that in ancient times they were regarded as the objects of affection, and not of profitable speculation merely:
[Greek: Ouk apo tas druos outos ho Kônaros, ha te Kynaitha;
Toutei boskêseisthe pot' antolas, hôs ho Phalaros.]
Ho! Sharphorn, Browning, leave those hurtful weeds,
And come and graze this way, where Colly feeds.
Creech's Translation.
The passage has often been cited in illustration of the following verses from the Gospel of St. John. Our Savior, describing himself as a shepherd, here alludes to various indications of care and attachment, which distinguish the owner of a flock from the hireling, who, being engaged to tend the sheep only for a season, could not be so well known by them, nor so much interested in their security and welfare.
"He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he
putteth forth (from the fold) his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but
will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."—John, x. 3-5.
In reference to this passage of Scripture the following remarks
of a late traveller are instructive:
"I asked my man if it was usual in Greece to give names to sheep. He informed
me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd when he called
them by their names. This morning (March 5, 1828), I had an opportunity of
verifying the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the
shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same
answer. I then bade him to call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly
left its pasturage and its companions, and ran up to the hand of the shepherd,
with signs of pleasure and with a prompt obedience which I had never before observed
in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep in this country, that a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of the strangers. The shepherd told me that many of his sheep are still
WILD; that they had not yet learned their names; but that by teaching they
would all learn them. The others, which knew their names, he called TAME."—Researches in Greece and the Levant, by the Rev. John Hartley, p. 321.
The city of Sybaris stood between two rivers, the Sybaris
and the Crathis. The ancients asserted that the sheep which
drank of the Crathis, were white, and those which drank of the
