The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

Text and translation: C. F. Smith, ed., tr., Thucydides I. History of the Peloponnesian War
Books I and II (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1919; rev. and repr. 1928; repr.
1980).
Geno&menon ga_r krei=sson lo&gou to_ ei]doj th~j no&sou ta& te a1lla xalepwte/rwj h2
kata_ th_n a)nqrwpei/an fu&sin prose/pipten e9ka&stw| kai\ e0n tw|~de e0dh&lwse ma&lista
a1llo ti o2n h2 tw~n cuntro&fwn ti: ta_ ga_r o1rnea kai\ tetra&poda o3sa a)nqrw&pwn
a3ptetai pollw~n a)ta&fwn gignome/nwn h2 ou) prosh|&ei h2 geusa&mena diefqei/reto.
tekmh&rion de/: tw~n me\n toiou&twn o)rni/qwn e0pi/leiyij safh_j e0ge/neto, kai\ ou)x
e9wrw~nto ou1te a1llwj ou1te peri\ toiou~ton ou)de/n: oi9 de\ ku&nej ma~llon ai1sqhsin
parei=xon tou~ a)pobai/nontoj dia_ to_ cundiaita~sqai.
Indeed the character of the disease proved such that it baffles description,
the violence of the attack being in each case too great for human nature to endure, while
in one way in particular it showed plainly that it was different from any of the familiar
diseases: the birds, namely, and the fourfooted animals, which usually feed upon human
bodies, either would not now come near them, though man lay unburied, or died if they
tasted them. The evidence for this is that birds of this kind became noticeably scarce, and
they were no longer to be seen either about the bodies or anywhere else; while the dogs
gave a still better opportunity to observe what happened, because they live with man.
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Varro, Rustica 2.9.8-2.9.10 I B.C.
Text and translation: W. D. Hooper, ed., tr., Marcus Porcius Cato. On Agriculture.
Marcus Terentius Varro. On Agriculture; rev. H. B. Ash (Cambridge, Mass. and
London, 1934; rev. and repr. 1935; repr. 1993).
Cibatus cnis proprior hominis quam ovis. Pascitur enim eduliis et ossibus, nn herbis aut
fronde. Diligenter ut habeat cibaria providendum. Fames enim hos ad quaerendum
cibum ducet, si non praebebitur, et a pecore abducet; nisi si, ut quidam putant, etiam illuc
pervenerint, proverbium ut tollant anticum vel etiam ut aperiant de Actaeone atque in
dominum adferant dentes. Nec non ita panem hordeaciim dandum, ut non potius eum in
lacte des intritum, quod eo consueti cibo uti a pecore non cito desciscunt. Morticinae
ovis non patiuntur vesci carne, ne ducti sapore minus se abstineant. Dant etiam ius ex
ossibus et ea ipsa ossa contuse. Dentes enim facit firmiores et os magis patulum,
propterea quod vehementius diducuntur malae, acrioresque fiunt propter medullarum
saporem. Cibum capere consuescunt interdiu, ubi pascuntur, vesperi, ubi stabulantur.
The food of dogs is morelike that of man than that of sheep: they eat scraps of meat and
bones, not grass and leaves. Great care must be taen for their supply of food; for hunger
wull drive them to hunt for food, if it is not provided, and take them away from the
flock—even if they do not, as some think, come to the point of disproving the ancient
proverb, or even go so far as to enact the story of Actaeon, and sink their teeth in their
master. You should also feed them barley bread, but not without soaking it in milk; for
when they have become accustomed to eating that kind of food they will not soon stray
from the flock They are not allowed to feed on the flesh of the dead sheep, for fear that
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