Sweden, almost down to the time of Grimm (b. 1785, d. 1863), there existed cattle known as “God’s cows.” Grimm sagaciously hints that the term had its origin when such animals were claimed as priestly dues[1332]. One is inclined to trace the expression further, namely, to the days of real sacrifices. Among the old Norse and Alamannic tribes the sacrifice of oxen was a custom which was eradicated with great difficulty. A letter written to St Boniface (died A.D. 755) speaks of ungodly priests who offered bulls and he-goats to heathen deities (qui tauros et hircos diis paganorum immolabant)[1333]. Gregory the Great, in a letter to the Abbot Mellitus (A.D. 601), uttered a like complaint against the Angles: “Boves solent in sacrificio daemonum multos occidere[1334].” The horns of cows intended for sacrifices were bedecked with garlands[1335], somewhat in the manner of the Swiss cows which are adorned with ribbons by their herdsmen. To witness the inveteracy of custom concerning the cult of the ox, it is only necessary to cross over to Brittany at the period of the great religious processions. Notably, one should get a glimpse of the display made during the “Pardon” of St Cornély at Carnac. At that period cattle are driven many miles to be sprinkled with holy water at a sacred well. Such farmers as can afford the gift, present an ox as an oblation to the Church. As soon as the animal has been blessed, it is led away to be sold by auction, the money being delivered to the church authorities. Until about a century ago, at Clynnog in North Wales, cattle were similarly offered to St Beuno. Apparently, both in Wales and Brittany, a Christian saint had supplanted a pagan deity. Indeed, at a Roman villa in Carnac, Mr James Miln dug up the votive image of an ox—a suggestive discovery[1336].
There is another phase of the ox’s domination—that connected with the soothsayer. The ancient Cimbrians swore oaths over a brazen bull[1337]. In Hindoo folk-lore, the bull appears in the ceremonial associated with childbirths, weddings, and funerals[1338]. In ancient Rome, as is familiar to most readers, the ox figured in oracles. Speaking with a man’s voice, the beast gave dire warnings, such as that which bade Caesar beware the Ides of March[1339]. White oxen were sacrificed to Jupiter, and black ones to Pluto. The black ox was therefore deemed accursed, a herald of ill-luck. In this superstition lies the explanation of such a proverb as, “The black ox has trodden on his foot,” allusions to which are found in old writers like Thomas Tusser and Heywood the dramatist. Perhaps of more interest to us is Kemble’s statement that there are records of bulls having been used for divination in England[1340] ([p. 435] supra). In the Bronze and Early Iron Ages oxen were frequently sacrificed at graves when interments took place, as indicated by the prevalence of bones and teeth in the mounds. It is supposed that the animals formed part of the funeral feast. Ox skulls (B. longifrons) are recorded from many round barrows of the Aeneolithic (Copper-Stone) and Bronze period[1341]. But more remarkable was Sir R. Colt Hoare’s discovery, in a barrow near Amesbury (Wilts.), of the skeletons of two children, each resting on the head of a cow. The animal appeared to have been of small size. The head of one child lay to the East, that of the other to the West[1342].
There will perhaps be always some doubt as to which animals were used by prehistoric folk as daily food, and which were eaten only on ceremonial occasions. It seems probable that the earlier peoples did not commonly eat beef. Contrariwise, there is good evidence to show that horseflesh was much sought after, and we have seen how strong was the later tradition and how difficult it was to destroy it. Pliny relates the case of a man who was brought before the Roman people, and condemned to exile, for having killed an ox for purposes of food. The grave part of the offence was that the wretch had slain the beast—the partner in man’s labours—with as little compunction as he would have killed one of his own peasants[1343]! And Virgil instances the eating of oxen (juvenci = young bullocks) at banquets as a sign of degeneracy, and as not having existed in the Golden Age[1344]. Other classical writers give utterance to a like misgiving. This tradition of a “Golden Age” was probably an instance of subconscious recollection of the pastoral stage of society.
Honour, therefore, was reserved for the ox. Labour did not diminish its dignity. But since wealth sprang from labour, whether of man or beast, the Athenians did not deem it amiss to stamp the figure of an ox upon their coins[1345]. Yet the Athenians, Professor Frazer tells us, were accustomed to sacrifice the ox with elaborate ritual as the representative of the spirit of vegetation. The sacrifice was known as “the murder of the ox” (βουφόνια). Apart, too, from actual sacrifice, there was a mysterious virtue imputed to the animal. Thus, the Egyptian reverence for cows, which were regarded as embodiments of Isis, and which were never killed, has been fully established by Professor Frazer, who attributes the worship to either the pastoral or the agricultural stage of Egyptian development. The kings of Northern Europe were accustomed to take with them, when set on great enterprises, one or more sacred cows, to yield a supply of potent elixir that would ensure success[1346]. Bulls drew the chariots of Frankish monarchs[1347]. At this point, the past is revealed in the present, for Defoe records how he witnessed, near Lewes, the strange spectacle of “an ancient lady of very good quality” being drawn to church in her own coach by six oxen. This was done, however, not from “Frolick or Humour,” but from necessity, the roads being so deep and miry[1348]. In the same county, too, it was the custom, down to our own days, for a farmer who had employed oxen on his land to be drawn to his burial by an ox-team[1349].
The symbolic side of our subject deserves a word or two. The figure of an ox was emblematic of St Luke, and in later times, a similar device was representative of St Frideswide, St Leonard, and St Sylvester[1350]. As the ox gradually lost its prestige, and the symbolic was replaced by the secular, fables superseded the older reputable beliefs. All are familiar with the celebrated “Dun Cow,” said to have been slain by the doughty Guy of Warwick (cf. [p. 199] supra). It was about four yards in height, and six in length, with a head proportionately large. As described in the old ballad:
“On Dunsmore heath I also slewe
A monstrous wyld and cruell beast,
Calld the Dun Cow of Dunsmore heath,
Which many people had opprest.
Some of her bones in Warwick yett
Still for a monument doe lye[1351].”