We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels, and that the extremities¹ of their horns are four feet apart. In our part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus. He brought them to a very large size, and descendants of this breed are to be seen at the present day. The ox is the only animal that walks backwards² while it is feeding; among the Garamantes, they feed 113 in no other manner.[114] Cattle that are bred in the Alps, although very small of body, give a great quantity of milk, and are capable of enduring much labor³; they are yoked⁴ by the horns, and not by the neck. The oxen of Syria have no dewlap, but have a hump on the back. Those of Caria in Asia, are unsightly in appearance, having a hump hanging over the shoulders from the neck; and their horns are movable; they are said, however, to be excellent workers, though those which are either black or white are condemned⁵ as worthless for labor. Oxen must be broken when they are three years old; after that it is too late, and before too early. The ox is most easily broken by yoking⁷ it with a trained animal. The ox is our closest companion, both in labor generally, and in the operations of agriculture. Our ancestors considered it of so much value, that there is an instance cited of a man being brought before the Roman people, on a day appointed, and condemned, for having killed an ox, in order to humor the whim⁸ of his wife, who said that she had never tasted tripe⁹; and he was driven into exile, just as though he had killed one of his own peasants.