על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר א ל״גOn the Special Laws, Book I 33
א׳
1[162] Of the animals used for this purpose some are confined to the dry land and others travel in the air. The winged creatures are divided into numberless tribes, all of which he ignored except two, the pigeon and the turtle-dove, the pigeon because it is the gentlest of those whose nature is tame and gregarious, the dove because it is the tamest of those which are naturally fond of solitude.
ב׳
2[163] The land animals collect in vast multitudes and the number of their varieties is almost incalculable. All these he passed over after selecting three as of superior merit, namely, oxen, sheep and goats. For these are the gentlest and the most docile. We see great herds and flocks of each kind led by a single person, it matters not who. He may even be not a grown man, but the merest child, and under his guidance they go out to the pasture and when required return back in order to their pens. This tameness is shewn by many other indications,
ג׳
3[164] but most clearly by the following facts. All of them are eaters of grass, none eat flesh; none of them have crooked talons nor a full supplement of teeth, for the upper gum does not lend itself to the growth of teeth, but all the incisors are missing there.
ד׳
4[165] Furthermore, in the whole animal kingdom they are the most serviceable for human life. The rams produce raiment, the indispensable shelter for the body, the ox ploughs the soil and prepares it for the seed, and when the crop is produced threshes it, thus making it into food which can be shared and enjoyed, while the skin and hair of the goat, when woven or sewn together, supply portable houses for travellers and particularly for campaigners who are compelled by the exigencies of their life to spend most of their time outside the city and in the open air.
