ckens are called capons.

"As to medicine for the horse, there are so many symptoms of their
maladies and so many cures that the studgroom must have them written
down: indeed, on this account in Greece the veterinarians are mostly
called [Greek: hippiatroi] (horse leeches)."

_Of mules_

VIII. While we were talking a freedman came from Menas and said that
the sacrificial cakes were cooked and every thing ready for the
sacrifice--that whoever wishes to take part had only to come.

"But I will not suffer you to go," I protested, "until you have
fulfilled your promise and given me the third chapter of our subject,
that concerning mules and dogs and shepherds."

"What is to be said about mules,"[142] replied Murrius, "may be said
briefly. Mules and hinnies are mongrels and grafts as it were on a
stock of a different species, for a mule is got by an ass out of a
mare, and a hinny by a horse out of a she ass. Both have their uses,
but neither is fit to reproduce its kind. For this purpose it is the
custom to put a newborn ass colt to nurse to a mare because mares'
milk will make it more vigorous: it is considered better than asses'
milk, or indeed than any other kind of milk. Later they are fed on
straw, hay and barley. The foster mother must be given good attention
also, as she must bring up her own colt in addition to her service as
a wet nurse. An ass raised in this way is fit to get mules when he is
three years old, nor will he contemn the mares because he has become
used to their kind. If you use him for breeding earlier he will
quickly exhaust himself and his get will be poor.

"If you have no ass foal to have brought up by a mare and you wish a
breeding jackass, you should buy the largest and handsomest you can
find; the best breed, as the ancients said, was that of Arcadia, but
nowadays we who know maintain that the breed of Reate is best: where
breeding jacks have brought thirty and even forty thousand sesterces
($1,800-$2,000).

"Jacks are bought like horses, with the same stipulations and
guarantees. We feed them principally on hay and barley, increasing the
ration at the breeding season so as to infuse strength into their get
by means of their food. The breeding season is the same as for horses,
and, like them again, we have the jack handled by a studgroom.

"When a mare has dropped a mule colt or filly we bring it up with care.
Those which are born in marshy and swampy country have soft hoofs, but
if