Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
1 This alleged superiority is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 91, by Varro, B. ii. c. 5, and by Columella, B. vi. c. 1; but it is remarked by Dalechamps and Hardouin, that the appellation of Pyrrhic given to these oxen, was more probably derived from their red colour,πυῤῥὸς, than from the name of the king. The materials of this chapter are principally from the above writers, especially Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 21, and B. viii. c. 7.—B.
2 This singular notion is mentioned by Varro and Columella, ubi supra; Cuvier says, that it is the origin of the pretended secret of producing the sexes at pleasure, which was published by Millot; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461.—B.
3 4th January. See B. xviii. c. 64.
4 This is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183; this peculiarity in their mode of taking their food is ascribed to the extraordinary length of the horns; it is also mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvi. c. 33.—B.
5 "Fœdi visu." This is very similar to the expression used by Virgil, Georg. B. iii., when describing the points of an ox, 1. 52,—"oui turpi caput "—"the head of which is unsightly"—probably in allusion to its large size.
6 According to Cuvier, there is an ox, in warm climates, which has a mass of fat on the shoulders, and whose horns are only attached to the skin; Buffon has described it under the name of Zebu; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 512.—B.
7 "Ad laborem damnantur;" with respect to the colour, Varro, B. ii. c. 5, has the following remarks: "The best colours are black, red, pale red, and white. The latter ones are the most delicate, the first the most hardy. Of the two middle ones, the first is the best, and both are more valuable than the first and last."
8 We have an account of this process in Columella, B. ii. c. 6.—B.
9 This anecdote is related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 1. Virgil, Georg. B. ii. 1. 537, speaks of the use of oxen in food, as a proof of the de- generacy of later times, and as not existing during the Golden Age; "Ante Ympia quam cœsis gens est epulata juvencis." This feeling is alluded to by. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xii. c. 34, and by Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. ix.—B.
10 It is doubtful whether this is the meaning of "alternos replicans orbes," or what indeed is the meaning. Most editions omit "orbes," thus making the matter still worse.
11 Hardouin supposes that this alludes to the exhibition of oxen hunted at the exhibition of shows and in the Circus, for the gratification of the Roman people.—B.
12 Referred to by Virgil, Georg. B. ii. 11. 145, 146, "et maxima taurus Victima," "and the bull the largest victim of all."—B.
13 In reference to this remark, we may mention the passage in Virgil, Æn. B. iii. c. 119, "Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo." "A bull to thee, Neptune, a bull to thee, beauteous Apollo."
14 Instances are mentioned by Livy, B. xxxv. c. 21, and by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 65.—B.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.
View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.