Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Caprarius

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CAPRA'RIUS (αἰπόλος, αἰγελάτης). A goat-herd, who drove out a flock of goats to pasture; of which animals the ancients kept large flocks upon their farms. (Varro, R. R. ii. 3. 10.) The qualities required in him were strength, activity, boldness, and great powers of enduring fatigue, as goats always scatter themselves to browze, and the places which afford their best pasturage are abrupt and precipitous steeps in mountain districts, which abound with brushwood, wild herbs, and flowers. (Columell. vii. 6. 9. Varro, R. R. ii. 3. 7.) The illustration (Caprarius/1.1) represents one of the goat-herds of Virgil's Eclogues, from a MS. in the Vatican.

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  Caprarius/1.1