they are driven up into the mountain in summer, as we do at Reate,
their hoofs become hardened.

"In buying mules you must consider age and conformation, the one that
they may be able to work under a load, the other that the eye may have
pleasure in looking at them: for a team of two good mules is capable
of drawing any kind of a wagon on the road.

"You, my friend from Reate," Murrius added, turning to me, "can vouch
for what I have said, as you yourself have herds of breeding mares at
home and have bred and sold many mules.

"The get of a horse out of a she ass is called a hinny: he is smaller
in the body and usually redder in colour than a mule, and has ears
like a horse, but mane and tail like an ass. Hinnies are carried by
the dam twelve months, like a horse, and, like the horse too, they are
raised and fed, and their age can be told by their teeth."

_Of herd dogs_

IX. "It remains," said Atticus, "to speak of the last of the
quadrupeds on our programme, that is to say, of dogs, which are of the
greatest importance to us who feed the woolly flock, for the dog is
the guardian of such cattle as lack the means to defend themselves,
chiefly sheep and goats. For the wolf is wont to lie in wait for
them and we oppose our dogs to him as defenders. Hogs can defend
themselves, as well pigs, boars, barrows and sows, for they are near
akin to the wild boar, which we know often kills dogs in the woods,
with their tusks. What shall I say of large cattle? I know of an
instance of a herd of mules pastured together, which, when they were
attacked by a wolf, joined in forming a circle about him and killed
him with blows of their hoofs: and again, bulls often stand together,
rump to rump, and drive off wolves with their horns. But of dogs there
are two kinds, hunting dogs, which are used against wild beasts and
game, and herd dogs, which are used by the shepherd. I will discuss
the latter methodically, following Scrofa's nine heads.

"Of the first importance is the choice of dogs of suitable age, for
puppies and old dogs cannot protect themselves, much less the sheep,
and so often become themselves the prey of wild beasts.

"In appearance they should be handsome, of good size, with black or
tawny eyes: a symmetrical nose: lips blackish or ruddy, neither drawn
back above nor hanging underneath: a short muzzle, showing two teeth
on either side, those of the lower jaw projecting a little, those
above rather straight and not