Ill THE FARMERS 77
general one expects to find that in a country where the cultiva-
tion of fruit trees and vines predominated^ the usual domestic
animals were donkeys, mules and goats,1 It is still the same in
many parts of Greece today. The comedians, too, mention the
donkeys, the animal most frequent in Greek proverbs, and the
sheep and goats of Attica.2 Attic sheep and wool were highly
valued. Pigs, too, were common.3 It was known to be most
lucrative to kill a pig- 'its meat is delicious, and nothing in a
pig is lost except the bristles, the mud and the squeal' 4 The
mule is mentioned occasionally.5 More frequently we hear
about horses; they were mainly used for aristocratic sport, and
we may assume that the horses of the State cavalry came from
native stock. Horse-breeding was practised, for instance, in
the plain of Marathon, but, as a rule, horses came from abroad.6
Horses and, even more, cattle needed green food, and that was
scarce in Attica 7 It is clear why stock-farming could never be
undertaken except on a small scale.
A great deal of rural work consisted in market-gardening
by the country people and especially by the yeomen burgesses
who lived in the town or nearby and brought their produce to
market. Most of the gardens were situated outside the walls,
later Epicurus1 garden was said to be the first inside the town,
but this statement is an exaggeration.8 Gardening on a some-
what larger scale is revealed by the comic writers7 knowledge
of a great number of different vegetables. An abundance of
flowers and fruit grew well in the mild climate and were avail-
able for a longer season than elsewhere, 'no one any longer
knows what season of the year it is', though this was largely due
1 |3ouAuT6$ (sc Kcapo$) B 1500 In general, cf. V Hehn? Knlturpflanzen u
Hanstiere (i 894s), 130 There -was a saying 'If you can't drive the os, drive the
ass' (adesp 543), though often the latter was much more difficult The meaning
of the proverb is, if you cannot afford a good help, you must be content with a
bad and cheaper one See also Plate IV for the various animals in agriculture
2 A great deal of the psychology of the Attic donkey is implied in the saving
which indicates fatalistic resignation 6vo$ UETOCI, 'the donkey lets the rain soak
him* (Kratmos 52, Kephisodoros i) —Evidence of corned) C.yif, W 170,
1310 (KArj-rfip = the 'brayer', cf 189), B 714, PI 292^", 820, Eupohs 14, etc
3 See, e g , W 844, P 24, gz6f, L 1073, PI 820, 1106, frg 258, Kratmos 3,
148, 312, Pherekr 44, 102, Eupolib 453, Phryn 43, Plat no, in, 211,
Strattis 58, Nikochares 17 Cf also Plate W
4 Plat 28 5 F 290
6 Strattis 52 —Kratmos 346 —frg 41-2, cf p 138!"
7 frg 798 8 Against Plmj, n h XIX, 50!; cf, e g , Isaios V, n