Note 1859 — Chapter VI · PASTORAL LIFE.

Those of the neighbouring country of Bœotia are now, however, more highly valued. “Flocks of sheep whose fleeces were of a remarkable blackness were feeding on the plain; the breed was considerably superior in beauty and size to that of Attica.” Sibth. in Walp. i. 65. To dream of sheep of this colour was regarded by the ancients as unlucky. Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 12. p. 96. The finest black sheep in the ancient world were found in a district of Phrygia in the neighbourhood of the cities of Colossè and Laodicea, the wool of which not only exceeded that of Miletos in softness, but was of a glossy jet colour like that of the raven’s wing. Φέρει δ᾽ ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν τόπος προβάτων ἀρετὰς, οὐκ εἰς μαλακότητας μόνον τῶν ἐρίων, ᾗ καὶ τῶν Μιλησίων διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὶς τὴν κοραξὴν χρόαν ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται χρόαν ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν· ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ Κολοσσηνοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος πλησίον οἰκοῦντες. Strab. xii. 8. t. iii. p. 74. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 73. Cf. Chandler, Travels in Greece and Asia Minor, i. 262. The country round Abydos also was celebrated for its black flocks among which not a single white sheep was to be discovered. Ælian de Nat. Animal. 3. 32.